Comments on: 25 Thoughts on Agile Development

By: Markus Waletzko

Markus Waletzko — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:44:18 +0000

Web video at its best! Do you have any advice for someone just out of university

By: Mark McEahern

Mark McEahern — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 02:38:14 +0000

The ability to prioritize is often missing. A way to measure this is the degree to which people feel comfortable with a list of deferred features. I always felt a sense of accomplishment when I could say we were done with something without hiding the fact that there were features that weren’t done.

You can argue about whether any given non-implemented or not completely implemented feature is important. But stack it up against releasing the features that *are* implemented. Does the cost of its absence or the benefit of its presence outweigh the cost of not delivering what’s already done?

Talking about requirements often leaves unchallenged the notion that there is some System that is the full and complete set of requirements. Feature talk is all about a world of infinite variety and choice.

By: wiscoDude

wiscoDude — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:19:53 +0000

One could say that if the “feature” isn’t tested, than it isn’t a feature. So, any *thing* that happens which is not explicitly tested is a bug.

I wonder if this is what Rich was talking about.

And this relates to a future post where the set of tests is the de facto description of the software, not any document which lists features or requirements.

Thanks for the comment Trevor.

By: wiscoDude

wiscoDude — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:16:44 +0000

Thanks for the comment Mike. I’m not familiar with the BMM – will read up.

But yes, software is certainly a means to an end. Put cash in the bank account (in a for profit organization).

By: Mike Allen

Mike Allen — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:40:56 +0000

I really like “* The word “requirements” promotes simplistic thinking.”. This goes with dumb concepts like eliciting requirements from users in a session. I’ve been looking at the Business Motivation Model (BMM), at first it didn’t seem to gel, but then I realized that software was only part of the ‘means’ to achieve the ‘end’. If you follow that to a logical conclusion you can never separate the requirement from the business system, you have to integrate the software with the business solution. And I reckon that is feature driven development.

I have some thoughts on risk too, maybe another day…

By: Trevor Brooks

Trevor Brooks — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:45:48 +0000

Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature. ~Rich Kulawiec