The way we develop software struggles to keep pace with changes in technology and business. Even with the rise of agile we still see people flip-flopping from one branded method (or to be more fashionable framework) to another throwing away the good with the bad, and behaving more like religious cultists than scientists.

Dr. Ivar Jacobson delivered this presentation at a keynote address at SECR Russia in October 2017. He revisited the history of methods, explained why we need to break out of our repetitive dysfunctional behavior, and introduced Essence: a new way of thinking that promises to liberate the practices and enable true learning organizations.

Many organizations don’t realize they are in a method prison. It is easy to understand why not. They have not identified any problems because they haven’t seen how it could be different than today. The problems are too abstract without a solution to them. Once upon the time users didn’t know that software should be built using components, e.g. java beans. Similarly, they didn’t know they needed use cases or user stories to capture requirements. And so on. However, once they got it, and started to use it, they saw the value. Similarly, once they see that they can have access to a global library of practices, which are continuously improved, and from which they can select their own method, they won’t go back to what we have today.