Nothing new under the sun

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I read an eye-opening article last week about Agile methodologies not being some (relatively) new, shiny concept. Rather, it's  a mode of working that has had a key role in a number of successful, complex projects over the past century.

One story that really struck me: while small autonomous teams delivered the Polaris submarine project a full 6 years ahead of the 9 year schedule, they didn't get the credit. Instead, the person who secured the Congressional funding dazzled people with charts that showed dependencies, critical paths etc. And that's what stuck with folks, and what they've emulated over the years with Gantt charts and project plans. 

It's a shame the real story isn't more widely known and the lessons learned shared more broadly.