Breaking With Tradition

Though the term 'agile' isn't often ascribed to the ways of software configuration management, Steve Berczuk offers some ways in which applying the principles of agile SCM can help teams work more effectively.

Berczuk, Steve. StickyMinds (2006). Careers>Project Management>Agile

Careen-Stable

As an agile coach, I get the opportunity to facilitate many teams’ first iteration planning meeting. Now these meetings do start out like typical meetings, with everyone sitting around a table and one person talking. But as the meeting progresses and discussions begin around the work, it can begin to look like chaos to an outsider. What I didn’t realize however, until recently, was that it can also look like chaos to some of the insiders as well!

Sliger, Michele. On Becoming Agile (2006). Careers>Management>Agile

CIO's Playbook for Adopting the Scrum Method of Achieving Software Agility  

The authors of this whitepaper have helped many hundreds of teams adopt Scrum. Here they share how CIOs can implement Scrum on an organization-wide basis - the challenges they will face as well as the rewards - and provides a playbook for adopting Scrum in enterprises where software, and lots of it, is the key to competitive success in the marketplace.

Leffingwell, Dean and Hubert Smits. Rally Software Development (2005). Careers>Management>Agile>Scrum

The Daily Stand-Up

The first and most basic rhythm of the Agile feedback cycle is the daily standup. It's just what it sounds like - a daily meeting where everyone stands up for the duration of the meeting. When I give Agile workshops, one of the questions I'm often asked is how to do daily standups when the teams are geographically dispersed. While this can be a challenge to coordinate and maintain, you'll soon find that the benefits of the daily communication make it well worth the effort. Here are several options to consider with your team:

Sliger, Michele. Rally Software Development (2005). Careers>Project Management>Agile>Collaboration

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

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

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