Considering the time of year, I'm seizing the opportunity to takea lighthearted look at Santa Claus in order to evaluate him andhis organization for their level of agility. Can St. Nick dobetter? Read on and see.
February 25, 2003
URL:http://www.drdobbs.com/how-agile-is-santa/184415824
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Considering the time of year, I'm seizing the opportunity to take a lighthearted look at Santa Claus in order to evaluate him and his organization for their level of agility. Can St. Nick do better? Read on and see.
Santa Claus is agile in the following ways:
Despite his many agile aspects, Santa and his organization could still improve.
What's the lesson to take away from this discussion? There's always room for improvement, even among the best and brightest. You should always strive to continually improve the way that you work. Everyone here at Software Development wishes you a happy holiday!
I'd like to thank the following people on the Agile Modeling mailing list for their thoughts on this subject: Kenneth W. Boyer Jr., Chris Britton, Larry Brunelle, Paul Clements, Mats Helander, Michael Higgins, Ron Jeffries, Jonathan Kern, Walter J Kirsch, David D. Lucas, Les Munday, David Putman and Jason Smith.
Recently on the Agile Modeling Mailing List:
Agile IT
Throughout November and early December, several discussion
threads focused on agile approaches to enterprise issues such as
enterprise architecture, data administration and portfolio
management. The general consensus was that people need to find
ways to work together and that documentation-heavy approaches
and/or command-and-control approaches aren't effective. IT groups
wishing to support agile software development projects need to
recognize that agile project teams have different support needs
than traditional project teams. Agile project teams need to
understand that they're not working in a vacuum, and that their
efforts must reflect the overall vision of the enterprise.
Use Cases and Data Elements
How to write effective use cases is a popular topic on many
mailing lists, including this one, and a common problem faced by
people new to the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and the
Rational Unified Process (RUP)--when all you have is a use-case
hammer, everything looks like a use-case nail. Instead of
embedding information such as data element definitions, user
interface specifications, business rules and other types of data
in your use cases, you're much better off modeling that
information using other artifacts and then including the
appropriate references in your use cases. Use cases are only one
of several modeling artifacts.
User Interface Flow
The flow of your user interface--the way your users navigate
between screens/pages and reports--is an important aspect of your
system's usability. One conversation on the list discussed the
idea that the UML needed some sort of user-interface flow diagram
so that developers can have a standard way to analyze and design
the user interfaces of the systems that they build.
Hot Links:
"The Agile Edge." Scott Ambler's monthly Software Development
columns exploring leading-edge issues in agile software
development.
www.sdmagazine.com/thinking/
Agile Enterprise Architecture. This page describes how to take an
agile approach to enterprise architecture.
www.agiledata.org/essays/enterpriseArchitecture.html
Agile Modeling Mailing List. Visit this URL to find out how to
get involved with the AM mailing list. Everyone is welcome.
www.agilemodeling.com/feedback.htm
Agile Software Development (Addison-Wesley, 2002) by Alistair
Cockburn. This book is an excellent overview of the principles
and concepts of agile development.
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201699699/ambysoftinc
Artifacts for Agile Modeling: The UML and Beyond. This page
provides a brief summary of potential models that you may choose
to apply when developing business application software.
www.agilemodeling.com/essays/modelingTechniques.htm
Enterprise Unified Process. An extension to the RUP that includes
enterprise management as well as operation and support
disciplines.
www.ronin-intl.com/publications/unifiedProcess.html
"Realistic UML." This essay discusses several problems currently
faced by the UML, including the concept that it's not yet
complete because it doesn't include models for exploring user
interface issues or for modeling databases.
www.agilemodeling.com/essays/realisticUML.htm
UML Use Case Diagram Modeling Guidelines. This page presents a
collection of techniques for creating effective UML use case
diagrams.
www.modelingstyle.info/useCaseDiagram.html
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