As Agile software development practices mature and move into the mainstream, it is vital that organizations understand how Agile practices can help you deliver higher quality software. The Agile is a methodology for software development that promotes development iterations, open collaboration, and adaptability throughout the project life-cycle. Currently, the measures within many Agile projects focus on the successful delivery of software. We refer to these as process measures. Software is the end product and while these measures examine the progress through the delivery, there are other critical measures that need to be assessed. This collection of measurements we refer to as results measures. One critical measure that is often overlooked is called stability. That being said, the true measure of quality cannot be measured until after the project is done and the software is in production. I am not talking about improving the defect density.

Introducing Scrum can be fun, but can also be quite a challenge. There are numerous hurdles to overcome, new practices to master and problems to solve. In this article, we will present some of the mistakes we have seen made, or made ourselves when introducing Scrum at various companies. In this first article, we will discuss organizational learning, creating an environment of trust, and why Scrim should not be used as a quick fix.

Some things in life, like death and taxes, are a given. Software development teams face their own givens: Project schedules will always change and certain teams will suffer because of these changes. If that's to be expected, then why haven't most managers done anything to save their teams from undue stress and abuse? In this column, Dion Johnson explains that we've got to take care of our teams, or else we'll never see the end of team abuse.

Agile approaches to software development promise many advantages: shorter schedules, more productive teams, products that better meet customer expectations, higher quality, and more. In this talk, Mike Cohn explains how agile teams achieve these goals by avoiding the seven deadly sins of project management. Covered will be sins such as gluttony, sloth, lust, opaqueness, and more.