Why does agile software development work?

I know a lot about the "how" of agile software development, but I'm not afraid to admit that I learned a lot from this video by Martin Fowler and Neal Ford, who work for ThoughtWorks.

Sometimes, agile software development seems unintuitive, or even counter-intuitive. A lot of teams try doing agile software development without knowing why it works. This can lead to some missteps. In the video, Martin and Neal explain why.

If you're interested in learning about, or even doing, agile software development, you really should watch the video.

Fixed our clothes dryer - followup

Just recently, the clothes dryer started squealing again, especially when I started drying a heavy load (a couple of bathrobes, some towels, etc.). So it looks like the "cleaning" thing from the previous post didn't quite take.

So I bought the bullet and ordered the repair kit. It took just about a week to get here, which was what I expected, and it wasn't expensive (less than $40).

This time, I took the drum out, vacuumed out the lint, replaced the idler pulley, and put it all back together. The whole thing took just over 30 minutes.

The next time I dried a heavy load, the noise was totally gone. And I don't expect it to come back.

If you own a Whirlpool/Kenmore dryer that measures 29 inches across and has the lint filter on top, this repair is pretty easy.