Agile Publishing -- Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted

Number 7 of the Agile Software Development approach . What does this mean for an Agile Publisher?

It's all about trust. This also could be said of every project everywhere. There's nothing different here for an Agile publisher than for any other development effort. Michael Fitzgerald ("The Emerging Art of Agile Publishing", March 8, 2006, XML.COM) posits these tenets:

• People must be trusted
• Fewer but more competent people are needed
  
• Organizations must live with the decisions developers make

These are key points. Trust inspires dedication, dedication reduces numbers of people. But (I hear you cry), organizations must live with the decisions developers make? Hard to swallow, that. But remember, a key point of the Agile approach is that the development team includes stakeholders. It is partly their role to ensure that the decisions the developers make are in the best interests of the product and the client. A better product will come of it.