Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Typical Pitfalls in Agile Development

Agile Software Development in the Large: Diving Into the DeepJutta Eckstein gave a talk at JAVAPOLIS 06 where she covered 8 typical pitfalls in agile development:

1. Practices over values. Do not insist on specific practices over values. Use practices that support the team and the team’s value system. Figure out what the goal of the practice is, is this our goal? Does the goal support our value system? How can we achieve this?
2. Iterate then measure. You need to learn from the iteration. Get feedback, improve and adapt
3. Missing result-orientation. Slice features so that they can be completed in an iteration and they can provide business value.
4. Release plan. At end every iteration, check and update release plan
5. Interruptions are norm. Keep iterations length the right size to be able to handle interruptions.
6. Importance of integration is often ignored. Ensure integration has always the highest priority and has dedicated staff.
7. Wasted times. Keep stand up meeting on short and on track. Avoid endless meetings, status meetings, etc.
8. Missing courage. Unable to deal with dependencies of time, scope, quality, resource. Clarify dependencies and show options. Learn to say no.