Scrum gets more and more common as an agile method for the management of
projects. Those who want to use the model of Scrum successfully should first
take a closer look at the description of the three roles and not mistake the
Scrum Master with a Team Leader.

http://www.devagile.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=478

My November Agile Newsletter, Crossing the Developer-Data Divide, is posted
online at http://www.ddj.com/architect/221400321?cid=Ambysoft .  It summarizes
some results from the DDJ September 2009 State of the IT Union survey, in
particular results from questions which explored how developers were picking up
data skills in practice and conversely how data professionals are picking up
development skills.  Bottom line is that we could be doing better, particularly
agile teams which don't appear to be working with existing legacy databases as
often as they should. 

- Scott Scott W. Ambler
Chief Methodologist/Agile, IBM Rational
Agile at Scale blog: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/ambler
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scottwambler


       __________________________________________________________________
Yahoo! Canada Toolbar: Search from anywhere on the web, and bookmark your
favourite sites. Download it now
http://ca.toolbar.yahoo.com.

http://bit.ly/qNGna

Si Alhir (Sinan Si Alhir)
salhir@...
http://www.linkedin.com/in/salhir
http://twitter.com/sialhir
http://www.google.com/profiles/salhir

Methods & Tools has just published in its Fall 2009 issue "Mature Scrum at
Systematic".  Co-written by Carsten Ruseng Jakobsen and Jeff Sutherland, this
article explains how the experiences from combining Lean, CMMI and Scrum have
led Systematic to identify examples of explicit guidance from CMMI that help to
execute Scrum activities even better.

You can download Methods & Tools Fall 2009 issue at
http://www.methodsandtools.com/mt/download.php?fall09

I just wrote a detailed blog posting overviewing the concept of integrity debt
and how the agile community has been building it up over the years via our very
questionable approach to certification.  The URL is
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/ambler/entry/integrity\
_debt  and I hope that it gives you reason to pause.

- Scott
Scott W. Ambler
Chief Methodologist/Agile, IBM Rational
Agile at Scale blog: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/ambler
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scottwambler



       __________________________________________________________________
Make your browsing faster, safer, and easier with the new Internet Explorer® 8.
Optimized for Yahoo! Get it Now for Free! at
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My August agile newsletter for Dr. Dobb's Journal is now online at
http://www.ddj.com/architect/219500531?cid=Ambysoft .  It discusses some of the
results from the July 2009 State of the IT Union survey, see
http://www.ambysoft.com/surveys/stateOfITUnion200907.html , which found that
following development guidelines is spotty at best.  Developers are reasonably
likely to follow coding conventions, but less likely to follow user interface
conventions or data conventions.  It appears that we still have a long way to go
when it comes to basic software craftsmanship issues.

- Scott Scott W. Ambler
Chief Methodologist/Agile, IBM Rational
Agile at Scale blog: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/ambler
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scottwambler


       __________________________________________________________________
Make your browsing faster, safer, and easier with the new Internet Explorer® 8.
Optimized for Yahoo! Get it Now for Free! at
http://downloads.yahoo.com/ca/internetexplorer/

The Methods & Tools newsletter has just released in its html archive section the
article "Scrum Roles - an Unsolvable Puzzle?". This article discuss the
different roles in Scrum projects and how you can relate them to traditional
project management roles.

http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/archive.php?id=92

Last year's Lean Software Development online series was very successful. We are
currently re-broadcasting it by making the 6 webinar recordings available one
per week (started this Monday). You can see the sessions and schedule at
http://tinyurl.com/n4tbca

This is a great introduction to Lean Software Development that you can
watch/learn at your own pace. Please ask questions re the course at the Lean
Agile user group
( http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/leanagile )

Alan Shalloway
CEO, Net Objectives
Achieving Enterprise and Team Agility

The Methods & Tools newsletter has just released in its html archive section the
article "Responsibility Driven Design with Mock Objects" by Marc Evers and Rob
Westgeest. Responsibility driven design is an approach that helps you shift
focus from object state to interactions and responsibilities. This article shows
how test driven development with mock objects facilitates responsibility driven
design and drives you towards a more cohesive, loosely coupled design. Examples
in Java.

http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/archive.php?id=90

http://tinyurl.com/ouphnc

salhir@...
http://salhir.wordpress.com/about/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/salhir
http://twitter.com/sialhir
@SiAlhir

http://tinyurl.com/paefo5

salhir@...
http://salhir.wordpress.com/about/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/salhir
http://twitter.com/sialhir
@SiAlhir

http://bit.ly/9uYN6

salhir@...
http://salhir.wordpress.com/about/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/salhir
http://twitter.com/sialhir
@SiAlhir

Several years ago I wrote in Agile Database Techniques about the cultural
impedance mismatch between the object community and the data community, which
refers specifically to the difficulties that object-oriented developers and data
professionals experience when working together and generally to the
dysfunctional politics between the two communities that occur within IT
organizations and even the IT industry itself. Worse yet, this impedance
mismatch has become even more pronounced between the agile and data communities.
This has been to the detriment of both, but the data community has particularly
suffered as a result. I believe that it doesn’t have to be this way, and
provide some strategies for addressing the problem.   I've reprised my thoughts
in "The Cultural Impedance Mismatch" published in the current issue of TDAN. 
The URL is http://www.tdan.com/view-articles/11066 .  Hope you find it
interesting.

- Scott
Scott W. Ambler
Chief Methodologist/Agile, IBM Rational
Agile at Scale blog: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/ambler
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scottwambler


       __________________________________________________________________
Connect with friends from any web browser - no download required. Try the new
Yahoo! Canada Messenger for the Web BETA at
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http://bit.ly/12Woqb

salhir@...
http://salhir.wordpress.com/about/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/salhir
http://twitter.com/sialhir
@SiAlhir

This article takes the form of a tale to explain the differences between the
different "driven development" approaches... and makes us think why there are so
many of them?

http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/archive.php?id=89

http://bit.ly/RlDhu

salhir@...
http://salhir.wordpress.com
http://twitter.com/sialhir
http://www.linkedin.com/in/salhir

My June column, "RFPs the Agile Way -- or -- Fear and Loathing in the
Procurement Department",  is online at
http://www.ddj.com/architect/218101915?cid=Ambysoft .  It argues for RFPs which
focus around the team and how they will work together instead of around the
scope, budget, and schedule.  There are some interesting ideas in the article if
your organization is trying to find effective strategies for procuring agile
services.

- Scott
Scott W. Ambler
Chief Methodologist/Agile, IBM Rational
Agile at Scale: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/ambler


       __________________________________________________________________
Yahoo! Canada Toolbar: Search from anywhere on the web, and bookmark your
favourite sites. Download it now
http://ca.toolbar.yahoo.com.

http://tinyurl.com/nggenq

http://salhir.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/the-purposeful-enterprise-communities-col\
laboration-kanban-and-tribes/

http://salhir.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/maturity-models-leanness-agility-competit\
iveness-and-collaboration/

Version 1 -
http://salhir.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/leanness-agility-competitiveness-and-kanb\
an/

Version 2 -
http://salhir.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/leanness-agility-competitiveness-and-kanb\
an-2/

http://salhir.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/the-art-of-transformation/

The idea of driving development with tests has been popularized by the agile
development movement. The fact is that testing and coding are inseparable
components of software development. We get the best results with testers and
programmers work closely together. How can we deliver real value to the business
frequently? How can we know how much testing is enough? Let's look at how
testers and programmers collaborate to produce high-quality software in this
article written by Lisa Crispin.

http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/archive.php?id=88

Susan Prior drops in on Kate to talk about some new products she
   would like developed.

   http://xprogramming.com/xpmag/kate-oneal-funding-susans-projects.htm

Ron Jeffries
www.XProgramming.com
www.xprogramming.com/blog
Thousands of years ago, the first man discovered how to make fire.
He was probably burned at the stake he had taught his brothers to
light - Howard Roark (The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand)

My latest article "Product Backlogs at Scale: Using APMM to provide context to
your adoption of agile practices" is now available online at
http://www.ddj.com/architect/217701202?CID=Ambysoft .  As the title suggests the
article describes the practice of product backlogs and how to apply them
effectively at scale.  It does so by applying the Agile Process Maturity Model
(APMM) framework to provide context for the overall discussion.  It works
through the mainstream (APMM level 1) advice for product backlogs; describes the
need to evolve product backlogs into work item lists which include more than
just requirements/stories (APMM level 2); and finally discusses how to scale
work item lists when one or more scaling issues (APMM level 3) such as large
teams, distributed teams, or regulatory environments apply.

- Scott
Scott W. Ambler
Chief Methodologist/Agile, IBM Rational
Agile at Scale: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/ambler


       __________________________________________________________________
Connect with friends from any web browser - no download required. Try the new
Yahoo! Canada Messenger for the Web BETA at
http://ca.messenger.yahoo.com/webmessengerpromo.php

http://salhir.wordpress.com/2009/05/31/scrum-lean-and-kanban-is-kanban-the-new-s\
crum-or-the-new-lean/

SPECIAL ISSUE
`Agile Software Development'

Agile Methods promote an approach to software development based on a set of
values and principles, the roots of which can be found in iterative and
incremental software processes and a recognition of the importance of customer
involvement and people factors in software projects. Agile Software Development
has matured over the last decade and is now considered as a credible alternative
to more traditional, heavyweight methodologies. Indeed a number of practices
have become synonymous with Agile Methods, but there is still a need for reports
on their value and applicability in a range of contexts. Further, there is an
opportunity to develop new techniques and tools that aid software construction
in an agile environment to suit contexts not previously covered, or to improve
current practices. It is also true that, while numerous small organizations have
adopted `Agile', many larger ones are still evaluating the extent to which they
can apply and take benefit from these methods and practices. Whether agile
methods can be successfully scaled up or not has been an issue for discussion
from the start.

There appear to be some key issues with a broader adoption of Agile techniques:

1. How effective are Agile techniques when applied in the context of a large
project (large, distributed team, long duration, etc.)? As an example, consider
how to cope with the challenge presented when a large project is broken up into
many small pieces moving at their own pace, but that have to be reintegrated at
some point.
2. How can agile methods be made to fit with complex software products where for
example there is close coupling with hardware design, where the software is
safety critical or where tradition or environments (e.g. contracted software)
favour document driven approaches?
3. Given the increased difficulty of knowledge sharing in larger projects, is
there a role for use of more formal models? For example, is it possible to
practice agile methods on large scale projects with an emerging architecture as
opposed to a big design up front?
4. While many qualitative assessments about the benefits of an Agile approach
are available, there is little quantitative assessment of Agile development
performance. In addition, comparing Agile with traditional approaches is made
difficult by the difference of quality criteria applicable (customer value and
capability to adapt to changing requirements in the first case, conformity to
the plan in the second).
5. Agile values and principles require a major cultural change for Software
Managers (e.g. team collective responsibility and self-organization) especially
in large organization with a strong culture of planning and centralized power.
With large global organizations, this issue is amplified by the cultural
diversity.

Papers are invited on (but not limited to):

• Agile practices implementation for large projects
• Integration of Agile with existing practices
• Metrics related to Agile Development performances and comparison with other
approaches
• Multi-site and cross cultural Agile implementations
• Models in Agile methods
• New methods, practices and  tools for Agile, particularly those suited to
Large Scale development
• Reusable artefacts (e.g. COTS/OSS components) in Agile.
• Knowledge management in agile projects
• Case studies of success and failure


Software: Practice and Experience invites submissions addressing any of these
issues and related ones for inclusion in a special issue titled Agile Software
Development. We have particularly focused on `Agile in the large', but
contributions that can be extended to large-scale software projects are also
welcome. Papers will be subject to the normal scientific peer review process,
and should contain original results or original presentations of existing
results specific to Agile Software Development. The primary focus of the journal
is practice and experience, and so papers whose main focus is on the management
of agile software projects are outside its scope. Papers on new methods,
techniques and tools to support software construction in an agile environment
are particularly welcome.  Please visit the journal description at
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/1752/home/ProductInformation.html for
more details on the journal focus.

Submission Details
Prospective authors are kindly requested to submit their manuscripts online, no
later than 14 August 2009. Please follow the instructions under "For Authors" on
the journal homepage http://www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/softwarepractice.
There is no strict limit on the length of a submission, but submissions longer
than 20 pages will be considered acceptable only when important new results are
presented and where the extra length is justified. When submitting your article
to this Special Issue, make sure you have selected the Article Type "Special
Issue Article" and in Editor Selection select Des Greer or Yann Hamon.

Guest Editors

Des Greer
School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Queens University Belfast
Belfast BT7 1NN
United Kingdom
des.greer@...

Yann Hamon
DNV IT Global Services Asia
House No.9,
1591 Hong Qiao Road
Shanghai 200336,
P.R. China
yann.hamon@...

http://salhir.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/the-smart-growth-manifesto-creative-p
eople-collaborating-to-create-value/

http://salhir.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/the-demonization-revolution-pattern-d
emonization-revolution-vs-leadership-innovation/

http://salhir.wordpress.com/2009/05/23/from-1-0-to-2-0-from-moral-imperative
-to-business-imperative-and-the-calm-before-the-storm/

http://salhir.wordpress.com/2009/05/22/teams-a-good-thing-or-instruments-of-
command-and-control/