[pypy-svn] r20646 - pypy/extradoc/talk/pypy_euworkshop_2005-12-08

[bea at codespeak.net]

Author: bea
Date: Sun Dec  4 22:22:18 2005
New Revision: 20646

Added:
   pypy/extradoc/talk/pypy_euworkshop_2005-12-08/bea_part3_agility
Log:
my part of the eu-workshop talk,,,,

Added: pypy/extradoc/talk/pypy_euworkshop_2005-12-08/bea_part3_agility
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+SEMINAR
+Best Practice in the Use and Development of Free and Open Source Software
+3. Case study:
+
+Part 3/Bea:
+
+Slides:
+
+1. 
+
+- Agile development grew out of a need to handle rapid change
+  in processes surrounding commercial software development
+
+- How then do agile approaches fit distributed, open-source projects without
+  the need to handle changing formal requirements and client relations?
+
+- The answer points to the core of Agile practises: the people factor
+  "Agile processes are designed to capitalize on each individual and each team´s
+  unique strenghts" (Cockburn, Highsmith, 2001)
+
+- The OSS nature of teams being self-organized and intensely collaborative fits the
+  agile approach, although OSS teams are an unique implementation due to the distributed 
+  nature of work
+
+2. 
+
+- Agile approaches aim at:
+  * reducing 		"cost of information" and distance between decision-making and it´s implementation
+  * by 			locating the team closer in a physical sense, replace documentation with face-to-face dissemination
+  * resulting in	improved sense of community and team "morale", the foundation of  pro-active teams
+
+- OSS teams fit the criteria very well if you look at the "physical" aspect in a more unorthodox sense. Transparent 
+  intense, daily communication via IRC, emails and wiki:s make up for a lot of this.
+
+- It is no wonder though that the Python community (Zope Foundation) tailored agile approaches to add one crucial
+  technique, sprints, to make up for the lack of "physical" interaction between programmers. This technique is now 
+  widely used within the Python community.
+  
+3. 
+
+- Sprints are ""two-day or three-day focused development session, in which developers pair off 
+  together in a room and focus on building a particular subsystem". In this implementation it fits
+  agile criterias because of the knowledge/learning aspects as well as the incremental approaches.
+
+- Sprinting was the key agile technique in the start-up of PyPy, work being non-funded. While working on the 
+  proposal (during sprints) the challenge was to tailor a project process based on sprinting that would fit and 
+  work within an EU framework. (picture - sprint process)
+
+- Sprinting is central to the PyPy project because it is the focus point of the funded, consortium-based efforts
+  as well as the non-funded OSS efforts. Primarily focused on programming but there are also regular dissemination
+  activities (tutorials, talks) as well as consortium/management coordination.
+
+4. 
+
+- "Agile teams are characterized by self-organization and intense collaboration, within and across organizational
+  boundaries" (Cockburn, Highsmith, 2001) How do one structure an agile OSS community into a consortium of 7 partners?
+  
+- In order to stay true to the agile vision as much as possible, the consortium structure and roles/responsibilities
+  are supporting a developer-driven, flat organization. Much of the coordination of work is delegated to the core 
+  developers. Regular "sync" meetings (once per week) are done via IRC in which the community of developers (funded 
+  as well as non-funded) coordinate development work, keeping communication as transparent as possible.
+  
+- Consortium meetings are done once every month via IRC with developers attending as well, physical consortium meetings
+  are done in conjunction with sprints. The tools for automated test driven development and version control are implemented
+  on consortium documentation, reducing the gap between the consortium and the community in ways of working.
+  
+- Contribution from the community is partially funded through the process of "physical persons", entering the consortium
+  as individual partners, recieving funding for travel and accommodation during sprints.
+  
+- Striking a balance between agile approaches within the OSS community of PyPy and the funded consortium structure of PyPy
+  is a constant challenge but an crucial one. The results from the first year of the project show important results supporting
+  this effort.
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