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  • Migrating Struts Apps to Struts 2

    Struts committer Ian Roughely explains, from the perspective of a Struts developer, the high level architecture, basic request workflow, configuration semantics and differences in the action framework in the new Struts 2 (formerly WebWork). Armed with this knowledge, migrating an application of any size from Struts to Struts 2 should be simplified.

  • Book Excerpt: Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash

    In 2003 Mary and Tom Poppendieck adapted the revolutionary principles of Lean manufacturing for software development. Their new book offers a blend of history, theory, and practice, drawing on their experience optimizing the software "value stream". They present the right questions to ask, the key issues to focus on, and techniques proven to work for those implementing a lean software process.

  • Agile Alliance Survey: Are We There Yet?

    Diana Larsen, a member of the Agile Alliance Board of Directors, leads a lot of retrospectives... So, it's not surprising that, when she asked herself "Where is Agile going now?" her response was to run a retrospective of her own. She circulated a survey to the other Agile Alliance board members, and has compiled a picture of the trends they're seeing in the Agile world.

  • Agile Business Rules

    James Taylor looks at the challenge that arises when the new requirements are not really requirements at all, but new or changed business rules. Aren't business rules the same as requirements? Taylor says: no, not really; and looks at how to make an agile development processes work just as well for business rules as they do for other kinds of requirements.

  • From Java to Ruby: Risk

    "Ruby is risky" is a common perception. As Ruby on Rails moves closer to the mainstream, that risk will decrease. In this article, Bruce Tate examines the changing risk profiles for Java and Ruby from a managers perspective, examining Java's initial adoption and also common risk myths about Rails.

  • Interview: Jim Johnson of the Standish Group

    Jim Johnson, founder and chairman of the Standish Group, took time out from his vacation to talk with InfoQ editor Deborah Hartmann about his research, and the role of Agile in changing the IT industry. Johnson is best known for creating the CHAOS Chronicles: 12 years of independent research on project performance, including data on over 50,000 completed IT projects.

  • Book Excerpt: Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great

    Project retrospectives help teams examine what went right and what went wrong on a project. Traditionally held at the end of a project, they're actually too late to help - no wonder we call them "post-mortems". Agile teams need retrospectives that are iterative and incremental, to find problems and design solutions to help teams improve early on, when improvement yields the most benefit.

  • Why Would a .NET Programmer Learn Ruby on Rails?

    .NET developer Stephen Chu gives us some insight into his transition to Ruby on Rails programming. Quote: "By being loyal to one technology stack, I am bound to unconsciously make biased decisions, which will ultimately hinder my ability to deliver business value."

  • Executive summary - An Adaptive Performance Management System

    Traditional thinking has turned budgets into fixed performance contracts forcing managers at all levels to commit to specified financial outcomes, although many of the underlying variables are beyond their control. In this Cutter Executive Summary, Jim Highsmith offers an alternative for the adaptive organization: a project performance management system and a team performance management system.

  • Using Logging Seams for Legacy Code Unit Testing

    Using logging seams you can easily create unobtrusive unit tests around legacy classes, without needing to edit class logic as well as avoiding behavior changes.

  • Agile: The SOA Hangover Cure

    Author Carl Ververs who is an expert on SOA Integration and Distributed Systems writes about the application of "Agile" development philosophies that ensures that organizations can overcome architectural paralysis and get moving on those important SOA projects, while at the same time ensuring that the architecture is sufficiently flexible and adaptable for future growth.

  • From Java to Ruby: Strategies for Pilots

    The Ruby on Rails revolution has been led by developers. Convincing management takes another kind of persuasion. A manager needs to understand the risks of adopting Ruby, the risks of snubbing mainstream languages like Java--even for one project--and the overall technical landscape of Ruby's capabilities.

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