Requirements in Agile

[phyfe]

I can't help but wonder if Steve McConnell has read the Agile Principles.

•Requirements are always changing.”[The] single most common source of changing requirements [is] requirements that were not significantly investigated in the first place,” said McConnell.

In Principle #2 they say "Welcome changing requirements", To me this is not about putting less weight on good requirements gathering as much as it's about being prepared for change. I think it is dangerous to associate a change to poor initial requirements gathering.

• Requirements can be gathered or they just drop out of the sky like manna from Heaven.

I don't recall reading anywhere in agile that requirements just happen magically. There is a great diagram on page 3 of this pdf which is chapter 2 of Craig Larman's book. I personally feel it demonstrates a much more realistic view of a project from start to finish.

• Entrepreneurial companies cannot be afraid of risk.

Try telling that to someone who quits their job to build a product in their garage. Entrepreneurialism is all about risk. I can only assume that what he is referring to here is agile's leaning towards a more creative and self managing process. Many cooperations may see this as loosing control and therefore risky.
Worth reading - Agile Manifesto

• One single development approach will work best for all projects.

Agile is certainly not a single development approach.
Scrum
XP
Crystal Methods
to name a few. Here are more