I keep hearing horror stories from managers about how their teams that have adopted Agile Development insist there are no documented requirements necessary when using the Scrum framework.This is wrong.  

Scrum is intentionally quiet about software requirements so that groups can use what works best for them.

In our training seminars, we show groups practicing Agile how they can benefit from a high-level "strategic" use case model.  This strategic model, or High Level Analysis, is used to flush out the users, the needs of the users, and to expose any data flow components. This technique has proved quick and effective.

Mike J. Berry www.RedRockResearch.com

Recently, while attending the '09 Agile Roots conference in Salt Lake City, UT, Alistair Cockburn--the keynote speaker--referenced Miyamoto Musashi's 16th-century book called The Book of Five Rings.

I like Asian philosophy (and swords and such) so I picked up the book and read it.  The book was written in 1643 by an undefeated Japanese samurai master who was so effective he was rumoured to have spent the latter part of his career entering sword-fights purposely without a weapon.  Although meant as a battlefield manual, the book has gained popularity as a handbook for conducting business in the 21st century.

The book was translated into English by Thomas Cleary at some point and the edition I read was published in 2005.   Improperly named "The Book of Five Rings," the book is actually a compilation of five scrolls.

The Earth Scroll: Musashi talks about how a straight path levels the contours of the Earth and how various occupations provide life-improving principles.  He talks about observing patterns and learning from them.  Certainly a great primer for any business trying to get across the chasm.

The Water Scroll: Here Musashi talks about how water conforms to the shape of its container.  He suggests a separation of one's inward mind against it's outward posture, maintaining that one's control over one's mind must not be relinquished to outward circumstances.  He translates these philosophies into about 80 pages of sword fighting techniques.  An interesting modern parallel is found in Jim Collins book, Good to Great, where he talks about how the most successful companies are able to say 'No' and not be influenced by immediate but non-strategic opportunities.

The Fire Scroll: As with any book written by a 16th century samurai master, you'd expect a core discussion on combat strategy.   The fire scroll is full of combat strategies, positioning, and pre-emptive theory.  Very interesting.  Did anyone notice how Apple's announcement of the latest iPhone came about 1 day after the Palm Pre phone was officially launched--killing it's market blitz?  No coincidence there.

The Wind Scroll: The wind scroll contains a directive to study and be aware of your opponents techniques.  Translated into business speak, this means one should always study ones competitors.  Be aware of new offerings, partnerships, markets, etc. that they persue.  Emphasis is placed on observing rhythms and strategically harmonizing, or dis-harmonizing with them as appropriate.

Finally, The Emptiness Scroll:  This scroll discusses the value of escaping personal biases.  Emphasis is placed on not lingering on past situations and being able to adjust quickly to new scenarios.

Overall I found this book 'enlightening' to read.  If you like metaphors and inferences, or sword-fighting, then you will enjoy this book.

Mike J. Ber />www.RedRockResearch.com

I recently attended an Agile Development Product Owner class taught by Alistair Cockburn.  The content was excellent.  He taught us about the proper perspectives an Agile Product Owner needs to successfully interact with the project sponsors, users, and the development team.Alistair Cockburn has authored several books on Agile Development, and is one of the original signers of the Agile Manifesto.I would describe Alistair's environment as squirrely and fun.  We built user-stories out of the Rumpelstiltskin and Cinderella stories (from the original Nicht fur Kinder European versions--full of violence and gore!)We also discussed the differences between Use Cases and User Stories.  I was happy to hear he prefers Use Cases, because so do I.All class attendees had already been through the Scrum Master course, so as we executed sprints for our product backlog, it was interesting to see how many attendees actually sought the sponsors/users feedback during the iterations--without being reminded.Overall it was an educational and enjoyable experience.

Mike J. Berry   www.RedRockResearch.com

Hooray, another book on Agile Development! 

In Integrating Agile Development in the Real World, Peter Schuh explains in depth how to get your team to adopt the Agile Development Model.

Schuh covers several Agile Methodologies including the problems to watch out for during the process.

I do have to say, this book seemed like a "whole bunch of everything" and so I didn't feel, after reading it, that I was really any more informed about Agile Development.

I would recommend the book for a group just being introduced to the Agile Development Model.

Mike J Berry www.RedRockResearch.com

So I attended our SLC-based agile development forum yesterday.  Alistair Cockburn was there, along with some other associates from around the valley. We discussed various successes and challenges with using the Agile Development Model for software development. 

One particular topic that became a main discussion point was how to get government agencies to accept Agile Development Model contract bids. Fortunately, executives from several companies were represented in the room that use the Agile Development Model and pursue government contract work.  They gave us some insight on how to proceed. The challenge is that the Waterfall Development Model (SDLC) is the traditional project development process for government contract submissions.  They like it because it expresses a project in terms of scope, components, time-lines, and milestone dates.  All of this is measurable, so it works very well with the government procurement types.

Agile is a less structured methodology--where you build requirements and code more in a module, by module format.  These modules, called user-stories, aren't spec'd in detail until they are actually being worked on.  Because of this, milestones and time-lines for an Agile project are not as predictable.  The Agile Development Model accepts this reality, and suggests that most projects are not really so predictable anyway.

The trick with the Government is to bid your first project as a waterfall project.  Then, after you have a relationship, suggest that forthcoming projects have an Agile model. You can also submit a Waterfall project with some additional requirements listed on the contract.  ie: "Requirements base-lined at a high-level" or "Progress reported via Project Backlog" or "Prioritization by Need" or "Daily Scrum" or all of these things.

Mike J Berry www.RedRockResearch.com