Agile Programming
You wouldn’t guess by watching programmers in many organizations but Agile Programming is really a process. Some of the various agile methods’ common components are: extensive user involvement, multiple incremental releases, test first and refactoring.
Unfortunately, most places I’ve seen that use “agile methods” in embedded systems development have simply regressed to their old habits from the 1970s when hardware engineers controlled the process. No planning, minimal if any documentation, just code and test until you’ve beaten the software into submission. And, like any battle, this often left the programmers exhausted and a bit bruised too.
Even Scott Adams, author of Dilbert has commented on this. He really nailed it in a recent comic, and as Wally observes “I’m glad it has a name.”
