Agile for a new age
December 1, 2008 —
(Page 1 of 5)
Ask Jim York what it takes to master agile methods, and he points to the skill set of a team known for silliness, not software: Drew Carey and the ensemble cast of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”
York, founder of Virginia-based agile training and consulting firm FoxHedge, runs improvisational-
theater-style seminars that teach developers to think on their feet. Like improv, he noted, agile development sets a few basic rules and then lets participants run with the project, summoning their creativity to flesh out the concept. In his classes, developers are assigned scenarios and must then work together to “act” their way out of them, much as the cast does on Carey’s TV show.
“Somebody sets the stage on that show, and then a bunch of performers get up and you have no idea what’s going to happen,” said York, who has more than 20 years of experience with agile as a developer, tester and analyst. “I kind of think of Drew Carey sitting back there as a Scrum master or even a product owner. He has that buzzer, and anytime things aren’t going well, he hits that buzzer and stops [the action].
“With a product owner, if a team is delivering something that he doesn’t want or it isn’t quite right, he should be stepping in there and actively getting the team to do something different.”
York’s proactive method is one of many approaches that agile experts and companies are formulating as agile development matures.
The Agile Manifesto was drafted back in February 2001 to foster collaborative approaches to software development. Its 12 principles preach, among other things, that people are more valuable than processes and that changes to the project are to be welcomed, not abhorred.
But seven years can be an era in the software industry, and ideas and work habits change fast. Since the manifesto was written, cloud computing has emerged and multicore has moved to the fore, and development managers hold varying views on agile’s applicability to those hot concepts.
Related Search Term(s): agile development, cloud computing, multicore, professional development, FoxHedge, IBM, Serena
Share this link: http://sdt.bz/33076
Most Read Latest News Blog Resources
Taking enterprise architecture to the business side
Startup Corso is bringing out a cloud-based planning platform that ties into business plans
|
|
From the Editors: Node.js is unruly, but that’s where the fun is
The time to get involved with Node.js is now; Hadoop is about to break its own barriers
|
|
Top five apps to manage your workload
Web applications offer new ways to track your “to-do” lists
|
|
Zeichick’s Take: Looking for the best of the best of the best
It's time once again for readers to send in nominees for the SD Times 100
|
Taking enterprise architecture to the business side
Startup Corso is bringing out a cloud-based planning platform that ties into business plans
|
|
Top five apps to manage your workload
Web applications offer new ways to track your “to-do” lists
|
|
Not so fast when it comes to testing in the cloud
Developers face outsourcing, virtual lab management and mobile devices as obstacles
|
|
Xceed releases UX-focused suite for Microsoft’s WPF
"Blendables" helps match user experiences to developer visions
|
Agility, mom, and apple pie
If we're to evaluate the state-of-the-art in software development, we should start with the values espoused in the Agile Manifesto.
|
|
RIM woos developers with free tablet
How do you get more apps ported to the BlackBerry PlayBook? By giving every developer a free tablet, of course!
|
|
GitHire: Use Headhunters to Find Your Perfect Programmer
Are you a hiring manager tired of scouring the job boards? Check out this new service that will find 5 people interested in your jobs.
|
|
Facebook claims hacker cred
Facebook's SEC S-1 filing form includes a short essay on the Hacker Way by Mark Zuckerberg himself.
|
The Hidden Costs of Software Licensing
Moving beyond paper-based software licensing to more flexible, software-based licensing is a business decision. There is a growing trend tow...
|
|
Case Study: You May Need a Development Mechanic
As a contractor for a major financial player in Germany, SOBEGE, a German-based consultancy specializing in embedded IT and web services, wa...
|
|
Ensuring Software Quality at a Major International Bank
One of the world’s leading international banks has adopted AgitarOne technology for delivering generated unit tests for their Java software...
|
|
Load Testing Adobe Flex Applications
Adobe Flex applications may be different from applications you’ve worked with before. For classic HTML web applications, the server does all...
|