InfoQ Homepage Adopting Agile Content on InfoQ
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The Open UP Debate
Following on from the discussion of the various flavours of Unified Process, there is some debate about the OpenUP process framework - is it Agile, or a reactionary result of the move to lighter processes?
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Agile Team Spaces: Do's and Don'ts
Many of us, who are new to Agile, would believe that putting an Agile team together in a room gets the job done. A few of us would actually pay attention to what makes a room a team room which can enhance productivity and motivation. Many Agile teams have already shared their perspective on what would make an ideal team room. Here are a few recent ones.
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Scrum/Agile Failings or the Theses of Uncle Bob Martin
In response to a question about the Inherit Shortcomings of Scrum/Agile - Uncle Bob Martin penned (in the spirit of Martin Luther), 7 theses: No Technical Practices, 30 Day Sprints are too long, Scrum Master sometimes turns into Project Manager, Scrum carries an anti-management undercurrent, and others.
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Daily Standup Tips - a Roundup
We often hear stories about daily standups that have become nothing more than long daily status meetings where team members tune out. What techniques do people have for avoiding this and other standup pitfalls?
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Opinion: Agile Success Is Not Dependent on Agile Techniques
The marvelous successes of Agile teams in the past, present, and future are fact. But so are the failures: the cases of 'fragile' adoption, 'we suck less' adoption, and many other cases where Agile teams fail to produce great software and/or fail to effect the organization as a whole. Is this something that can be addressed and 'fixed' or is Agile development only useful for a some teams?
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Adaptive Reuse - Lessons from civil engineering
Software engineers frequently take issue with the sequential development processes that are believed to be at the core of civil engineering – in answer to the “why can’t you build software like they build bridges” criticism sometimes levered at software development. The reality is that civil engineering projects frequently apply approaches that Agilists will recognise.
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Social Contracts Facilitate Team Commitment
Formalised social contracts provide a structure to help reduce the fear, uncertainty and doubt associated with organisational change, and can enable an Agile transition to go more smoothly. Israel Gat provides an example of the social contract he used at BMP Software.
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Teaching Games - Fun or Serious Business?
Michael McCullough and Don McGreal, creators of the Tasty Cupcakes teaching games website, have published an article on "Fun Driven Development." The economic downturn hasn't squeezed these games out of our training programs - in fact, they've become a staple where Agilists gather to exchange ideas. Here's a little history and some starting points for using games with your teams.
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When Agile Success is Eventually a Failure
It is often assumed that once the pilot Agile teams are successful, the process of Agile adoption is on the right track. Dave Nicolette shares very intriguing insights into situations where the adoption failed even after very successful pilot implementations.
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Looking Inward To Stop An Agile "Decline And Fall"
Discussions about agile's "decline and fall" have been a somewhat recurring theme here on the AgileQ, and in the community in general, centering around sentiments that people aren't adopting agile effectively, that they're doing it wrong and screwing it up. Kevin Schlabach poses the idea that the agile community itself, by not growing new leaders, has a hand in causing this.
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Tips to Select a Pilot Project for Agile Adoption
One of the most important factors which influences the success of Agile adoption is the set of learnings derived by applying Agile to a pilot project. These learnings significantly influence the organization to go ahead with Agile or fall back to their usual process. A wrong type of pilot could end up aborting, which would be a poor advertisement for the new process.
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Jean Tabaka at Agile Australia 2009
Jean Tabaka spoke at the Agile Australia 2009 conference in Sydney on 15+16 October. Her keynote talk titled "12 Agile Adoption Failure Modes", in which she identified a dozen common roadblocks that can prevent effective transformation to Agile techniques in organizations.
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XP or Scrum, Either, Both, or Neither?
Which is better? Scrum or XP? Is there one that is more applicable than the other or is there another alternative?
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Where has the innovation gone?
Some commentators are questioning the level of innovation happening in the Agile space. Does iterative and incremental development lead us away from innovation towards reusing old solutions, building on what we already know rather than creating truly "out of the box" solutions. Adding an R&D stream is suggested as a way to bring innovation into Agile projects.
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Agile Testing Requires Cross-Functional Teams and More
The first things many think about when considering Agile Testing are tools, automation, when and how to test, and the role of testers on a team. These are all very worthy topics. But which of these things are needed for success and which are nice-to-have?