InfoQ Homepage Agile Techniques Content on InfoQ
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Should We Manage Both Features and Tasks?
Although it keeps people busy, managing tasks is neither interesting nor useful. Managing value created provides greater leverage and greater risk management. Jon Kern blogged last week on creating good features (rather than tasks) by focusing on value and testability. But do we sometimes need to manage tasks, too? David Anderson used the Theory of Constraints to back an unexpected answer.
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Keep those Stand Up Meetings Short and Sweet
Keeping the daily Scrum, or standup meeting, short is a challenge. Many of us are familiar with the "Talking Stick" used by some indigenous peoples to run run well organized tribal meetings. It's an elegantly simple way to keep a group focused and respectful. Kane Mar, a west coast XP coach has blogged about how a number of teams have adapted this idea. But seriously - using a Pig?!
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Imagine the End, to Begin Well
Agile trainer and coach Andy Pols has reported that at SPA2006, retrospectives guru Norm Kerth described the practice of "Kick-Off Retrospectives", which ask participants to imagine how they will answer at a future retrospective: "What was so good about this project that you'd like to repeat it on future projects?" This can set expectations and inform the team's planning for collaboration.
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"Simple Ain't Easy"
The idea of simplicity has recently been explored in relation to subjects such as charity, time management, and home design. In concert with this movement, simplicity also surfaced in 2001 in the Agile Manifesto. But the term is deceptive - surely simplicity should be, well, simple? Brad Appleton has blogged at length on the subject, exploring "Myths and Misunderstandings about Simplicity".
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Fun: The YAGNI Development Assistant
Some days it's harder than others to remain focused. Darren Smith has specced out a new feature which most IDE's are missing: The YAGNI Development Assistant. Based on Microsoft's Clippy, it provides key advice for staying agile as you're programming.
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Automating "All" Tests
Sure, test automation is a good thing. But we can't, and shouldn't, automate them all. Why then, ask people to "automate all tests"?
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Distributed Teams Can be Effective...Enough
Scrum, being an Agile approach to teamwork, emphasises team co-location. So why is Esther Derby, ScrumMaster, writing about distributed teams? They pose real communication challenges, but are a reality in many organisations adopting Agile, and Esther notes "you can't just hope that communication will work." In this article, she offers Five Tactics to Compensate for Distance on Distributed Teams.
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Should Architects Code? Agile Ones Do!
One of the "religous" issues within the architecture community is whether or not architects should code, at least this is still being debated within the traditional community. For agilists, the answer is a resounding YES.