Although iterative, incremental, and evolutionary "agile" development in software is in the ascendance as the "modern" or agile approach to replace ad hoc or waterfall (sequential lifecycle) development, its practiced and published roots go back surprisingly far. At least as far back as the early 1960s, as a contemporary alternative to the nascent waterfall model.

In this presentation, I share the fascinating history of iterative development for software projects. It has in fact been successfully applied since the 1960s on some of the largest and most risky projects, including the primary flight control software for the USA Space Shuttle, among countless other projects, some of which will be highlighted. I will also demonstrate that the software engineering thoughtleaders of the past four decades have consistently promoted iterative development in their work and writings, and vigorously advocated avoiding the waterfall model.

I'll also share the research and standards-body evidence promoting iterative development, and demoting waterfall development. And finally, in light of this, I'll explore the interesting reasons and historical accidents of why the sequential document-driven waterfall model was promoted in academic texts and among various project management groups, in contradiction to the research, history, and expert advice.

About Craig Larman:
After a failed career as a wandering street musician, Craig Larman built systems in APL and 4GLs in the 1970s. Starting in the early 1980s he became interested in artificial intelligence (having little of his own) and built knowledge systems with Lisp machines, Lisp, Prolog, and Smalltalk. In the 1990s he worked at ObjectSpace, one of the earliest adopters of Java technologies, which built agent-based distributed systems in Java, C++, and Smalltalk, and helped many clients apply object technologies and iterative methods.

Craig now serves as chief scientist for Valtech, an international consulting company with divisions in Europe, India, and North America. He also works globally as an independent consultant and coach, traveling worldwide to help managers and developers in their adoption of agile, iterative methods and advanced object design and modeling skills.

Both his undergraduate and graduate degrees are in computer science, and he is the author of Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to OO Analysis and Design and Iterative Development, the world's best-selling text on OOA/D and iterative methods, Agile and Iterative Development: A Manager's Guide, the best-selling guide on agile methods, and Java 2 Performance and Idiom Guide.

Timo Lukumaa presents a case study of one of Reaktor's recent client projects carried out applying agile methods in what would seem on surface a rather traditional and rigid environment. This case, a successful J2EE application development project for one of the largest companies in Finland, shows a number of obstacles faced by Reaktor's development team as well as the actions taken to remedy the situation by adapting their process to the surrounding reality.

This case study also serves as a vehicle for highlighting the importance of some essential practices from the Scrum and XP processes, as well as bringing forth a host of perhaps less known issues to look out for.

About Timo Lukumaa:
Director and co-founder at Reaktor Innovations, a Finnish IT consultancy excelling in business critical systems development projects using agile methods, Timo Lukumaa has participated software projects at Reaktor since 2000 in roles ranging from programming to project management.

Oskari Kettunen presents a case study of instituting agile methodologies in the development of Tecnomen's Next Generation Messaging product. This project carries many a hallmark of cautionary tales from the outset - to the extent that a completely new process was deemed necessary for even attempting to meet the requirements and deadline.

The presentation outlines the practical evolution of a development process in a ramp-up of only a couple of months. Starting from a handful of in-house architects in early 2005, Tecnomen currently operates a multi-team Scrum process of over 30 developers. More than two thirds of whom are consultants, and one team collaborating from Riga, Latvia. With the process, tools and conventions presented, the crew has proved able to produce working software based on the latest of open-source components.

About Oskari Kettunen:
Oskari Kettunen is one of the original architects of the NGM product, currently responsible for the overall architecture, frameworks and patterns. At Tecnomen he has been a vocal proponent of agile development and the author of a new quality assurance plan. He has over five years of experience in Java EE, application servers and transactional systems. He is also a certified Scrum Master.