Why use Contour for Agile.
Jama Contour combines all the power of enterprise requirements management software with the simplicity of the Web. Contour provides a complete solution that connects your entire project team to what you’re building from inception to delivery. Contour’s capabilities include requirements collaboration, requirements reuse, traceability, coverage, change management, test management, project dashboards and other features to empower your team to leverage their collective genius and deliver projects on-time.

Over the last 10 years there has been a widespread, grassroots movement with development teams toward Agile processes to manage risk, collaborate with customers and embrace change during development. And, it's easy to see why.

The fundamental principles of Agile development are good. Agile processes welcome changing requirements even late in development. Agile processes value greater collaboration between customers and development teams. Agile processes empower developers and motivate them to do their best work. Who doesn't want these things?

The challenges companies face aren't in the ideals of Agile. The challenges exist in trying to apply them in practice within enterprise organizations where the project teams are distributed, the projects are complex and high risk, or require detailed documentation for compliance.

For some teams and projects, an Agile development is all you need for success. But, you might want to run through the following checklist of questions to ensure your team doesn't suffer from the common issues organizations face when plugging in an Agile development practice into your larger project and product management process:

The Agile Development Self-Assessment Checklist: Where do you have Challenges?

• Are you having difficulty getting agreement and buy-in on what should be built for a project or release?
• Are Sprints not getting off to smooth starts as a result of not having enough definition around what to build?
• Are there disconnects between key stakeholder expectations and what gets delivered, even with working code continuously available?
• Are you discovering requirements issues too late in the cycle?
• Do key stakeholders have difficulty organizing and planning around delivery because they don't know exactly what they are getting and when they are going to get it?
• Are there critical business objectives or non-functional goals that must be demonstrated to get certification or final customer sign-off?

Agile provides many benefits to organizations, but it’s not without its challenges especially when it comes to the product planning phase and keeping everyone in sync on the details, discussions and decisions that are made constantly as the requirements evolve during the development process.  If you are experiencing one or more of the above challenges, then I encourage you to explore Contour with your team on a real project. The goal isn’t to replace what you’re doing, the goal is to support your development team and help them collaborate with other teams and stakeholders more effectively to embrace the benefits of Agile company-wide.

Try Jama Contour today, sign-up for a free trial here.

COMPANY INFORMATION

Jama Software is the leader in collaborative requirements management solutions for improving enterprise collaboration and managing complex software development projects. Its Web application, Jama Contour, helps organizations manage the entire requirements management lifecycle through an intuitive, easy-to-use interface that brings people, process and data together to ensure software quality is delivered as specified.

Customers, from agile start-ups to the largest and most sophisticated technology and IT organizations in the world, turn to Jama to help drive innovation, improve the decision-making process and harness the collective genius of all stakeholders involved in building great software.  For more information please visit: http://www.jamasoftware.com.

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