InfoQ Homepage Culture & Methods Content on InfoQ
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Contracts for Agile Software Development
While the Agile Manifesto says "Customer collaboration over contract negotiation", contracts are a reality for many developers and firms. Peter Stevens has analyzed 10 different types of development contracts, shedding light on how well each style fits an agile project. He has uncovered a couple that seem to fit much better than either fixed-price or time-and-materials.
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SOA Meets Formal Methods
In a recent blog post Steve Ross-Talbot, one of the main authors of the WS-CDL specification, discusses how he has been using a CDL-based methodology in insurance services and seen an 80% reducing in time to develop and deploy SOA successfully.
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Scrum Alliance Asks User Group to Sign Licensing Agreement
Today a Scrum User Group closed shop, in response to a Scrum Alliance request "to sign ... a licensing document for a logo they created for Orlando Scrum users group." Community reaction varies widely. Despite clarification from the SA's managing director, it is unclear what, if anything, this trademark application will mean for existing groups.
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SQL Enlight T-SQL Analyzer
SQL Enlight is a tool designed to expedite and facilitate T-SQL development through code analysis and templating. SQL Enlight integrates into MS Visual Studio and SQL Management Studio.
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Article: Using SketchFlow to Create Better Prototypes
Simon Guest of Microsoft introduces SketchFlow by discussing why prototyping is an important developer skill and how a tool can enhance developer-customer interaction. The functionality and features of SketchFlow are presented in the context of an ongoing sample application (an on-line store).
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What Software are Other Geeks Using?
Wakoopa, a new start-up based in Amsterdam, Holland, has created a new social network aimed at discovering and sharing what applications people are using. While its user base is relatively small and geek oriented, the network provides useful insight on software usage with a social twist.
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Presentation: Agility - Possibilities at a Personal Level
Linda Rising talks about the industrial revolution, caffeine, agility and happiness at QCon 2008 in San Francisco: Some observers of historical trends have suggested that the Industrial Revolution could not have happened without coffee and tea. Control of working and waking is what the Industrial Age was all about. Is it time for a truly agile approach to how we work and live our lives?
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Dedicated Tester on an Agile Team
The need for dedicated testers on an Agile team has been long discussed and debated. In many Agile teams dedicated testers play a pivotal role where as in others developers double up as testers. A recent discussion on the Scrum Development group tries to revisit the need for having a dedicated tester on the team.
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Scott Ambler Revisits Agile Process Maturity Models
Scott Ambler, who once wrote 'Has Hell Frozen Over? An Agile Maturity Model?', has started writing about something that he is calling the Agile Process Maturity Model. The discussion around Scott's model has uncovered another model by the same name, and renewed the debate over the usefulness of a maturity model for agile.
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Presentation: Teamwork Is An Individual Skill
Knowing how to get things done with others over whom you have no control may be your greatest lever for career success. Learn key strategies and agile team applications from 20 years of field studies on getting things with others. Apply the Responsibility Redefined™ framework to orient, work in, build, lead, and maintain teams, partnerships, and collaborations of any kind.
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What does Quality Mean?
Is quality supposed to mean a lack of defects that are holding us back? Mike Bria, Lisa Crispin, James Bach and JB Rainsberger debate the meaning of quality and the limitations our current definition is placing on us.
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The Future of ParseTree
The current Ruby 1.9.1 doesn't have the required features to allow ParseTree's runtime features to work - which means some libraries that depend on those features won't work. Examples are Merb's action arguments or heckle. We take a look at the state of ParseTree - and how ruby_parser is a possible way out.
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Do Stand-ups Stand Up for Larger Teams?
The daily stand-up meeting helps the team members make a commitment to each other about what they aim to achieve in the day and identify obstacles to progress, if any. However, many Agilists believe that the conventional stand-ups break down quickly as the team size increases.
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GitHub Announces Issue Tracker and New API
GitHub now also offers an issue tracker, integrated with their Git repository hosting. The issue tracker is also accessible through their new API 2.
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Virtual Panel: Is the Backlog a Vital Artifact and Practice or Waste?
Mary Poppendieck, Ron Jeffries, Jeff Patton, David West, Steve Freeman, and Jason Yip give us their take on backlogs and their importance to successful Agile teams.