I certainly agree that each group needs to try new methods of building software to see what works for them. While Agile is a buzz-word these days, it really does provide some benefits. There are various forms of Agile (XP, Scrum, etc.) and where I work, ChannelAdvisor, we have been doing a modified form of Scrum for just over a year. I have not worked here the entire time but from talking to those who have, it really has turned things around. But as I said, it is a modified Scrum. And I think the "modified" part is important because not everyone understands that these methods are not an all-or-none deal. How people work is a matter of personality and not everyone is adaptable to the same environments. So, you try to do what you can but it really depends on everyone really trying and working at it (i.e. the big picture and not just their part of a particular project). The nice thing about Agile is that it focuses on communcation and reflection. If something is not working, people can suggest something new and you try that for a while to see if it works and adjust from there. We are constantly going over what is and is not working for us and trying new things. While some might disagree with me, I feel that Agile is more suited to application development than it is database development. But that is not to say there is no middle-ground and in our DB team we do what we can and get mostly there. I think the biggest area of contention for me is in Data Modeling since Agile focuses on less planning and more on refactoring over time. That is all well and good for Stored Procedures and such, but it is certainly not as easy to refactor tables, especially when there are millions of rows of data (many gigs) and thousands of Stored Procs built on top of that model. With that one exception, I think Agile has worked out really well for us and certainly worth investigating for those who haven't tried it. However, it will not work for everyone as no way of thinking--whether it be politics, religion, economics, or software construction--will work for all people. The key is just to try until something works.