[garethm]

If agile means "iterative and incremental projects", it is just a new name for what has long been put forward as a good way to develop software.

In 1996, the Jolt award winning book was Rapid Development by Steve McConnell. Some of the practices that the advocates are evolutionary delivery, designing for change, and timebox development. These are the same practices that appear to be what some here believe are what is called agile.

As far as I know, the term agile really only became associated with software development in 2001 because of the agile manifesto. Because the manifesto itself is the origin and source for the whole agile movement it seems logical to me that it should be taken as the defining basis for what it means to be agile.

To me, agile doesn't mean the same thing as good - therefore I don't feel like I need to some how remake agile in my image. I am reasonably comfortable being closer to being a duct-tape programmer than I am to being an agileista.

Allowing the leaders of the agile movement to define what agile is, doesn't have to mean that you agree with everything, or even anything they are saying or doing. There is a difference between talking about what the definition of something is, and talking about whether you agree with that something.