Jim is a deep thinker on methodologies, especially Agile Manifesto methodologies. He begins by deprecating the word methodology as too abused to reuse. He contrasts the "non-agile" proponents such as CMM and RUP with "agile" proponents including XP, Scrum, DSDM, FDD, Crystal Methods, LD, and his own ASD.
To compare agile & the "others", he uses the terms "Agile Software Development Ecosystem" and "Rigorous Software Methodology" (or ASDE vs. RSM.) Highsmith compares the concerns in the Agile Manifesto to the focus of the RSM folks, namely:
I especially enjoyed chapter 24 - Articulating Your Ecosystem which discusses organizational culture acceptance or rejection of agile methods. Good predictors for resistance or adoption. Excellent ideas for adapting a good small-m methodology for a particular project within a particular organization.
I found more in here that speaks to all parties than in any other Agile material (so far).
Recommended.
--BobLee August, 2002
It's a fine overview of agile methods with interviews of their proponents. The best and most useful part is "Part IV: Developing an ASDE". Yes, we all have to become software development methodology designers. We can do this most easily by selecting AND (constantly) adapting existing methods. The most important criterion: will this work in my culture?
The confusion over iteration vs increments irritated me, though --PascalVanCauwenberghe
Perhaps you should point readers here to the article you wrote to dispel the confusion, Pascal. That may salve your irritation. :) -- lb
It's quite simple: ;-)
iterative = reworking some stuff until it's complete
incremental = building a big thing by sequentially building complete parts.
The long version can be downloaded from http://www.methodsandtools.com/mt/winter02.html --PascalVanCauwenberghe
Iterative for code entities or for project cycles? -- BobLee
Both, but most importantly for artifacts. I'm with Pascal in being deeply irked by this confusion, wherever it's manifest. That Highsmith expresses it makes me wonder about the claim that he is a "deep thinker on methodologies" -- KeithBraithwaite
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