Change is a reality of our businesses and our customer’s businesses. Without change, there would be no need to purchase new software. Yet many teams seem to both resist and embrace change at the same time. They embrace change because change leads to demand for new software products. And they […]
Is Agile Bad For Software Development?
Last week, Ivan Chalif, a product manager / blogger, tapped into a thread criticising product managers for not adopting and espousing agile, or at least rapid-release techniques. In this article we look at Ivan’s comments and one of the articles that he referenced. We also share our own perspective and an alternative analysis of what may have happened.
Ten Common Mistakes of Going Agile
This concludes and summarizes our winter-holiday series on the 10 common mistakes of going agile. The ten mistakes that Levent Gurses identified in the Dec 2006 edition of Dr. Dobb’s journal. Here are links to the ten previous articles, and a summary of the mistakes.
Going Agile, 10 Mistakes: Make Agile the New Religion
Don’t over-hype the approach. Don’t be one-dimensional in your message. You will lose credibility. And if you over-promise, you risk making agile the scapegoat.
Going Agile, 10 Mistakes: Choose Key People Poorly
Agile projects succeed or fail largely on the strength of the team. Don’t pick people based on experience or cost. The former is backward-looking and the latter is unrelated (or inversely related) to potential. Make staffing decisions based upon the likelihood of the team succeeding.
Going Agile, 10 Mistakes: Trash Computer-Based Tools
In short, this mistake is the mistake of not documenting. Computers make documentation tasks easier. Don’t discard them as “overhead.â€
Going Agile, 10 Mistakes: Overdo the Team Room
If everyone is forced to sit in the same room too early, then some people will be underutilized. At the start of a project, not everyone can start working – there is some up-front planning that has to happen before getting started.
Going Agile, 10 Mistakes: Don’t Create a Project Plan
After doing the ‘prep work’ for the project, you are ready to begin. When “the boss†asks for a project plan, tell him to wait 6 weeks.
Going Agile, 10 Mistakes: Fail To Define Roles
We have to define the roles and responsibilities of each person within the team. This helps both with execution and communication (to people outside the team).