Agile Now

For those considering Extreme Programming, this book provides no-nonsense advice on agile planning, development, delivery, and management taken from the authors' many years of experience. While plenty of books address the what and why of agile development, very few offer the information users can apply directly.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Extreme Programming and Agile Processes in Software Engineering, XP 2006, held in Oulu, Finland, June 2006. The book presents 16 revised full papers together with 6 experience papers, 12 poster papers and panel summaries, organized in topical sections on foundation and rationale for agile methods, effects of pair programming, quality in agile software development, and more.

Want to work smarter, faster and more productively? Agile is an innovative way of working that will help you deliver high quality products and services cost-effectively, to embrace change and keep improving as you go. Whether you’re a one-person start-up or with a multinational, Agile Now will help you get to grips with the essence of agile thinking, identify what works best, avoid common mistakes and boost your efficiency. Agile Now is a quick-start introduction with universal appeal, bringing together all the essential theory with practical advice, so you harness the power of agile and hit the ground running. Join the agile revolution. Get agile, now.

Want to work smarter, faster and more productively? Agile is an innovative way of working that will help you deliver high quality products and services cost-effectively, to embrace change and keep improving as you go. Whether you’re a one-person start-up or with a multinational, Agile Now will help you get to grips with the essence of agile thinking, identify what works best, avoid common mistakes and boost your efficiency. Agile Now is a quick-start introduction with universal appeal, bringing together all the essential theory with practical advice, so you harness the power of agile and hit the ground running. Join the agile revolution. Get agile, now.

In this short publication we explore the considerations, challenges, and tools necessary to use Agile project management techniques in rapidly changing, short cycle, virtual environments. The material was developed for global organizations that have existing Waterfall (PMBOK sequential) processes and expertise, and are looking to add in Agile competence, and become more agile as an organization.

Agile is a philosophy that ensures business results, especially in this rapidly changing world. The foundation for the focus on result is based on continuous improvement of customer satisfaction, Customer Excellence! The ideas originated in the world of software development, but is more widely applicable.This book is about applying Agile from team level to the level of the whole organization. It is the guide in the transformation to a structured Agile way of working and a reference for those who already are Agile and want to take it to the next step.The book provides a good foundation for the `Certify to inspire 'program of the Agile Consortium with certification at the level of Agile Foundation, Practitioner and Master.This pocket guide is intended for anyone who is, or will get involved in the transformation to Agile. The book is particularly aimed at managers, team members and coaches.Topics covered: Agile at organization level; Agile (project) management, Scrum combined with PRINCE2®, measuring the transformation, coaching styles, Agile, Lean and continuous improvement, distributed teams, directing self-organizing teams, Agile and governance, and of course the book contains many practical tips.The authors are Certified Agile Masters and their years of experience with Agile transformations are brought together in this book. The answers to the many questions of managers, teams and others are also included in this book. The result is a convenient and practical overview of the Agile approach from team-level up to organizational level as well as the main issues that you encounter in the transformation to an agile organization.

Agile has the power to transform work--but only if it's implemented the right way. For decades business leaders have been painfully aware of a huge chasm: They aspire to create nimble, flexible enterprises. But their day-to-day reality is silos, sluggish processes, and stalled innovation. Today, agile is hailed as the essential bridge across this chasm, with the potential to transform a company and catapult it to the head of the pack. Not so fast. In this clear-eyed, indispensable book, Bain & Company thought leader Darrell Rigby and his colleagues Sarah Elk and Steve Berez provide a much-needed reality check. They dispel the myths and misconceptions that have accompanied agile's rise to prominence--the idea that it can reshape an organization all at once, for instance, or that it should be used in every function and for all types of work. They illustrate that agile teams can indeed be powerful, making people's jobs more rewarding and turbocharging innovation, but such results are possible only if the method is fully understood and implemented the right way. The key, they argue, is balance. Every organization must optimize and tightly control some of its operations, and at the same time innovate. Agile, done well, enables vigorous innovation without sacrificing the efficiency and reliability essential to traditional operations. The authors break down how agile really works, show what not to do, and explain the crucial importance of scaling agile properly in order to reap its full benefit. They then lay out a road map for leading the transition to a truly agile enterprise. Agile isn't a goal in itself; it's a means to becoming a high-performance operation. Doing Agile Right is a must-have guide for any company trying to make the transition--or trying to sustain high agility.

Utilize a new layers-based development model for embedded systems using Agile techniques for software architecture and management. Firmware is comprised of both hardware and software, but the applicability of Agile in embedded systems development is new. This book provides a step-by-step process showing how this is possible. The book details how the moving parts in embedded systems development affect one another and shows how to properly use both engineering tools and new tools and methods to reduce waste, rework, and product time-to-market. Software is seen not as a commodity but a conduit to facilitate valuable product knowledge flow across the company into the hands of the customer. Embedded Systems Architecture for Agile Development starts off by reviewing the Layers model used in other engineering disciplines, as well as its advantages and applicability to embedded systems development. It outlines development models from project-based methodologies (e.g., collaborative product development) to the newer modern development visions (e.g., Agile) in software and various tools and methods that can help with a Layers model implementation. The book covers requirement modeling for embedded systems (Hatley-Pirbhai Method) and how adapting the HP Method with the help of the tools discussed in this book can be seen as a practical example for a complete embedded system. What You’ll Learn Identify the major software parts involved in building a typical modern firmware Assign a layer to each software part so each layer can be separate from another and there won’t be interdependencies between them Systematically and logically create these layers based on the customer requirements Use Model-Based Design (MBD) to create an active system architecture that is more accepting of changes Who This Book Is For Firmware engineers; systems architects; hardware and software managers, developers, designers, and architects; program managers; project managers; Agile practitioners; and manufacturing engineers and managers. The secondary audience includes research engineers and managers, and engineering and manufacturing managers.