First of all this is a great question, one I've asked before too. Now that I am on a team I don't hesitate to call "agile" I can offer a fairly unique perspective. Screw "quality".
"Quality" is this nebulous term that I've used in the past after reading a book about patterns and agile practices. We can't really proceed in this discussion until we've defined it, so here is mine: Quality code doesn't exist, a quality product does. What I mean by this is as long as your code is able to be melded to business needs on time and under budget and meet your business objectives **consistently** then what the hell do I care about some dogmatic definition of quality? Now to the question of when to bake it in.. Can you really imagine asking your business.. When should I write code that will enable us to deliver on time and under budget and meet your objectives? They'd say "That's what we want!!!" :) So really the issue you're facing is a crisis of confidence in agile practices. You're finding it hard proving a case for quality (or perhaps I'm super imposing past lives ;) and good for you for asking because it's painful and not many "Agilistas" talk in the concrete. Don't take anyones word over your experience without sufficient supporting evidence. Look at the messages in this thread and focus on the advice from those who actually had a dialog with you about your specific situation, getting to know the constraints your business is facing. Those are the golden ones (I already checked, they aren't here). The really hard answer is that it's going to take a lot of analysis, trial and error from you, and creative thinking you won't find in an agile consultant to be able to solve your real issues.. To be able to get at the core of what the word "quality" means for your unique context. You're not crazy, nor are you "not getting it".. Developing and maintaining a quality product is hard, talking about theory and poking at code is not (not in that awkward uncomfortable way we hate at least). Good luck! Justin Sent from my iPhone On Dec 22, 2010, at 6:06 PM, Eric Ridgeway <[email protected]> wrote: BTW my previous comment was for the OP I realized it could have sounded like I was talking to someone else On Dec 22, 2010 7:39 AM, "Anne Wax" <[email protected]> wrote: > What do you do at the end of a sprint or a release cycle to ensure quality? > > We've seen some blogs that talk about stop-reflect-adapt and > review-reflect-repeat. What do you all do when you have completed an > interation or a release cycle to ensure your product's excellence? Do you > step back to review and improve before moving on to the next cycle or > project? > > What happens in "real life" and what is the ideal? > > Thank you, > > Anne > > > > http://www.agileweboperations.com/stop-reflect-adapt-the-3-steps-to-stop-writing-bad-code > > > > http://www.agilejournal.com/blogs/blogs/all-about-agile/704-how-to-implement-scrum-in-10-easy-steps-step-10-review-reflect-repeat > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Seattle area Alt.Net" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]<altnetseattle%[email protected]> . > For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/altnetseattle?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Seattle area Alt.Net" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/altnetseattle?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Seattle area Alt.Net" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/altnetseattle?hl=en.
