Agile Project Management

Cutting-edge Agile methodologies, software development techniques and project management practices.

Time to rethink software engineering? Tom DeMarco thinks it could be

Kim Leonard | Jul 21, 2009 2 Responses

Jul 212009

Cutter Fellow Tom DeMarco‘s IEEE Software Computing Now magazine editorial Software Engineering: An Idea Whose Time Has Come and Gone? has caused quite a stir. Tom’s article has spread like wildfire through the Twitterverse (beginning with @yourdon), and has inspired many surprised (and insightful) blog posts. Johannes Ernst finds Tom’s statement that he’s “gradually coming to the conclusion that software engineering is an idea whose time has come and gone” as shocking as “the pope declaring that perhaps god doesn’t exist.” Coding Horror‘s Jeff Atwood went further, stating “If your head just exploded, don’t be alarmed. Mine did too.” In the piece, Tom re-evaluates his trademark focus on metrics and control (including his oft-quoted “You …

Agile Roots–Complex Adaptive Systems Theory

Jim Highsmith | Jul 20, 2009 6 Responses

Jul 202009

Every so often I like to revisit some of the threads of thought that wove themselves into the agile movement. One of these is Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) theory which could be considered a science of adaptation. CAS concepts, found in several agile methods, are an important backdrop to many agile principles and practices. As quantum physics changed our notions of predictability and Darwin changed our perspective on evolution, complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory reshaped scientific and management thinking. In an era of rapid change, we need better ways of making sense of the world around us. Former Visa International CEO Dee Hock drew on CAS when he coined the word “chaordic” to describe both …

Knowledge Sharing and Documentation

Jim Highsmith | Jul 7, 2009 3 Responses

Jul 072009

I recently had an MRI on my knee. The report was full of words like joint effusion, medial patellar plica, acute medullary bone contusions, and medial femoral condyle. While my doctor could easily read and interpret the report for me, my attempts to understand the report were doomed. This, in part, underlies the problem with documentation–the difference between context and content. Documentation can provide content, but understanding the context requires domain expertise. Knowledge sharing and documentation are definitely issues when scaling agile. Documentation isn’t the issue, understanding is. Do the developers understand what the customers want? Do the customers understand what the developers are building? Do testers understand what the developers intended to build? Do …

New and Improved — Who Says?

Claude Baudoin | Jul 6, 2009 2 Responses

Jul 062009

My alumni association did it to me again today. They sent a very nicely worded message, to me and thousands of others, saying that they are retiring their social networking website… but not to worry, a much better one is coming up soon. Some of our information, such as profiles, will be transferred, but other information, such as past message threads, will not. I am also on the Board of one of the alumni clubs, with about 1500 members, and I manage the membership list. The same alumni association offers “tools” for people like me to manage mailing lists, dues payments, etc. That would be nice, except that these tools do not do what we …

Bob Fischer Joins Our Team

Anne Mullaney | Feb 24, 2009 No Responses

Feb 242009

Bob Fischer is the newest addition to our Agile Product & Project Management team. Bob is an Agile trainer, coach, facilitator, and change agent. He has amazing expertise in the cultural change required to deploy Agile at an enterprise level. Most recently, Bob was a VP at Fidelity Investments, where he was responsible for deploying Agile to more than 400 people. Bob was an organization-wide catalyst at Fidelity, helping to broaden the deployment of Agile across the large organization. His campaign for cultural change included getting agreement between the business unit president, CIO, CFO, and the head of product development on a common strategy for deploying Agile. (Agile was cited as the key reason why …

A little bit about Cutter’s Summit 2009 program

Anne Mullaney | Feb 3, 2009 No Responses

Feb 032009

Since we started putting out the word on Cutter’s annual Summit before the program was 100% final, I’ve received several emails asking about what else is on tap. We’ve got a packed program already, and we’re still squeezing more in! Again this year, there’s nothing “theoretical” about any of the sessions at the Summit. Every keynote, case study, seminar and roundtable discussion is focused on the reality of dealing with the front-burner issues right now (with right now meaning May 4-6). Here are just a few of the highlights: Steve Andriole’s keynote, The 5 Essential Habits of Appropriately Paranoid Business Technology Strategists is sure to raise some eyebrows. Maybe even tempers. If you’ve read any …

Welcome Israel Gat and Bob Furniss!

Anne Mullaney | Jan 29, 2009 No Responses

Jan 292009

Israel Gat and Bob Furniss have joined Cutter’s team of expert Senior Consultants. Most recently, Israel Gat led the Agile transformation at BMC Software. Under his leadership, BMC software development increased Scrum users from zero to 1,000 in four years. [Michael Mah and Mike Lunt of BMC Software described this transformation in an Executive Report they wrote for Cutter clients, How Agile Projects Measure Up, and What This Means to You.] Israel is currently focusing on enterprise-level agile deployments. He’s written a series of Executive Updates for Cutter’s Agile practice; you can read his To Release No More, Or To Release Always — Part I: The Myth here. Bob Furniss’s sweet spot is understanding and …

The 31-Square-Foot Architecture

Jens Coldewey | Jan 19, 2009 2 Responses

Jan 192009

How much architecture does an agile team need up front? Most agile methods are surprisingly silent when it comes to this question. Scrum regards architecture as an issue the team has to deal with on its own discretion — and thus does not include any advice. In Crystal Clear: A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams, Cutter Senior Consultant Alistair Cockburn suggests having a lead designer who is responsible for creating the system architecture description — “usually fairly early in the first iteration” — but also emphasizes that “the architecture will probably evolve” and gives two strategies to help evolving: Walking Skeleton and Incremental Rearchitecture. XP finally suggests using a metaphor to keep up the technical …

Schedule Problems? Extend It.

Anne Mullaney | Jan 14, 2009 4 Responses

Jan 142009

My colleague, Kim Leonard, highlighted some of the first analyses of Cutter’s recent study on software estimation back in November (Software estimation “a tough beast to control“). Elli Bennatan‘s analysis is ongoing; here are some of the latest highlights: In 2002, the most common remedy for schedule problems was overtime. Now, six years later, a Cutter Consortium survey has revealed some interesting news: when projects run into scheduling problems, the two most common remedies are extending the schedule and reducing functionality, with overtime relegated to third place, followed by adding staff. … To a large degree, the shift away from adding overtime indicates a positive change in culture. Organizational behavior is improving!” Previous Cutter Consortium …

Bob Charette on Here & Now

Anne Mullaney | Dec 2, 2008 No Responses

Dec 022008

Almost a month ago I told you about the cover story Bob Charette wrote for IEEE Spectrum on the problems in defense acquisition. Today, Robin Young of the NPR show Here & Now interviewed Bob about the article. You can listen to it here. The part with Bob begins about 5 minutes in, and lasts about 10 minutes.

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