Scrum can be a great approach to software development, however the focus of this article will not be on the many benefits of Scrum. Instead, let’s talk about what it takes to get there. Beyond the mechanics of sprints, backlogs, stories, and tasks there is a much harder to account for requirement for Scrum. Trust. Trust between team members is an absolute necessity. Without trust, scrum can quickly turn into one headache after another.
I try, at least once every couple months, to read a book that is not directly about software development, Scrum, etc. My thinking is that all tech and no business makes Don a dull boy; I really need to develop myself as a leader and developer of employees as much or more than a curator of custom applications. I recently finished reading Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull, one of the founders of Pixar. I found so much in a couple of value-packed pages that I want to share them and show it through my personal Scrum/software development lens.
This is the first blog post in a series about ALM. I have been a developer for many years (oh so many years), and ALM is very close to my heart. I’ve learned from experience that with good ALM, your chances of success increase considerably. Conversely, without it, you’re probably going to fail. I’m a huge fan and I want to share it with you. I’m going to tell you why you should care.
Agile software development isn’t new anymore; the concept has been around for well more than a decade and has dramatically shifted the way software development is done. It has moved us from a wasteful industry filled with immense design documents, big releases, and uncertainty around eventual customer satisfaction to one where the customer’s increased visibility into the project allows the end result to be exactly what is needed without the waste of unwanted features or significant rework.