In this week's episode of Troubleshooting Agile we are on to Agile Principle 8: "Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely."

Drawing on sport psychology, Al Pacino movies and their years of consulting experience, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss and troubleshoot a number of fascinating issues surrounding this principle:

-How many people find this the easiest Agile Principle to argue with, and, in doing so, entirely miss the point.

-Why the Hollywoodesque idea of "Crunch Time" and pulling-an-all-nighter may appeal to Theory X bosses and the delusional, but is detrimental to productivity and long-term effectiveness.

-Why you need to ensure that exceptions to your sustainable pace really are the exception.

-How, when it comes to psychology, recovery, nutrition, environment and support, Software Developers and Professional Athletes are not so dissimilar, if long-term effectiveness is what you're after.

-How constant pace works as a counter-balance to the dangers of a team focussed purely on Customer Delivery.

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LINKS:

-The Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

-Cost of Delay: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_delay

- The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Challenger-Launch-Decision-Technology-Deviance/dp/0226851761

-Any Given Sunday, with Al Pacino and the "Inch by Inch" speech: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Any_Given_Sunday

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