How about a little Agile Halloween?

• Robert Holler of VersionOne shows up as The Scrum Reaper.
• For you agile network guys, here is the Spam Zombie.
• Creepy XP Halloween mask (oh wait, wrong XP - darn!).

What makes a method Agile?
It might seem obvious about what makes a method agile or not - just refer back to the Agile Manifesto and refer to the four statements and 12 principles. However, as Agile Software Development evolves there appear to be a number of discussions in the industry today that are questioning new variant “agile” methods as well as variant usages of existing agile methods.

• Robin Dymond questioned the agileness of the MSF for Agile process template by asking Who the hell is Ron Miller and WHY is he redefining Agile for MSF in the Scrumdevelopment Yahoo! Groups discussion. While this is a long discussion, many thought leaders participated including Ken Schwaber, Mike Cohn, David Anderson, Scott Ambler, Ron Jeffries, and others. David Anderson has a follow-up blog post.
• Do Agile Practices Make it an Agile Project? That is what Deborah Hartmann asked in this recent InfoQ article. Also take a look at the comments.
• Jonathan Kohl proposes this agile evolution may be turning into The Agile Backlash from the loss of focus or poorly evolved agile processes.

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

• How much documentation is enough? When do you need more? YAGNI (You’re Not Gonna Need It) is a mantra typically stated in the agile community. “Barely Sufficient” is another I hear quite a bit. Rebecca Wirfs-Brock thinks Barely good enough doesn’t cut it. What do you think?

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

• We are always proclaiming customer collaboration, but what about the language of programming languages? John Brothers has some fun with Six Word Stories about Programming Languages.
• If you are having difficulty translating the language of agile, you might refer to this alternate translation posted by John Brothers - Agile Development - The Devil’s Dictionary.

Responding to change over following a plan

• David Nicolet had a recent conversation with some PMPs coming to grips with agile project management. Both sides (Agilists and PMPs) should continue responding to change if they want to survive and thrive.

Agile Fun

• So just what does a Product Owner look like? Ken Schwaber and Mike Cohn have been teaching a new Product Owner Certification course. Michael Vizdos has another interpretation of the Product Owner, not really a Pig, not really a Chicken, but how about a Pigkin? Check out “The Fly” - This time, it’s a Pig and Chicken.

Previous Editions
All previous editions of the Carnival are referenced at the Agile Alliance website.

Join in the Fun!
Have something that you think is worth sharing? Don’t be shy! We love new ideas and insights. Send us a link to your post at agilists.carnival@gmail.com.

Future editions will be on the first and third Thursday of each month. If you would like to participate, please send us a link to your post at mailto:agilists.carnival@gmail.com Or, if you prefer, use this handy dandy carnival submission form.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 2nd, 2006 at 3:30 pm and is filed under Agile Methods, Carnival. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.