Programs
The Agile Alliance conducts much of its work via programs proposed by members. Some examples of past programs are topic-focused workshops, local Agile conferences, and academic research projects.
The primary requirement for any program is that it supports the values, goals, and purpose of the Agile Alliance:
- To provide an unbiased forum within which the community can freely work to discuss, promote, and improve agile development processes;
- To encourage scientific research in current and potential uses of agile processes;
- To share information about agile processes;
- To provide an opportunity for education in agile processes;
- To provide a medium of communication with user groups in similar areas;
- To provide an opportunity for the formation of programs that further these purposes;
- To assist members in keeping abreast of new information regarding agile processes as changes and advances occur; and
- To communicate information and accomplishments to news media and to specialty magazines serving the field.
To initiate a program, email the Agile Alliance Board Chair with a brief description of the program you are proposing, including how the program will further the work of the Agile Alliance.
The Board Chair will assign a board member to work with you to create a program proposal and budget. The Board will consider each proposal at the first Board meeting after they receive the complete proposal.
For a full description of how programs operate, see Article 7 of the Agile Alliance bylaws.
You may wish to download our template for describing new programs.
Current Programs
- The Agile Manifesto Translation Program seeks to internationalize the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Director: Shane Hastie.
- The Conference Sponsorship Program supports agile conferences. To gain approval, send the request form to the conferences committee Director: Ola Ellnestam.
- The Speaker Reimbursement Program reimburses local user groups for expenses incurred when bringing in outside speakers. To gain approval in advance, send the information from the reimbursement form (.pdf) or reimbursement form (.doc) to the speakers committee. Director: Jutta Eckstein.
- The Agile Conference Program organizes our own conference on agile software development. Director for Agile2012: Mitch Lacey. Agile2013 Website
- Functional Testing Tools Workshop: Retrospective and Envisioning the Next Generation. Discussion group and resources Directors: Elisabeth Hendrickson and Joe Wilk.
- Supporting Agile Adoption: It’s about Change Program brings together practitioners who are addressing the organizational change aspect of agile adoptions. Director: Jorgen Hesselberg
- Diversity in Agile/Women in Agile: Seeking ways to to improve the gender balance and collectively benefit from a more progressive and diverse mix in our community. Director: Mike Sutton
- Agile Open Program: The purpose of this program is to support and encourage Open Space Technology (OST) events in the agile software arena. Director: Ainsley Nies
- Project Studies Program: There is a widespread perception that the Agile community is uninterested in empirical data about the benefits of Agile practices. (E.g. Constantine 2010) The background to the Project Studies Program is an article by Pask Award recipient Laurent Bossavit (Bossavit 2010) calling for longitudinal studies of projects using any subset of Agile practices. This is the intent of the Project Studies program. Director: Laurent Bossavit
- Executive Forum Program: Create and deliver a high quality, high value interactive experience for C level executives to connect and discover new ways to collaborate, innovate, think and explore (models and strategies) to transform business performance through the use of Agile values, principles, practices, tools and technology. In the spirit of the 10th anniversary of the Agile Manifesto, we will leverage the main conference themes and metaphors; applying lessons learned over the past 10 years to extend Agile adoption. Directors: Todd Little and Lisa Shoop. The 2011 Executive Forum website can be found here.
- Agile Extension to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge Program: The Agile Extension has been an ongoing program of the International Institute for Business Analysis since 2009; in 2010 the introduction was released for feedback and a number of the team working on the Extension met at Agile 2010 to clarify the structure and initial contents of the Extension. Coming out of that session we had a prioritised backlog of topic areas and over the next year we worked away at producing content for the backlog items. Like many volunteer efforts progress was sporadic, but there was definite progress. In June 2011 the idea was mooted for us to get together face to face and “finish the beast”. The team approached the IIBA™ and the Agile Alliance for funding and it became a joint program of the two organisations. With funding and support from both the IIBA™ and the Agile Alliance we were able to meet face to face. Director: Shane Hastie The Agile Extension to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge can be found here.
- Agile Accounting Standards Program: FASB’s current accounting standard emerged out of the explosive and strategic growth of technology in the 90’s, around a phased, waterfall Software Development Lifecycle and IT investment model which is reflected in the current language. As organizations adopt an Agile development and delivery model, they are likely to encounter inherent confusion and potential points of friction with legacy accounting practices and policies which could adversely impact Enterprise Agile adoption and scalability. This program was formed to provide clarity and education to our members around this important issue; and develop a compelling business case to present to the FASB emerging issues task force with the intent of creating a clear and defensible Agile accounting standard. For more information, please contact program director Pat Reed.
Past Programs
- The Gordon Pask Award Program recognizes people whose recent contributions to Agile Practice demonstrate (in the opinion of the award committee) their potential to become leaders of the field. Director: J.B.Rainsberger.
- The Agile Alliance Digital Library Program provides a searchable repository of articles on agile development. Director: Yael Dubinsky.
- The Academic Research Program encourages academic researchers to focus on agile development. Director: Helen Sharp.
- The Agile Narratives Program gathers personal stories relevant to Agile software development. Directors: Duncan Pierce and Johanna Hunt.
- The Patterns of Agile Practice Adoption Program brings together experiences of adopting agile practices from the field. Director: Amr Elssamadisy.
- Agile Software Factory at Bowling Green State University (BGSU): The main purpose of the Agile Software Factory is to provide software services to community partners in need of software development and to offer hands-on service-learning opportunities to students. Director: Joseph Chao. 2009 Annual Report
- Lean-Agile A3 Community Program: The Lean-Agile A3 Community Program provides Agile practitioners an opportunity to sharpen their problem-solving skills and to contribute to the Agile body of knowledge, by writing a Lean problem-solving A3 report about a problem on their own Agile projects. The program will share the insights generated in the process both about Agile practices and about the A3 tool itself. Director: Antoine Contal.