Scott Ambler's Articles and Other Writings
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This page provides links to my books and web-based writings.   Over the years I have published a fair bit of information, some of which is contradictory (although the advice fits the context), on several sites.  I have information posted at Agile Data, Agile Modeling, Ambysoft, Computing Canada, Enterprise Unified Process^TM, IBM DeveloperWorks, Oracle Technology Network, and Dr. Dobb's Journal Online.  The articles posted at DDJ are marked with the icon and the articles at IBM Developerworks with the icon.  I also have an Agile Modeling newsletter via DDJ and my Agile at Scale blog at IBM Developerworks.

Table of Contents

• Agile Adoption
• Agile Software Development
• Agility@Scale
• Architecture
• Books
• Data
• Deployment
• Documentation
• Governance
• Humor
• Java
• Lean
• Modeling
• Objects
• Patterns and Anti-Patterns
• People
• Programming (General)
• Project Management
• Rational Unified Process (RUP)
• Reuse
• Software Development (Miscellaneous topics)
• Surveys
• Testing and Quality Assurance
• User Interface Development
• Other Ideas

Agile Adoption

• 2006 Agile Adoption Rate Survey
• 2007 Agile Adoption Rate Survey
• 2008 Agile Adoption Rate Survey
• 2009 Agile Adoption Rate Survey (included in IT Governance Survey)
• The Agile Scaling Model (ASM): Adapting Agile Methods for Complex Environments
• Anti-Pattern: We're Special
• Bureaucracy Isn't Discipline
• How Agile Are You? 2010 Survey
• Is Agile Crossing the Chasm?
• Is Agile Really that Successful? 
• Not Agile Yet?  Exploring the Excuses
• Pitching Agile to Senior Management
• Questioning Case Studies
• Survey Says: Agile Works In Practice
• You Can't Cherry Pick Agile Projects at Scale

Agile Software Development

• Acceleration: An Agile Productivity Measure
• Active Stakeholder Participation
• Agile and Earned Value Management (EVM) 
• Agile and Large Teams
• Agile Architectural Modeling
• Agile at 10: What We Believe 
• Agile CMMI? 
• Agile CMMI: Complimentary or Oxymoronic? 
• Agile Developers: Generalists or Specialists?
• Agile Documentation
  • Agile Documentation Strategies 
  • Best Practices for Lean/Agile Documentation
  • The Danger of Detailed Speculations
• The Agile End Game: Releasing Software Into Production
• Agile Enterprise Administration: Beyond Data Administration
• Agile Enterprise Architecture: Beyond Enterprise Data Models 
• Agile in Practice: What Is Actually Going On Out There? (Agile 2008 presentation summarizing recent surveys, recorded by InfoQ)
• Agile is Relative (explores myths and scaling issues) 
• Agile Legacy System Analysis
• Agile Manifesto
  • Examining the Agile Manifesto
  • Fragile Manifesto
  • Manifesto for Software Craftsmanship
  • Manifesto for Software Craftsmanship
  • Reworking the Agile Manifesto  
• Agile on a Fixed Budget 
• Agile Package/COTS Implementation
• Agile Project Planning Tips
• Agile Requirements Modeling  
  • Active Stakeholder Participation  
  • Agile Requirements Best Practices
  • Agile Requirements Change Management
  • Agile Requirements Management: Less is More
  • The Danger of Detailed Speculations
  • Envisioning Requirements: An Agile Best Practice
  • Examining the "Big Requirements Up Front (BRUF)" Approach
  • Inclusive Models
  • Overcoming Common Requirements Modeling Challenges
  • Requirements Envisioning on Agile Projects at Scale
  • Response to "Are You Passing the Requirements Buck"
  • Rethinking How You View Requirements Management
• Agile RUP: Experiences from the Trenches
• Agile Software Development
  • Criteria for Disciplined Agile Teams
  • Defining Disciplined Agile Software Development
• Agile Software Development and Business Analysis (Requirements Network, membership required)
• Agile Strategies for Geographically Distributed Quality Management (Agile Journal December 2007)
• Agile Success Factors
• Agile System Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
• Agile Testing and Quality Strategies: Discipline Over Rhetoric
• Agile Testing Strategies 
• Agile Usability: User Experience Efforts on Agile Software Projects
• Agile vs. Offshoring: Chicken Little Was Right
• Agility 2013: Looking Forward
• Agility for Executives
• All The Right Questions (Examining XP and Agile)
• Anatomy of a Failed Agile Project
• Answering the "Where is the Proof that Agile Methods Work" Question
• Assimilating Someone Into an Agile Team
• Architectural Envisioning on Agile Projects (Agile Journal April 2008)
• The Astronomy Analogy: Why We Don't Understand the "IT Laws of Physics 
• Becoming Agile
• Beyond Functional Requirements on Agile Software Projects
• Certification
  • Agile Certification: Are You Certifiably Agile?
  • The Certified Scrum Master (CSM) Certification: What People Actually Think
  • Coming Soon: Agile Certification 
• Complex Requirements on an Agile Project
• The Criteria for Determining Whether a Team is Agile
• Data Architecture and Beyond: Strategies for Improving Your Data Ecosphere (Cutter IT Journal)
• Disciplined Agile Architecture  
• Disciplined Agile Change Management
• Disciplined Agile Delivery: A Definition
• Document Late: An Agile Best Practice
• The Discipline of Agile 
• The Distributed Agile Team
• Estimating on Agile Projects
• Executable Specifications: An Agile Best Practice
• Extreme Lessons Learned (An agile case study)
• Funding Agile Projects
• Geographically Distributed Agile Development 
• Has Agile Peaked?
• How Agile Are You? 
• How Can Enterprise-level Professionals Be Agile?
• How Much Proof Do You Need?
• Imperfectly Agile: You Too Can Be Agile 
• Initiating an Agile Project 
• Introduction to Agile -- Agility at Scale: Be As Agile as You Can Be (eBook)
• Iteration Negative One
• Leading Edge Agile Books
• Metrics
  • Acceleration: An Agile Productivity Measure
  • Examining Acceleration 
  • Measure Me Wisely: Agile Metrics
• Objective View Newsletter #8 -- Agile Development Special
• Product Backlogs at Scale
• Questioning Agility
  • Duking it Out (Questioning agility)
  • Duking it Out Reloaded (Questioning agility)
  • Proof Positive (Does agile work?)
  • The Threat of The New (Examining agile myths and misconceptions)
• Remaining Agile
• Repeatable Results over Repeatable Processes
• Request for Proposal (RFP)s the Agile Way
• The Right Tool For the Job (which agile process for you?)
• Roles on Agile Teams: From Small to Large Teams
• Scaling Agile: An Executive Guide  
• Scaling On-Site Customer (and Product Owner)
• Scaling Test-Driven Development (TDD)
• System Integration on Large Agile Teams
• Supersize Me: Scaling Agile Software Development
• Translating Scrum Terminology
• When is Enough Modeling Enough? 
• Why Agile Software Development Techniques Work: Improved Feedback
• XP and the UML?

Agility@Scale

• 2011 Prediction: Organizations will Continue Applying Agile Strategies at Scale (CM Crossroads, January 2011)
• Agile and Domain Complexity
• Agile and Rational Unified Process (RUP)
• Agile and Traditional Governance 
• Agility at Scale: Be As Agile as You Can Be (eBook)
• Agile CMMI? 
• Agile CMMI: Complimentary or Oxymoronic? 
• Agile Enterprise Architecture: Beyond Enterprise Data Models 
• Agile is Relative (explores myths and scaling issues) 
• The Agile Maturity Model (AMM)  
• Agile Model Driven Development: Scaling Agile to Meet the Needs of Real-World Projects (Better Software, June 2008)
• Agile Package/COTS Implementation
• Agile Requirements at Scale
• Agile Scaling Model
  • The Agile Scaling Model (ASM): Adapting Agile Methods for Complex Environments
  • Agile Scaling Factors
  • Introduction to the Agile Scaling Model 
• Agile Software Development at Scale
• Agile Stakeholders at Scale
• Agile Strategies for Geographically Distributed Quality Management (Agile Journal December 2007)
• Agile Testing and Quality Strategies: Discipline Over Rhetoric
• Architecture Envisioning: An Agile Best Practice
• Architectural Envisioning on Agile Projects (Agile Journal April 2008)
• The Architecture Owner Role: How Architects Fit in on Agile Teams
• Beyond Functional Requirements on Agile Software Projects
• Complex Requirements on an Agile Project
• Data Architecture and Beyond: Strategies for Improving Your Data Ecosphere (Cutter IT Journal)
• Defining Disciplined Agile Software Development
• Disciplined Agile Architecture  
• Distributed Agile Teams
  • Agile and Geographical Distribution
  • The Distributed Agile Team
  • Geographically Distributed Agile Development 
  • Strategies for Distributed Agile Teams Part 1
  • Strategies for Distributed Agile Teams Part 2
  • Strategies for Distributed Agile Teams Part 3
• Envisioning Requirements: An Agile Best Practice
• Evidence that Agile Software Development Scales
• Governing Agile Software Development Projects 
• How Can Enterprise-level Professionals Be Agile?
• Iteration Negative One
• IT Project Success Rates by Paradigm and Team Size (July 2010)
• Large agile teams
  • Agile and Large Teams
  • Large Agile Teams 
  • System Integration on Large Agile Teams
• Lean Development Governance (White Paper)
• Manifesto for Software Craftsmanship
• Product Backlogs at Scale
• Requirements Envisioning on Agile Projects at Scale
• RFPs the Agile Way
• Reworking the Agile Manifesto  
• Roles on Agile Teams: From Small to Large Teams
• Scaling Agile: An Executive Guide  
• Scaling Agile With Risk-Based Milestones 
• Scaling Scrum
• Scaling On-Site Customer (and Product Owner)
• Scaling Test Driven Development (TDD)
• Scaling Test-Driven Development (TDD)
• Strategies for Agile SOA 
• Supersize Me: Scaling Agile Software Development
• Why Developers Should Demand Effective IT Governance

Architecture

• 15 Agile Strategies for Enterprise Architecture  (IASA)
• An Agile Approach to the Zachman Framework
• Agile Architectural Modeling
• Agile Enterprise Architecture: Beyond Enterprise Data Models 
• Agile Strategies for Enterprise Architecture (in Enterprise Architecture Trends 2007, Cutter Consortium)
• Architectural Modeling Part 1
• Architectural Modeling Part 2
• Architecture and Architectural Modeling Techniques
• Architecture Envisioning: An Agile Best Practice
• Architectural Envisioning on Agile Projects (Agile Journal April 2008)
• The Architecture Owner Role: How Architects Fit in on Agile Teams
• Class Type Architecture for Layering Software Applications
• Disciplined Agile Architecture  
• Encapsulating Database Access
• Enterprise Architecture: Reality over Rhetoric
• Enterprise Modeling Anti-Patterns
• EUP Enterprise Architecture Discipline
• The Executive Guide to Cloud Computing: What the Vendors Aren't Telling You
• Practical Guide to Enterprise Architecture (book)
• Strategies for Agile SOA 
• When is Enough Modeling Enough? 
• Zachman Framework and the RUP/EUP

Books

Listed in the order in which they were published.  The first and second edition of The Object Primer do not appear in the list, nor does the first edition of The Elements of UML Style.

Data

• Adopting Agile Database Techniques
• Advanced XML? No, Just Realistic XML
• Agile Best Practices for Data Warehouse (DW)/Business Intelligence (BI) Projects
• Agile Data Modeling
• Agile Data Techniques (Cutter Consortium Dec 2005, A collection of 5 articles by various authors)
• Agile Enterprise Administration: Beyond Data Administration
• Agile Enterprise Architecture: Beyond Enterprise Data Models 
• Agile Master Data Management (MDM)
• Agile Strategies for Master Data Management (MDM)  (Cutter IT Journal)
• Agility is for Everyone

• Best Practices for Retrieving Objects from a Relational Database

• Cultural Impedance Mismatch

  • Crossing the Developer-Data Divide

  • Crossing the Object-Data Divide
  • The Cultural Impedance Mismatch Between Data Professionals and Application Developers
  • Data-Developer Relations Survey Results (September 2009)
• Data and the RUP
• Data Architecture and Beyond: Strategies for Improving Your Data Ecosphere (Cutter IT Journal)

• Data Modeling 101

• Design of a Persistence Layer
• Encapsulating Database Access
• Ensuring Database Quality
• Evolutionary Database Development:

  • Agile Data Modeling: From Domain Modeling to Physical Modeling

  • Agile Data Modeling Part 1
  • Agile Data Modeling Part 2: The Schema Evolves
  • Agile Data Modeling Part 3: The New Rules
  • Agile Database Techniques (book)
  • Catalog of Database Refactorings
  • Database Refactoring Smells
  • Data Meets the Lifecycle
  • Evolutionary Database Development (TDAN July 2005)
  • Evolutionary Database Development: Bridging the Distance
  • Introduction to Database Refactoring (TDAN July 2006)
  • The Process of Database Refactoring
  • Refactoring Databases (Objectview Issue #10, 3.4 Meg PDF)
  • Refactoring for Fitness: Data Refactoring
  • Ten Steps to a Robust DB: Database refactoring

• Implementing Reports  

• Implementing Security Access Control

• Introduction to Concurrency Control  

• Introduction to Transaction Control

• Join the Evolution

• The Object-Relational Impedance Mismatch
• Object/Relational (O/R) Mapping 101
• On Relational Theory
• The "One Truth Above All Else" Anti-Pattern
• Persistence Modeling in the UML (UML Data Modeling)
• Questioning Traditional Data Management
• Rationally Unified Data

• Relational Databases 101

• The Roles on Agile Data Projects

• A RUP-Based Approach to Developing a Data Warehouse

  • Part 1: Setting the Stage
  • Part 2: Building and Deploying It 

• Testing

  • Database Regression Testing

  • Test Driven Database Design (TDDD) (the link is to a PDF of the magazine in which the article appeared)

  • Test Driven Development of Relational Databases (IEEE Software, May/June 2007)

  • What to Consider When Testing Databases

• Working Together Effectively: Gelling the Group
• XML in the Real World

• An Unofficial UML Profile for Data Modeling

• The Vision of the Agile Data Method

• Whence Data Management?  A Survey Into the Current State of DM

  • Discussion and source data downloads are here

• Whence Data Quality?  A Survey Into the Current State of DQ  

  • Discussion and source data downloads are here

• Why Data Models Don't Drive Object Models (And Vice Versa)

• Working With Legacy Data

Deployment

• The Agile End Game: Releasing Software Into Production
• Effective Software Deployment
• One Piece at a Time: Agile Deployment
• Planning for Deployment
• System Deployment Tips and Techniques
• UML Deployment Modeling and Beyond

• Agile Documentation
• Agile Documentation Strategies 
• Best Practices for Lean/Agile Documentation
• Can Documentation Be Agile?
• The Danger of Detailed Speculations
• Document Late: An Agile Best Practice
• Executable Specifications: An Agile Best Practice
• How CRUFTY is Your Documentation? 
• Newsflash: Agilists Write Documentation 
• Place Tab A in Slot B (Effective documentation practices)
• Requirements Specifications on Agile Projects (ModernAnalyst)
• Single Source Information: An Agile Practice
• To Document or Not to Document

Governance

• Acceleration: An Agile Productivity Measure
• Agile and Earned Value Management (EVM) 
• Agile and Traditional Governance 
• Agile CMMI? 
• Agile CMMI: Complimentary or Oxymoronic? 
• Agile/Lean Data Governance Best Practices
• The Agile Maturity Model (AMM)  
• Best Practices for Governing Agile Development Teams
• Best Practices for Lean Development Governance (Part 1 of 3): Principles and Organization
• Best Practices for Lean Development Governance (Part 2 of 3): Processes and Measures
• Best Practices for Lean Development Governance (Part 3 of 3): Roles and Policies
• The Discipline of Agile 
• The EUP Portfolio Management Discipline
• Governing Agile Software Development Projects 
• Governing Agile Development Teams (2010) 
• How Effective are Process Frameworks?
• IT Governance and Project Management Survey Results (July 2009)
• Iteration Negative One
• Lean Development Governance (White Paper)
• Metrics
  • Acceleration: An Agile Productivity Measure
  • Examining Acceleration 
  • Measure Me Wisely: Agile Metrics
• Reining in IT: An Agile Approach to Governance
• Roles on Agile Teams: From Small to Large
• Why Developers Should Demand Effective IT Governance

Humor

• Agile Certification (SCAM)
• The Agile Maturity Model (AMM)  
• Anatomy of a Failed Agile Project
• Are You Suffering from Versusitis?
• The Eclipse Blocker Project
• Embracing the OMG
• The Executive Guide to Cloud Computing: What the Vendors Aren't Telling You
• Fragile Manifesto
• The Glacial Methodology^TM
• How Agile is Santa?
• Politics Discipline
• The Quest for the Silver Bullet
• Scrum Alliance 2.0
• Unified Process from A to Z

Java

• Ambysoft Inc. Coding Standards for Java
• Elements of Java Style (book)
• Implementing many-to-many object relationships
• Implementing one-to-many object relationships
• Is Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) technology for you?
• Legacy integration techniques for Java applications
• Mastering EJB 2nd Edition (book)
• An overview of object relationships
• Unidirectional object relationships

Lean

• Best Practices for Lean Development Governance (Part 1 of 3): Principles and Organization
• Best Practices for Lean Development Governance (Part 2 of 3): Processes and Measures
• Best Practices for Lean Development Governance (Part 3 of 3): Roles and Policies

• Introduction to Kanban  

• Lean Development Governance (White Paper)

• The Principles of Lean Software Development

Modeling

• 10 Tips for Better Models
• 15 Design Tips
• 19 Tips for Better Requirements
• Active Stakeholder Participation
• Agile Analysis
• Agile Analysis Top 10
• Agile Architectural Modeling
• Agile Documentation
  • Agile Documentation Strategies 
• Agile Legacy System Analysis
• Agile Model Driven Development (AMDD)
• Agile Model Driven Development: Scaling Agile to Meet the Needs of Real-World Projects (Better Software, June 2008)
• Agile Modeling (book)
• Agile Modeling and Feature Driven Development (FDD)
• Agile Modeling and the Unified Process
• Agile Modeling in Teams
• Agile Modeling Practices
• Agile Modeling Principles
• Agile Modeling Values
• Agile Modeling: Where Do I Start?
• Agile Models Distilled
• Agile Requirements Modeling  
  • Active Stakeholder Participation  
  • Agile Requirements Best Practices
  • Agile Requirements Change Management
  • Agile Requirements Management: Less is More
  • Beyond Functional Requirements on Agile Software Projects
  • The "Change Prevention" Anti-Pattern
  • The Danger of Detailed Speculations
  • Envisioning Requirements: An Agile Best Practice
  • Examining the "Big Requirements Up Front (BRUF)" Approach
  • Inclusive Models
  • Overcoming Common Requirements Modeling Challenges
  • Product Backlogs at Scale
  • Requirements Specifications on Agile Projects (ModernAnalyst)
  • Response to "Are You Passing the Requirements Buck"
  • Rethinking How You View Requirements Management
• Ambler's Etiquette: A Guide to Whiteboard Modeling
• AMDD Approaches
• Architectural Modeling Part 1
• Architectural Modeling Part 2
• Architecture and Architectural Modeling Techniques
• Architecture Envisioning: An Agile Best Practice
• Are You Ready For the MDA?
• Artifacts for Agile Modeling: The UML and Beyond
• Barely Good Enough?
• Be Realistic About the UML
• Big Modeling Up Front (BMUF)
  • Big Modeling Up Front (BMUF) Anti-Pattern
  • Counteracting the Arguments to BMUF
  • The Danger of Detailed Speculations
  • Examining the "Big Requirements Up Front (BRUF)" Approach
• Business Analysts: Bridges or Barriers?
• A Closer Look at Extreme Modeling
• Chicken Soup for Your Modeling Soul
• Complex Requirements on an Agile Project
• CRC Modeling: Bridging the Communication Gap Between Users and Developers
• The Diagrams of UML 2.0
• The Danger of Detailed Speculations
• Debunking Modeling Myths
• Detailed Requirements Specification: A Worst Practice?
• Disciplined Agile Architecture  
• Easing into Agile Modeling
• Elements of UML 2.0 Style (book)
• Enterprise Architecture: Reality over Rhetoric
• Enterprise Modeling Anti-Patterns
• Envisioning Requirements: An Agile Best Practice
• EUP Enterprise Architecture Discipline
• EUP Enterprise Business Modeling Discipline
• Examining The Model Driven Architecture (MDA)
• Executable Specifications: An Agile Best Practice
• Extreme Modeling (The original article which led to Agile Modeling)
• The Fine Art of Ignoring Stakeholders
• How the AM Practices Fit Together
• Inclusive But Not Independent
• Inclusive Models
• Initial High-Level Architectural Modeling
• Introduction to Agile Modeling PPT Slides (free download)
• Iterating to Another Artifact
• Interviewing Tips and Techniques for IT Professionals
• An Introduction to Agile Modeling and Agile Documentation
• Just Good Enough
• Making Sense of Modeling
• Malleable MDA (Approaches to Model Driven Architecture)
• Microsoft Takes on the OMG
• Misconceptions Regarding AM
• The "Model a Bit Ahead" Pattern
• Model Reviews: Best Practice or Process Smell?
• Model Storming: The Best Kept Secret?
• Modeling and Documentation Survey (July 2008)
• Modeling Legacy Assets
• Modeling Style Guidelines
• Newsflash: Agilists Write Documentation 
• The Object Primer (book)
• The "One Truth Above All Else" Anti-Pattern
• Open sourcing the definition of modeling languages
• Phases Examined
• Questioning Model Driven Architecture (MDA)
• Requirements Engineering Patterns
• Requirements Envisioning on Agile Projects at Scale
• Requirements Specifications on Agile Projects (ModernAnalyst)
• Requirements Wisdom
• Rethinking How You View Requirements Management
• Rethinking Modeling Sessions
• Rethinking the Role of Business Analysts
• The Risks With Traditional Approaches to Modeling
• Roadmap for Agile MDA
• Roadmap to Agile MDA
• Scaling On-Site Customer (and Product Owner)
• Seeking Stakeholders
• Setting the Record Straight: Modeling and XP
• Simple Tools or CASE Tools?
• Single Source Information: An Agile Practice
• So You Want to Be an Agile Modeler?
• Software Modeling on Plain Old Whiteboards (POWs)
• Starting Off on the Right Foot (Initial modeling)
• Test-Driven Design (TDD)
• Tips for Whiteboard Modeling
• Tools and Evidence: Towards Agile Modeling and Documentation
• Tracing Your Design (Traceability)
• Toward Executable UML
• UML Deployment Modeling and Beyond
• An Unofficial UML Profile for Data Modeling
• Using the Simplest Tools: Easy Does It
• Use Cases of Mass Destruction
• Use Case Reuse: <<include>>, <<extend>>, and Inheritance
• Validating Agile Models
• What's New in UML 2?
• What's Normal?  Models to Documentation (Single source information)
• What Is(n't) Agile Modeling?
• When Are(n't) You Agile Modeling?
• When Does(n't) Agile Modeling Make Sense?
• When is a Model Agile?
• When is Enough Modeling Enough? 
• Whiteboard Etiquette Rules
• Why Data Models Don't Drive Object Models (And Vice Versa)
• XP and the UML?

Objects

• Best Practices for Retrieving Objects from a Relational Database

• Building Object Applications That Work (book)
• The Diagrams of UML 2.0
• Distributed Object Design
• Distributed Object Transactions

• Implementing Referential Integrity and Shared Business Logic

• Implementing Reports  

• Implementing Security Access Control

• Introduction to Concurrency Control  

• Introduction to Transaction Control

• Object Concurrency Control
• Object-Oriented Business Rules
• Object Orientation 101
• The Object Primer (book)
• The Object-Relational Impedance Mismatch
• Object/Relational (O/R) Mapping 101

Patterns and Anti-Patterns

• The "Broken Iron Triangle" Anti-Pattern
• The "Change Prevention" Anti-Pattern
• Common Role Anti-Patterns in Online Discussion Forums
• Enterprise Modeling Anti-Patterns
• Introduction To Process Patterns  
• The Green Shift Anti-Pattern 
• The "One Truth Above All Else" Anti-Pattern
• Process Patterns (book)
• Process Patterns Resource Page
• The "Model a Bit Ahead" Pattern
• More Process Patterns (book)
• Requirements Engineering Patterns
• Reuse Patterns and Anti-Patterns
• The "We're Special" Anti-Pattern

People

• Agile Developers: Generalists or Specialists?
• Agile Modeling in Teams
• Agility Quotient: How Agile are You?
• The Architecture Owner Role: How Architects Fit in on Agile Teams
• Assimilating Someone Into an Agile Team
• Business Analysts: Bridges or Barriers?
• Certification
  • Agile Certification: Are You Certifiably Agile?
  • The Certified Scrum Master (CSM) Certification: What People Actually Think
  • Coming Soon: Agile Certification 
  • Certified ScrumMaster Examined 
• Common Role Anti-Patterns in Online Discussion Forums
• The Cultural Impedance Mismatch Between Data Professionals and Application Developers
• The Discipline of Agile 
• Ending the Blame Game (Turning around death marches)
• EUP People Management Discipline
• The Fine Art of Ignoring Stakeholders
• Generalizing Specialists
• Isn't That Special (Generalizing Specialists)
• The Longevity of IT Skills
• Presenting Agile Models to Stakeholders
• Rethinking the Role of Business Analysts
• Roles on Agile Teams: From Small to Large Teams
• Strategies for Effective Training and Education (T&E) in I.T.

Programming (General)

• Coding Style Guidelines

Project Management

• Acceleration: An Agile Productivity Measure
• Agile and Earned Value Management (EVM) 
• Agile CMMI? 
• Agile CMMI: Complimentary or Oxymoronic? 
• Agile on a Fixed Budget 
• Agile Package/COTS Implementation
• Agile Project Planning Tips
• Agile Requirements Change Management
• Agile Requirements Management: Less is More
• Agile Success Factors
• Anatomy of a Failed Agile Project
• Assimilating Someone Into an Agile Team
• Blocking
  • The Eclipse Blocker Project
  • Running Interference: Dealing With Unfriendly Groups Through Blocking
• Bureaucracy isn't Discipline
• The "Change Prevention" Anti-Pattern
• Choosing the Right Software Method for the Job
• Comparing Approaches to Budgeting and Scheduling Software Development Projects
• The Consequences of a Fixed-Price Project
• The Criteria for Determining Whether a Team is Agile
  • Criteria for Disciplined Agile Teams
• Defining Success
• Detailed Requirements Specification: A Worst Practice? (Brings traditional mgmt practices into question)
• Estimating
  • Agile on a Fixed Budget 
  • The "Broken Iron Triangle" Anti-Pattern
  • The Consequences of a Fixed-Price Project
  • Estimating on Agile Projects
  • Funding Agile Projects
  • Iron Triangle: Something's Gotta Give
  • Is Fixed-Price Software Development Unethical?
  • Lies, Great Lies, and Software Development Project Plans
  • Reducing the Risk of Fixed-Price Projects
  • Strategies for Funding Software Development Projects 
• EUP Portfolio Management Discipline
• Gelling the Group 
• The Green Shift Anti-Pattern 
• How Effective are Process Frameworks?
• How to organize a software development team
• How Successful are IT Projects, Really?
• IT Governance and Project Management Survey Results (July 2009)
• Iteration Negative One
• Justifying a Software Development Project
• Lies, Great Lies, and Software Development Project Plans 
• Managers Manage 
• Managing Distributed Teams: Bridging the Distance
• Mashing Deadly Myths
• Metrics
  • Acceleration: An Agile Productivity Measure
  • Examining Acceleration 
  • Measure Me Wisely: Agile Metrics
• Planning an iteration
• Prioritize your system's requirements
• Project planning tips
• Questioning Earned Value Management (EVM) on IT Projects
• Repeatable Results over Repeatable Processes
• Request for Proposal (RFP)s the Agile Way
• RFPs the Agile Way
• Roles on Agile Teams: From Small to Large Teams
• Scaling Agile With Risk-Based Milestones 
• Scaling Scrum
• Software Development Success Rates
• Strategies for requirements-based planning
• Survey Shows Unethical Behavior Rampant Inside IT Development Teams
• Translating Scrum Terminology

Rational Unified Process (RUP)

• Agile and Rational Unified Process (RUP)
• Agile Modeling (book)
• Agile Modeling and the Unified Process
• Agile RUP: Experiences from the Trenches
• The Agile Unified Process (AUP) Product
• Communicating the Iterative Nature of the Unified Process
• Construction Phase (book)
• Data and the RUP
• Elaboration Phase (book)
• Enterprise Unified Process (EUP) (book)
  • Adopting the Enterprise Unified Process (EUP)
  • Amalgamated Workflow Diagrams
  • Artifacts in the EUP 
  • The Benefits of the EUP
  • Best Practices
  • Enhancing the Unified Process (the article that led to the EUP)
  • Enterprise Disciplines
  • Enterprise Administration Discipline
  • Enterprise Architecture Discipline
  • Enterprise Business Modeling Discipline
  • Extending the Rational Unified Process: RUP to EUP
  • Extending the Rational Unified Process with the Enterprise Unified Process (posted at InformIT)
  • Introduction to the Enterprise Unified Process
  • Operations and Support Discipline
  • People Management Discipline
  • Phases of the EUP
  • Portfolio Management Discipline
  • Production Phase
  • Retirement Phase
  • Roles in the EUP
  • Software Process Improvement Discipline
  • Strategic Reuse Discipline
• Inception Phase (book)
• A Manager's Introduction to the RUP
• Politics Discipline
• Practical Guide to Enterprise Architecture (book)
• Rationally Unified Data
• Reuse Opportunities Throughout the RUP Lifecycle

• A RUP-Based Approach to Developing a Data Warehouse

  • Part 1: Setting the Stage
  • Part 2: Building and Deploying It 
• Scaling Agile With Risk-Based Milestones 
• Skinnier RUP
• Strategic Reuse Management and the Rational Unified Process (RUP)
• Transition and Production Phases (book)
• Unified and Agile
• Unified Process from A to Z
• Zachman Framework and the RUP/EUP

Reuse

• EUP Strategic Reuse Discipline
• A Realistic Look at OO Reuse
• Reuse for the Real World: Types of Reuse
• Reuse Patterns and Anti-Patterns
• Reuse Through Internal Open Source
• Types of Reuse in Information Technology

Software Development (Miscellaneous Topics)

• The 5Ps of IT
• Agile Documentation
• Agile Modeling and eXtreme Programming (XP)
• Agile Outsourcing 
• The Astronomy Analogy for Software Development
• Best Practices Face-Off
• Bureaucracy isn't Discipline
• Choosing the Right Software Method for the Job
• Communication
• Do Programmers Really Follow Development Guidelines? 
• Evolutionary Development
• Fixing Your Legacy
• Generalizing Specialists
• Glacial Methodology (Objective View #9, Page 28)
• How Successful are IT Projects, Really?
• Ignore Help Requests at Your Peril (System support)
• Is Software Development an Art or a Science?
• Lessons from Antarctica
• New Year's Resolutions
• One Size Fits None (Forget best practices, we need contextual practices)
• Our Integrity Debt Continues to Grow
• Outsourcing Examined (Agile development vs. offshore outsourcing)
• Phases Examined
• Project Stakeholder Rights and Responsibilities
• Questioning "Best Practices" in Software Development
• Repeatable Results over Repeatable Processes
• The Risks With Traditional Approaches
• The Secret Life of System Operations
• The SEMAT Vision
• Software Development Success Rates
• Software Process Improvement (SPI) Best Practices
• Supersize Me: Scaling Agile Software Development
• Test-Driven Development
• Tools, Sandboxes, and Scripts

Surveys

• 2007 IT Project Success Rates Survey (August 2007)
• 2008 IT Project Success Rates Survey (December 2008)
• 2010 IT Project Success Rates Survey (May/June 2010)
• 2011 IT Project Success Rates Survey Results (DDJ, October 2011)
• 2010 Scrum Certification Survey (Oct/Nov 2010)
• Agile Adoption Rate Survey (March 2006)
• Agile Adoption Rate Survey (March 2007)
• Agile Adoption Rate Survey (February 2008)
• Agile Adoption Success Factors (November 2011)
• Agile and Enterprise Architecture 2011 (March 2011)
• Agile in Practice: What Is Actually Going On Out There? (Agile 2008 presentation summarizing recent surveys, recorded by InfoQ)
• Agile Practices and Principles Survey (July 2008)
• Agile Practices Survey (July 2009)
• Agile Project Initiation (August 2009) 
• Agile Project Success Rates (April 2010)
• Agile Project Types (June 2011)
• Agile Teams 2011 (April 2011)
• Agile Team Issues, October 2011
• Agility at Scale Survey Results (November 2009)
• Current State of Data Management Survey (July 2006)
• Current State of Data Quality Techniques (September 2006)
• Data-Developer Relations Survey Results (September 2009)
• Enterprise Architecture Survey Results (January 2010)
• How Agile Are You? 2010 (August 2010)
• IT Governance and Project Management Survey Results (July 2009)
• IT Project Success Rates by Paradigm and Team Size (July 2010)
• Modeling and Documentation Survey (July 2008)
• Process Framework Survey (January 2008)
• Project Management Practices for Staying Out of Trouble (December 2010)
• Stakeholder Relationship Survey (May 2011)
• Test Driven Development Survey (October 2008)

Testing and Quality Assurance

• Agile Strategies for Geographically Distributed Quality Management (Agile Journal December 2007)
• Agile Testing and Quality Strategies: Discipline Over Rhetoric
• Agile Testing Strategies 
• Assurance and Agile Projects
• Beyond Functional Requirements on Agile Software Projects
• Coding Style Guidelines

• Database Testing

  • Database Regression Testing

  • Test Driven Database Design (TDDD) (the link is to a PDF of the magazine in which the article appeared)

  • Test Driven Development of Relational Databases (IEEE Software, May/June 2007)

  • What to Consider When Testing Databases

• Do Programmers Really Follow Development Guidelines? 
• Examining Test Driven Development
• Executable Specifications: An Agile Best Practice
• Extreme Testing (Test Driven Development)
• Full Lifecycle Object-Oriented Testing (FLOOT) Methodology
• Implicit to Formal: Validating Agile Models
• J2EE Testing Primer
• Model Reviews: Best Practice or Process Smell?
• Quality in an Agile World
• Test-Driven Development
  • AMDD and TDD Go Hand-In-Hand
  • Introduction to Test-Driven Design (TDD)
  • Scaling Test-Driven Development (TDD)

  • Test Driven Database Design (TDDD) (the link is to a PDF of the magazine in which the article appeared)

  • Test Driven Development of Relational Databases (IEEE Software, May/June 2007)

  • Test-Driven Development (TDD): Reality over Rhetoric
  • Tragic Mistakes When Adopting Test-Driven Development (TDD)
• Validating Agile Models

• Whence Data Quality?  A Survey Into the Current State of DQ  

  • Discussion and source data downloads are here

User Interface Development

• Agile Usability: User Experience Efforts on Agile Software Projects
• Bridging the Gap: Agile Software Development and Usability
• Designing Web-Based User Interfaces
• Essential User Interface Prototyping
• Usable UIs (Agile techniques for UI development)
• User Interface Design Tips, Techniques, and Principles  
• User Interface Flow Diagramming
• User Interface Prototypes
• User Interface Prototyping Tips and Techniques

Other Ideas

• How to Write a Technical Book
• Reducing the Physical Junk Mail that you Receive