ThoughtWorks Studios Defines Agile ALM in New White Paper

SAN FRANCISCO and LONDON, June 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ThoughtWorks Studios (www.thoughtworks-studios.com), a global leader in enterprise Agile development products and services, today released a new white paper – Agile ALM: Redefining ALM with Five Key Practices. The paper outlines an entirely new and modern approach to Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) that helps IT organizations meet increasing customer expectations and quickly adapt to competitive pressures through the design, development and Continuous Delivery of high quality software.

To download a complimentary copy of the white paper please visit: (http://www.thoughtworks-studios.com/user/register&destination=resource_whitepapers/whitepaper/download/redefining_alm).

"The impact and reach of Agile software methodologies now spans the entire application lifecycle, making the use of traditional ALM tools and processes counter-productive for organizations moving to a more rapid and incremental build, test and release cycle," said Cyndi Mitchell, managing director for ThoughtWorks Studios and co-author of the white paper. "This paper draws on the collective experience of both ThoughtWorks and ThoughtWorks Studios to provide five strategic building blocks IT executives can use to bridge Agile principles into ALM."

While traditional ALM-applied tools enforce pre-defined standardized processes, ThoughtWorks sees Agile ALM as the application of tools to support people and the processes that best suit the way they actually work when creating great software. The white paper outlines five key organizational practices of Agile ALM, and describes how organizations that keep these practices in the forefront of all software delivery activities will reap the benefits in increased agility.

In addition to co-authors Cyndi Mitchell, Chad Wathington and Ethan Teng, ThoughtWorks' luminaries Martin Fowler, Jim Highsmith and Jez Humble provide an introductory overview into each of the five practices for Agile ALM:

Evolve Process Definition

Agile ALM recognizes that the most effective process for any software initiative cannot be defined up-front; it must be continuously discovered, evolved and refined over time.

Embrace Heterogeneity

Agile ALM embraces the fact that every software project is different. Just as processes cannot be completely defined up-front, they also cannot be completely standardized across all teams.

Build the Right Thing

Organizations that focus on building the right thing over managing the lifecycle of artifacts create software that is more exciting and useful to their end users and customers. Agile ALM embeds customers and business people into the day-to-day activities of software teams.

Practice Continuous Delivery

Agile ALM continuously delivers a few features every couple of days or weeks, instead of a bunch of features once a quarter. Practicing Continuous Delivery ensures that the path to production is clear, kinks in the release process are ironed out early and predictability becomes the norm.

Orchestrate, Don't Manage

Agile ALM calls upon company leaders and managers to become orchestrators by making sure the work being done is aligned with business goals, removing obstacles, fixing bad projects, understanding the portfolio, and helping to spread best-practices across teams.

To download a free copy of Agile ALM: Redefining ALM with Five Key Practices, and to see the entire ThoughtWorks Studios library of Agile-focused white papers please visit: (http://www.thoughtworks-studios.com/user/register&destination=resource_whitepapers/whitepaper/download/redefining_alm).

About ThoughtWorks Studios

ThoughtWorks Studios provides Agile ALM products and training. A division of the Agile consultancy, ThoughtWorks, Inc., it offers the tools, coaching and experience to help companies realize the full potential of Agile-based development in the enterprise. Its Adaptive ALM™ suite, Mingle^® (Agile project management), Twist^® (Agile test automation) and Go™ (Agile release management/DevOps), helps organizations manage and automate the application lifecycle through an adaptive approach that supports people and processes. Its Agile Workshops deliver training for all facets of Agile ALM practices. Customers include 3M, Barclays, BBC, eBay, Honeywell, McGraw-Hill, Rackspace and Vodafone. For more information, please visit http://www.thoughtworks-studios.com.

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SOURCE ThoughtWorks Studios