LOGIN | REGISTER NOW | SUBSCRIBE
 

Year in Review: Agile


By Katie Serignese
Email    print   
December 30, 2010 —  Agile is a common household name as the methodology became more deeply rooted in software development this year than ever before. Virtually all companies used the word to describe their products, from testing to requirements management and ALM as a whole. Aside from tools becoming agile or making a software development team more agile, organizations seemed to grapple this year with how best to implement the methodology to ensure success.

Throughout the year, many experts and agile practitioners weighed in on the best ways to be agile, but what it really came down to is this: There isn’t one. It’s really about what works best for the organization as a whole. And maybe now that agile has been around for some time, people are more lax with its implementations, but it’s a rare day when anyone says they follow Scrum or XP by the book. It’s more of an “a little of this, a little of that” approach.

This year also showed an uptake in the integration of lean concepts into agile methodologies. Typically used in manufacturing, lean concepts, such as eliminating waste and single-piece workflows, have made their way into software development shops.

Aside from lean’s emphasis on reducing waste, it also addresses the idea of “What is the value in what I am doing?” which is something agile did not, some experts said.

But however much agile or lean an organization may use, the implementation and integration of the two seems inevitable. Some have already defined this forthcoming combination of agile and lean, while others are still searching for the right terminology. Perhaps 2011 will render a clearer idea.




Related Search Term(s): agile


Share this link: http://sdt.bz/35115
 
Most Read Latest News Blog Resources
Apache adopts new top-level cloud project
Deltacloud seeks to create a standard RESTful API for interfacing with cloud providers, from Eucalyptus to OpenStack
T-Mobile's CIO talks up optimizing employee organization
Erez Yarkoni describes how his company gets thousands of developers to work together, efficiently
PaaS is the word on everyone’s mind
PaaSes are gaining interest from enterprises, but how should they be implemented?
Venture capitalists keep the U.S. tech industry afloat
Despite a sagging economy, software development still sees more employment and higher salaries
Digg!  Digg
Reddit  Reddit
Slashdot  Slashdot
Share on facebook  Facebook
Share on Twitter  Twitter



Comments


01/03/2011 04:03:34 PM EST

Excellent recap of the year, Katie. A lot has happened with Agile methodologies this year as more and more companies realize the benefits that companies have to offer. One prediction we have regarding future improvements in 2011 is that organizations will begin to realize how they can take full advantage of what Agile has to offer. One important tool that organizations can implement to improve Agile processes is deployment automation. Because Agile improves output, operations teams are often consequently left with a backlog of deliverables that are tedious and time-consuming to deploy. Deployment automation software can help to lessen the impact of so many deployments by automating the entire deployment process. Do you agree that deployment automation software will be a bigger trend in 2011?

United StatesXebia Labs


Add comment


Name*
Email*  
Country     


  • Comment
Loading




close
NEXT ARTICLE
Finding the right tool for the agile job
Experts emphasize that tools should bolster the agile process above all else Read More...
 
 
 
 
News on Monday
more>>
SharePoint Tech Report
more>>


   

 
 

Download Current Issue
FEBRUARY 2012 PDF ISSUE

Need Back Issues?
DOWNLOAD HERE

Want to subscribe?


 
blogs tab
The problem with perfection
"The perfect is the enemy of the good," Voltaire said, or nearly said. He could have been talking about software development.
02/22/2012 11:13 AM EST

Let's get real about women in tech
The first step in solving a problem is admitting that it exists.
02/19/2012 04:16 AM EST

Lots of news from Apple
Apple is regaining a place of central importance in the technology world that it hasn't held since the 1970s. Here's what's new.
02/18/2012 07:10 PM EST

Book Giveaway! Pro jQuery by Adam Freeman
Looking to learn more about jQuery? Like us on Facebook for a chance to win a digital copy!
02/16/2012 10:58 AM EST

Literate programming: It's not going to happen.
Literate programming is an idealistic notion that has been rendered obsolete by modern source code editors and good programming practices.
02/15/2012 06:13 PM EST

Are you at risk for burnout?
Burnout is a severe problem and it can strike at any time. Here's how to tell if you are nearing the edge.
02/09/2012 02:16 PM EST

 
Events calendar tab
SPTechCon: The SharePoint Technology Conf.
2/26/2012 to 2/29/2012
San Francisco
BZ Media

RSA Conf.
2/27/2012 to 3/2/2012
San Francisco
RSA

IBM Pulse Conf.
3/4/2012 to 3/7/2012
Las Vegas
IBM Tivoli

Game Developer Conf.
3/5/2012 to 3/9/2012
San Francisco
TechWeb

PyCon Python Conf.
3/7/2012 to 3/15/2012
Santa Clara
Python Software Foundation