What's Agile?

I first heard the word "agile" in a business context at my job interview. My future boss was describing the company, and he said, "We're agile." I thought it meant that, well, they were very flexible in acquiring and letting go of staff. Kind of like "hire and fire on a dime."

Fortunately, that turned out not to be the case. I'm still grappling with the new definition of "Agile" (with a capital A), but it has something to do with being flexible in the face of changing conditions and requirements. Maybe more of what my college econ prof described as being "elastic," which was apparently a very good thing. If your demand is elastic, you have much more influence over price. Demand for gasoline: not very elastic, so the price goes up. Demand for designer skull caps: not so high, so I can get them cheap. But anyway...