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How to start agile development in your team

Got this in the mail:

Hi Roy,
From time to time I'm reading your blog, and I must say that I'm quite behind. I would like to start an Agile Process in our company, but to be honest I do not have any knowledge from where to start.
So from where to start ?

Wow. what a simple and powerful question.

I’d start incrementally, doing the things that are easiest but also make small “wins” for the team and process. Here is where I’d start (order matters)

  1. start doing daily stand up meeting
  2. start doing automated builds
  3. start working in pairs on relatively complicated problems
  4. start doing code reviews
  5. start showing visible progress
  6. start trying to show demos every two or three weeks
  7. start learning unit testing
  8. learn how to code better, design better
  9. start doing TDD

But, be sure to have what it takes as a team lead to drive this thing.

I’m sure y’all in the comments can add to this discussion!

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Course: Leading Software Teams – Essential Practices for team leads