Abstract

The "Manifesto for Agile Software Development" http://www.agilealliance.org/ states the important values for Agile Processes:

• 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 looking at these values we find that there are many Human Issues in Agile Processes. These human issues effect team management as well as client management and the ways the team collaborates.

The intention of this sequel to last year's OOPSLA workshop "Deploying Lightweight Processes" is to identify and illuminate these human issues in agile software development. We look for insights that may help people and organizations prepare for the effects of Agile Processes and the cultural changes that they bring, as well as insights into the psychological systems on which Agile Processes are based.

Human Issues in Agile Processes

The changes to the daily work implicit in Agile Processes are many, some key topics include:

• Avoiding technical redundancy (refactoring, test cases, lightweight documentation etc.),
• Changing the client management (different contracts, deliver early and often, use running code instead of specs etc.),
• Team management (coach in XP, reflection workshops in Crystal, Speculate-Collaborate-Learn cycle in ASD),
• Training and education for new developers (coach and pair-programming in XP, preference for generalists, lesser role for architects)
• Software Engineering and defined, repeatable processes (ASD seeks emergent properties)
• Expertise and the role of talent in software development (all seek to use smaller teams of better developers)

Though many of these changes depend on each other to result in a successful project, they may also experience resistance if they do not fit into the culture of organization. We want to gain a deeper understanding of these human issues and discuss techniques to cope with them.

Though these issues are crucial for a successful agile project, not all methodologies regard them to the same extent. Looking at some example Agile Processes in more detail we find:

• Crystal is rather strong in team management, very tolerant of individual variation
• ASD is rather strong in client management
• XP is rather strong in avoiding redundancy, highly disciplined, intolerant of individual variation, a great learning environment
• SCRUM is rather strong in client management and tolerant of individual variation

Adding the insights of this workshop to the body of knowledge about Agile Processes may help to strengthen the processes and give a new perspective on the strengths and challenges of every technique.

Objectives

We, and the workshop participants will leave the session knowing more about human issues in software development. Hopefully the workshop can answer some if not all of the following questions:

• What is the role of discipline in Agile Processes?
• How well defined does the process have to be for developers and customers to feel comfortable?
• What does managing an Agile Process feel like?
• Do Agile Processes allow developers to grow and develop their skills?
• What do novices need to know about the day to day life on an agile project?
• What is the role for consultants in Agile Processes?
• How to set up training for Agile Processes?
• What impact have in-house projects vs. outsourcing to agile teams?
• What about reuse and maintainability?
• How do large scale enterprise applications fit in with Agile Processes?
• and so on...

Attendees

Every consultant, teacher, academic, or otherwise interested person is invited to apply for attendance. We primarily seek submissions from practitioners who want to share their experiences with human issues about Agile Processes. Applicants (and Organizers!) needed to submit a position statement. The workshop will be limited to 15 persons.

By now the following persons join the workshop:

A complete set of position papers is also available as zip File: PositionPapers.zip (63k)

Though the deadline is over, we still have a few places left. If you still want to participate, please contact jens_coldewey@acm.org or any other organizer.

Workshop Format

• Introduction and name games.
• "Hot Chair": Ten minutes questions and answers for every position paper (There will be no presentations, attendees are required to read the position papers in advance).
• Identification of the main areas of interest.
• Examination of the main areas in small groups.
• Presentation of the group work results.
• Compilation of a final presentation for the report.

Final Report

The workshop attendees are supposed to agree on a format for the final report. Possible choices are e.g. a pattern collection, experience reports, or stories. After the conference the report will be compiled to a 10 - 15 page available via the WWW.

About the Organizers

Jens Coldewey (jens_coldewey@acm.org) is an independent consultant from Munich, Germany, specialized in deploying object-oriented techniques and Agile Processes in large organizations. He was program chair of the EuroPLoP '98 conference, member of the program committee of the PLoP '98, PLoP '99, and EuroPLoP '99 conference. Among others he was co-leader of the "Design for Maintenance" Workshop at OOPSLA 99 and "Deploying Lightweight Processes" at OOPSLA 2000. He writes a regular column on Agile Processes in ObjektSpektrum, the German SIGS/101 magazine on OO.

Jutta Eckstein (jeckstein@acm.org) is an independent trainer and consultant from Munich, Germany. Her interest in lightweight processes is based on ten years experience in developing object-oriented applications. Having completed a course of teacher training and led many 'train the trainer' programs in industry, she focuses also on techniques which help teach OT. She participated in and organized several workshops, panels and tutorials at OOPSLA, OT and EuroPLoP. Besides XP 2001 and XP Universe she is also a member of the program committee of OT 2000. She serves as the chair of EuroPLoP 2001 and of the Educators' Symposium at OOPSLA 2001.

Pete McBreen (petemcbreen@acm.org) is an independent consultant from Cochrane, Alberta, Canada. Pete has been quoted as saying "If Software development is not fun, there is something wrong with the process". This reflects his personal philosophy that "the software development process must support the ways that people naturally work. Software systems are such a fundamental part of any corporation that the sustained ability to enhance and extend systems is what matters most. Truly incremental object-oriented development processes are a means of achieving this goal." Pete was an co-leader of the "Design for Maintenance" Workshop at OOPSLA 99 and the "Deploying Lightweight Processes" workshop at OOPSLA 2000.

Alastair Handley (alastair.h@home.com) is an independent consultant from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Over the course of his career Alastair has worked as a project manager, team leader, developer, and instructor. His interest in "Human Issues in Agile Processes" stems from the good, bad and ugly experiences that he has had while working with organizations that have introduced, or tried to introduce, Agile processes to existing teams.

References

[Agile Processes] web site: http://www.agilealliance.org. multiple authors.

[ASD] James A. Highsmith III: "Adaptive Software Development - A Collaborative Approach to Managing Complex Systems"; Dorset House, New York, 2000; ISBN 0-932633-40-4; See also: http://www.adaptivesd.com

[XP] Kent Beck: "Extreme Programming Explained - Embrace Changes"; Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 2000; ISBN 0-201-61641-6; See also http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ExtremeProgrammingRoadmap

[SCRUM] Peter DeGrace, Leslie Hulet Stahl: "Wicked Problems, Righteous Solutions - A Catalogue of Modern Software Engineering Paradigms"; Prentice Hall, Eaglewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1990; ISBN 0-13-590126-X; See also web site Ken Schwaber.

[Crystal Clear] See Alistair Cockburnís web site: http://www.crystalmethodologies.com .