Agile software development and the technique of time-boxing go hand-in-hand. Agile development methods are characterized as being able to adapt quickly to changing realities by incorporating planning, requirements analysis, design, coding, testing, and documenting tasks to release mini-increments of new functionality.

Scrum and other agile methods recognize that responsiveness to change is an important aspect of delivering projects. They also recognize that software development is evolutionary and creative. By managing changes through Adaptive planning, Scrum provides a simple yet effective method of planning and tracking project progress. In this article, we will examine what is needed to sustain Adaptive planning and improve Team's responsiveness towards customer needs.

We will examine the following factors:

•Just-enough planning
•Evolving plan, scope driven by budget and/or time

Flavors of Agile

Agile forms of development are increasing in popularity as the need for projects characterized by changing requirements become the norm. For many project leaders, waterfall development connotes a single image of a development method characterized by clear steps for developing software in successive stages. Everybody gets waterfall – the method has been around for years and is ingrained in business practices.

Enterprises are moving towards agile software development methods to increase productivity and project quality. Agile projects must adhere to agility best practices to increase their success.
Best Practices

There are seven best practices for operating agile projects. These best practices span every size of IT organization and generally apply to all agile projects. Follow these practices to optimize agile software development and drive improvements to the projects' bottom line.

Scrum Methodology, I am sure you have heard of it. It seems like everyone is very excited about this Methodology. It seems to fit in well to control chaos in your Enterprise. It shifts responsibility from an individual Project Manager to the entire Team. The Team becomes responsible for the success and failure of the Project. Its a collaborative effort, no one is over anyone, everyone is equally responsible. It seems to be pretty successful, at least for us it is.

Here is a Video on what the Scrum Methodology is, hope you find it useful. Enjoy and have a nice day.

Scrum is an agile approach to software development. Rather than a full process or methodology, it is a framework. So instead of providing complete, detailed descriptions of how everything is to be done on the project, much is left up to the team. This is done because the team will know best how to solve its problem.

By John Clifford, CSM, CSPO, CSP

Many teams moving to Scrum have questions about the Product Owner position. Is the Product Owner a member of the Scrum team? What role does the Product Owner play in the day-to-day life of a Scrum project? How do we map current functional roles to Scrum roles, specifically with regard to the Product Owner? Who should we select as our Product Owner?

Martin Fowler

Using a agile method is not for everyone. There are a number of things to bear in mind if you decide to follow this path. However I certainly believe that these methodologies are widely applicable and should be used by more people than currently consider them.