Enabling the Agile Enterprise...

Almost all businesses depend on technology to achieve their goals. When technology is delivered reliably and aligned with the strategy of the business, organizations can be responsive to the market and achieve focused strategy execution.

However, many businesses are not consistently getting the results they need from their technology investments. Agile and Lean methods have been helping teams deliver software faster while improving quality. But shifting from current methods to Agile and Lean methods typically proves to be challenging.

Principles of Agile Manifesto Opens in new window

  • Customer satisfaction by rapid delivery of useful software
  • Welcome changing requirements, even late in development
  • Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)
  • Working software is the principal measure of progress
  • Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace
  • Close, daily co-operation between business people and developers
  • Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location)
  • Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted
  • Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
  • Simplicity
  • Self-organizing teams
  • Regular adaptation to changing circumstances

Kanban, Scrum, or XP?

Not every Agile Process is right for every company (or team) and starting simple is usually better than introducing too much change at once. Simplicity is, after all, one of the Agile Principles. We can help direct your organization in choosing the best Agile Process for you.

Being an Agile Enterprise ourselves, we mentor teams in the Agile Principles and frameworks such as Scrum, XP, and Kanban, as well as train and mentor developers in Test Driven Development, Refactoring, and Object Oriented Design and Principles.

Test Driven Development (Design)

Test-driven development (TDD) is an advanced technique of using automated unit tests to drive the design of software and force decoupling of dependencies. The result of using this practice is a comprehensive suite of unit tests that can be run at any time to provide feedback that the software is still working. This technique is heavily emphasized by when using Agile development methodologies.

  • The suite of unit tests provides constant feedback that each component is still working.
  • The unit tests act as documentation that cannot go out-of-date, unlike separate documentation, which can and frequently does.
  • When the test passes and the production code is refactored to remove duplication, it is clear that the code is finished, and the developer can move on to a new test.
  • Test-driven development forces critical analysis and design because the developer cannot create the production code without truly understanding what the desired result should be and how to test it.
  • The software tends to be better designed, that is, loosely coupled and easily maintainable, because the developer is free to make design decisions and refactor at any time with confidence that the software is still working. This confidence is gained by running the tests. The need for a design pattern may emerge, and the code can be changed at that time.
  • The test suite acts as a regression safety net on bugs: If a bug is found, the developer should create a test to reveal the bug and then modify the production code so that the bug goes away and all other tests still pass. On each successive test run, all previous bug fixes are verified.
  • Reduced debugging time!

We advocate the use of test-driven development as part of your development process. Our consultants have extensive practical experience of test-driven development and can incorporate it in the process we design for you.

Already Agile?

Whether you have already implemented an Agile Process and just want to move from good to great, or are struggling with a process, we would love to work with you to help find ways for more improvement. If you aren't continually trying to improve, then you aren't being Agile!

How xCelerated can help

xCelerated helps organizations make lasting change. We help your organization develop capabilities that are repeatable and create long-term value for the organization.

Traditional management tools are focused on maintaining stability. Companies need to establish action-oriented approaches that inspire responsiveness to the market while maintaining management fundamentals. Organizations are achieving this through the application of Agile and Lean management approaches.

xCelerated has a proven track record in enabling businesses to achieve organizational agility. Through our training, coaching, and transformation consulting, xCelerated helps organizations deliver real change, quickly, through viable initiatives that are repeatable and continue to deliver long-term value to the organization.

Request Quote

To learn more about how xCelerated can help your organization shift to Agile and Lean development methods, please Contact Us today to get free quote.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about our services or wish to submit an RFP, please contact us and one of our staff members will get in touch with you.

Contact Us

Microsoft .NET®, Microsoft SharePoint®, Windows Azure®, Force.com®, Asterisk®, Oracle WebCenter®, Amazon EC2® are trademarks of their respective owners.