Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Podcast on ’10 Best Influences on Software Product Engineering’


Tom Cagley (http://tcagley.wordpress.com/) interviewed me on my article ’10 Best Influences on Software Engineering’ published at SD Times.   This interview happened sometime during April or May 2011.  During this interview Tom asked me very interesting questions and engaged me in a great conversation.    This interview happened over phone across continents. He was in US (East Coast) and I was in India(Pune).   


Tom runs 'Software Process and Measurement' (SPAM) casts regularly. The Software Process and Measurement Cast provides a forum to explore the varied world of software process improvement and measurement.  The SPaMCast covers topics that deal the challenges how work is done in information technology organizations as they grow and evolve.  In a nutshell, the cast provides advice for and from practitioners, methodologists, pundits and consultants!

I encourage you to visit his sites and listen to as many casts as you can.  You will find impressive interviews by several industry leaders in Software Engineering.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

The Four Dimensions of Quality


This is with reference to my blog of June 3rd 2011 on The Manifesto for Software Craftsmanship Manifesto. This manifesto says

As aspiring Software Craftsmen, we are raising the bar of professional software development by practicing it and helping others learn the craft. Through this work, we have come to value:

Not only working software, but also well-crafted software
Not only responding to change, but also steadily adding value
Not only individuals and interactions, but also a community of professionals
Not only customer collaboration, but also productive partnerships

That is, in pursuit of the items on the left, we have found the items on the right to be indispensable.

When you observe the crux of this manifesto closely, it relates to four dimensions of quality, viz., Product Quality, Business Quality, Professional Quality and Engagement Quality.  Right ?

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Are Software Engineering Methodologies Converging?


Are Software Engineering methodologies converging?  Or are traditional methodologies becoming extinct because of the popularity of evolutionary methodologies?   Isn’t it a reality that projects customize methodologies to suit project context?  Does it mean that every project adheres to its own flavor of a methodology?   Can we attempt to collect all engineering and project management best practices & pick and choose them to create a methodology for a given context?  Will Agile methodologies dominate the industry during the next decade?

Or do we need more methodologies?

Monday, June 6, 2011

The Ideal and the Essential




Distributed Agile projects are very challenging. Expecting the best results in your first Sprint is optimistic as well as ideal whereas the willingness to accept mixed outcomes and supporting your team in progressing over the first three or four iterations is essential.

Agile teams are as energetic as music bands that yearn for their first stage appearance. A debut of a music band comes with tremendous efforts and enthusiasm. The debut of successful musicians is not only well-rehearsed but also well-supported by the team as well as sponsors. The first Sprint of a team is as memorable as the first stage show of a budding music band.

More on this at “The First Sprint in Distributed Agile – What to Expect ?

Friday, June 3, 2011

Manifesto for Software Craftsmanship


Robert Martin, one of the 17 founders of Agile Manifesto is one among the leaders who initiated ‘Software Craftsmanship’ movement during 2009 in order to emphasize on the importance of product quality. According to him, Agile practitioners focus more on iteration management activities and less on engineering best practices. The motivation of Software Craftsmanship manifesto is to kindle the enthusiasm in software engineers to create high quality products. Widely known among industry leaders as ‘Uncle Martin’, Robert Martin has objectively crafted this manifesto with his colleagues so that it remains aligned with Agile Manifesto and propels Agile movement. He believes that Software Craftsmanship movement will help us reinstate engineering best practices such as Coding Standards, Refactoring, Test Driven Development, Automated Unit Tests, etc. Also, he claims that several Scrum projects focus heavily on management practices and on the other hand they do not provide equal focus on engineering practices. He recommends that there has to be a balance.


Undoubtedly, Software Craftsmanship manifesto is here to stay and propel Agile movement over the next several years to come.