Course Description

Course Name:	Introduction to Agile Software Development
Time & Date:	6 - 9PM, Wednesdays, Oct. 27, Nov. 3, 10, 17, Dec. 1
Location:	Holiday Inn Select Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Rd., Woburn, MA
Speaker:	Michael de la Maza, Dynamics Research Corp.

Course Summary:

Description:

Do you want to learn how to create a healthy and sustainable software development environment? Do you want to adapt quickly to changes? Do you want to create good working relationships with your customer? Do you want to allow your customers to add requirements during the development process? Agile software teams do all of this and more.

Agile Software Development is a new approach to software development that has become increasingly popular over the last decade. Agile software values individuals and interactions over processes and tools; working software over comprehensive documentation; customer collaboration over contract negotiation; and responding to change over following a plan [Manifesto for Agile Software Development, http://agilemanifesto.org/]. Agile software approaches have been widely adopted by start-up companies and by large, innovative firms such as Google. This class will focus on providing participants with hands-on experiences that illustrate key agile principles such as:

Working on the highest priority items, as specified by the customer, at all times
Continuously delivering software throughout the engagement
Focusing on adapting to change instead of following a plan
Permitting the customer to change, add, or delete requirements throughout the software
development process
Periodic self-reflection and self-improvement
Valuing working software above else
Emphasizing a sustainable development environment
Developing a strong bond with users

This class draw on a variety of agile software development methodologies, including Extreme Programming and Crystal methods, and the primary focus will be on Scrum. Participants will learn about Scrum roles, Scrum ceremonies, and Scrum artifacts. Tools that support the Scrum process will be introduced and discussed and real-world examples will be used to illustrate key Scrum concepts.

This class will be participatory and will not consist of a series of lectures. Instead, participants will engage in a series of activities that illustrate agile principles. This tutorial is appropriate for people who have backgrounds in software development, information technology, or computer science. Some knowledge of basic software concepts, such as specifications, testing, and documentation, is assumed.

Course Outline: Each session is three hours and will include exercises performed by the attendees. Less than 40% of the class will involve lectures.

Session 1: Introduction to agile methods. History of agile. History of waterfall. Motivation for the development of agile (Toyota Way, HBR article, Lean, Six sigma, Deming).

Session 2: Agile Principles. Discussion and elaboration of agile principles as described at www.agilemanifesto.org.

Session 3: Extreme Programming. Introduction to XP with a focus on planning, designing, coding, and testing in an XP environment.

Session 4: Scrum. Description of three roles, three artifacts, three ceremonies, and three best practices.

Session 5: Crystal, DSDM, Getting Real, and other agile methods. Short overview of other methodologies with a focus on how they differ from XP and Scrum.

Session 6: Agile Organizations/Transitions/Futures. Agile applied to sales/marketing/business development, HR, finance, contracting, legal, billing, etc. How to transition a waterfall team to agile. Discussion of how agile will change and spread in the future.

Speaker Bio:

Michael de la Maza is a Technical Fellow at Dynamics Research Corporation. Previously, he was VP of Corporate Strategy at Softricity (acquired by Microsoft in 2006) and a co-founder of Inquira (www.inquira.com). He holds a PhD in Computer Science from MIT and is a Certified ScrumMaster, Certified Scrum Practitioner, and an IEEE Senior Member.

Decision (Run/Cancel) Date for this Courses is Monday, October 18, 2010

FEES

Payment received by October 14: IEEE Members $295

Payment received by October 14: Non-members $325

Payment received after October 14: IEEE Members $325