Agile management promotes a project management process that encourages frequent inspection and adaptation, a leadership philosophy that encourages teamwork, self-organization and accountability, a set of best practices that allow for rapid delivery of high-quality products, and a business approach that aligns development with customer needs and company goals. It is related to extreme documentation and scrum methods.
#19666
A revolution is under way in software development, revolving around agile methodologies that allow more room for design changes based on input from customers during development. One popular agile methodology is eXtreme Programming (XP).
Nuckols, Carl E. Intercom (2003). Articles>Documentation>Agile>Extreme Documentation
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eXtreme Documentation and Design
What quicker way can there be to find out if something is teachable than to write up task-oriented documentation? And as things are built or changed, the documentation is updated. I often update the documentation before the code!
Ferlazzo, Ellen Lawson. Sprezzatura Systems (2002). Articles>Documentation>Agile>Extreme Documentation
#27586
Extreme Programming (or XP) is a popular software development process that encourages a return to the days of little or no documentation, Design After First Testing, and Constant Refactoring After Programming. Despite its popularity, not everyone thinks XP is a good idea.
Software Reality (2005). Articles>Collaboration>Agile>Extreme Documentation
#28597
Five Levels of Agile Planning: From Enterprise Product Vision to Team Stand-up 
Existing agile methods often focus on small, single-team projects and overlook the broader impact of large, multi-team and multi-year projects. This paper outlines a distinct planning framework that has been used successfully in large-scale agile software development projects and relies on five levels: product vision, product roadmap, release plan, sprint plan and daily commitment. Each of the five levels of planning addresses the fundamental planning principles: priorities, estimates and commitments. In this paper, the main agile principles are introduced, as well as the Lean principles upon which the agile methods are built. One of those Lean principles, Muri, or overburdening of people, is addressed through the extension of the agile planning process. The extension of the most used agile planning technique (iteration planning) is described in detail, both the motivation for the extension as well as the collaboration practices behind each planning level. In the final chapter, the impact of product complexities on the planning process is evaluated, and a solution to create a smooth flow in the planning/delivery cycle is presented.
Smits, Hubert. Rally Software Development (2007). Articles>Project Management>Agile
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The purpose of this presentation is to learn how to plan Agile projects from product vision all the way to daily stand-up and to feel the effect when 100 people prioritize, estimate and commit the plans for a major delivery.
Tabaka, Jean and Hubert Smits. Rally Software Development (2006). Presentations>Project Management>Agile
#28899
Four Factors of Agile User Experience
One of the most important aspects of the work of designers do on a project is their ability to explain their choices and the reasoning that led to given design solutions--both to their clients and to other member of a product team. Clear communication is vital to the smooth progress of a project, as even a single misunderstanding or communication glitch can lead to mistakes during implementation.
Mascaro, Luca. UXmatters (2007). Design>Web Design>Agile>User Experience
#28606
In this offbeat presentation, Jean compares the impediments and obstacles encountered by an Agile mentor with those detailed in Homer's classical reference. Through the presentation and dialogue, you will discover who plays which classical roles in an organization's effort to adopt Agile practices: Cyclops, the Sirens, Poseidon, Circe, Cicones, the Lotus-Eaters, and even the good-and-faithful dog Argus.
Tabaka, Jean. Rally Software Development (2006). Articles>Project Management>Agile
#27564
How to Manage Agile Development
This whitepaper provides an Agile development overview full of techniques, best practices and educational materials.
Leffingwell, Dean. Rally Software Development (2005). Careers>Management>Agile
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Introduction to Agile Methods and Practices
Rally's Hubert Smits provides a broad introduction to concepts of Agile software development and Agile methods. The talk is based on his experience as an Agile coach and Certified Scrum Master. Concepts that are known from waterfall or plan-driven development are transformed to an Agile perspective. Examples are release and iteration planning, progress reporting, meeting formats and scaling projects from 10 people teams to 300 people teams.
Smits, Hubert. Rally Software Development (2006). Presentations>Project Management>Agile
#27568
Introduction to Agile Methods and Practices
Provides a broad introduction to concepts of agile software development and agile methods. The talk is based on his experience as an agile coach and Certified Scrum Master.
Smits, Hubert. Rally Software Development (2005). Presentations>Management>Agile>Methods
#28728
Introduction to Agile Usability, User Experience Activities on Agile Development Projects: Part II
What would happen when usability community meets agile community? How to adopt usability practice by agilists?
Ambler, Scott W. uiGarden (2007). Articles>Usability>Agile
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Introduction to Scrum Practices
This tutorial brings Scrum to life by introducing Scrum principles, process, practices and roles in the form of an actual Sprint timebox. The prioritized, timeboxed topics are presented and delivered as arranged by the tutorial attendees.
Tabaka, Jean. Rally Software Development (2005). Presentations>Management>Agile>Scrum
#27560
Talks about real-world rewards and roadblocks we encounter at all levels of a business, and look at the new management and development processes we’re helping pilot, validate and roll out. For you, we hope this gives an insider’s view of the fundamental shifts taking place in software organizations that are trying to respond faster to their ever-changing understanding of user needs, evolving technologies and business demands.
#28602
This presentation provides a broad introduction to concepts of Agile software development and Agile methods. The talk is based on the speaker's experience as an Agile coach and Certified Scrum Master. Traditional concepts from waterfall or plan-driven development are transformed to an Agile perspective. Examples are release and iteration planning, progress reporting, meeting formats and scaling projects from 10 people teams to 300 people teams.
Smits, Hubert. Rally Software Development (2006). Presentations>Project Management>Agile
#28598
A Project Manager's Survival Guide to Going Agile
When software development project teams move to Agile methodologies, they often leave project managers behind. Traditionally trained project managers are confused as to what their new roles and responsibilities should be in an environment that no longer needs them to make stand-alone decisions. This paper focuses on re-defining the job of project manager to better fit the self-managed team environment, one of the core Agile principles. Special emphasis is placed on the shift to servant leadership, with its focus on facilitation and collaboration. Mapping of PMBOK knowledge areas to Agile practices is discussed at length. After reading this paper, project managers should have a better understanding of what changes they need to make professionally, and how to make these changes in order to survive the transition to an Agile software development approach.
Sliger, Michele. Rally Software Development (2007). Articles>Project Management>Agile
#28609
A Project Manager's Survival Guide to Going Agile
When software development project teams move to Agile methodologies, they often leave project managers behind. Traditionally trained project managers are confused as to what their new roles and responsibilities should be in an environment that no longer needs them to make stand-alone decisions. This presentation focuses on re-defining the job of project manager to better fit the self-managed team environment, one of the core Agile principles. Special emphasis is placed on the shift to servant leadership, with its focus on facilitation and collaboration. Mapping of PMBOK knowledge areas to Agile practices is discussed at length. After reading this paper, project managers should have a better understanding of what changes they need to make professionally, and how to make these changes in order to survive the transition to an Agile software development approach.
Sliger, Michele. Rally Software Development (2006). Presentations>Project Management>Agile
#27562
A Project Manager's Survival Guide to Going Agile
This paper focuses on re-defining the job of project manager to better fit the self-managed team environment, one of the core agile principles. Special emphasis is placed on the shift to servant leadership, with its focus on facilitation and collaboration. Mapping of PMBOK knowledge areas to agile practices is discussed at length. After reading this paper, project managers should have a better understanding of what changes they need to make professionally, and how to make these changes in order to survive the transition to an agile software development approach.
Sliger, Michele. Rally Software Development (2005). Careers>Project Management>Agile>Collaboration
#27253
Relating PMBOK Practices to Agile Practices
Michele Sliger understands the turmoil traditional project management practitioners go through as they make the transition from plan-driven approaches to the newer agile methodologies. This week, she offers more insight as she continues her four-part series on relating Project Management Institute (PMI) best practices--as identified in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)--to agile practices. In this column, Michele discusses scope management and time management.
Sliger, Michele. StickyMinds (2006). Careers>Project Management>Agile
#27608
Single Source Information: An Agile Practice for Effective Documentation
In agile software development you want to travel as light as possible, and the easiest way to do that is to choose the best artifact to record information. I use the term 'artifact' to refer to any model, document, source code, plan, and so on created during a software development project. Furthermore, you want to record information as few times as possible, ideally only once. For example, if you describe a business rule in a use case, then describe it in detail in a business rule specification, then implement it in code, you have three versions of the same business rule to maintain. It would be far better to record the business rule once, ideally as human-readable but implementable code, and then reference it from any other artifact as appropriate.
Ambler, Scott W. Agile Modeling (2006). Articles>Documentation>Single Sourcing>Agile
#28608
Stop Super-Sizing Your Release Plans
As Agile development teams gain success, the team's bottleneck moves up the food chain to product owners. To support rapid and iterative progress, development teams are demanding that product owners switch from traditional approaches of super-sizing long release cycles to a continuous flow of independent, negotiable and small, bite-sized morsels.
Martens, Ryan. Rally Software Development (2006). Presentations>Project Management>Agile
#27565
Stop Super-sizing Your Release Plans
In this presentation Ryan Martens and Luke Hohmann describe and show product owners how to think in terms of small, evenly spaced meals. They will introduce Agile principles, processes, tools and organizational structures that enable product owners to support their Agile development team's need for continuous, just-in-time elaboration of requirements and acceptance tests.
Martens, Ryan. Rally Software Development (2005). Presentations>Project Management>Agile
#28601
Successfully Managing Agile Projects in the Waterfall Enterprise
Agile and waterfall methods are utterly different—from the way projects start to the expected deliverables and release schedules. In a waterfall world, what's an IT enterprise to do? Can agile and waterfall methodologies successfully coexist? The answer is yes, for both the short-term and the long-term. In this presentation, Michele Sliger outlines how to: factor your company's business needs into existing agile processes, streamline requirements and activities and identify specific points where agile and waterfall teams must plan, coordinate, and review progress. Learn how you can make agile processes work in the real-world.
Sliger, Michele. Rally Software Development (2007). Articles>Project Management>Agile
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Tactical Management of Agile Development: Achieving Competitive Advantage
This whitepaper provides an Agile development overview full of techniques, best practices and educational materials.
Leffingwell, Dean. Rally Software Development (2007). Articles>Project Management>Agile
#27604
The TAGRI (They Aren't Gonna Read It) Principle
The basic idea is that very little of the documentation which gets created during software development actually gets read by the actual target audience. This article explains the problem and presents advice for addressing it.
Ambler, Scott W. Agile Modeling (2006). Articles>Documentation>Agile>Extreme Documentation
#28603
A Tale of Two Technical Writing Teams
Sometimes considered an afterthought in the product development lifecycle, technical writers often struggle to become part of a performing Agile team.
Broderick, Stacia. Rally Software Development (2007). Articles>Project Management>Agile>Technical Writing
