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Is it just pushing up developer rates and doubling demand?

The cynic in me applauds the genius of the global developer community for inventing a way of working that requires twice the number of people to do the same amount of work – Pair Programming. Doubling demand on XP projects means more work for developers and reduces the pool available for traditional projects – rates go up and more jobs are secured. Is this the same genius as those 70’s marketing execs that added “step 3 - repeat” to double shampoo consumption and therefore sales overnight or are there genuine productivity gains to be had for consultancies and customers? I said I was being cynical, but there is some truth in this and it is a view held by some of those that pay the bills, customers.

Agile software development challenges traditional software development approaches. Rapidly changing environments characterized by evolving requirements and tight schedules require software developers to take an agile approach. These methods include practices such as short iterations, frequent releases, simple and emerging design, peer review, and on-site customer participation.

Traditionally, testing IT applications is done in isolation on a stand-alone platform.

Professionals are being confronted by a growing list of challenges-shorter release cycles, increased expectations, smaller budgets, and fewer testing resources.

As software becomes more complex, many strategic test automation issues emerge that put test automation projects and improvement programs more at risk than ever.

What is the biggest management problem you are facing in 2009? Doing more with less? Demonstrating the value of testing to your company? Improving your team's skills while keeping up with projects? Automating more tests?