Agile Transition

Transitioning to an Agile Software Development methodology is a whole team effort. It will change the way you manage your projects, the way you interact with your Customer, the way you perform testing activities, and the way you write code. Therefore, it is important for your coach to have the experience necessary to coach all members of your team. The coach needs to be able to help the iteration manager conduct a retrospective, help the QA staff implement automated regression tests, and help developers learn Test Driven Development.

eXPect more coaches your teams by becoming a team member and working at your site. We strongly believe that the best way for a team to make the transition is for the Team to make the transition. On your team we will:

• Pair with your developers to help provide training and re-enforce the agile practices.
• Pair with your QA staff to implement an approach to automated regression testing and help them understand their role on an agile team.
• Pair with your Business Analysts to help them write stories and acceptance tests that capture the Customers vision and communicate the details to the developers and QA.
• Pair with your Iteration Manager to help them understand how to fulfill their role as the team's facilitator and manager.

In addition to these activities there are numerous process issues that come up when a team makes this transition. eXPect more has the experience and tools to help your team overcome issues as they arise.

Actively coaching a team requires that the coach establish a relationship of trust with the development team. Instilling the core values into the development team requires time, partially since the negative effects of poor decisions are not always immediately visible. While coaching can provide some value for shorter durations, we recommend that you consider an assessment engagement if you are interested in a very short term.

A coaching engagement is by definition on-site. The duration of the engagement is at your discretion.

Agile Practice Training

We offer two training courses:

1. Test Driven Development and Refactoring
2. Quality Assurance in an Agile Environment

We do not provide training in the traditional sense. We are not interested in conducting a course and then walking away. This would be a waste of your money and our time. Therefore we will only conduct a training course when the contract specifies follow-up reenforcement. When we teach a course we would typically spend one week with your team during each of the three subsequent months.