Jerry Seinfeld and Agile Development
July 10, 2025
-Karthik Gurumurthy
Earlier today, I came across this brilliant insight from Mike Cohn about agile development, and it totally clicked for me through the most unexpected lens - Jerry Seinfeld's comedy.
Man, this piece really opened my eyes to something I've been struggling with for ages. I've always had trouble explaining the difference between iterative and incremental development in a way that actually sticks with people. The usual textbook definitions just don't land, you know?
But Cohn's Jerry Seinfeld analogy? Pure gold. It finally gave me that "aha!" moment I'd been looking for.
Mike Cohn's core insight was using Jerry Seinfeld's comedy development process (from the "Comedian" documentary) as a perfect analogy for agile development. He showed how Seinfeld's approach of constantly refining existing material while gradually building up his set mirrors exactly what we should be doing in software - iterating on what we have while incrementally adding new features.
The comedy club example makes it crystal clear. When Seinfeld was rebuilding his act, he was doing two things at once:
Iterative Refinement - Taking his existing 5-minute set and constantly tweaking it:
- He'd try different words for the same punchline to see which got bigger laughs
- Experiment with pausing longer before the payoff or speeding up the delivery
- Switch the order of jokes - maybe the airline bit works better before the cereal joke
- Test different facial expressions or gestures to sell the same story
- Fine-tune transitions between jokes so the flow feels more natural
In software terms, this is like when we take our login screen and keep improving it - better error messages, smoother animations, clearer button labels, faster response times. Same basic feature, just getting more polished with each iteration.
Incremental Growth - Gradually adding more material once he knew what worked:
- Start with 5 solid minutes that consistently get laughs
- Add a new 3-minute bit about dating and see how it plays
- Once that's working, throw in some observational humor about technology
- Build up to 15 minutes, then 20, then 30, working toward that full hour
- Each new chunk has to fit with the existing material and maintain the overall vibe
This is exactly like building a product - you start with core user authentication, then add profile management, then messaging features, then notifications. Each new capability builds on what you already have, making the product more complete and valuable.
The lightbulb moment for me was realizing you absolutely need both. A comedian who only polishes the same jokes forever has a boring short set. One who keeps adding new material without refining it bombs on stage. Sound familiar? That's exactly what happens with bad product development.
It's funny how sometimes the best explanations come from the most unexpected places. Thanks to Mike Cohn for sharing this - now I finally have a way to explain iterative vs. incremental that people will actually remember!