Notes:
Is there something that can be called Agile software development? There is an enormous variation in the key values and principles that are associated with it and for them to make sense assumes a maturity of the development process greater than that which I usually encounter. In fact it looks like a correction to development processes that have become overly burdensome.
Extreme Programming is part of the same reaction and is an instance of an “Agile software development process”. It is probably also the best known of these processes. I have reservations about XP, and I'll be addressing these shortly.
But first I have to wonder if the approach I take to software development is “Agile”. Certainly, I have a reluctance to introduce processes and tools without first assuring that the goals of using them are both understood and seen to be relevant.
Techniques, like regular integration builds are common to my approach and to many agile methods, as are unit tests and a focus on communication rather than documentation.
On the other hand, the processes I've been using for the last year are a lot closer to “waterfall” than to “iterative development”.
I guess I'm an eclectic: I was never so captivated by formal methods that I indulged to the excesses the agile movement reject and while I do see value in some of the “agile” ideas I'm not about to reject the things I know work.