1. The New Methodology Martin Fowler Paper Presented by Vyshali Belagodu
Online Paper
Paper Presented by
Vyshali Belagodu
Sujan Kapadia
Jason Franklin

2. Contents Introduction Predictive versus Adaptive Putting People First
Self-Adaptive Process
Methodologies
Should you go agile?

3. Introduction
From “code and fix” to “monumental methodologies” to “agile methodologies”
Agile methods are rather code-oriented and less document-oriented
Agile methods are
Adaptive rather than predictive
People-oriented rather than process-oriented

4. Predictive versus Adaptive
Separate Design and Construction
Get a design that can turn coding into a construction activity? The cost of this small enough to be worthwhile?
Construction is cheap!
All effort is in design which requires creative and talented people
Cannot plan creative processes easily

5. Predictive versus Adaptive
Unpredictability of Requirements
“the problem with this project is that the requirements are always changing”
Understanding the options for requirements is tough
Estimation is hard
Difficult to determine the value of a software feature until it’s used
Cannot get a predictable plan without stable requirements

6. Predictive versus Adaptive
Is predictability impossible?
Can’t pretend to follow a predictable process when the situation is not predictable
How to control over unpredictable world?
Getting feedback frequently through iterations
Produce working versions frequently that have a subset of the required features

7. Predictive versus Adaptive
How long should an iteration be?
Adaptive process work if the customer is also adaptive
A good predictive project will go according to plan, a good agile project will build something different and better than the original plan foresaw

8. Putting People First Are software developers replaceable parts?
Process, process, process! Most companies strive toward predictable processes (think the race to CMMI Level 5…)
Management assumes programmers are predictable as well
People are not predictable by nature!

9. “Plug Compatible”
Fowler calls these predictable programmers “plug compatible programming units”
Software is highly creative and professional work – if you treat developers like drones, they won’t stay long

10. Hey, we’re professional too!
Contrasts to Frederick Taylor’s theory: those who are working shouldn’t decide how to work (this is manager’s job)
No, software developers are bright and professional – they should decide how to conduct technical work
Fowler thinks we’re attracted to software development by its glitz and money (??)

11. People Oriented Processes
Agile development – people accept the process, not imposed by managers
Therefore process are not just strict rules, but become molded into the work
Developers and managers have an equal place at work – developers make all technical decisions

12. Measuring the immeasurable
Traditional measurement-based management is prone to flaw and inaccuracy
Only works for simple work – quickly becomes inaccurate for large projects
So use delegatory style of management (doers decide how to work)

13. The Role of Business Leadership
Technical people are just that: technical
So they need to be in close contact with customers and those of business expertise
Agile development says things always change – so you need to adapt and therefore need to be close to customer, etc.
Should you go agile?

14. Self-Adaptive Process
Use adaptive processes: at the end of an iteration, ask yourself:
What did we do well?
What have we learned?
What can we do better?
Then tune the process according to the task or project at hand

15. Methodologies Extreme Programming (XP) Cockburn's Crystal Family
Communication, Feedback, Simplicity, and Courage
Strong emphasis on testing
Cockburn's Crystal Family
Less productive than XP however more people will be able to follow it
Encourages the process to be self-improving
Open Source
Style of software, not so much a process
There is a way things are done that can be brought to closed systems

16. Methodologies (con’t)
Highsmith’s Adaptive Software Development
Speculation, collaboration, and learning
Fosters collaboration and learning within the project
Scrum
Short term rapid development
15 min scrums to allow management to find out progress and things that are blocking progress
Feature Driven Development
Short iterations that deliver tangible functionality
Has five processes: Develop an Overall Model, Build a Features List, Plan by Feature, Design by Feature, Build by feature

17. Methodologies (con’t)
DSDM (Dynamic System Development Method)
Notable for having much of the infrastructure of more mature traditional methodologies
Following the principles of the agile methods approach
Rational Unified Process
Process that goes with UML
Too open ended, can be agile but can also be traditional
Example of a good iteration is dX Process combining XP with RUP

18. Should you go agile? Can work for small or medium teams
Yes (go agile!):
Uncertain or volatile requirements
Responsible and motivated developers
Customer who understands and is involved
No (go predictive!):
A team over a hundred
Fixed price, or fixed scope contract