InfoQ Homepage Culture & Methods Content on InfoQ
-
Agile Beyond Software
Agile is gaining traction outside of the traditional IT work that it is commonly associated with. Change is happening faster in technology and business, and the empirical approach is becoming more and more accepted as a productive way to manage change and respond to it.
-
Eclipse and Java 6u21 problems
Oracle recently released Java 6 update 21 which had a small but innocuous change in the way that the java.dll was created. Unfortunately, this change impacted Eclipse's startup; but a fix is on the way.
-
Managing the Agile Team Environment
It is a well known fact that people leave managers, not organizations. Though, Agile teams are known to have camaraderie amongst team members, however the relationship of the manager with the team members and the organizational ecosystem as a whole holds the key to being an successful Agile manager.
-
Cius, Exadata, Itasca: more than a platform
The Cius tablet PC from Cisco and the Exadata machine from Oracle-Sun involve more than the simple introduction of a new enterprise technology - they also indicate a possible new (or accelerating) trend away from selling general purpose platforms and towards tightly integrated application systems.
-
Polymath: a new IT job description
Is "polymath" a required job skill for IT professionals? The rise of cloud computing, "green" computing, ultra-large scale systems, and even SOA and SaaS suggest the answer is yes. A book by Vinnie Mirchandani has prompted a flurry of commentary on what it would mean to be an IT Polymath and why such a skill is desirable.
-
Scrum In Schools
Scrum is gaining traction outside of information technology. The Scrum in Schools project is a grassroots effort to bring a free, age-appropriate Scrum curriculum to educators throughout the world.
-
Testing Techniques for Applications With Zero Tests
Agile techniques recommend having adequate unit and acceptance tests to build a robust test harness around the application. However, in the real world, not all applications are fortunate enough to have a test harness. In an interesting discussion on the Agile Testing group, members suggested ways to test applications which do not have any automated tests.
-
Learning from the creative industries - consistency to build trust
This is the first in a series of discussions looking at factors that enable teams to be successful. This post reports on a recent Wired magazine article that looks at the creative process in use at Pixar Animation Studios and how their process encourages team formation, long-term relationships and trust in a “safe to fail” environment.
-
The "Oath of Non-Allegiance"
The Agile community of full of smart people, smart ideas, opinions, positions-- and differences. Substantial differences can lead to learning, but more often than not, differences can lead directly into heated conflict. Now an original signatory of the Agile Manifesto is offering an all-new declaration-- the 'Oath of Non-Allegiance'.
-
Do Story Points Relate to Complexity or Time?
Many Agile teams use the terms Story points and Complexity points interchangeably. Agile teams believe that they are better than hours just because they are based on complexity and relative size. Mike Cohn suggested that it is wrong to use story points to depict the complexity of developing a feature, they are all about the effort.
-
Open Space Technology Goes Mainstream
Just a few short years ago, "open space" and similiar formats like the "un-conference" and "bar camp" were considered edgy-- and mostly unknown to the average person attending technology conferences. All that has changed. Open space events are now commonplace, and the most progressive companies-- and some companies in a crisis-- are using Open Space for direction-setting and decision-making.
-
Remote Customer, Remote Developers and a Project in Crisis
Though collocation is one of the prime recommendations of Agile, more and more projects are executed in a manner in which the teams are distributed. Safari Asad started an interesting discussion on the Scrum Development group to discuss about a project in crisis, which not only had a remote customer but also had remote developers.
-
Computing Careers: the future is bright
Contrary to myth, the number of computing career opportunities in the US is increasing - far exceeding the supply. An indirect result of the imbalance is rising salaries in the IT field. This news article summarizes a report done by Joel Adams, a professor at Calvin College in Michigan.
-
Visualize First. Build Later.
A Computerworld article and webinar announcement, both featuring the use of iRise, to visually capture business application requirements calls attention to this growing product segment.
-
What does it mean to be Agile - survey results
The Agile Manifesto was written almost ten years ago in February of 2001. Since then the environment has continued to change and thousands of people across the world have tried to apply the twelve agile principles to their daily work life. Laurie Williams has been conducting research to understand how well the Agile Principles have stood the test of time and use? She discusses some early results.