Agile Software Development

by Stober, Thomas; Hansmann, Uwe

• ISBN13: 9783540708308
• ISBN10: 3540708308
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-01-03
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag New York Inc

Summary

Software Development is moving towards a more agile and more flexible approach. It turns out that the traditional "waterfall" model is not supportive in an environment where technical, financial and strategic constraints are changing almost every day. But what is agility? What are today’s major approaches? And especially: What is the impact of agile development principles on the development teams, on project management and on software architects? How can large enterprises become more agile and improve their business processes, which have been existing since many, many years? What are the limitations of Agility? And what is the right balance between reliable structures and flexibility? This book will give answers to these questions. A strong emphasis will be on real life project examples, which describe how development teams have moved from a waterfall model towards an Agile Software Development approach.

Author Biography

Dr. Thomas Stober is the Lead Architect for the WebSphere Portal Foundation and a recognized expert on strategic topics like internet portals, Web 2.0, as well as enterprise collaboration. In particular, Thomas is the key driver and thought leader for introducing agile thinking and practices into the IBM's portal organization. Uwe Hansmann is a certified Executive Project Manager and responsible for the development of several major WebSphere Portal releases. Together with Thomas he has introduced several improvements to the WebSphere Portal development process based on agile ideas.

Table of Contents

The Flaw in the Plan	p. 1
The Delusive Perception of Having Anticipated Everything	p. 1
Accept the Uncertainty and Adapt	p. 5
Involving the Teams	p. 8
In Search of Structure	p. 8
Agile Software Development	p. 12
Further Readings	p. 14
Traditional Software Development	p. 15
History of Project Management	p. 15
Waterfall Approach	p. 16
Requirements	p. 17
Design Phase	p. 18
Implementation	p. 23
Testing	p. 23
Support	p. 27
Advantages and Disadvantages	p. 27
Project Management Triangle	p. 28
Modified Waterfall Models	p. 30
Milestone and Regular Integration	p. 30
Incremental Development	p. 31
Further Readings	p. 32
Overview of Agile Software Development	p. 35
Lean Software Development	p. 37
Project Management 2.0	p. 40
Agile Manifesto	p. 40
Scrum	p. 41
Test Driven Development	p. 47
Extreme Programming	p. 48
Rational Unified Process	p. 52
Best Practices	p. 52
The Phases	p. 53
The Process	p. 54
Agile Unified Process	p. 56
Agile Model Driven Development	p. 57
Further Readings	p. 58
Tooling	p. 61
Project Management Tools	p. 61
Microsoft Solutions Framework for Agile Development	p. 62
Jazz and Rational Team Concert (RTC)	p. 63
Collaboration Tools	p. 66
Development Infrastructure and Environment	p. 67
Source Control and Version Management	p. 68
Automated Test Environment	p. 70
"Code-Build-Test"	p. 71
Further Readings	p. 73
Considerations on Teaming and Leadership	p. 75
A "Lean" Hierarchy	p. 75
Selling the Directions: Management by Objectives	p. 78
Defining the Goals	p. 80
About Trust and Thrust: Culture and Climate	p. 82
Cross-functional Teams	p. 83
The Wisdom of Crowds	p. 85
It Isn't that Easy	p. 87
Skills	p. 91
Further Readings	p. 92
Considerations on Planning and Architecture	p. 93
About Requirements, Resources, and Dates	p. 93
Agile, a License for Chaos?	p. 93
Balance Flexibility and Structure	p. 95
Balance the Level of DetailError! Bookmark not defined	p. 95
Balance the Timing of Decisions	p. 97
Balance the Need for Commitment	p. 98
Balance Between Autonomy and Guidance	p. 99
Balance the Amount of Documentation	p. 100
Disciplined Agile	p. 1
Reducing Complexity	p. 101
Simplify Prioritization and Planning	p. 102
Simplify Team Setup and Dependencies	p. 103
Simplify Tools and Processes	p. 104
Simplify Daily Life	p. 105
Architectural Considerations	p. 106
Outside-In Design	p. 106
Requirements, Use Cases, Scenarios, and Tasks	p. 107
Architectural Attitude	p. 109
Making Architecture Flexible	p. 112
Further Readings	p. 114
Considerations on Project Execution	p. 115
The Big Bang	p. 5
Continuous Integration	p. 116
The Rhythm of the Project: Iterations	p. 118
Integration Fest	p. 121
Juggling Content Within an Iteration	p. 122
Planning in an Agile Project	p. 126
Estimating	p. 28
Units often used in Agile Projects	p. 130
Ways to get to Estimates	p. 133
Metrics for an Agile Project	p. 135
Defects	p. 138
Independent Release Testing and Wrap-up	p. 140
Involving Customers	p. 142
Mix and Match	p. 145
The Tragedy of Being Successful	p. 145
About WebSphere Portal	p. 146
Which Projects are suitable for Agile Software Development?	p. 148
Scaling Agile	p. 149
Moving Towards Agile	p. 150
Tiger Teams in WebSphere Portal	p. 153
Budget-based Prioritization	p. 153
Cross-Organizational Teaming Structure	p. 155
Evolving the Product in Iterations	p. 157
Integrating Test and Development	p. 361
Designs and Documentation	p. 164
Managing Tiger Teams	p. 165
The Benefits and Pain Points	p. 168
Summary and Wrap-Up	p. 171
The Essence of Agile	p. 171
Building an Agile Community	p. 173
Comparing once again	p. 173
Index	p. 177
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