Agile

Tue, April 16, 2013 - When it comes to developing enterprise applications, organizations are increasingly realizing that user experience is as important as functionality. In response, vendors are taking a more agile approach to building those apps in order to better meet users' needs.

Thu, April 11, 2013 - George Carlin made phrases like 'jumbo shrimp' famous. But the need to control agile projects is no joke. Ask the right questions along the way, though, and you'll bring order to a process than can easily turn chaotic.

Tue, April 09, 2013 - The work is due next month, but you know it won't be done for three months. Now what? A group of programmers and consultants met at a recent software development conference to swap war stories and discuss management and firefighting challenges.

Mon, April 01, 2013 - One of the nation's largest circulating libraries, the King County Library System, turns to agile development outsourcing to take on commercial rivals such as Apple and Amazon.

Thu, March 14, 2013 - Beyond testing scripts and automating everything, a new approach to software testing is gaining traction in larger organizations. Proponents including Barclays, the world's fourth largest bank. Should your team listen?

Mon, March 04, 2013 - The agile software development community claims that changing the way you work doesn't make things faster. Then why do it at all? Compare agile to traditional development methodologies and you'll see that agile can, in fact, be faster.

Wed, February 13, 2013 - Sixty-five years after the birth of ENIAC, software controls airplanes, pacemakers and missile systems--and it's buggy. Nonetheless, provably correct software has come a long way, and a variety of emerging software testing frameworks and methodologies are poised to further advance the cause.

Tue, February 05, 2013 - The agile development community gave up on the idea of 'approving' specifications and designs about 10 years ago. The next thing to go may just be the when-to-ship decision. As software release schedules are increasingly compressed, here are three ways to rethink the ship/no ship decision.

Thu, January 10, 2013 - Agile is the best approach for CRM projects, but what if management just won't let you go there? What does it really mean to have a fixed-price, fixed-deliverable project? You will have to put in more effort, but you can succeed in the long run.

Thu, January 03, 2013 - Royal Caribbean Cruises deploys and uses software to manage a fleet of 40 of the largest ships in the world. Every week, data for thousands of guests is offloaded alongside luggage and souvenirs. Find out how Royal Caribbean manages data on land and at sea now--and what its plans to do in the future.

Wed, January 02, 2013 - Big conferences take you to Las Vegas, feed you well and feature keynotes in lavish ballrooms. Smaller events may lack the glamour but offer much more camaraderie. The end result is a much more productive use of your time, a more valuable group of new colleagues and a more robust to-do list.

Thu, November 15, 2012 - Don't overlook the value of small, regional IT events put on by nonprofit organizations: They offer candid conversations, multidisciplinary sessions and networking opportunities and, in this case, the chance to dig in to agile development.

Mon, October 01, 2012 - Working with offshore outsourcing providers adds complexity to agile development projects, but it can be done. Here are 7 ways to make it work.

Wed, August 22, 2012 - After almost a decade of mismanagement and waste at the FBI, its CIO turned the agency's maligned case management implementation into an agile project. Two years later, the system is live. This relative success, as well as the example of other federal agencies, shows that agile can work in Washington.