From the title, it would sound like this post would represent a complete counterpoint to the basis of this blog. But I assure you, this is not the case.

Instead, I want to point your attention to an article from Siddharta Govindaraj. The article talks about five common issues that new adopters of agile may face when transitioning to an agile process, and what to do to avoid these dangers, including the need to actually understand agile before using it.

Agile and Iterative Development, by Craig Larman, is a book I recommend to managers, project leaders, and software developers who want to know more about agile. The book is clear and concise in its descriptions and provides many useful tips along the way to understanding agile.

A retrospective is the process of looking back on a previous activity to analyze and learn from it, so as to improve upon it the next time around.

This is not specifically an agile idea, but it is a great item to append at the tail end of an iteration to provide valuable feedback for the next iteration.

Once again, an agile practice stems from a common-sense idea that people just don’t think of.

I got an e-mail from a co-worker at work today with a link to an article by Martin Fowler. It’s a pretty interesting topic, though nothing earth-shattering.

As are a lot of agile ideas, this one discusses yet another common-sense topic about the relationship between developers and the business. Because business clients don’t always know what they want, and probably don’t know what is possible technologically to streamline their process, it’s important that developers take an active interest in the business process and domain that they are developing for.

Take a look at the article. It provides a lot of good points.