The Latest

While doing some research for an upcoming article, some thoughts gelled about where Agile Software Development lies on its evolutionary path. I was procrastinating somewhat, and while poking around some aviation-related sites I saw an image of a jet engine used on the current crop of regional jets.

Group characteristics and group dynamics are invisible to most of us. We are not trained to detect them, let alone manage them. Our work is influenced by much more than what we see. This can make project success (and failure) sometimes appear to be random.

In the software development industry and beyond, the term "agile" is everywhere. But, much like the "organic" food craze, the rise of agile has also been accompanied by considerable head-scratching. What does it mean to be agile? Certainly, not all of the organizations boasting of agile practices can actually be agile? Unfortunately, there isn't a concise definition to encompass the myriad meanings packed into the term. In fact, the definition of agile is so loose that it hardly helps in assessing which organizations are using practices that are truly agile and which are just calling traditional methods by a new name. In part, agile's fuzzy definition has to do with the fact that it is, by definition, an umbrella term: Scrum, XP, DSDM, Crystal and other agile methods have emerged as subsets of the broader "agile." But, even then, those subsets seldom include the concrete processes a team needs when adopting a new management paradigm. In that sense, the term agile has become bankrupt of meaning: It serves more as a marketing buzz word than a defined set of processes. Because organizations require those processes-as a kind of roadmap to management success-Scrum has become the most popular of the agile management methods. But before further discussing how Scrum and its iterative, incremental approach to project management have appealed to teams and organizations alike, it's worth first considering where it came from.

Many software engineering teams have adopted Agile. However, teams delivering process change tend to use traditional ‘lifecycle' approaches and have yet to embrace Agile. Why is that? Can the Agile approach be used to implement or facilitate process change?

Teamwork, no matter the intentions at the start of any agile project, can be derailed by even the smallest factors. Learn how to identify the five dysfunctions of a team so that your team can address them and avoid letting them grind your production to a halt.

In November 2007, the organization held a global meeting on software practices. The participants were introduced to the lessons learned and best practices from a few projects in the company that had adopted a form of Agile methodology. With that exposure, the technology center in Houston set a goal to pilot one Scrum project in 2008. This article focuses on the Scrum implementation experience and the influence it has on the technology center's strategy for Scrum adoption. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with Scrum.

Midway through 2006, members of a small software development group at an engineering center for an oil field services company began having informal conversations about the nature of their work. Among other things, they pondered whether software development is an engineering discipline or a craft; and where to focus improvement efforts. These discussions sparked the interest of many on the team. They searched and came across the Agile Manifesto, which was posted in their work area. The values outlined in the manifesto appealed to the team.