Agile Programming

Though there have been different flavours of Agile prior to 2001 ..Its has been gaining widespread popularity these days. I did work in one of the flavours called XP(eXtreme Programming) in 2003.There are similarities and differences But here are my thoughts on the Agile Manifesto!

"We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan


That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more"

The above is from http://agilemanifesto.org/

I do appreciate all the thought process/experiences that went about to create the manifesto.

Who creates processes and tools? isn't it Individuals with interactions?
Working software can be documented,User guides/User training etc are the need for the day as its important to know for whom the software is developed.
Customer collaboration is good for business in general but winning and executing a contract is more important than just mere collaboration...Collaboration needs to speak in terms of revenue.
How can the project plan be created in such a way that it would cater to responding to a change?if you fail to plan your planning to fail.

Both RHS and LHS is equally important.You cannot do without the either.Now the question is what is being valued on the LHS vs RHS is more important.

Do consider checking out the Addendum's to the manifesto...and do add your own based on your experience!Also before Agiling consider what is important to you especially if you are the project manager

Matches and Misfits

I wanted to write a How to Series ---
so to start with :
How to identify matches and misfits for a project in an IT organization.

Everbody is winner Its just some are disguised losers ...at that period of time.

In IT to identify misfits looks easy

1)Does not meet the required technical/functional skills ..if thats the case then you will have a lot of misfits..
The questions to be answered is Can the person be trained ,mentored and motivated to achieve the skill/Compentancy?Do you/or your lead have the patience to do so?Also consider the objective/schedule/risks/costs of the project?

Bottom line is you can always help the people achieve the technical skill required provided they want to LEARN!...So there is always a trade off .We need to understand the Cost Benefit .

2)Does not have the ATTITUDE... Attitude is everything...is IT??
Its how you see and measure this Attitude as it can vary from time to time.
Though there are tests like IWAM,PAPI,pschyometric tests,pjm tests, etc..Its very difficult to judge this.The point is getting it right for the job that is being offered.


Simple Characteristics of Matches
Willingness to Learn and do
Abilty to seek solutions given a difficult problem
Looks for details
Logical skills
Technical skills
Communication skills
Team player
Honest
Sincere
Commited
can meet the project requirment
...
...
...

The level and degree of the characteristics may vary from interviewer to interviewer.
Note Those of us that conduct interviews are people too. We have our PERCEPTIONS – good, bad and ugly. The difference is we decide who is a match and whose not!!! in otherwords we decide who gets the Job.All the above simple characteristics can be measured by asking the right questions depending on the requirement.