program selection system

When Kent Beck first published Extreme Programming Explained in 2000 he invited us to embrace change. Certainly XP’s and Agile Software Development’s value system and practices support that. However, succeeding in Agile processes now requires more. We’ve come to value the successful delivery of the outcome of our work. It’s the value our “user stories” bring to business and end users that use the software that matter most. If user stories are a means to an end, then it’s the end that matters most. And, while it helps to embrace change, embracing the uncertainty of not knowing exactly what you’ll get is more important.

In this talk I’ll explore the common misconceptions about incremental and iterative development that lead Agile practitioners to focus more on building required scope on time, and less on the value they’re delivering. I’ll then offer strategies to help Agile projects both finish on time and shift emphasis to the successful delivery of value. I’ll offer advice by leveraging wisdom from famous thinkers such as John Lennon, Pete Townsend, Roger Waters, Paul Simon, and John Lydon. The talk is fun, fast paced, and filled with strong visuals and music clips.

This talk was first given at XP Day 2007. The talk will be updated and revised a bit, but deliver essentially the same messages. Blog responses to the talk can be found here:

• http://gojko.net/2007/12/04/waterfall-trap/
• http://blog.nayima.be/2007/11/27/xp-days-london-2007-day-1/
• http://www.think-box.co.uk/blog/2007/11/xpday7-embrace-uncertainty.html

my blog entry on the subject