collaborative results, and normative voting and effort allocation approaches have proved effective in reaching customer consensus to prioritize and plan the requests to implement at the beginning of an iteration. The product manager should be empowered to make decisions about issues that arise during an iteration, but either the product manager or a small sampling of customer reps can elaborate the details of a particular request to be implemented.
Index cards can be an effective means of engaging the customer during requirements capture, and simple tools (and processes) are an effective means of tracking, coordinating, and reporting visible progress of requests and changes against expected functionality and content. Don't be fooled by the allure of sophisticated processes and tools; and don't overcompensate by discarding simple but effective tools and techniques. Look for a balance of utility and simplicity that is both effective and efficient in meeting your change management needs. And keep an eye out for opportunities to eliminate redundant or unused elements of your processes, tools, and artifacts after each iteration.
Next month we will address some questions and concerns raised by readers who gave us feedback on previous articles, and attempt to clarify some common facts and fallacies regarding "agility" and agile methods.
References
[1] Planning Extreme Programming , by Kent Beck and Martin Fowler; Addison-Wesley, October 2000
[2] Agile Software Development with Scrum , by Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle; Addison-Wesley, 2002
[3] The Agile Manifesto , see www.AgileManifesto.org
[4] Agile Software Development Ecosystems , by James Highsmith; Addison-Wesley, March 2002
[5] Agile Configuration Management Environments , by Brad Appleton; CM Crossroads Newsletter, April 2003 (Vol. 2 No. 4)
[6] Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code , by Martin Fowler; Addison-Wesley, July 1999
[7] Requirements by Collaboration: Workshops for Defining Needs , by Ellen Gottesdiener; Addison-Wesley, April 2002
[8] Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit , by Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck; Addison-Wesley, June 2003
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the participants of the Yahoo groups for extremeprogramming, industrialxp, leandevelopment, and agileprojectmanagement. Particular thanks go out to the following individuals:
- Kent Beck
- Ron Jeffries, www.xprogramming.com
- Robert Martin, www.objectmentor.com
- Josh Kerievsky, www.industriallogic.com
- Diana Larsen, www.industriallogic.com
- Mary Poppendieck, www.poppendieck.com
- James Highsmith, www.jimhighsmith.com
- Alistair Cockburn,
- Amy Schwab, www.projectcommunity.com
- C. Keith Ray,
- Glen B. Alleman, www.niwotridge.com
- Frank Patrick, www.focusedperformance.com
- Stephen Gordon
About the author
Brad Appleton is a software CM/ALM solution architect and lean/agile development champion at a large telecommunications company. Currently he helps projects and teams adopt and apply lean/agile development and CM/ALM practices and tools. He is coauthor of the bookSoftware Configuration Management Patterns, a columnist in The CM Journal and The Agile Journal at CMCrossroads.com, and a former section editor for The C++ Report. You can read Brad's blog at blog.bradapp.net.
About the author
Steve Berczuk is an engineer and ScrumMaster at Humedica where he's helping to build next-generation SaaS-based clinical informatics applications. The author of Software Configuration Management Patterns: Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration, he is a recognized expert in software configuration management and agile software development. Steve is passionate about helping teams work effectively to produce quality software. He has an M.S. in operations research from Stanford University and an S.B. in Electrical Engineering from MIT, and is a certified, practicing ScrumMaster. Contact Steve at steve@berczuk.com or visit berczuk.com and follow his blog at blog.berczuk.com.
About the author
Steve Konieczka is President and Chief Operating Officer of SCM Labs, a leading Software Configuration Management solutions provider. An IT consultant for fourteen years, Steve understands the challenges IT organizations face in change management. He has helped shape companies’ methodologies for creating and implementing effective SCM solutions for local and national clients. Steve is a member of Young Entrepreneurs Organization and serves on the board of the Association for Configuration and Data Management (ACDM). He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from Colorado State University. You can reach Steve at steve@scmlabs.com.
