4378+Paper_kj_tb

							A Technical Communication Intern’s First Look at the

            Agile Development Process

                   By: Kyle A. Johnson
                       ENGL 4378
                         7/25/08




                                              Johnson 1
                                              You could use an introduction that set
                                              up the whole paper: subject, purpose,
                                              scope of inquiry, and plan/organization.
Introduction
What is Agile Development?

       Agile Documentation <<or Development? You might distinguish between

development and documentation.)) is fast paced, communication focused, user

oriented approach to developing software. The ideology of Agile can best be

defined by the Agile Manifesto itself:


                  We are uncovering better ways of developing
                  software by doing it and helping others do it.
                   Through this work we have come to value:

             Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
             Working software over comprehensive documentation
               Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
                  Responding to change over following a plan

                    That is, while there is value in the items on
     the right, we value the items on the left more. <<Interesting approach.))

                                                              Source: agilemanifesto.org


The role of technical writers in Agile Development

       As a technical communication student, I found myself often wondering just

how professional technical writers generate documentation. How much does a

technical writer have to know about the product they are <<he or she is...)))

writing documentation for? How much time do they spend with the software

developers? Is the product finished first and documented after the fact?

       Luckily all of my questions were answered during the course of this

internship and being exposed to Agile Development, and realizing what the




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alternatives are, gave me an appreciation for the role of technical writers in

software development.

       In Agile Development, technical writers are integral to every step of the

software development process. From the initial planning meetings, through the

stages of programming, and on to final packaging, technical writers generate

documentation. This allows for comprehensive coverage of every facet of a

product as it being developed, removing the risk of accidentally leaving out

something important when documentation is held until the final stages of

development and rushed to complete before packaging.

       One methodology that NetIQ employs that I did not expect to see is having

technical writers “float” from project team to project team as needed. This gave

me a new found respect for these writers as each of them must daily juggle

assignments from three or four projects. Initially, this seems daunting, and

sounds as though technical writers would be overwhelmed by having the arduous

task of keeping so much work balanced, but Agile Development makes this

process manageable. The value of Agile Development communication is

obvious when a new technical writer like me can jump into two or three projects

and stay afloat simply by attending scrums (Agile Development term
                                                                             How cool!
for fifteen minute daily meetings with rapid fire communication to get

everyone on the team caught up), weekly wrap-ups (comprehensive meetings),

and just generally getting involved.

       How the Agile Development process makes this work is by assigning each

technical writer a capacity, or maximum hours able to dedicate to a project, and




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sticking to it. Staying within capacity <<interesting idea))      Are we still in the intro,
                                                                  or have we started on
allows technical writers to divide their time as needed and       the body of the paper?
                                                                  I’m a little lost. You’re
accomplish all of their assigned tasks.                           hopping from idea to
                                                                  idea: very agile but
                                                                  hard to follow. “-)
How does this style of development relate to my

coursework?

       With no previous professional technical writing experience <<comma

here)) I really had no idea what to expect with regards to applying what I have

learned in school with what I would be doing at NetIQ. Agile Development, as

implemented by NetIQ, is a nice compliment to my institutional coursework thus

far. I use my knowledge gained from the classroom on a daily basis when

dealing with everything from editing documentation to writing status reports.

       The focus on good communication skills in the Technical Communication

Department, however, is I think the most valuable knowledge base I draw from

when working in an Agile environment. Daily, I send and receive dozens of

emails for each of the project teams I am on. Without good communication skills,

my teammates would have to muddle through poorly worded and unclear emails

to find the important information they need to complete their tasks and I would

become a burden on the team. Clear communication is absolutely most

important when dealing with the development and quality assurance teams

located in Bolivia. English is their second language, and while their English is

quite good, the knowledge of audience awareness and writing for ESL readers

that I gained from classes has helped greatly in my ability to communicate with

these teams.


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How did investigating Agile Development relate to my internship?

       Because NetIQ utilizes the Agile Development process in all of their

projects, fluency in the Agile methodology can greatly increase your productivity

and effectiveness in project teams. In an effort to increase my own knowledge

and simultaneously increase my productivity as a team member, I chose to do

my outside research on Agile Development. <<Good!))

                                                                   Try not to follow
Readings and Application                                           a heading with
                                                                   another heading.
What do outside sources have to say?

       By and large, the articles I found in my research into Agile Development

focus on how Agile works for them. <<case studies?)) Agile Development is a

strategy, a process, and a style. Being these things, many companies use Agile

differently, opting to mold the methodology and practices to suit their company’s

needs.
                                                        I’m starting to wish you could tie
       Essentially the greatest strength of Agile       these ideas in with some real
                                                        experiences on the job: the kind
Development is its ability to be adapted to any         of project you worked on, the
                                                        challenges you had, formats you
workplace and produce better results than any other     worked with or something to
                                                        contextualize these general
methodology. No two companies utilize Agile             statements. The comment about
                                                        the Bolivian co-worker is an
exactly the same, but the result is always better       example of what I mean. Very
                                                        specific that shows the ideas in
documentation. That being said, one thing every         action.

company agrees upon is the enhanced productivity that comes from better

communication. There are many different and varied communication modes,

with varying levels of effectiveness.




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       This very good graph of the effectiveness of different types of

communication comes from one source, Scott W. Ambler:




Figure 1. Comparing the effectiveness of various
communication modes.
                                                     I don’t see synchronous text (IM and
                                                     the like) in this mix. Nor do I see
                                                     asynchronous text (social media, Web
       As you can see, many different modes of       2.0). These are channels that merge
                                                     documentation and modeling.
communication have different levels of

effectiveness, and companies must decide what fits their style best. <<Carry this

idea further, Kyle. What has excited you about this?))


Applying outside readings to work challenges

       After gathering information through my investigation into Agile

Development, I was able to refer back to the NetIQ method and make note of the



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strength’s and weaknesses of the different ideas shared. Afterward, I really felt

that NetIQ uses the principles of Agile Development very well while adapting

them to their own best practices better than some of the ideas presented in the

articles. <<For example...)) I did however apply some of what I learned on my

newest project, a brand new team working on conversions of old files to a new

format. Because the team is newly formed, I voiced some of the communication

ideas presented by Scott Ambler and I think it has aided in our coming together

as a team. <<Excellent!! The intern makes a contribution. This is the kind of

thing that companies look for (after they establish the fact that you can work hard

and have a brain.)))


Conclusion

       As a recommendation to all software development companies that are not

currently using Agile Development as their development model, they should

switch as soon as possible. Agile is increasing in popularity every year, as my

managers found out when giving a presentation at an STC conference earlier this

summer, and will most likely become the industry standard.

       Communication is the key to successful documentation and Agile provides

solutions for every aspect of communication. Every article I have read agrees

that Agile Development is a great process and having worked with it myself I

have to agree. It is an easy methodology to get used to, it compliments my

academics well, and I’ve seen it work in action and really enjoy it.


I can see you’re enthusiastic about the process. And it looks like you’ve gotten a
first-hand look at how it’s implemented at NetIQ. I’m glad you had a chance to


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see it working up close. You focused on communication in this paper as a way to
understand the key component of the process. This is very good. It shows you’re
not just describing it, but analyzing it. So what are the challenges? For you it
would be to make sure you explain as much of the process as you can (the
components (“scrums” and so on), the basic ideas (which you mentioned in the
intro), and, most importantly, how you applied it in real life experiences. Your
statement that you applied what you learned on your latest project is tantalizing,
because I’m sure you found ways to make communication effective in that
project. But there are so many questions unanswered: how did communication
help you get the right info at the right time? How did you manage to stay
involved when you might not have if you hadn’t understood the levels of
communication (in Scott’s model)? Tell an instance of how you got used to the
methodology. Specifics that make the difference.

As a document, this report had a rambling spirit. “-) That’s good and bad. It
allows you to follow your interests as you write, but it means your reader has to
hang on. I know you put a lot of work into the paper, and it’s right now at the
stage where it could really get better with some careful structuring and
organization, some useful examples, and some challenge to the thesis. That
means that, while communication is the key, you should consider that it’s always
the key. What makes it different here? How are the products better, or is the
advantage simply in the process? What’s in it for the user? Here you get into
some broader issues that affect the technical writer as a professional. I’d like to
here you enter into that conversation.




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Bibliography

Ambler, Scott W. "Agile/Lean Documentation: Strategies for Agile Software

      Development." Agile Modeling. 1 Dec. 2007. 13 June 2008

      <http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/agileDocum

      entation.htm>.                                           No need for annotation of
                                                               these. But it would help for
      This article highlights the importance of                you to cite them in the text.
      communication in documentation. It also explains
      the importance of customer-oriented development.
      Agile documentation is a fast paced, high communication documentation
      development strategy and this article gives strategies and information to
      make it work.

Ambler, Scott W. "Best Practices for Agile/Lean Documentation." Agile Modeling.

      1 Dec. 2007. 13 June 2008

      <http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/agileDocumentationBestPractices.

      htm>.

      This article, also by Scott Ambler, goes into further detail on how you can
      make your Agile development work for you with his best practice
      information. This covers everything from what to write, to iterations, to
      simplification of documentation.


Dickerson, Chad. "The Documentation Dilemma." InfoWorld. 27 Feb. 2004. 13

      June 2008

      <http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/02/27/09OPconnection_1.html>.

      This article is a real world example of how an IT department used Agile
      development techniques to improve their documentation even with fewer
      staff members.


Fox, Alyssa, and Meredith Kramer. "Mobile and Agile: the Floating Writer's

      Survival Kit." STC Technical Communication Summit (2008): 134-138.




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       This paper, written by my two managers, is a beginner’s guide to Agile. In
       this journal article they cover everything from terminology to strategies for
       excellence when working in a new, Agile development workplace.


Gheorghiu, Grig. "Agile Documentation (Using Tests as Documentation)."

       Agilistas. 26 Feb. 2006. 13 June 2008

       <http://www.agilistas.org/presentations/pycon06/pycon06_agiledoc.pdf>.

       This article is a detailed and technical look at how to create “executable

documentation” for Agile development. In the article he documents how to use

doctest/epydoc as a way of documenting your APIs by means of unit tests that

live in your code as docstrings.




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