Tag Archives: Agile

Conference Talk: Joseph Yoder on “Taming Big Balls of Mud with Diligence, Agile Practices, and Hard Work”

Posted on December 14, 2014 by Hayim Makabee

During the First Israeli Conference on Software Architecture, our invited keynote speaker Joseph Yoder gave a talk about “Taming Big Balls of Mud with Diligence, Agile Practices, and Hard Work”. Title: Taming Big Balls of Mud with Diligence, Agile Practices, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, IASA Israel, Refactoring, Software Architecture | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Minimum Viable Product and Incremental Software Development

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Hayim Makabee

The concept of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) was popularized by Eric Ries in his bestselling book “The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses”. According to Ries, the MVP is the “version of … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Lean Development, Software Evolution | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

The Psychology of Agile Software Development

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Hayim Makabee

Why is Agile so successful? It is a fact that Agile methods have many enthusiastic practitioners, who are firm believers that the adoption of Agile processes has revolutionized the way they build software systems, making them much more productive and … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Psychology of Programming | Tagged , | 6 Comments

On Agile Architecture, Emergent Design and Framework-Based Design

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Hayim Makabee

I recently read the very interesting Ph.D. thesis of Michael Waterman on the topic of Agile Software Architecture. Michael investigated how professional software engineers in the industry are applying Agile principles to software architecture and design. His conclusions are that … Continue reading →

Posted in Adaptable Design, Agile, Software Architecture, Software Evolution, Software Reuse | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

Agile Practices and Social Nudges in the Workplace

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Hayim Makabee

In their best-selling book “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness“, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein propose the adoption of interventions to “attempt to move people in directions that will make their lives better.” A nudge “alters people’s behavior … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Efficacy, Psychology of Programming | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The End of Agile: Death by Over-Simplification

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Hayim Makabee

There is something basically wrong with the current adoption of Agile methods. The term Agile was abused, becoming the biggest ever hype in the history of software development, and generating a multi-million dollar industry of self-proclaimed Agile consultants and experts … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Refactoring, Software Evolution | Tagged , , | 96 Comments

Coping with Change in Agile Software Development

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Hayim Makabee

Traditional software development methodologies, such as Waterfall, tried to follow a series of isolated steps: First you define all the system requirements, then you devise a detailed system design that satisfies these requirements, and then you implement the system according … Continue reading →

Posted in Adaptable Design, Agile, Refactoring, Requirements Specification, Software Architecture, Software Evolution | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Attention Agile Programmers: Project Management is not Software Engineering

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Hayim Makabee

I’m happy to see so many software developers who are enthusiastic about Agile methods. It’s nice when people enjoy their work. However, I think there is a problem: Some teams are giving too much emphasis to Project Management activities, while … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Programming, Software Architecture | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

35 Agile Development Best Practices

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Hayim Makabee

How Agile are you? It seems that nowadays most software developers claim they are doing Agile. However, it is also a well-known fact that many teams are only following part of the practices that characterize Agile software development. In the … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Programming | Tagged , | 25 Comments

On Technical Debt and the Psychology of Risk Taking

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Hayim Makabee

I recently read the following message in a developers’ forum (rephrased here): “I’m facing a dilemma. I must deliver the product by the end of this quarter, but there are still many tests I would like to execute. The product … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Efficacy, Psychology of Programming, TDD | Tagged , , , | 26 Comments