Ryan Martens and Jean Tabaka, June 25, 2007

Agile Enterprise Rollout: The Greening of the Software Industry

During the 20th century, many materials-based industries, such as manufacturing and high technology, relied on a Take-Make-Waste model of product development, delivery and selling. But a 21st century perspective on a growing scarcity of resources and the expense of waste has led such industries to revisit their Take-Make-Waste way of doing business. A "back to the resource-usage drawing board" has led to an emerging trend toward what are known as Green Businesses; that is businesses in which waste is viewed as a drain on the economy and innovation of the business.

In contrast, the software industry has considered itself immune to the criticisms of waste associated with the Take-Make-Waste model of product delivery. We are knowledge workers: we apply our knowledge as our resource and create digital output as our product. No "taking" on the front end, and no "waste" on the back end as a result of our "making".

However, a bit of closer scrutiny under this non-waste "sheep skin" reveals some uncomfortable truths. To stem this model of waste and poison for a more sustainable 21st century model, the software industry has an opportunity to lead in the greening of the High Technology industry. But to do so, it must recalibrate its definition of product development, delivery and marketing.

Existing patterns of practices established for classic Green Businesses are a useful starting point for such work. For the software industry, this translates to the following three software-based trends of a zero-waste model: deliver Software as a Service (SaaS); apply Agile Software Development for sustainable flow of value; and rely on Social Networks for product uptake.

Adopting these new practices of doing software business may prove daunting. Enterprise Adoption of Agile software development provides both the culture of discipline and planned in innovation necessary to transition to this new paradigm for the industry. Their Agile Enterprise Roadmap creates such a path of Agile Software Development adoption. This in turn guides organizations to a successful adoption of the SaaS delivery and social network promotion and support.

In this preview of their Agile 2007 Tutorial, Jean and Ryan present their premise around the necessity of the greening of the software industry and the trends such a transition requires. They will outline a 3-stage Enterprise Agile Rollout approach for adopting Agile practices that directly attack the Take-Make-Waste model.

Related Webcasts

A three part webcast series including talks by Jean Tabaka, Ryan Martens, Hubert Smits and Zach Nies can be found at the Agile Business Webcast Series site.

Speakers

Jean Tabaka - Agile Coach, Rally Software Jean Tabaka is a Certified ScrumMaster Trainer and Professional Facilitator with over 25 years of experience in the software development industry. She has navigated numerous plan-driven methodologies in a variety of contexts and roles, and her move to agile software development approaches came in the late 90's as a result of studying DSDM in the UK. Jean is the author of the book "Collaboration Explained: Facilitation Skills for Software Project Leaders" published in the Addison-Wesley Agile Software Development Series and holds a Masters degree in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University.

Ryan Martens - Founder & Chief Technology Officer, Rally Software Ryan Martens is an expert in helping organizations transition from traditional development processes to more Agile techniques. Before founding Rally, Ryan directed the corporate adoption of Internet technologies within Qwest Communications, and then moved on to co-found Avitek, which culminated in an acquisition by BEA Systems in 1999. Ryan is also involved in a variety of community boards including Colorado Conservation Trust, Entrepreneurs' Foundation of Colorado and the Agile Alliance. Ryan received his Masters degree in Business Administration and his Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Sponsor

The June 2007 meeting sponsor is Rally Software.

From an initial pilot project to enterprise rollout, Rally helps companies succeed with Agile software development. Rally's family of Agile life cycle management products give teams the visibility and collaboration needed to deliver high-value software in rapid iterations, and its world-renowned coaching services help mentor teams to create internal Agile experts. Based in Boulder, Colo., Rally maps an incremental road to Agile adoption for thousands of subscribers from leading software vendors, Internet companies and corporate development teams. For more information, visit http://www.rallydev.com.