Chapter 22. The Future of ALM
Technology professionals design and implement complex software processes every day. Some of software and systems lifecycles are very effective, and others are less than optimal. This book focuses on what you need to know to design better processes using agile principles. We are deliberately not describing a pure agile approach, as there are many other good resources out there that can help you do that. Our focus is more on the less-than-ideal situation, which we sincerely believe to be the norm in most companies. We have discussed the “elephant in the room,” which is the reality that many organizations are not doing pure agile. This is not because agility does not deliver solid results—and nothing in this book should be viewed as criticizing agile or any of its principles. Rather, we think that it is time to have an open and honest conversation in the industry about software methodology, which, although it has evolved and improved greatly over the last 20-plus years, rarely fits neatly into rigid categories for those in the trenches who must design and implement today’s complicated systems.
22.1 Real-World ALM
We appreciate and value sound frameworks such as Scott Ambler’s Disciplined Agile Delivery and Dean Leffingwell’s Scaled Agile Framework (SAFE) and, of course, Ken Rubin’s seminal essential scrum. Many other knowledgeable agile thought leaders are doing fine work and promoting effective approaches to software development. But we caution folks to be mindful that agile as seen today includes an imperfect world of hybrid and customized practices, and we need to support them in a pragmatic and effective way. We value taking a broad view of software methodology in the real world and considering the many possible processes you could implement in order to create the best and most efficient processes for your organization.
DevOps, which continuously takes a cross-functional view of the processes that run your business along with the supporting IT services, is the key to driving your agile ALM. DevOps is very effective at improving communication and collaboration among all of the teams in the organization. We see situations that warrant more IT controls and governance than others. It is our goal to help you decide how to right-size and customize your processes to be the best fit possible for your business. More importantly, we believe that you need to be good at iteratively customizing and improving your processes over time. Please make sure that you remember to have a communication plan in place to ensure that all stakeholders know when you change the rules and exactly what the new and improved processes require. Not only do we incorporate continuous processes within our software lifecycle, in practice, we also continuously evolve our agile ALM.
This book is very different in that we believe that technology professionals, armed with the right training, can learn to creatively and iteratively design and implement customized and right-sized software processes using agile principles that will meet the unique needs of their business, thus delivering the highest level of productivity and quality. We expect and hope that this book will be the catalyst for many discussions on how to best handle the pragmatic and effective use of agile ALM, including some of the uncomfortable issues such as how to best implement agile in a non-agile environment. We especially do not expect everyone to agree with every aspect of our approach to ALM. Our previous book, Configuration Management Best Practices: Practical Methods that Work in the Real World, led many of our colleagues to write to us and connect with us on social media. We deeply value and appreciate input from our colleagues and hope that you will be in touch as well. Working together, we can each get a hand on that elephant and pool our knowledge for the benefit of all.
22.2 ALM in Focus
Application lifecycle management will likely be in the spotlight in coming years as the technology industry continues to evolve and seek new levels of efficiency. This focus is not only about developing code more quickly, but also addressing a wider need to adapt to the many challenges inherent in complex technologies.
Cybersecurity will continue to be a key concern, as malicious exploits threaten the technology infrastructure, while at the same time, we are constantly increasing our dependence upon technology and all it has to offer. Effective software methodology will be the most important determining factor as the industry learns to adapt to new challenges and grow in terms of scope and impact. The capability to develop software and systems more quickly and of the highest quality is a must-have, but the ability to understand and overcome ever-evolving challenges and obstacles is what can really separate your team from the crowd. We have no doubt that the industry is up for the challenge and will continue to achieve amazing results. Because we view human capital as being our greatest resource, improving the agile ALM can be the key to ensuring that all stakeholders ban together in a collaborative and productive manner.
22.3 Conclusion
In this book, we introduced our approach to creating a customized agile ALM methodology that is tailored to your organization. We applied agile principles and practices throughout our review and examination of software methodology going back over the last 20 years or more. We have discussed the “elephant in the room”—our reference to the fact that many IT professionals are using hybrid or customized approaches to agile. We advocate learning and using well-defined agile methodologies, such as SAFE, Disciplined Agile Delivery, and scrum, but at the same time acknowledge that there are valid and pragmatic reasons to customize your processes to align closely with your organizational culture and objectives. We believe that our technology colleagues in the real world are already engaging in continuous process improvement, resulting in agile processes that meet the needs of the teams and organizations in which they are engaged. We hope that the information presented in this book sparks your curiosity and motivates you to participate in this discussion. We hope that you will be in touch with us to share your views and experiences!