Sharing Agile Successes

Volume 3 Number 3 - March 2008

Many Agile teams freely share best practices and key success factors. It is interesting to note that it’s not typically the tools or specific development practices that make the difference, but rather the ways in which team members collaborate and leverage each others’ skills and knowledge. In this issue of the Agile Journal, we explore different techniques for launching, developing, staffing, and managing Agile projects through the eyes of hands-on practitioners.

What really happens on Agile teams? How do team members learn from each other? Guy Beaver and Alan Chedalawada have observed and participated in many Agile conversations regarding team management, collaboration, testing, pair programming and other Agile practices. In their article, they share some of the discussions from these projects, demonstrating some of the tangible and intangible benefits of successful Agile implementations.

We know that many ISVs use Agile processes internally to help create quality products. Martin Van Ryswyk discusses how his company, Electric Cloud, has leveraged Agile practices and created new tools to significantly cut costs and improve productivity. And, how better to learn about Agile practices that to participate on a pilot project? From the perspective of an Agile “newbie,” Dean Leffingwell describes a two-day Agile release planning meeting. Throughout the sometimes intense sessions, this developer comes to appreciate the benefits of Agile planning and the thinking behind Agile practices. But people and teams make all the difference. Doug Shimp and Sam Hazziez drill down into the concept of well formed teams -- well connected groups of people working together to address complex product development or organizational needs. They argue that by intentionally creating well formed teams, organizations will be able to thrive rather than just survive

Kirk Knoernschild has been writing our “Agile Developer” column for close to two years. This month, he provides an overall framework for launching and running an Agile project. This can be a very useful starting place for new Agile teams, as well as an effective way to leverage all of the knowledge collected in his many articles.

We hope that as the Agile industry matures – and our readers’ experiences grow – we will have many more best practices and success stories to share. Please chime in with your own experiences in our forums, blogs, or article feedback. If you’d like to contribute an article on an upcoming topic, go to the “Letters to the Editor” in the forum at agilejournal.com and send us your ideas. Refer to the 2008 editorial calendar for future themes.

Liz Barnett
Editor in Chief

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