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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
Who Moved my Product Value?

At the outset, it seems like agile is all about short-term focus and a product life cycle is typically the polar opposite – it runs the total gamut in the spectrum that is the life of the product, starting from incubation to end-of-life. So, how does one attribute the relationship between the two? This is where product value comes in.

Mukund Srinivasan
on Jul 05, 2010
Agile Team Meets a Fixed Price Contract

Fixed price contracts are evil - this is what can often be heard from agilists. On the other hand those contracts are reality which many agile teams have to face. But what if we try to tame it instead of fighting against it? How can a company execute this kind of contract using agile practices to achieve better results with lower risk? This article will try to answer those questions.

Marcin Niebudek
on Jun 30, 2010
Fred Brooks on The Design of Design: Interview and Excerpt

A review of Frederick P. Brooks' latest book, The Design of Design. Few individuals have had as much influence on the 'practice' of software development and this book of loosely coupled essays on the essence of design, design process, and the development and nurturing of great designers extends and enhances previous contributions to the field. The review is enhanced with an interview and excerpt.

Dave West
on Jun 30, 2010
Multitasking Gets You There Later

It's now well understood that multi-tasking on a personal level is bad and slows down the rate at which we work. One of the key challenges of new Agile/Scrum teams is the number of projects that they have on the go. Agile teaches us that a team should work on one project at a time or it will thrash. Roger Brown shows in depth why this happens.

Roger Brown
on Jun 29, 2010
A Tester's Learning Journey

The software industry is changing fast. More and more teams put testing up front and center; they use tests to drive development. In this article, Lisa Crispin talks about how her attitude and curiosity have shaped her career and kept her passion for testing software fresh.

Lisa Crispin
on Jun 24, 2010
Book Excerpt: Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins

Very little in our education or experience properly prepares a ScrumMaster or project manager for the role of agile coach. This leaves most wondering, "What is my role in a self-organized team? How do I help the team yet stay hands-off?" This chapter, excerpted from the book Coaching Agile Teams, shows you how to activate the journey toward high performance in both provocative and practical ways.

Lyssa Adkins
on Jun 15, 2010
5 Configuration Management Best Practices

There has been a lot of conversation going on around the configuration of applications, and how to manage it. This article explores things people can do from within their code to make their lives, and the lives of anyone else who has to administer or maintain their application, easier. These patterns have been used a number of times on ThoughtWorks projects, and they have proven their worth.

Chris Read
on Jun 03, 2010

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