For those note familiar with Cross Talk, it is the Journal of Defense Software Engineering, published by the Software Technology Support Center, Hill Air Force Base, Ogden Air Logistics Center, Utah. Cross Talk provides a unique view of software engineering, through the eyes of a logistics provider. STSC provides assistance in adopting technologies for software intensive systems.
What is interesting in this month's Cross Talk is an article about extending agile methods. A discussion of the myths of agile (good and bad) and recommendations for extending agile into larger project domains. Some interesting things come out:
- Agile iterations are planned and measured counter to the myth that agile is somehow chaos
- Work is fixed for each iteration in an agile process. This is nearly identical to an Earned Value baselined plan where BCWS is fixed for the rolling wave.
- Schedules are adjusted to deal with changes in requirements. "Buffers" are recommended to deal with these changes.
- Agile methods can be applied to domains outside programming. Instead of predicting schedule performance, performance itself is planned using "velocity." Using short iterations of fixed duration provide actual results used to calibrate the team's delivery performance. This is compatible with Earned Value, since "value" delivered (BCWP) can be captured during the normal course of EV.
- Design is part of an iteration in a "just in time" manner
- Documentation is provided "as needed"
This paper is one of many presented in Cross Talk over the past years. What is important here is that this is not an agile focused journal. It is a defense system journal.
