No question, use of the word "Agile" -- as in Agile software development -- has grown exponentially over the past six years. Since the Agile Manifesto with its handful of signatories made its way onto the Web, thousands of IT consultants and development teams have approached the concept of Agility with enthusiasm and good intentions. Yet, despite this popularity, true Agile development methods are not part of standard practice by the mainstream. This month, we consider "the case for," "the confusion over," and the "future of" the Agile phenomenon. (Hint: we're optimistic.) We also take a look at SOA governance in terms of service lifecycle management, plus project measurement techniques for the Elaboration and Construction phases.
Making agile mainstream: Crossing the chasm, by Per Kroll While agile development practices have been used successfully for years, the techniques have yet to be adopted by a majority of software development organizations. The author explores reasons for this, and describes trends that may push agility toward greater acceptance in the industry.
Agile configuration management for large organizations, by Peter Schuh Because of their size and organizational complexity, large companies need to embrace Agile development principles. Read how hundreds, even thousands, can work together efficiently within an Agile configuration management environment.
The Role of SOA Quality Management in SOA Service Lifecycle Management, by Gary McBride The article describes SOA Service Lifecycle Management and explains the importance of SOA Quality Management with the support of IBM Rational tools and best practices for aligning SOA development activities with business goals.
Measuring Project Health -- Part II, by Kurt Bittner What aspects of a software development project should be measured in the middle phases of the lifecycle to ensure that the project is healthy and on track? Read how risk lists, backlogs, and other project artifacts can be used to objectively measure project health.
Organizational capability and portfolio management adoption, by Michael F. Hanford The sixth installment in a series of articles on portfolio management, this article provides insight into how organizations can determine their organizational readiness and current capabilities for use of the discipline of portfolio management.
An introduction to runtime analysis with Rational PurifyPlus, by Goran Begic and Allan Pratt This article discusses runtime analysis in the context of other Rational best practices and outlines its enormous benefits to software developers, testers, and managers.
Book excerpt: from Scaling Software Agility: Best Practices for Large Enterprises, written by Dean Leffingwell An excerpted chapter from the recent book, Scaling Software Agility: Best Practices for Large Enterprises, by former Rational Software VP Dean Leffingwell. This book is described by Jim Highsmith as: a solid, practical book on the specifics of developing large projects in an agile way.
Agile software development: A tour of its origins and authors, by Gary Pollice Since 2001, the word "agile" has taken on a new meaning in the field of software development. Do you truly understand what Agile means? Written by a close observer and participant in Agile practice, this article considers the fundamental aspects of an increasingly important style of iterative, incremental development, and concludes with a thorough literature review.
