Custom Software DIY Essentials
We realize that after reading our white paper “Crush Your Competitors with Custom Software” some readers might be so enthusiastic about the benefits of tailor-made software that they’d like to take a do-it-yourself approach.
We say, go for it! Aside from training, experience, software engineering know-how, office space, computer hardware, software applications, and a multidisciplinary team, [...]
Making a Case for Sloppy Software Development
Although our white paper, “Proper Software Engineering: An Executive Primer”, takes a strong stand in favour of software development that’s guided by best practices and sound methodologies, we acknowledge that there are two sides to every coin. It’s all a matter of how you perceive value.
Admittedly, we have strong opinions about proper software engineering, which [...]
Top Ten Ways to Torpedo Your Software Project
In our white paper The Software Reality Check: Diagnosing Software Projects in Crisis, we describe some of the symptoms and causes of failure in software projects, and explain the process we use to diagnose troubled projects.
No doubt, the paper provokes well-intentioned readers to reflect on the health of their own software projects and ask themselves, [...]
5 Exceptions to the Agile Rule
After reading our white paper “Agile Software Development: A Smart Choice for Outsourced Projects”, you may have come away with the impression that Agile is the best thing since sliced bread. We certainly think so. Here’s a humorous look at a list of 5 situations where Agile should not be used to develop software.
Test Deficit Disorder: A Silent Killer of Software
TDD is a serious problem. An outbreak of this uniquely degenerative disease can have a debilitating effect. In fact, it often proves deadly to software applications.
A development team infected with Test Deficit Disorder exhibits a marked aversion to testing their software. Often, they put off testing to the last possible moment, and then rush through [...]
Agile People Are…
All experienced software professionals know that it is people, not technology, not process that builds great solutions. This is something that is core to our culture at Architech. We live it, we breathe it, and write about it… Great Team, Great Software. Agile as a methodology, a mind-set, a philosophy is based on this fundamental [...]
5 Ways to Build Great Software Without Involving Any People
In case you haven’t checked lately, there’s no Make Great Software button on your computer keyboard. And even if there was, it wouldn’t work anyway because software is all about people, right?
It takes people to understand the needs of other people. It also takes people to address those needs with appropriate solutions.
Or does it?
At Architech, [...]
Sprint 0 + Why?
Pam (one of our Scrum Masters) and I were having a chat about this over lunch yesterday… apparently the sprint 0 concept has been bandied around the Agile community so the concept itself, even the terminology, is not foreign… When I was thinking about sprint 0 there were several motivations.
Architecture in Scrum is almost non-existent. This is a [...]
Why Agile? 10 good reasons …
Business Value. Features delivered incrementally enable business benefits to be delivered early.
Speed to Market. Agile supports early & regular releases of working code.
Quality. Testing is integrated throughout the lifecycle.
Visibility. Encouraging active “user involvement” gives a clear view of the project & product progress.
Risk Management. Agile helps to ensure early identification of issues.
Flexibility. Change is [...]
Agile development – 9 rules to live by
Jungho Kim, our VP Delivery and partner at Architech, discussed the following 9 points at a recent project kick-off.
Each story must be backed by a test. Test driven development is the best way to ensure delivery of quality code.
Pair up. Pair programming, especially in the early stages of a project, is a great way to [...]