Scrum Software Development

Anyone who has ever been responsible for leading or managing a software development project knows that software isn't easy. Successfully coordinating and dealing with project sponsors, customers, unexpected risks, and changing scope challenges even the most experienced project leader. Over the last decade, several methodologies (such as Extreme Programming, Scrum, Crystal, Feature-Driven Development, DSDM, and Lean Development) have emerged to help companies effectively deal with projects incorporating tight deadlines, volatile requirements, and/or emerging technologies. Applicable to a wide variety of today's software projects, these agile approaches have gained tremendous industry momentum due to their overall simplicity and laser focus on business value, accelerated delivery cycles, and ability to adapt to changing business demands. Leading projects in an environ... (more)

The 4 Core Principles of Agile Programming

One of the things I really enjoy at the moment is the recognition and adoption of agile programming as a fully fledged powerful way to deliver quality software projects. As its figurehead is a group of very talented individuals who have created the agile manifesto http://agilemanifesto.org/. At its core are four simple principles that, when followed and applied to software projects, generally will ensure a great flexibility and hence higher agility. Leaving aside how great agile projects are, what worries me at the moment is that more and more people seem to be buying into this ... (more)

TargetProcess Company Announces the Release of TargetProcess v.2

TargetProcess Company announced the release of TargetProcess v.2, the next generation project management software product for agile projects. TargetProcess is an ASP.NET 2.0 based agile project management software product. Designed with simplicity in mind, TargetProcess helps software development companies to reduce the complexity of software project management and simplify planning, tracking and quality assurance activities. The product is designed to support geographically distributed teams and facilitate agile software development practices like Extreme Programming and SCRUM. &l... (more)

Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width!

Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width" was the title of a British TV sitcom in the late 60's (yes, I really am that old), which has nothing to do with Java software development. Or does it? The more I talk to people about the issue of Java software quality, the more I am reminded of the name of that seemingly ridiculous TV show. It seems to me that however much we talk about the need for quality in software development, it's an issue that takes a backseat to the "width" - by which I mean the number of feature requests that get crammed into our development projects. Many years ... (more)

AccuRev and Rally Software Partner to Scale Agile Software Development Best Practices

AccuRev and Rally announced a technology partnership that will integrate AccuRev software change and configuration management (SCCM) with Rally's Agile lifecycle management solutions. The combined solution will provide a platform to manage multiple Agile processes and ongoing customer feedback, while improving visibility and requirements traceability between defects, issues and tasks and the actual source code changes made to address them. The results from Agile software delivery teams are clear: faster delivery of quality software, improved project visibility, and better alignmen... (more)