Technical Debt via Martin Fowler, via Steve McConnell YAGNI (You Ain't Gonna Need It) via Wikipedia BDUF (Big Design Up Front) via Wikipedia UPDATE: To clarify the question, I think I can also state it this way and keep my meaning: "In what ways do you, as an Agile practioner, find the right balance between "quick and dirty" (uninten...
It feels like an artifacts of an earlier days, but UML sure does have its use. However, agile processes like Extreme Programming advocates "embracing changes", does that also means I should make less documents and UML models as well? Since they gives the impression of setting something in stone. Where does UML belongs in an Agile develo...
I've been doing scrum with a team for a while, but things seem messy for whatever reasons. I've been thinking on how they can be changed and have a couple of questions that would like to raise here. First, what should be the role of testers, designers and non-developers as a whole in the scrum process? If they are equal to other team mem...
I find that for most software projects, documentation is often oriented towards the process of development the software, rather than supporting and maintaining it. This is particularly true when using agile methodologies, which emphasize minimalistic documentation. The issue with development-oriented documentation is that it tends to be...
What code review policy you could recommend as the best for project you're managing? ...
What kind of documentation you'd recommend to support for Agile project? What are the core metrics you use to detect amount of documentation needed? Do you think you can store all of project info as TFS work items? ...
My work place is very archaic when it comes to software development. Essentially all projects are forced to use a waterfall approach requiring immense paperwork. I've always been a fan of agile development and recently was approach by my manager asking for me to help him put together a proposal to some of the managers/directors to try ...
Multi-tasking is shown to be at least 15% less productive than dedicating people to a project (from Mythical Man Month), however in some cases it seems unavoidable. Part of the agile way is to build trust with your customer/team by delivering on time and rarely blowing your iteration schedules. This is difficult when multiple project...
I'm trying to learn Agile Software Development principles in a hurry and don't have time to wait for a book to arrive. What would you recommend as the best free online tutorial on Agile Development methodology? Edit: I agree with the answers that learning things in a hurry is not the way to go about it but as one poster guessed, I'm tr...
The classic descriptions of agile development have releasable code at the end of an iteration. If there is further testing and validation that has to happen to create a releasable product, how do you integrate that into the process? ...
As developers and as professional engineers have you been exposed to the tenants of Extreme Programming as defined in the "version 1" by Kent Beck. Which of those 12 core principles do you feel you have been either allowed to practice or at least be a part of in your current job or others? * Pair programming[5] * Planning game * Test dr...
Over the summer, I was fortunate enough to get into Google Summer of Code. I learned a lot (probably more than I've learned in the sum of all my university coursework). I'm really wondering why they don't teach a few of the things I learned sooner in school though. To name a few: unit testing version control agile development It s...
I have mixed feelings about TDD. While I believe in testing I have a issues with the idea of the test driving my development effort. When you code to satisfy some tests written for an interface for requirements you have right now, you might shift your focus from building maintainable code, from clean design and from sound architecture. ...
So I have a backlog of features and we are about to get started on a sizable project. I am working on defining the structure of our sprints and I'm interested in the communities feedback. What I'm thinking is: One day sprint planning Fill the backlog and figure out what each dev will go after this sprint Three weeks of development ...
The Agile Manifesto emphasizes the importance and nature of communication in the software development process. Two of the twelve principles underscore this: Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team i...
What is the best resource for learning Scrum? ...
My company is using waterfall methodologies for software development. I want to convince the senior management about the advantages of agile practices. Which would be the most selling points about the benefits of agile development methodologies and practices? ...
I think that Scrum Master role is not a full time job for most mature scrum teams. A team that is running together for a few month can be fine with a Scrum Master that is also a team member since they know and understand the methodology and most of their concerns/questions were answered. Even at Jeff Sutherland's company, Patient Keepe...
We have been using Scrum for around 9 months and it has largely been successful. However our burndown charts rarely look like the 'model' charts, instead resembling more of a terrifying rollercoaster ride with some vomit inducing climbs and drops. To try and combat this we are spending more time before the sprint prototyping and designi...
I've been applying agile for a few months now on my project. However we are seeing a steady problem with our iteration burndowns. We aren't hitting zero each iteration. The tasks remaining are QA tasks. Things like writing tests, testing, etc. Now, there is some organizational resistance to the "cross-functional team" idea of agile....