Re: Agile Tech writing

[magk -at- mindspring -dot- com]

How do you define an application in the reference to "175 applications?"  Are these software products, individual features and enhancements, or bug fixes?
Just wondering.
Thanks,
Gina King



>Message: 5
>Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2010 10:24:14 -0400
>From: "Zuercher, Darrell" <dzuerche -at- tva -dot- gov>
>Subject: RE: Agile tech writing
>To: "Blount, Patricia A" <Patricia -dot- Blount -at- ca -dot- com>,
>	<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
>Message-ID:
>	<C30CEAB331E621438DDCE4662F9C856F05118F4F -at- TVACOCXVS2 -dot- main -dot- tva -dot- gov>
>Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
>
>Patty,
>
>I am a lone writer on an agile (Scrum) development team. We have been
>agile for about two years. There are a few things that can help you
>succeed in this environment, based on my experience. Your mileage may
>vary.
>
>1. Make sure that your documentation is included in your Product Backlog
>Item estimates. Your Product Owner may not even consider an item "done"
>unless it is also documented.
>
>2. Each of the other tasks you perform (UI review, error message text
>editing, instruction changes, etc.) are also included in the estimates,
>and are itemized in the Sprint's deliverables.
>
>3. Attend the daily Scrum meetings, or whatever status-reporting
>conversations the team has, so that your tasks are visible to the rest
>of the team. This includes any obstacles that are related to team-member
>availability.
>
>We typically have several simultaneous projects (We currently create and
>support over around 175 different applications.) underway, so I am also
>documenting multiple applications simultaneously. I have had the most
>success when I am a vocal member of an application's team, submitting
>suggestions to make application easier to use or more intuitive. I am
>quick to offer suggestions for UI element placement, menu design, screen
>usage, etc. when the team is discussing implementation options. I have
>also acted as Scrum Master on several teams, including one which won a
>departmental award for best team last year (600-person department).
>
>Many view agile development as not requiring documentation. The truth
>is, the documentation is required but is much more dynamic. From design,
>through requirements, to the end user, there is documentation. Smaller
>deliverables, less formal, but essential. I like the phrase, "barely
>sufficient documentation". Write just enough so that the audience can
>accomplish its work. As someone (I can't remember the source at the
>moment) once said, "Make it as simple as possible, but not simpler.
>
>Concerning your delivery schedule, one option might be to delay delivery
>of the software by one Sprint, in order to complete the documentation.
>Feature 1 is developed in Sprint 1. Feature 2 is developed in Sprint 2,
>while Feature 1 is documented, and then released. Feature 3 is developed
>in Sprint 3, while Feature 2 is documented, and then released. Just a
>thought.
>
>I hope this helps.
>
>--Darrell
>

>


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