Author: Leo Stezano

So far in this series, I’ve talked about the pros and cons of Agile, and reviewed the methodology’s core values. Today I want to move beyond the “what” and into more of the “how.” I’ll start by looking at user stories. A user story is the basic unit of Agile development. User stories should be written by the business, not by the development team. They should clearly state the business value that the project is expected to create, as well as the user that will benefit. The focus should be on the problem being solved, not the software being built. This not only increases efficiency, but also provides flexibility for the development team: how they solve the problem is up to them. There’s a generally accepted template for writing user stories: “As a [user type], I want to [specific functionality] so that [tangible benefit].” I’m not crazy about using this convention because it…

In my last post, I talked about some of the advantages of and potential problems with using Agile as your development philosophy. Today I’d like to build on that topic by talking about the fundamental principles that guide Agile development. There are four, each seemingly described as a choice between two competing priorities: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan In reality, the core values should not be taken as “do this, NOT that” statements, but rather as reminders that help the team prioritize the activities and attitudes that create the most value. 1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools The first core value is my favorite one: start with the right people, then build your processes and select your tools to best fit them, rather than the other way around. A good development team…