Subject: Software Engineering

Topic: Process Models

Difficulty: High

1.Satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery- We shorten the distance between requirements gathering and customer feedback. The period is shorter because we plan less change at a time, and in return we get more opportunities to steer the software in a direction the customer appreciates. Notice that the principle actually says "continuous delivery", not just "quarterly" or "bimonthly." ·
2.Deliver working software frequently- We shorten the distance between the system-as-designed and the system-as-built. Both will evolve as we learn more about the system as it should be built. We also shorten the distance between planning and delivery, giving more opportunity to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our work.

3.Business people and developers work together daily- We shorten the physical distance between a question and its answer. Moving the customer to a different building, area, room, or even to a cubicle just around the corner dramatically reduces the number of questions we ask the customer. With collocation, the business and technology sides learn to better understand each other and to make more mutually-beneficial decisions.

4. Build projects around motivated individuals- We shorten the distance between intent and action. The goal is to build an agile team of skilled professionals who care about all the business concerns including schedule and content, and who will work in a highly-engaged and result-oriented way. Such individuals need no babysitting and very little direction. Such a team will refused to be blocked, and will produce their best work at all times. Management does not have to spend time on motivational issues or "cat herding" so common to less-motivated teams.

5.Convey information via face-to-face conversation- We shorten the time between a question and its answer. Agile teams work in bullpens because it makes it much easier to ask questions and offer suggestions. Things that should be communicated get communicated, not forgotten, diluted, or otherwise insufficiently communicated. While there are many attempts to go agile without co-locating team members, we are not aware of any which have the kind of success which is typical in co-located teams.

6. People not process- We shorten the distance between thinking we're done and knowing we're done. The team should be judged by the product it produces, not by the rate of typing or number of degrees, or hours worked per month, or how quickly the members walk from the parking lot, or how quietly they work from their individual cubicles. A good team frequently produces quality software the customer wants. All other measures are subordinate or irrelevant.

7.Give continuous attention to technical excellence- We shorten the distance between implementation and ideal. An agile developer is never more than a few minutes away from the last time all the tests passed. Collaborating classes are not at the opposite ends of long chains of contains/references/inherits relationships (e.g. "train wrecks"). Developers need not wait to clean up redundant or confusing code. If working code is the measure of agility, then excellent code must be defined as code that accepts changes gracefully. An agile team takes steps to ensure that code gets better with each iteration.

8.Simplify: maximize the amount of work not done--We shorten the distance between comprehension and completion. We eschew things that don't matter. If we're less encumbered by unhelpful tasks and unwanted features, we've shortened the reach to useful work.

9.Teams self-organize- We shorten the distance between need and action. We don't wait around to be told who does what. We do what needs to be done, not waiting for direction or supervision. We attack problems with fervor, mitigating risks and clearing obstacles.

10. Teams retrospect and tune their behaviors- We shorten the distance between introspection and adaptation. Improvement is never far away. Each iteration, we explicitly find ways to improve process simplicity, code quality, technical excellence, and predictability of results. We analyze problems and obstacles, and look for root causes and their solutions. We actively plan to use better techniques, tools, and process flows. We act on the plan in the subsequent iteration, without delay.