Agile Mythbusters What People Are Really Doing in Practice

Published October 20th, 2010 Under Project Management | Leave a Comment

Some of the myths are that agile has been adopted by the majority of development teams, that agile approaches are more effective than waterfall approaches, that agile is empirical, that agile teams don’t do up front requirements or architecture, that agile teams produce less documentation, that it is common for agile teams to take a test-driven approach, and many more. Several of those myths are true, several false, and some we’re not so sure about yet. This talk summarizes the results of 4 years of industry surveys concerning the adoption and effectiveness of agile techniques. Very often the reality is significantly different than the rhetoric presented in mailing lists, in articles, and even in books. It is time to cut through the dogma promoted by agile consultants and instead focus on what agile practitioners are actually doing on their projects.

Agile by the Numbers: What People Are Really Doing in Practice

Published October 19th, 2009 Under Agile | Leave a Comment

This talk summarizes the results of 4 years of industry surveys concerning the adoption and effectiveness of agile techniques. Very often the reality is significantly different than the rhetoric presented in mailing lists, in articles, and even in books. Many myths or ideas around Agile are explored, and some are proven false and some confirmed to be true based on survey results.

http://www.infoq.com/presentations/ambler-agile-by-the-numbers

Scott Ambler On Agile’s Present and Future

Published December 23rd, 2008 Under Agile | Leave a Comment

In this interview, InfoQ’s Chief Editor, Floyd Marinescu, interviewed Scott Ambler, Practice Lead for Agile Development at IBM, on the current status of the Agile community and practices having a look at the perspective of the Agile’s future.

http://www.infoq.com/interviews/Agile-Scott-Ambler

Agile in Practice: What Is Actually Going On Out There?

Published September 9th, 2008 Under Agile | Leave a Comment

In this presentation filmed during Agile 2008, Scott Ambler talks about actual data resulting from surveys made during 2006-2008, showing how Agile is perceived and implemented within organizations. Some of the topics surveyed are: the adoption rate of Agile, the effectiveness of Agile approaches, the effectiveness of various techniques.

Scott Ambler is Practice Leader Agile Development within the IBM Methods group in Ontario, Canada. He has worked in the IT industry since the mid 1980s, with object technology since the early 1990s, and is a recognized leader in the Agile software community. He is a Fellow of the International Association of Software Architects, and an Eclipse Process Framework (EPF) committer.

Watch this video on infoq.com

Agile Database Techniques: Data Doesn’t Have To Be A Four-Letter Word Anymore

Published March 3rd, 2008 Under Software Testing, TDD | Leave a Comment

Data is clearly an important aspect of software-based systems, a fact that the information technology (IT) industry has understood for decades, yet many agile development teams are struggling to involve data professionals within their projects. The Agile Data (AD) methodology defines a philosophical framework for data-oriented activities within agile projects, defining ways that application developers and data professionals can work together effectively. However, philosophy isn’t enough, you also need proven techniques which support those philosophies. In this presentation Scott Ambler discusses techniques for agile database development, including: database refactoring, Agile-Model Driven Development (AMDD), Test-Driven Design (TDD), and environment/tool strategies.