September Software Development Conferences
Published August 24th, 2010 Under Conferences | Leave a Comment
Here is a list of software development related conferences and events that will take place in September and that have media partnerships with Methods & Tools:
* Mobile Application Stores, September 7 2010, Zurich, Switerland
* iqnite 2010 Schweiz, September 21 2010, Zurich, Switzerland
* Lean & Kanban 2010 Europe, September 23-24 2010, Antwerp, Belgium
* Software Testing Analysis & Review Conference, September 26—October 1 2010, San Diego, USA
* iPhone/iPad DevCon, September 27-29 2010, San Diego, USA
* iqnite Nordic, September 29-30 2010, Stockholm, Sweden
* iqnite United Kingdom, October 4 2010, London, UK
* Agile Eastern Europe, October 8-9, Kyiv, Ukraine
Find more software development conferences
Software Testing & Quality in Methods & Tools Summer 2010
Published June 21st, 2010 Under Methods & Tools | Leave a Comment
Methods & Tools is a free e-magazine for software developers, testers and project managers. Summer 2010 issue has just been published with the following articles:
* Aspects of Kanban – Lean Worfklow Management
* Test Language – Introduction to Keyword Driven Testing
* A High Volume Software Product Line
* Better Requirements Definition Management is Better for Business
* The Core Protocols, an Experience Report – Tools for High Performance Teams
* Tool: eValid- Functional and Load Web Testing
* Tool: Hudson- Continuous Integration Server
* Tool: FitNesse – Test Cases Management
* Tool: VoodooMock – Mock Objects Framework for C++
* Conference: Jazoon
80 pages of software development knowledge that you can download from http://www.methodsandtools.com/mt/download.php?summer10
Lean Agile Software Development
Published June 9th, 2010 Under Books | Leave a Comment
The goal of this book is to propose a vision of Agile software development that goes behind the current practices, more specifically Scrum, to integrate the principles of Lean development. To achieve this objective, the authors draw on their own experience in Agile consulting. Read more
Does Size Matter (in Software Development)?
Published March 22nd, 2010 Under Software Development | Leave a Comment
When friends ask me what is the last trend in software development, I answer Lean. This approach is even easier to describe, because you can take examples outside the software industry and the most famous of them is Toyota. The recent problems faced by the Japanese car manufacturer shows that every idea could get difficulties fostering its original values when scaling and software development is no exception to this rule. I know that the Toyota situation is complex and I still believe that they did a nice job creating a special corporate culture, but for the public their image problem is there.
Agile has become “the thing to do” in software development and is now being used as the (marketing) label of every new initiative or tool. As a result, the fate of the original values of Agile Manifesto are to be diluted at best, abused at worst. I believe that the Agile Manifesto signatories were motivated by a sincere goal to give to the people involved in software development projects a better situation at a time when there could be a tendency to consider them as mere procedure performers. However, as the agile ideas spread and became successful, they meet the fact that software development is also a business for software tools vendors, consulting organizations… and media like Methods & Tools. Going from selling toaster to selling agile toaster could be now a mandatory move to be listed in the LeadingAnalystFirm Bermuda Triangle report and the front page of the press. It will however not bring any real benefits to agile or to toasters. A recent trade magazine report and tool vendor press release spoke about “taming the agile beast”. This looks like a strange appreciation of Agile. Are thinking software developers dangerous animals? Does this mean that it is times to dump Mike Cohn and instead hire Siegfried and Roy to lead your projects? As Agile spreads, so are the chances that its initial ideas will be misunderstood… and that the number of failed projects claiming to follow the Agile approach will (strongly?) increase. I add the “claim” part, because some Agilists will reply that “true” Agile project cannot fail, but this would be the topic for another discussion.
Sir Winston Churchill said “democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” The fact that it could be difficult to keep the ideal of approaches that rely strongly on participants’ behavior when you scale them should not prevent us to aim for the best objectives. We have however to be realistic on the real world constraints, adapt to them and recognize that we cannot always reach perfection ;o) On this topic, I recommend the excellent books of Craig Larman and Bas Vodde on scaling lean and agile development. In the introduction of their first volume, they wrote: “Start with a small group of great people and only grow when it really starts to hurt”. I could not give you a better advice. In our software development world, the “too big to fail” motto could easily be replaced by “too big to succeed”.
Leading Lean Software Development – Results are not the Point
Published March 9th, 2010 Under Books | 1 Comment
What fascinates me the most in the Lean software development approach is the quality of the people that support it. The Poppendieck are not an exception to this rule. Their book achieves the seemingly contradictory goals of being very insightful but still easy and captivating to read. It might be however easier to have the right flow when you are a Lean adept ;o)
The book starts with a chapter on systems thinking that takes also examples outside the software development world like Southwest Airlines. The next chapter on technical excellence is dedicated to a panorama of the software development approaches. Chapter 3 is kind of my favorite part of the book, extracting process management knowledge from the history of the construction of the Empire State Building, a project that took only one year to be completed. Chapter four presents the tools for improvement. Finally, the last part of the book is dedicated the people and leadership aspects of Lean.
The structure of the book makes it very pleasant to read, mixing the presentation of lean concepts with case studies and short personal stories. It is definitively a book that I will recommend to every software developer and manager…. and wish that every software developer and manager had read. Even if you think that Lean is not for you or you are a Toyota owner, this book provides a mind-opening text about what the values of software development and organizations should be.
Reference: “Leading Lean Software Development – Results are not the Point”, Mary and Tom Poppendieck, Addison-Wesley, 278 pages, IBSN 978-0-321-62070-5
Get more details on this book or buy it on amazon.com
Get more details on this book or buy it on amazon.co.uk