InfoQ Homepage Planning Content on InfoQ
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Working with Mingle
InfoQ had some time with Mingle project engineer Jay Wallace, to use ThoughtWorks' much anticipated Mingle software and demonstrate to us how it differentiates itself from other products by being a truly agile project management tool.
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Incremental Software Development without Iterations
David Anderson described how his team is using a kanban system for their sustaining engineering (maintenance and bug fixing) activities. Iterations have been dropped although software is still released every two weeks. Work is scheduled, monitored, and run via a "kanban board" and daily stand-up meetings.
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Aligning Agile with Enterprise Goals
Agile methods have achieved a level of success and respect within development teams, but it is not always easy to extend these methods beyond the development team. In Investing in Agile: Aligning Agile with Enterprise Goals, Dan Murphy and Dave Rooney stated that IT project management has evolved with agile methods, but that the enterprise hasn't followed suit.
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The Dire Consequences of Fixed Price Projects
In a recent newsletter, Scott Ambler looked at why fixed price projects tend to overrun and often fail to solve the business problems they set out to conquer. Scott named the key problems in fixed price projects, identified the bad habits they encourage for customers and developers, and ended with a call to revisit how we fund our IT projects, offering an alternative.
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An SOA and Agile Discussion
SOA aims at making the entire enterprise agile by using services as the building blocks for applications. Agile software development aims at making organizations agile by introducing practices that increase communication and feedback. This article brought up a few points of agreement and disagreement between the two techniques and readers have started discussion their points of view.
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Target Process Agile PM Tools v2.3 Released
The TargetProcess planning and tracking toolset is evolving quickly. Since release 2.0, they have added Test Cases bound to User Stories and Test Plans, Subversion Integration for requirement-to-source code and defect-to-source code visibility, People Allocation Management and a public Web Services API, making v2.3 a more attractive solution for large Agile shops.
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Fun: Planning your Life with Index Cards
We've all heard the apocryphal stories: "I planned my reno, move, wedding..." using Scrum. Mike Mason of Thoughtworks admitted on his blog: "this whole Agile thing has messed me right up", and shared a picture of his own personal taskboard.
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Predictions: The Changing World of IT Work
In a recent Datamation article, James Maguire noted the challenge of staying employed in an environment in which the rules are continually rewritten. He spoke with Gartner analyst Diane Morello for 5 predictions for those of us thinking about career directions over the next five years.
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Agile Planning Reduces Stress for Business and Developers
In The Freedom of Limited Capacity, Agile coach Mishkin Berteig wrote about what happened when he used Agile planning practices on his own business. By making his long work queue visible, he now had a better way to grapple with reality. Paradoxically, he also experienced a reduction in his stress level - in spite of his very visible backlog! The same effect has been observed on Agile teams.
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InfoQ Article: Reflecting on Success: Good Agile Karma
Agile relies heavily on discipline, rather than genius. We're told that average teams, even in the early stages, can achieve dramatic performance improvement if they are disciplined. As we do these things, the effects of our words and actions actively create, and re-create over time, the environment in which our teams and projects operate - for good or ill.
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AgileTrack: New Agile Project Tracking Toolset Released
After a year of beta testing, AgileTrack Software released AgileTrack 1.0.0 last week, a software development and project management tool that allows programmers to apply agile development techniques in their projects. Interesting features include: web services for 3rd party integration and collaboration facilities built into client for sharing team knowledge.
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ScrumWorks Pro Announced
Danube Technologies this week announced the release of ScrumWorks Pro, an enhanced, commercially supported version of their free ScrumWorks product, created specifically to support the overwhelming customer requests for new features and professional support. The product provides support for business-value driven decision making.
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VersionOne Agile Enterprise Toolset v6.4 Released
VersionOne, provider of Web-based lifecycle planning and management applications, launched their V1: Agile Enterprise toolset in July, and follows up this month with release 6.4 which includes new features for improved customization, integration, and simplified planning.
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InfoQ Interview: Ron Jeffries on Running, Tested Features
At Agile2006, Ron Jeffries told InfoQ that tracking "Running Tested Features" is the essential element of Agility, from which all other practices and activities necessarily follow. Ron who took to the whiteboard to explain how RTF benefits customers, by helping helps teams deliver consistently and reliably.
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Responding to Urgent Requests
In his article "How Two Hours Can Waste Two Weeks," Dmitri Zimine describes the costs associated with changing development priorities after the beginning of an iteration. Joel Spolsky took issue with Dmitri's comments, which in turn were defended and elaborated on by Mishkin Berteig.