My team is following a Scrum-like process and we're using User Stories and Story Points. We're going all out with quality too. A story isn't complete until we've got an automated regression suite and the QA tester says it's done. We don't "get" points in our sprint until it meets the acceptance criteria, has zero (known) defects, and the Product Owner "accepts" it. People started pair-programming and collaborating almost by accident. We've learned that when we don't work together our ability to get stories "done" diminishes.
We're working toward our first release, and it's been amazing to see the process and philosophies in action. Of all my years managing software projects I've never had the insight the "velocity" concept offers. And the just-in-time approach to working seems so obvious now, but it was hard to see it when you're first instinct is to plan everything as far in advance as possible (especially when it's demanded of you).
In addition to my scrum/agile interest, I've been reading up on lean-agile. Just when you feel like you're using a process that works, lean shows you how wasteful you are. :)
I've come across some articles/sites that have helped me over the last few months. Here's the list:
- What’s in a Story?
- Holistic Product Design & Development (agile product management blog)
- Agile Buddy (agile project management blog)
- Lean software development
