I’ve never been hired to convert a strongly process driven software shop into an Agile-based one. I usually bring Process into a shop where the de facto methods are very similar to what is described as Agile, but without the effectiveness that Agile development strives for. On the other hand, I never choke a software shop with Process either. I’m also well aware of how effective Agile-type development can be. Throughout this article, I will compare and contrast a process-based software production, “Process,” with Agile-based production, “Agile.” I am primarily concerned with the declaration in the Agile Manifesto that Agile favors “Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools.”

Do you need to improve an area of your team's performance? Measure it and post the results. Over time you will see the performance improve. If you want to improve the quality of your product, measure it. Over time you will see the quality improve. Testing is the key to measuring quality, and CM is an equal partner. A good CM partner will provide both the communication capabilities and the information base to enable the relationships needed for a quality marriage.

As more test items exist, there is a tendency for them to evolve due to the changes to requirements and code and, therefore, must be managed effectively. When there are an increasing number of test items, this increases the risk of failing to accurately track all test items, particularly when this is done manually. This is where configuration management (CM) can help.

Software process is becoming more and more important in SCM. Gone are the days of simple configuration managing the source code and software release builds. Now we need to manage versions of the UML models, versions of the requirements, versions of the tests, versions of the iteration plans and be able to create integration streams for all the different disciplines too. Requirement analysts should be able to work on a branch of a use case model, testers should be able to work on a branch of their test model, etc. At the end of an iteration, all of this should be brought together and released as an iteration release, for the process to be properly controlled.