 Agile Journal Articles
The Agile Journal publishes original content, articles and regular columns
from industry thought leaders, analysts and software providers on a
wide variety of topics related to agile development best practices and business adoption of agile ideas. Below you will find links directly to our columns
and articles or you may use the search box to scan for a particular
topic or writer.
Subscribe to the Agile Journal RSS Feed
|
|
Articles
|
 Agile
development is getting increased attention from IT professionals all over the
world. Agile practices help to overcome many of the challenges in traditional
approaches with its emphasis on lightweight processes, flexibility to deal with
changing business priorities, short delivery cycles, higher team collaboration,
and a host of other benefits. Agile offers a fresh approach to businesses
seeking greater agility in their software projects.
Tags:
Click to add your tags...,
|
|
Articles
|
 The first part of this
article introduced the concept that developing a complex software system
was like going on a journey. I contrasted how we plan our journeys through the
use of route planning systems against that of an agile journey which is more
like using a GPS in our car. I also introduced the idea that we only know when
we have reached our journeys end (being completely done) when we have
demonstrated that we have fully satisfied the expectations of the customer, our
criteria for a successful outcome and that we can use this thinking throughout
our project so that each iteration delivers software which can achieve a
successful customer outcome.
Tags:
Click to add your tags...,
|
|
Articles
|
 Software isn't hard,
thinking is hard!
"The essence of a software
entity is a construct of interlocking concepts ... I believe the hard part of
building software to be the specification, design, and testing of this
conceptual construct ..."
Frederick P. Brooks Jr.
Brooks suggests that the creation of a conceptual
construct is the "irreducible essence" of software. Four properties contribute to the
difficulty of creating such a construct:
complexity, conformity, changeability, and invisibility.
Tags:
Click to add your tags...,
|
|
Articles
|
 All organizations have a formal network
of relationships between their employees, which defines their interaction. These
formal networks really aren't networks, they're hierarchies of knowledge and
power. Explicitly the hierarchy is one of power; implicitly this is manipulated
by access to information. Information is passed on or not passed on
selectively. Think about it: do you tell your boss everything? Do you really
think he tells you everything? Legitimate power, based on rank, is expressed in
the formal network. However, it is naive to think that people interact solely
on this level. The informal network, or social network, can alter the dynamics
of power by allowing different routes of access to information.
Tags:
Click to add your tags...,
|
|
Articles
|
 Iteration is at the heart of agile development practices.
In an agile project you do something, measure your progress, and then use the
feedback from the measurement to figure out what to do next. This cycle allows
you to follow the Agile Manifesto
value Responding to change over following
a plan by providing for points in time where you can measure your progress
at the project level. Whether your approach to agile is project-focused like
Scrum or development-focused, like extreme programming, iteration is what
drives an agile project.
Tags:
Click to add your tags...,
|
|
|
Articles
|
The good news is: Agile is going
mainstream; it is not some fad nor is it just for unwashed coders. Managers get it. The not so good news is: this means the
approach to introducing Agile needs to change.
Agile Software Development started at the
code face. Kent Beck's original Extreme
Programming had little - if anything - to say about the wider organization and
the role of management. Developers could
- and did - just adopt practices like test driven development and stand-up
meetings.
Tags:
Click to add your tags...,
|
|
|
Articles
|
 Agile Coaches have a big job.
"Support the
team but not too much and not too little."
"Be
available but don't be overbearing."
"Offer ideas
but don't get too involved."
"Coach,
don't manage."
All this advice can be confusing, even
contradictory. No wonder Agile Coaches
fall into less-than-desirable behaviors as they try out new things to help
teams. The problem is that these
behaviors can subtly undermine a team's ability to organize, improve and,
eventually, reach high-performance.
That's why they are called failure modes.
Tags:
Click to add your tags...,
|
|
|
Articles
|
 I wish there was a book entitled "How to Write Your First
Letter as an Editor", unfortunately there is none that I am aware of, so please
bear with me. As the new Editor-in-Chief
of the Agile Journal, I would like to introduce myself and tell you a little
about where we will be going with the Agile Journal over the next few months.
Tags:
Click to add your tags...,
|
|
|
Articles
|
With today's economic pressures coupled with a highly
competitive business environment, management is aggressively pursuing ways to
increase effectiveness and efficiencies at the same time as they strive to
improve customer services. For these
reasons many organizations are trying to integrate offshore development into
the Agile projects. Offshore development
has seen tremendous growth in recent years.
The efficiencies gained by combining these two methods could be
significant, but there are some pot-holes on the road to success.
Tags:
Click to add your tags...,
|
|
|
Articles
|
 Software systems are being delivered to our customers at an
ever-increasing rate. How can we keep up with the pace whilst still maintaining
the quality of our code? I will demonstrate over a series of three articles how
by focusing on the customer throughout our delivery cycle we can deliver
reliable working software with confidence, reduce the number of defects, reduce
our delivery timescales and ultimately save money. You may think this is
nothing new, and that agile development has long since answered this question.
However, even in the agile world there are loopholes which allow us to
bypass the customer. Leading us to deliver what we think they want, rather than
what they were expecting.
Tags:
Click to add your tags...,
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>
|
| Results 1 - 10 of 247 |
Articles 
