InfoQ Homepage Agile Content on InfoQ
-
Are Product Backlogs Wasteful?
Planning the features to be developed is an important part of software development. In Scrum, the list of features desired but not yet implemented is typically called the backlog (or product backlog). This is meant to be lightweight, but can it still be wasteful?
-
Does the Agile Community Need a Maturity Model?
Periodically an Agile Maturity Model or a Framework for Agile Adoption shows up on the radar. There are also several consulting companies performing Agile 'readiness assessments' as a precursor to helping their clients 'become' Agile. Are these indications of an unfulfilled need in the community?
-
Presentation: Implementing Scrum In A Distributed Software Development Organization
At Agile2007 we heard the tale of a distributed Scrum project with 50 people in 4 continents. BMC Identity Management decided to build their next generation product, including architectural changes and component integration, using Scrum to handle the uncertainty of their product's requirements. This presentation talks about how.
-
What Makes a Tool Agile?
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools is the very first of the values of the Agile Manifesto. Tools, however, seem to be a big part of development on most Agile teams. When does a tool help and when does it hinder (Agile) software development?
-
Religion driven industry? Buzzwords and checklists vs. thinking and inspection
James O. Coplien has recently argued that today’s industry is based on buzzwords and checklists. The use of some techniques and methodologies, TDD for instance, has become “a religious issue”. This prevents from inspecting possible tradeoffs and focusing on finding solutions that would be the most appropriate and the most cost-effective for a given project.
-
Next-Generation Functional Testing
What should the next generation of functional testing tools offer? The Agile Alliance is holding a workshop to envision the next-generation of functional testing tools, from October 11th to 12th. What do you think needs the most attention?
-
Peter Hosey of Adium on Code Reviews
There is no question that formal code reviews catch bugs and can delay the inevitable "big ball of mud" that all successful projects seem to turn into. However, arranging a meeting for every check-in quickly becomes untenable on all but the most critical of projects. Peter Hosey talks about his experiences and how he conducts code reviews in Adium.
-
DbFit 0.9 includes MySQL Support and Full Oracle for Java Support
DbFit has had several releases in recent months, adding better support for Oracle, support for Java and MySQL 5, and embedding DbFit tables into Java and .NET code.
-
Analyzing Experimental Data Concerning Agile Practices
Agile literature is sprinkled with experiments on the effectiveness of one or more practices. Not all experiments come to the same conclusion. Some experiments come to conclusions that may not coincide with your team’s experience. To understand experimental results, and the level of confidence that you should have in their outcomes, an understanding of a few simple evaluation criteria is helpful.
-
AgileEvents Calendar Update
AgileEvents is one month old, and two dozen commercial and non-profit events have been announced there by members of the Agile community around the world. Here is your monthly roundup of upcoming events, with "coding dojos", classes, and conferences and XPdays worldwide.
-
Is Pipelined Continous Integration a Good Idea?
Sometimes, when the team and/or code-base get large, the CI server starts to slow down. The cycle between builds grows and the feedback degrades – a build may take an hour or more to respond with a pass/fail, and by that time several people may have checked in their code into an already broken build. To address this issue, many teams “pipeline” their CI - but is this a good strategy?
-
Without a Defined Process, How Will We Know Who To Blame?
"A fundamental premise of the 'train-wreck' approach to management is that the primary cause of problems is 'dereliction of duty'" said Peter Scholtes in his 2003 book on leadership. Mary Poppendieck's recent article on process, people and systems asked: "Which is more important - process or people?" and showed how Lean is an alternative to certified process improvement programs like ISO 9000.
-
Selenium Grid: Web Testing in Parallel
Pervasive user-interface/acceptance testing can be a drag on test and therefore build speed. Selenium Grid offers the ability to run Selenium tests in parallel on one machine or on a farm of machines in a reliable, easy-to-use way. InfoQ speaks with the Selenium Grid team.
-
The Right Phrase at the Right Time: Priceless
Saying the right thing at the right time can transform an interaction. But it's difficult! In a recent StickyMinds article, Michele Sliger suggested a handful of phrases to help keep the conversation going in the right direction.
-
xUnit.net - Next Generation of Unit Testing Frameworks?
Jim Newkirk, creator of NUnit, has announced a new Unit Testing Framework called xUnit.net. The proclaimed successor to NUnit is supposed to get rid of NUnit's mistakes and shortcomings and add some best practices and extensibility to the framework.