PostTwiceDaily2 11/09/2010 (a.m.)

• Agile software development - Annotated

  • We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

    
    

    
    

    Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

    
    

    Working software over comprehensive documentation

    
    

    Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

    
    

    Responding to change over following a plan

    
    

    
    That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

  • Twelve principles underlie the Agile Manifesto, including:^[6]

    
    
    • Customer satisfaction by rapid delivery of useful software
    • Welcome changing requirements, even late in development.
    • Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)
    • Working software is the principal measure of progress
    • Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace
    • Close, daily cooperation between businesspeople and developers
    • Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location)
    • Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted
    • Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
    • Simplicity
    • Self-organizing teams
    • Regular adaptation to changing circumstances
  • Agile methods break tasks into small increments with minimal planning

• Agile Software Development: A gentle introduction. - Annotated

  • When asking questions
    is difficult
    or slow the knowledge gap grows. The system will get
    built, but it won't solve the problem like one guided by an expert on a
    daily
    basis.
  • the way a team works together is far more
    important than any process.
  • Perhaps
    the
    biggest problem with software development is changing requirements.
    Agile processes accept the reality of change versus the hunt for
    complete, rigid specifications. There are domains where requirements
    can't change, but most projects have changing requirements. For
    most projects readily accepting changes can actually cost less than
    ensuring
    requirements will never change.
  • the way a team works together is far more
    important than any process. While a new process can easily improve team
    productivity by a
    fraction, enabling your team to work effectively as a cohesive unit can
    improve
    productivity by several times.
  • The
    most brilliant programmers alive working competitively in an ego-rich
    environment can’t get as much done as ordinary programmers working
    cooperatively as a self disciplined and self-organizing team. You need
    a process where
    team empowerment and collaboration thrive to reach your full potential.
  • making the
    

    
    
    
    

    customer, the
    one who funds
    the
    software development,
    a valuable and essential team member.

• Examining the Agile Manifesto - Annotated

  • The values of
    the Agile Manifesto are:
  • Individuals and
    interactions over processes
    and tools.
  • the most important factors that you need to consider are the
    people and how they work together because if you don’t get that right the best
    tools and processes won’t be of any use. 
    Tools and processes are important, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that
    they’re not as important as working together effectively.

• The Criteria for Determining Whether a Team is Agile - Annotated

  • there is no official
    definition of what Agile is, and many people want to use
    the values and
    principles of the
    Agile Manifesto as the definition.

  • When I "evaluate" a
    project team, here's what I look for:

    • Does
      the team regularly produce
      value for their
      stakeholders?
    • 
      Does the team validate their
      work to the best of their
      ability?
    • 
      
      Are stakeholders actively
      involved?
    • 
      
      Is the team self-organizing?
    • 
      
      Does the team strive to
      improve their process?
  • Is the team
    producing value to their
    stakeholders on a
    regular basis?

  • Figure 1. Agile criterion: Value.

    
    

    
    
    

    
    

     

  • Is the team is doing
    developer regression
    testing, or better yet taking
    a test-driven approach to
    development?

  • Figure 2. Agile criterion: Validation.

    
    

    
    
    

    
    

     

  • Are stakeholders
    active participants in
    development?

  • Figure 3. Agile criterion: Stakeholder involvement.

    
    

    
    
    

    
    

     

  • Self-organization means that
    the team members themselves
    are planning and estimating
    their own work (granted,
    perhaps with some
    facilitation from the team
    lead
  • Is the team is
    working in a highly
    collaborative,
    self-organizing manner?

• Disciplined Agile Software Development: Definition - Annotated

  • 
    
    
    

    agile software development is:

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    An iterative and incremental (evolutionary)
    approach to software development

    
    

    
    which is performed in a highly collaborative manner

    
    

    
    by self-organizing teams within an effective
    governance framework

    
    

    
    with
    "just enough"
    ceremony

    
    

    
    that produces high quality solutions

    
    

    
    in a cost effective and timely manner

    
    

    
     which meets the
    changing needs of its stakeholders.

• Why Agile Software Development Techniques Work: Improved Feedback - Annotated

  • One of
    several reasons
    why agile techniques are so effective, in my opinion, is that they
    reduce the feedback cycle between the generation of an idea (perhaps a
    requirement or a design strategy) and the realization of that idea. 
    This not only minimizes the risk of misunderstanding, it also reduces
    the cost of addressing any mistakes.  In this article I explore
    this idea in detail.

• TERM PAPER - Annotated

  • part of the answer is to move to a more
    agile process with more frequent client involvement, but it's not
    immediately clear how this would work for the business. Would it
    mean the end of fixed-price contracts? Would that be a bad thing?
    What are the alternatives? Is there a way to recognize which
    projects are likely to get in trouble before the contracts are
    signed? Do all your projects need to use the same development
    process?
  • literature research on
    approaches to managing agile projects in a contract development
    shop, and develop a set of recommendations for your management
  • you could argue that adopting an agile
    development approach would help Web21 to be more successful with the
    type of projects that have been causing problems - specifically,
    those for which requirements are hard to nail down up
    front
  • you could argue that Web21 should have a
    process for recognizing which projects are likely to cause trouble
    so you can avoid them in the future
  • offer a well-reasoned set of arguments leading to a
    conclusion that recommends specific actions.
  • there are no
    silver bullets in software development, so you will need to be
    realistic about what they should expect by improving their process
    and find sources that show not only the promises but the limitations
    of your recommended approach.

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