Adaptive Software Development: A Collaborative Approach to Managing Complex Systems

This is the digital version of the printed book (Copyright © 2000).   Winner of the 2001 Software Development Jolt Product Excellence Award   This innovative text offers a practical, realistic approach to managing high-speed, high-change software development projects. Consultant James A. Highsmith shows readers how to increase collaboration and adapt to uncertainty.   Many organizations start high-speed, high-change projects without knowing how to do them–and even worse, without knowing they don’t know. Successful completion of these projects is often at the expense of the project team.   Adaptive Software Development emphasizes an adaptive, collaborative approach to software development. The concepts allow developers to “scale-up” rapid application development and extreme programming approaches for use on larger, more complex projects.   The four goals of the book are to  support an adaptive culture or mindset, in which change and uncertainty are assumed to be the natural state–not a false expectation of order introduce frameworks to guide the iterative process of managing change institute collaboration, the interaction of people on three levels: interpersonal, cultural, and structural add rigor and discipline to the RAD approach, making it scalable to the uncertainty and complexity of real-life undertakings  

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments xv Permissions Acknowledgments xvii Foreword xxi Preface xxiii Introduction xxix   Part 1 1   Chapter 1: Software Ascents 3 A Historical Perspective 4 A Rebirth in World View 9 Components of Adaptive Software Development 14 The Road Ahead 23 Summary 24   Chapter 2: Thriving at the Edge of Chaos 27 People as Agents 29 Emergence and the Flocking of Boids 31 The Adaptive Development Model 37 Speculate 42 Collaborate 45 Learn 45 Working in a Complex Environment 46 Summary 49   Part 2 51   Chapter 3: The Project Mission 53 Identify the Mission 55 Create Mission Artifacts 59 Share Mission Values 71 Focus on Results 77 Summary 79   Chapter 4: Planning Adaptive Development Cycles 81 Characteristics of Adaptive Cycles 83 Adaptive Planning Techniques 90 A Hypothetical Cycle Example 103 The Evolving World of Components 110 Summary 111   Chapter 5: Great Groups and the Ability to Collaborate 113 Barriers to Collaboration   115 The Essence of Great Groups   117 Using Complexity Concepts to Improve Collaboration 120 Building Collaborative Groups 126 Joint Application Development 135 Stable Change 140 Summary 141   Chapter 6: Learning: Models, Techniques, and Cycle Review Practices 143 What Is “Learning”? 144 Senge’s Learning Model 147 A CAS Learning Model 149 Learning Techniques   154 Customer Focus-Group Reviews   156 Software Inspections 167 Project Postmortems 171 Summary 174   Part 3 177   Chapter 7: Why Even Good Managers Cause Projects to Fail 179 Disruptive Technologies 180 High Change 182 No Silver Bullet 185 Are Organizations True Complex Adaptive Systems? 188 Requisite Variety 190 Project Ecosystems 190 Simplicity and Complexity 199 Summary 200   Chapter 8: Adaptive Management 202 The Adaptive (Leadership-Collaboration) Management Model 205 Creating an Adaptive Culture 213 The Progression from Process to Pattern 223 Poised at the Edge of Chaos 232 Summary 233   Chapter 9: Workstate Life Cycle Management 235 Breaking the Workflow Mindset 239 The Workstate of a Component 241 Constructing an Advanced Adaptive Life Cycle 250 Managing Component Rigor 255 Managing Workflow in an Adaptive Environment 258 Summary 259   Chapter 10: Structural Collaboration 261 The Critical Distinction Between Content and Context 264 Collaboration Services and Tools 268 Collaboration and Emergence 281 Eight Guidelines for Applying Rigor to Project Work 289 Summary 292   Chapter 11: Managing Project Time Cycles 294 A Project Management Model 295 Initiate the Project 296 Plan the Project 301 Manage the Project 311 Close the Project 319 Summary 319   Chapter 12: Dawdling, McLuhan, and Thin Air 321 Dawdling 322 McLuhan 323 Organizational Growth 326 Surviving in Thin Air 331   Bibliography 333 Index 349