Category Archives: xtreme programming

The Agile Dictionary: E is for Extreme Programming

This is a sneak preview of an entry from Agile Learning Labs' newest publishing project, The Agile Dictionary.  Our mission: to craft succinct, state-of-practice definitions for common Agile terms, complete with origins and links to the most authoritative primary sources we can find for further information. We plan to beta test the definitions here on our blog, prior to publishing The Agile Dictionary 1.0 in print and online.

Many thanks to volunteers Angeline Tan and Tami Blake for their hard work as contributing editors, and to Jeff McKenna, who has bravely volunteered to serve as our first editorial advisor.
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This week on InfoQ – Information radiators: Is low-tech really better?

Information Radiator In this week's InfoQ article, Chris covers the debate over high tech vs.low tech toolsets (what Alistair Cockburn refers to as information radiators) for managing agile projects: eg, which is the lesser evil, killing a tree and taping its carcass to the wall one notecard at a time, or clicking through an annoying heirarchical menu every time you want to see your data?
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What exactly is agile design? Or better yet, what could it be?

Chris just published an article on InfoQ called Refactoring is Not A Substitute for Design about the debate over what role design plays in agile development. The worry is that agile processes shortchange the very principles of good design, because so much of agile happens at the granular level while design is seen as a macro-level activity. But is that the case? Here is the bit that I consider Chris' main point: Big Design Up Front is not design; it is just one way to accomplish design.

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Story-Focused Standups

A widely accepted agile practice is the daily standup meeting, in which each team member shares:

  • What they have done since the previous standup
  • What they expect to achieve by the next
  • Anything that is getting in their way

Mike Cohn recently examined variations that shed additional light on the progress being made toward completing each user story. I wrote about it for InfoQ, and you can find the story here.

Cheers,

Chris

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The Great Agile Spec Showdown!

Agile evangelists claim that extensive written requirements and specifications can be dispensed with in favor of lighter-weight ‘stories’. It sounds easier, certainly, but can it really be as good? Won’t all of the important details get lost? Join the Engineering Managers Support Group as we stage a participatory showdown between traditional and agile specs. May the best specs win! Of course, we will also feature our usual round-table discussion of your pressing engineering and leadership issues.

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What Makes Distributed Agile Teams Succeed – At Agile2008

Greetings from Agile2008 in Toronto! To say that I have been overwhelmed by the conference would be an understatement. With 1600+ agile folks here, I am constantly running into old friends, people that I met at previous conferences, and my agile heros. The sheer volume of knowledge and expertise that is being shared is beyond my ability to describe. Wow!

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What Makes Agile Projects Succeed at Dr. Dobb’s

Monday evening more that 40 people turned up at a ‘Birds of a Feather’ gathering to consider “What makes agile projects succeed (or Fail)?” as part of Dr. Dobb’s Architecture and Design World in Chicago. In 90 minutes the group generated, discussed, and ranked about 40 different answers to this question, while enjoying some pizza and beverages.

Below, I’m listing all of the ideas as ranked by the group. I’ll elaborate on a few of the ideas that the group focused on. I’ll also provide links to the results from other groups who have considered the same question.

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The Power of Self-Organizing Teams

Greetings,

A lot of attention has been focused on the power of self-organizing agile teams. This power is the foundation upon which Scrum, the most widely adopted agile methodology, is built. Is it hype or is there something there? This month, the Bay Area Engineering Managers Suport Group will experience how a group can self-organize into a team, and how such a team can evolve ever-better ways of working together. Come out and join the fun, now in Santa Clara.

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