The Agile Pyramid

(The story is not mine, but this is the best analogy I've known for Agile.)

There were two pyramid contractors in Egypt (guys who built pyramids for a living that is) and they are both hired by a really old pharaoh for building one for him. His requirements were.

1) It should be the biggest possible pyramid that can be built

2)It should be ready when he is dead.

Contractor A: Decides to build the largest pyramid ever. Bigger than the biggest. He estimates that this would take him a year with the laborers that are available to him.

Contractor B: Has a good long look at the pharaoh, and realizes that the pharaoh may not last that long, maybe a month or two. He decides on an interesting approach. He decides to build that largest possible pyramid that he can build in one month. The next month, he’ll build an even bigger one on top of that, the month after, an even bigger one.

The pharaoh died in 3 months.