Thursday, January 17, 2008

AgileScotland - Make the requirements FIT - Glasgow - 28th of January.

Hi everyone,
 
Last year I was very lucky to discover the joys of automating tests using FIT when the team I was managing used it to write and then automate hundreds of tests on an old Cobol and Oracle system.  Although I was skeptical at first, I'd say that in the first month we automated 2 - 4 months worth of manual testing using FIT on this old legacy system.  That was great from a productivity and cost perspective but the key benefit, for me as the project manager, was that we used the tests to communicate and collaborate with an extremely demanding customer and it helped us to rebuild trust with them very quickly.  I really don't have the words to describe how the mood of the whole project changed, during a 15 minute session in my clients conference room,  when we demonstrated the tests they'd helped prepare, running and passing, in real time.
 
I was profoundly impressed with what we achieved with FIT.
 
And then, a few weeks ago, I had lunch with Brian and Paul and discovered that - despite our success - we could, actually, have done things an aweful lot better than we do.  Bummer!
 
If you'd like to hear why then Brian and Paul - who are two of Britian's foremost agile experts, even if they're too modest to admit it - will be giving a presentation in the JP Morgan offices in Glasgow at 7:30 on Monday the 28th of January.  Please email me - clarke.ching@gmail.com - if you'd like to come along - I'll add you to the security list and email you "joining instructions".
 
Make the requirements FIT - by Brian Swan and Paul Wilson
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Communication and collaboration are are the heart of Agile methods. An existing tool can help you to improve both on your project, but most people don't use it that way.

That tool is FIT (http://fit.c2.com/ ). As part of this presentation you'll find out:
* when you should use FIT.
* how using FIT badly can destroy productivity.
* what the most common mistakes writing FIT documents are.
* How you can improve communication and collaboration by making FIT part of your development process.
 
Happy New Year to you all!
 
Clarke Ching
07920114893.