I’m in Hawaii for the Aloha on Rails conference. The last session on Monday was a panel moderated by l4rk that included Obie Fernandez, Pat Maddox, Blake Mizerany, and Tammer Saleh. The topic: “Is Agile Too Slow?”

Ostensibly we were there to talk about whether there were any circumstances under which agile practices actually take too much time. As Obie, Pat, and Tammer talked about their preferred set of agile development practices, and how they’d never take a client who didn’t want to use them, it hit me that the whole premise of the question they were answering was just…wrong.

Agile is not about checking off every entry on a checklist of practices. Agile is about adapting your process to fit the project you’re on. If you think that every project absolutely must have tests, you’re not agile. If you think that every project absolutely must be storycarded, you’re not agile.

If you can’t adapt your process and add or drop practices as appropriate – including dropping down to no process at all when it makes sense – then you might as well be doing waterfall.

Agile is never too slow. Dogmatic adherence to practices, on the other hand, is.