Parallel Agile - faster delivery, fewer defects, lower cost

The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks asserts that increasing the number of developers working on a late software project will delay it. Parallel Agile (PA) achieves significant schedule compression by employing parallelism and elastic staffing, allowing for the independent and concurrent development of scenarios from initial prototypes to production code. PA utilizes technical prototyping as a risk-mitigation strategy and employs a minimalist UML-based design approach that facilitates communication and parallel development. It is fully compatible with the Incremental Commitment Spiral Model (ICSM).

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 221 pages
Publication date: 26 August 2021
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Since the dawn of software development, the question of why simply increasing the workforce cannot accelerate projects has intrigued individuals. This phenomenon, often referred to as the "nine women cannot make a baby in one month" problem, has been extensively studied and documented. One of the most renowned treatises on this topic is Fred Brooks' 1975 book, "The Mythical Man-Month," in which he asserts that "adding more programmers to a late software project makes it later," a statement that has largely held true throughout the years.

Parallel Agile (PA), a cutting-edge approach, leverages parallelism to achieve remarkable schedule compression. By employing a domain-driven code generator that expeditiously generates database and API code, PA enables multiple developers to work independently and concurrently on different scenarios, from the initial prototype to the production code. This approach allows projects to scale flexibly, employing elastic staffing rather than stretching schedules for larger development efforts. It is akin to hardware acceleration of compute problems using parallel CPUs.

PA shares some similarities with and distinctions from other Agile methodologies. Like many Agile approaches, PA emphasizes early code delivery and utilizes feedback from executable software to drive requirements and design. PA employs technical prototyping as a risk-mitigation strategy, aiding in sanity-checking requirements for feasibility and evaluating various technical architectures and technologies. However, PA differs from many Agile methods in its lack of support for design by refactoring and its focus on partitioning the system along use case boundaries for parallel development.

In conclusion, the "nine women cannot make a baby in one month" problem has persisted throughout the history of software development. While increasing the workforce has been a common approach, Parallel Agile offers a novel solution by leveraging parallelism and elastic staffing to accelerate projects and achieve significant schedule compression. By employing a minimalist UML-based design approach and partitioning the system along use case boundaries, PA enables parallel development and facilitates communication across the development team. As software development continues to evolve, PA remains a promising approach for delivering high-quality software products efficiently and effectively.

Weight: 379g
Dimension: 235 x 155 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783030307035
Edition number: 1st ed. 2020