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Use of Kanban in the Operations Team at Spotify

In this article, InfoQ spoke with Mattias Jansson, Operations Engineer at Spotify (an online music streaming service) about the adoption of Kanban by the Spotify Operations team. Jansson offered a lot of detail about the choice to adopt Kanban as well as the experiences that the Operations team at Spotify has gained while implementing a Kanban-based approach to dealing with their workload.

Michael Prokop Mattias Jansson
on Sep 14, 2010
Confessions of A New Agile Developer

This short article is a first-person case history of someone taking up Agility for the first time. It covers the problems and reactions that are common to most teams and most developers.

Rahul Sharma
on Sep 06, 2010
The Story of a Project

Olivier Mallassi shares a story of a typical software development project, some typical problems and what he learned from Tom Demarco about addressing those problems, and an alternative story.

Olivier Mallassi
on Sep 01, 2010
Finding an Agile Employer

The rocky job market of the last couple years has left many people looking for work. Agile software development is appealing to many job seekers, but not all jobs are alike. If you want a job in Agile software development, using a framework like Scrum, you need a plan of action that spans all three phases of your job search: reseach/preparation, interviewing, and assessing your opportunities.

Angela Druckman
on Aug 31, 2010
Agile Finance: Story Point Cost

This article ties a rather abstract and developer centered concept (story points) to the real world of business (spreadsheets and ledgers). Making this connection is essential for management.

Christopher Goldsbury
on Aug 18, 2010
Working with the Product Backlog

Roman Pichler discusses the product backlog along with techniques for effectively grooming it. Complicated applications of the product backlog are covered as well as how to handle nonfunctional requirements and how to scale a product backlog for large projects. This is a chapter excerpt from Roman's book: Agile Product Management with Scrum.

Roman Pichler
on Aug 04, 2010
Ars Magna: the revolution is overdue

This essay is an intentionally provocative and controversial call for a real revolution in how we conceive of and practice software development. The intent is to stimulate discussion.

Dave West
on Aug 04, 2010
Skills for Scrum Agile Teams

The skills required to be hyper-productive in agile projects are different from those required by a traditional one. This article identifies behavioral and technical skills required for a team to have that edge. Anyone who acquires these "delta" traits should be equipped with the right set of behavioral and technical skills, which enable them to work effectively in an agile project.

Prasad Prabhakaran
on Jul 26, 2010
Manager 2.0: The Role of the Manager in Scrum

Scrum defines just three roles, Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Team - not Manager. Pete Deemer explores the consequences for Managers, how the managerial role might be redefined (including a sample job description), and appointing the manager as Scrum Master.

Pete Deemer
on Jul 23, 2010
The Limits of Agile

The problems faced by teams that are attempting Agile in non-traditional settings aren't that Agile principles are inapplicable, nor that the feedback cycle is doomed to failure; but rather, outside of a certain Agile sweet-spot there are additional barriers and costs to applying Agile techniques. None of these obstacles prevents Agile in itself but each increases the cost of getting to Agile.

Alan Kelly
on Jul 19, 2010
The Science of Learning: Best Approaches for Your Brain

Why don't people understand your idea in a meeting? Why does the developer you're mentoring still not get it? Why do attendees in your course only learn 10% of the material? We are all teachers in some way, yet only professional educators receive training in this area. This article discusses lessons from neuroscience and how they can be applied to Agile Software Development and beyond.

Mark Levison
on Jul 12, 2010
Success Factors for Systematic Reuse

Systematic reuse requires the interplay of people, process, and technology decisions executed within the context of real world constraints. Are there success factors that will make a difference to reuse? This article offers five success factors that will help capture domain variations, ease integration, delve deeper into design context, work effectively as a team, and manage domain complexity.

Vijay Narayanan
on Jul 07, 2010