InfoQ Homepage Methodologies Content on InfoQ
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Kanban as Alternative Agile Implementation
Kanban systems for software, derived from the Toyota Production System, are an iterationless approach for scheduling work. Instead of using a time boxed iteration and planning meeting, the pulls stories from the backlog only when it has completed its previous work. Dave Nicolette thinks that its important to expand our repertoire beyond the basics become familiar with other tools like Kanban.
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Article: No Silver Bullet Reloaded Retrospective OOPSLA Panel Summary
It has been more than 20 years since Mythical Man-Month, author Fred Brooks, published the article No Silver Bullet: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering. At OOPSLA 2007, a retrospective discussion panel was held on Fred Brooks' article which included Martin Fowler, Fred Brookes, and others. The panel was perhaps one of the most notable events in our industry in years.
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What is Sprint Zero? Why was it Introduced?
Some teams use a Sprint 0 to prepare their product backlog, the infrastructure (development environment, CI server), ... .Is this part of Scrum? Is it useful?
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Fowler: Agile Vs. Lean Misses the Point
In a recent blog post, Martin Fowler explains how the question "Should I use Lean software development instead of Agile?" is based on a false premise. Agile and lean are so deeply interwoven that if you are doing agile you are doing lean, and vice-versa. Those considering process change will likely find the description of the interrelatedness interesting and enlightening.
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Can ITIL and SOA complement each other?
Despite similarities in approach and goals, ITIL and SOA remain separate initiatives within modern IT organization. Is it the result of the chasm between operations and development organizations? can this chasm be bridged? and can these initiatives help each other to achieve the vision of continuous improvements?
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I.T. SOA vs Business SOA?
In a recent blog post Jeff Schneider talks about I.T. SOA and Business SOA, terms that he hears from the likes of IBM and SAP, who now assume that I.T. SOA is in well ensconced with their customers. Jeff believes that this is a good move and industry should concentrate on making a success of Business SOA if users are to really see success from adopting SOA.
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Scrum-ban Paper Adds Kanban to Scrum
Corey Ladas has written an interesting paper titled "Scrum-ban" in which he describes how a Scrum team might introduce the lean practice of kanban. He goes on to describe an evolutionary process, which if taken far enough, replaces most of Scrum. Even for those who don't want to scrap Scrum and go lean, the paper provides a useful view into what kanban is and how it can augment Scrum.
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The Industrialization of Software Delivery
IT has consistently failed to deliver expected value time and time again. According to Ian Thomas, Industrialization (componentization, specialization) may be a solution for supporting software agility and reliability in the new business environment.
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Presentation: Lessons Learned from Architecture Reviews
In this presentation, Rebecca Wirfs-Brock presents some practical lessons she has learned from doing architectural reviews. Many times projects are not delivered in time, or have quality problems or have an incomplete set of features due to architectural flaws. The reviews are meant to highlight existing risks and strengths of the architecture, and to reveal issues initially neglected.
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Agile Coaches Attend First AgileCoachCamp
An Agile Coach is someone who helps a team, or an entire organization, adopt and improve their agile practices. AgileCoachCamp, held this spring in Ann Arbor Michigan, was the first ever conference specifically for agile coaches. The participants, who came from as far away as India, Sweden, and Ukraine, self-organized to put on more than 60 sessions during the open space conference.
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An Introduction to Lean Thinking
Lean software development, which we hear a lot about these days, may be still a bit of a mystery for people who come to Agile via Scrum or XP. Earlier this year, at an Open Party was sponsored by InfoQ China, Ning Lu of ThoughtWorks China offered an introduction to Lean thinking, and said the biggest obstacle to Lean thinking can be the manufacturing mindset.
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The Personal Retrospective – Improving Your "Wetware"
Andy Hunt's interview last month talks about his progression from pragmatic programmer to Agile development to his latest interest – Pragmatic Wetware. "Wetware is the stuff in your head. That's the thing between your ears that's really where all the action is – that's where all the software development actually takes place."
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Opinion: When Designing Your SOA - Taste is Everything
Dan Creswell claims that "taste is everything" when it comes to putting together the pieces that make a good SOA. Dan says that picking the technology stack for distributed services, how you layer the service "units", etc, are a matter of taste as well as consideration of a number of guidelines, as opposed to just taking a cookie cutter approach to SOA as some seem to claim is possible.
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Introducing the ALT.NET Podcast
InfoQ learned about a new podcast recently called the ALT.NET Podcast. This podcast focusing on the community of developers brought together who represent what is ALT.NET. Folks should remember the ALT.NET term coined by David Laribee.
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Don't Worry About Scaling Scrum
Most Scrum adopters have their first doubt in terms of its scalability. Tobias Mayer suggests that before looking into quick solutions for complex problems, adopters should focus on understanding the principles of Scrum. Once the foundation is correctly laid, Scrum will take care of scaling itself.