the meaning of agile - software design & development...
TRANSCRIPT
The Meaning of Agile
@KevlinHenney [email protected]
Um. What's the name of the word for things not being the same always. You know, I'm sure there is one. Isn't there?
There's must be a word for it... the thing that lets you know time is happening. Is there a word?
Change.
Oh. I was afraid of that.
Neil Gaiman The Sandman
Scrum can't have it's cake and eat it too. It can't be a simple framework that
is not prescriptive and then start certifying people on how to do all this stuff.
Mike Cottmeyer
http://www.leadingagile.com/2010/02/having-your-cake-some-thoughts-around.html
nomic, noun & adjective
a game in which changing the rules of the game is a
legal move and part of the game
the original Nomic was invented by Peter Suber, but
the term is now generalised to describe any game that
has these properties
political constitutions, legal systems, software
development processes and many games that children
spontaneously evolve over an afternoon of play are
nomic in nature
http://facebook.com/WordFriday
Scrum works by making visible the dysfunction
and impediments that are impacting the Product
Owner and the team’s effectiveness, so that they
can be addressed.
The Scrum framework will quickly reveal these
weaknesses. Scrum does not solve the problems
of development; it makes them painfully visible,
and provides a framework for people to explore
ways to resolve problems in short cycles and with
small improvement experiments.
http://scrumprimer.com
Science is what we have learned
about how not to fool ourselves
about the way the world is.
Richard Feynman
empirical, adjective
based on, concerned with, or verifiable by
observation or experience rather than theory
or pure logic
pertaining to, or derived from, experience
capable of being verified or disproved by
observation or experiment
Concise Oxford English Dictionary ∙ Oxford English Dictionary ∙ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
The "defined" process control model
requires that every piece of work be
completely understood. Given a well-
defined set of inputs, the same
outputs are generated every time.
Ken Schwaber
Agile Software Development with Scrum
The empirical process control model,
on the other hand, expects the
unexpected. It provides and exercises
control through frequent inspection
and adaptation for processes that are
imperfectly defined and generate
unpredictable and unrepeatable
results.
Ken Schwaber
Agile Software Development with Scrum
Agile methods balance two things. One is the maximizing of value creation. The other thing is the maximizing of the chances of actually delivering something.
Niklas Bjørnerstedt http://www.leanway.no/?p=280
These two goals are sometimes in conflict!
Niklas Bjørnerstedt http://www.leanway.no/?p=280
Projects that dogmatically focus on stakeholder value are working on the right things but still risk failing completely.
Niklas Bjørnerstedt http://www.leanway.no/?p=280
The simple reason agile focuses on “working software” is that this is one of the primary ways of insuring that the system being worked on will actually work.
Niklas Bjørnerstedt http://www.leanway.no/?p=280
Technology
Unknown/ Unstable
Known/ Stable
Certain Uncertain
Requirements
Simple
Complicated
Chaotic
Complex
Let us examine [software's]
difficulties. Following Aristotle, I
divide them into essence — the
difficulties inherent in the nature
of software — and accidents —
those difficulties that today
attend its production but that
are not inherent.
How much of what software
engineers now do is still
devoted to the accidental, as
opposed to the essential?
Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.
The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
Firmitas
Utilitas
Venustas
Anyway, the point I'm making is that we need to be very careful. Just as they're doing with management consultants, sooner or later our customers will figure out that the management practices of Agile don't deliver working software any more than they can grill cheese or power an electric bicycle.
Jason Gorman, "We Emulate Management Consultants at Our Peril" http://www.codemanship.co.uk/parlezuml/blog/?postid=946
The business of software is software. We don't make bean bags and we don't sell ice cream, even if that's what will solve the customer's problems. We make working software. And the Manifesto for Agile Software Development is a manifesto for doing it better.
Jason Gorman, "We Emulate Management Consultants at Our Peril" http://www.codemanship.co.uk/parlezuml/blog/?postid=946
If you don't know how to make software, then I'm afraid you've boarded the wrong train, my friend. This train is going to Better Software. The train for Management Snake Oil leaves from a different platform. You can't miss it. It's made of invisible gold and it runs on magic beans.
Jason Gorman, "We Emulate Management Consultants at Our Peril" http://www.codemanship.co.uk/parlezuml/blog/?postid=946
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The four conditions that characterize wise crowds: diversity of opinion, independence, decentralization, and aggregation.
There's little correlation between a
group's collective intelligence and
the IQs of its individual members.
But if a group includes more
women, its collective intelligence
rises.
"What Makes a Team Smarter? More Women" http://hbr.org/2011/06/defend-your-research-what-makes-a-team-smarter-more-women/
Software development:
a social activity with
technical practices
Helen Sharp
agile, adjective
able to move quickly and easily
having the faculty of quick motion
easily moved
nimble, active, ready
having a quick resourceful and adaptable
character
Oxford English Dictionary ∙ Concise Oxford English Dictionary ∙ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary