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10 Things CIOs Need to Know About Agile Development- Gartner

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Gartner Inc. has reiterated that chief information officers (CIOs) are under pressure to support fast-evolving digital business scenarios but are finding traditional project and development methods unsuitable.

According to Gartner, enterprises are increasingly turning to agile development to speed up projects and illustrate their value.

Speaking ahead of the Gartner Application Architecture, Development and Integration Summit in Sydney this month, Nathan Wilson, research director at Gartner, said that executed well, use of agile methods has the capability to transform IT-business relationships and have a major positive impact on IT value delivery.

However, the value will be delivered only if the CIO and the entire IT management team are dedicated to the culture change that is necessary for success.

“Done well, agile development can be an integral part of the portfolio of methods that the CIO uses to deal with increasing business demand for innovation,” said Mr. Wilson. “Done badly, agile development will create a lot more problems than it solves.”

Gartner has identified 10 guiding principles for agile development:

Agile Is Not One Thing

Agile development methodologies are a set of approaches to software development that share a common philosophy but are sharply distinguished in the details of their implementations.

They therefore tend to be adapted to different sorts of problems.

Sophisticated organizations with a lot of experience may well use more than one of these approaches, but an organization that is getting started should select one approach and master it before attempting other approaches.

Agile Is Not A “Pick’n Mix” Methodology

Agile methods are highly systematic. Every component element of the methodology is crucial to the success of the methodology.

A common mistake is for an organization to embrace some elements of an agile methodology, such as the sprint, but to ignore or play down other elements, such as managing “technical debt.”

Such organizations enjoy the kudos that comes from rapid development and release of new code, but they are storing up trouble by failing to address technical debt.

Embracing Agile Is A Joint Business-IT Activity

The full benefits of agile cannot be achieved without engaging with business leaders, management and the user community.

If the rest of the business does not have an immediate appetite for working in a new way, careful planning and communication will be needed to bring different communities of managers and users on board.

With Agile, It Is Important To Walk Before You Try Running

Experienced agile practitioners can tackle large-scale developments — the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest.

But it takes many years to develop the necessary skills to be able to take on such large-scale software projects. Any organization that is starting out on the agile journey needs to start in the foothills to develop the confidence and competence to take on larger tasks.

Embracing Agile Is Embracing Continuous Learning

Agile practitioners must be committed to continuous improvement in quality and cost-effectiveness, which means that every development is analyzed for lessons that can be used to improve policies and working practices.

This analysis and learning are not the responsibility of a small number of senior practitioners; they are fundamental components of the workload of all agile practitioners.

Furthermore, the learning is not just appropriate to the programmers who are directly involved in software development; it is also essential for all the related skills, such as project management, architecture, quality assurance and IT budget management.

Agile Is About Teams And Teams Of Teams

The basic organizational unit of delivery in agile development is a small team, typically expressed as “seven, plus or minus two” people — both developers and quality assurance.

From an HR perspective, managing agile teams involves walking a fine line between keeping productive teams together and moving individuals between teams to encourage cross-fertilization of ideas.

If people are moved too frequently, the teams fail to develop into highly productive units; if people are not moved between teams enough, then each team starts to become isolated and diverges from the other teams.

It is important to note that physical location of teams is much more important with agile methods than with conventional approaches to development.

Documenting, Managing And Eliminating Technical Debt Is A Core Concept Of All Agile Methods

Technical debt is the difference between the state of a piece of software today and the state that it needs to be in to meet appropriate and necessary requirements for quality attributes such as reliability, performance efficiency, portability, usability, maintainability and security.

All development creates technical debt.

The difference with agile methods is that technical debt is recognized and added to the backlog, not swept under the carpet. Any organization that seeks to embrace agile methods must put in place the necessary elements of the chosen method dedicated to ruthless refactoring and the elimination of technical debt.

Working With Third-Party Development Service Providers On Agile Development Demands Special Care And Attention

Many user IT organizations have a long history of outsourcing application development to specialist service providers.

While there is a role for service providers in agile development, it is a very different commercial model and a very different engagement model.

Since colocation with business users is axiomatic to agile methods, the opportunities for sending large amounts of work offshore are somewhat limited, so some form of supplemental staffing is likely to be a more useful model.

The Impact Of Agile Goes Well Beyond The Software Development Teams

An integral component of the agile methodologies is the concept of “continuous delivery.”

Agile methodologies are predicated on continuous engagement with business managers and users, and lead to the delivery of a continuous stream of new and modified software into the operational environment.

This demands significant changes in working practices for both business governance and relationship management and the infrastructure and operations teams.

Other Software Development Methodologies Will Still Have A Place In Your Portfolio

In most commercial and public sector organizations, the application portfolio will present many different classes of development problems, some of which will be well-suited to agile, while some may be better-suited to incremental, iterative development and some to a modified waterfall model.

Agile is not “better”; it is simply better-adapted to some problems, but not so well-adapted to others.


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FG Partners UK to Combat Cross-border Cyber-crime

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The federal government and the United Kingdom signed an agreement Tuesday to combat the growing threat of cyber-crime. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed following a courtesy visit by David George Hanson, minister of the home office, UK, to the Nigeria Police Force headquarters, Louis Edet House in Abuja.

Transnational crime is a big problem for both the UK and Nigeria, so the governments intend to strengthen existing collaboration efforts to crack down on cyber-criminals and protect their industries from unlawful activities.

Offences such as online fraud, identity theft, digital extortion, and ransomware , operate across many jurisdictions, and frequently necessitate sophisticated cooperation efforts, according to the two governments during a press conference.

Furthermore, Lateef Fagbemi, Nigeria’s attorney-general and minister of justice, established the Joint Case Team on Cybercrime, which aims to address the need for a coordinated and robust approach to combating cybercrime, as stated in the Cybercrimes Act of 2015, which criminalises cyber-related offences.

Hanson underlined the importance of ongoing cooperation efforts to combat international crime in a number of areas, affecting vulnerable individuals.

He said: “We need to look again at how we can build cooperation between the Federal Government, the federal police, and our police forces and National Crime Agency to take action against these international criminals, who are exploiting vulnerable people in a whole range of areas. The National Crime Agency, the Home Office Fraud Department, and the High Commission need to make sure we make a big impact on this transnational crime.”

“The collaboration between the Nigerian Police Force and National Crime Agency continues to serve as a model in international law enforcement cooperation. We have successfully conducted joint operations into many cases of cybercrimes and online fraud. With your [UK government] cooperation, we have continued to bust other criminal networks around the world,” added inspector-general of Nigerian Police Force, Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun.

 


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CAC to Prosecute Business Owners Operating Without Registration

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Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has reaffirmed its commitment to enforcing business registration laws in Nigeria, warning that individuals and organizations operating unregistered businesses will face prosecution.

In a statement, the CAC emphasized that conducting business without proper registration violates the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020, undermining transparency and accountability in the corporate sector.

The commission stressed that registration is not only a legal requirement but also a gateway to formal business opportunities, including access to bank loans, government grants, and partnerships.

The enforcement drive will be nationwide, targeting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), online vendors, and informal traders who have failed to comply despite previous awareness campaigns and registration amnesty windows.

The CAC disclosed that enforcement teams, in collaboration with security agencies, will be deployed to identify and prosecute defaulters.

The commission urged business owners to take advantage of its simplified registration platform to regularize their status, noting that compliance will boost investor confidence and improve Nigeria’s ease of doing business. It warned that ignorance of the law will not be accepted as an excuse.

Business owners are advised to act promptly to avoid legal consequences, as the CAC moves to ensure a more structured and regulated business environment in Nigeria.


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NCC Vows to Tackle Online Infringement, Block Illegal Music Websites

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Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has pledged to enforce its legal obligations to combat online intellectual property infringement and urged commercial music users to obtain proper licences from rights holders or their representatives.

NCC Vows to Tackle Online Infringement, Block Illegal Music Websites

The Commission stated that this ensures creators are fairly compensated, supporting the music industry’s sustainable growth.

In a statement commemorating the 2025 World Intellectual Property Day, themed “IP and Music: Feel the Best of IP,” the NCC announced plans to enforce the Copyright Act 2022, which allows for the takedown of infringing materials and blocking of websites hosting illegal content.

Signed by Mrs Ijeoma Egbunike, director of Public Affairs, the statement outlined an aggressive anti-piracy campaign in collaboration with the private sector, targeting the online environment.

Egbunike affirmed the NCC’s commitment to establishing enforceable standards for transparency, digital audits, and real-time royalty reporting to protect creators’ rights. She stated, “The NCC will continue to champion policies that support the growth of the music industry, improve the livelihoods of Nigerian musicians, and foster a culture of creativity and respect for intellectual property.”

Despite the global success of Afrobeats and other Nigerian genres, the NCC noted that many musicians face low royalty returns due to rampant digital piracy.

To address this, the Commission revised its Collective Management Regulations to enhance transparency and accountability among Collective Management Organisations (CMOs).

The NCC emphasised that proper licensing is a legal obligation and vital for Nigeria’s creative economy, stating, “Music must feel the beat of intellectual property for the full potential of creativity to be realised.”

The Commission highlighted that creators’ livelihoods depend on fair royalty compensation.

Recent enforcement measures include the NCC’s designation by the Attorney-General of the Federation as an authority under the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act 2022.

This, combined with the Copyright Act 2022, empowers the NCC to order takedowns and block illegal music distribution websites.


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