Tag Archives: software development

Coding with refugees

Today I met a refugee in person for the first time during our Saturday coding sessions for kids in our office. His name is Omid. This guy is 16, from Afghanistan, sympathetic, eager to learn and full of joy and excitement. Actually Omid seems to know exactly what is at stake for him. He deliberately tried to sit through a JavaScript coding workshop without German language skills that would allow him to even understand what was said.

99 Reasons for Scrum: How service providers benefit from Scrum projects

We have discussed the Scrum framework in software development in various of our blogs and in our wiki. The conclusion has always been: it is not an easy task to establish agile methods, however, Scrum is always worth it. In this series of articles, we have collected 99 reasons, why customers, coworkers, and service provider equally benefit from Scrum. In the last two articles, we explored how the customers and how staff benefits from Scrum. The last article lists the benefits of Scrum projects for service providers:

99 Reasons for Scrum: How staff benefits from Scrum projects

We have discussed the Scrum framework in software development in various of our blogs and in our wiki. The conclusion has always been: it is not an easy task to establish agile methods, however, Scrum is always worth it. In this series of articles, we have collected 99 reasons, why customers, coworkers, and service provider equally benefit from Scrum. In the last article, we explored how the customers benefit. This article focuses on the benefits of Scrum projects for staff:

99 Reasons for Scrum: How customers benefit from Scrum projects

We have discussed the Scrum framework in software development in various of our blogs and in our wiki. The conclusion has always been: it is not an easy task to establish agile methods, however, Scrum is always worth it. In this series of articles, we have collected 99 reasons, why customers, coworkers, and service provider equally benefit from Scrum. First, let’s take a look at the benefits for the customer:

The advantages of pair programming

In agile software projects, it goes without saying that the developers work together. Scrum is, after all, based on teamwork. In most cases, however, each programmer works alone in front of their screen. The concept of pair programming is different because it pairs up two programmers who then together work on the same task, taking turns who sits at the keyboard. Customers unfamiliar with the pair programming idea might think this is some sort of job creation program: Why should we pay for two developers to work on a task that one programmer could do alone? This would only make sense if it cut development time in half, but that is most certainly not the case. No, this is indeed not the case. But how does pair programming benefit customers then?

Reasons why you as customer should test your new software intensively and at an early stage

The core of agile software development according to Scrum is regularly releasing product increments to the customer. The software’s functions are gradually extended, but the customer receives a version of their software right after the first sprint. That’s why at the end of each sprint, a review meeting is held where the development team presents the new functions to the customer. In this article, we will explain why it makes sense for the customer to participate in the reviews and why they should test the software created for them intensively and at an early stage.

Why we transfer requirements lists into a backlog with user stories

We are often contacted by customers with very rough, technical requirements lists for software projects. In cases like this, the first project step for //SEIBERT/MEDIA is to turn the customer’s requirements list into a product backlog that highlights how the customer benefits from the requirements. This is not a trivial task and requires time and resources. But why should the customer pay for this preparation work that has nothing to do with actually completing the project?

Factors for the Success of Wikis 1: Technology is important, but not King

An enterprise Wiki is not only a new technology for many employees (at least within the company environment); it also requires a change in the normal communication- and collaboration patterns throughout the entire company. Through our experiences with dozens of company Wiki projects, we know that the successful introduction of a Wiki usually depends upon three factors: technology; organization; and culture. This article – the first of three articles on this topic – is dedicated to the challenges of technology.