Chapter 2: Characteristics of a Good Software Process

Overview

How much process is enough, and how much is too much? That question has been the subject of intense debate for several years now, and the debate has been carried out most vociferously by the agile community—especially by the extreme elements within that community.

Barry Boehm described the problem graphically in his 2002 article titled “Get Ready for Agile Methods, with Care.”[1.] In that article, he shows the increasing costs due to both excessive planning and inadequate planning on either side of the “sweet spot” (see Figure 2-1).

image from book
Figure 2-1: Searching for the sweet spot between agility and discipline

In a more lighthearted vein, two of the authors (Doug and Mark) were thinking about this problem a couple of years prior to the publication of Boehm’s article when Mark published Doug’s “Goldilocks and the Three Software Processes”[2.] article in Ratio Group’s ObjectiveView magazine back in 2000. Specifically referring to RUP, XP, and ICONIX Process, “Goldilocks” makes the case that “one’s too big, the other’s too small, and the third one is just right.” We’ll let you guess for yourself which process was which (or you can download the article).

The authors of this book believe that the Agile ICONIX approach is certainly in the near vicinity of the sweet spot between plan-driven and feedback-driven processes, if not dead-center in the bull’s-eye. In the remaining chapters of this book, we describe that sweet spot both in theory and in practice (by example), although the exact sweet spot will vary among organizations and projects. But as a basis for that discussion, we’d like to first examine exactly what the components of a software process are, and then we’ll discuss trade-offs that can be made within each of these process components to help you find the appropriate level of process for your project.

[1.]Barry Boehm, “Get Ready for Agile Methods, with Care,” IEEE Computer, January 2002, pp. 64–69.

[2.]Doug Rosenberg and Kendall Scott, “Goldilocks and the Three Software Processes,” ObjectiveView, Issue 5, p. 35. (This article is available for download from www.iconixsw.com/Articles/Articles.html and also from www.ratio.co.uk/objectiveview.html.)



Agile Development with ICONIX Process. People, Process, and Pragmatism
Agile Development with ICONIX Process: People, Process, and Pragmatism
ISBN: 1590594649
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 97

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