Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
Agile Process Showcased at IT Architect Event
10/25/2007
Last week, IT architects put their profession squarely on the map at the first annual IT Architect Regional Conference for Southern California. This local San Diego-based event, part of the International Association of Software Architects (IASA), wasn't just a typical forum for punditry on the sometimes obscure topic of service-oriented architecture (SOA). It was more a meeting of colleagues. The keynotes and sessions were frequently paused to answer spontaneous questions and remarks from attendees.
The first keynote speech, by Scott Ambler, IASA Fellow and IBM Rational practice leader for agile development, wasn't about SOA at all. It was about the agile software development process, which Ambler predicted would probably become the norm by 2010. Ambler spoke on "Agile Strategies for Enterprise Architects."
The agile process is usually defined as the use of small teams to create frequent software builds and releases. Agile teams typically create solutions without slowing down to document the process. In that sense, agile development is often contrasted with the traditional waterfall software development approach, which is heavily documented and prescribed. While that's a common way to characterize agile development, Ambler said no formal definition for the term really exists.
The majority of companies appear to be engaging in the agile software development process. Ambler cited a March 2007 Dr. Dobbs Journal survey of agile development where 69 percent of respondents said that their organizations were doing one or more agile projects.
Ambler called the concept of following repeatable processes in software development a "stupid idea." He said that teams work together differently and that the development process should stop catering to constructs formed by bureaucrats. People are not going to follow repeatable processes for the sheer joy of it, he said. What is really wanted is repeatable results.
In practice, you can't make decisions based on your documents (a traditional waterfall approach). There's nothing wrong with documentation, but agile developers are smart about it and don't try to write speculative documentation, Ambler said.
Writing the requirements first is not practical, for a number of reasons that Ambler described.
"We build software to meet the changing needs of our stakeholders," he said. "The stakeholders will change their minds. Trying to write a requirements specification -- trying to set up a design document early in the lifecycle -- is absolutely crazy. People are not good at defining up front what they want. We've known this for a couple decades now."
One reason to go with agile software development is that 45 percent of software functionality is not used on successful software development projects, per data from the Standish Group that Ambler didn't specify. Under traditional methods, developers may spend nearly half of their time creating functionality that their customers won't use and don't really want.
Recommended Reading
- Sun, Stanford Working To Archive History
In May in San Francisco, experts from leading universities, libraries, and research institutions around the world met as part of an ongoing effort to address a pressing issue: archiving the world's history, right up to today.
- The Quilt Coalition Rolls Out XO Communications for High-Capacity Network Services
The Quilt, a coalition of 28 regional network organizations, has added XO Communications Services to its authorized vendor list. The Quilt represents 200 universities and thousands of other educational institutions across the United States. With this new relationship, Quilt members can purchase XO's high-speed IP transit and network transport services at competitive rates.
- Wimba Classroom 5.2 Expands Classroom Capture Support, Adds MP3 Downloads
At the NECC 2008 conference in Texas this week, Wimba launched a new version of Wimba Classroom, the virtual classroom component of the company's Collaboration Suite. The new 5.2 release expands options for classroom capture and adds a variety of other functional and ease of use features.
- Automation Chimera: Education Is Not Management
The lure of automating workflow online so human intervention is minimized is continually reinforced in the minds of higher education administrators by examples of automated campus systems such as financials, student information systems, and other enterprise systems. But what's good for management is not always good for learning.
- Cognos Releases BI Software for Linux-based IBM System z Mainframe
Cognos, which IBM acquired in January, has released an update to its business intelligence software that will run on the Linux operating system on IBM System z mainframes. IBM Cognos 8 BI was being developed by the two companies prior to the acquisition, but assimilation of Cognos into IBM accelerated development.
- Facebook and Collegiality: A Serendipitous Social Niche
Facebook is a way to greet a colleague as if she or he is on your own campus: a wave at a distance, a hello at the corner burrito place, a honk as you both leave the campus parking lot. Informal collegiality has been extended over the miles.
