Application Development And Lifecycle Management: The Impact Of Agile Practices On People, Processes, And Tools-Aarkstore Enterprise

 The most recent trend of cloud computing is alsobe easily performed and tracked. A new generation
opening new possibilities that are lowering the costof ALM solutions have appeared on the market to
barrier, increasing access to high performancesupport these activities –discussed in Section 2.3
computing, and also lowering the skill barrier forof this Report. ALM architecture, our state-of-the-art
non-programmer information workers, whether inview of ALM given in Section 3.1, makes a number of
SMEs or departments in large organisations, to builddistinctions: it separates out core ALM activity,
business applications.cross-cutting the lifecycle segments, from plug-in
KEY FINDINGSALM tools via a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
- ALM systems have improved considerably from theintegration layer, and from external development
first generation of products; the new generation istools like Integrated Development Environments, test
Web-based and strong on collaboration.tools, and third-party ALM tools via an interoperability
- Agile methodology adoption has enteredlayer. The core layer comprises: a workflow engine
mainstream development and is making developersand common repository as essential; Software
and managers rethink how they carry out applicationChange and Configuration Management (SCCM);
development.reporting (and ideally BI analytics capability); process
- Agile practices are having a major influence on theand methodology support through Web-based guides
ALM solutions market; supporting Agile processes is aand wikis (authoring and publishing tools, two-way
hot area.access for users to read and change content), and all
- ALM system architecture identifies core lifecycleaccessible from the ALM tools at any point in the
functions, including process support with workflow,workflow; collaboration support; software estimation
integrated data repository, and reporting.(which is underrepresented in ALM but should be
- Business Intelligence (BI) for applicationintegral); and issue and defect management
development has now become an ALM system(commonly found in operations but good practice for
fixture, offering advanced analytics applied to projectuse in development).
statistics.It also believes that support for modelling (MDD or
- Software estimation remains a niche activity butMDA) should be an integral part of core ALM. In
should, be a core lifecycle activity in ALM.reality, as mentioned in the introduction to this
- Defect and Issue Management is another coreSection, there have been setbacks in the vendor
activity that cross-cuts the application lifecycle and ismodelling community. Certainly the developer
supported well by leading ALM systems.community appears divided between those that
- ALM system users should have read-and-writesupport modelling and those that do not, with many
features for process guides, allowing users to modifyin the Agile community shunning the activity. The fact
content, supporting collaboration and knowledgeremains that for complex projects modelling is a
exchange.necessity – the telecom, automotive, and
- ALM systems that alter the functionality exposedaerospace industries are examples where modelling is
depending on the process selected represent ansuccessfully used. The limited take-up of MDA by
advanced, state-of-the-art technology, not yet seencustomers has more to do with the lack of a
in the market.reference system and the slow evolution of an
- The rise in Software Systems Engineering reflectsaction/behaviour language: this is a programming
the increasing use of softwarelanguage that is used to describe the business or
CATALYSTapplication logic. The most successful modelling tools
Application development continues to evolve withon the market combine visual models with an action
processes and methodologies receivinglanguage for the detailed work. A big mistake in the
significantattention through Agile practices, while onearly days of MDA was to assume that everything
the tooling side a new generation of Applicationshould be done with the Unified Modeling Language
Lifecycle– the truth is that it is not flexible enough and it
Management (ALM) products are appearing withis also a boring activity. Programming is successful
process and workflow support figuring largely.because it is versatile and also fun. The trick is to
June 2009combine visual models with an action language.
ANALYSISRich Internet Applications (RIAs) continue to feed
Introductioninto modern, Web-based applications, and are now a
Software application development is one of thosestandard fixture. The name will probably fade away
subjects that never disappears but is always evolving.as the technology continues to become the default
Since the last general survey Report on this subject– the application development tools will make
– Application Lifecyclenon-rich Web components and widgets obsolete. The
Management (ALM), published in September 2005shift is towards what is being built and this is where
– there has been a lot of activity in the ALM field.business-oriented Web 2.0, or Enterprise Web 2.0
With our colleagues in Datamonitor we published an(the terminology preferred in this Report), takes
ALM Decision Matrix in 2007 that looked at thecentre stage.
vendor ALM suite market, and we now repeat thatMarket Issues
exercise in this Report with all the leading vendorsIntegration is one of the thorniest questions in ALM
participating. (The Datamonitor Decision Matrix alsotoday. The first initiative to create an open
replaces what used to be the Market LifecycleALMframework based on the Eclipse platform failed
Ratings in Technology Evaluation and Comparisondue to lack of widespread vendor support (known as
Reports).Application Lifecycle Framework, the project's lead
The areas that are currently receiving the greatestvendor, Serena Software, shut it down in 2008).
activity in application development are:Meanwhile IBM, the originator of Eclipse, created a
- Agile development and Agile project management.new server-side ALM platform named Jazz.net. Jazz is
- ALM.designed to be open and a number of application
- Testing and test management.development tool providers are building plug-ins for it,
- Enterprise Web 2.0.but the platform is being used for integrating a host
The application development subjects that are on theof IBM Rational products, legacy and new generation,
horizon, are:and in perfect timing, ALM products from the
- Development in the Cloud.Telelogic acquisition that concluded in 2008.
- Parallel programming (especially General PurposeThe other ALM leaders alongside IBM – Borland
computing on Graphics Processing Units – orand Microsoft – are also making integration a key
GPGPU).forward strategy. Borland is building an integration
- Extension of ALM to overlap IT governance.layer (Borland Open ALM Framework or BOAF) and is
- RESTful Service Oriented Architecture. (REST isplanning on providing connectors for two third-party
Representational State Transfer).leading products in each ALM segment (requirements,
While what and how applications are being developedchange and configuration, etc.). It is also moving its
evolves, developers are still needed to programmelegacy solution to this integration layer, with the
the machines and create these applications. It hadnew-generation Borland Management Solution already
been considered that advanced modelling such asbuilt on BOAF.Microsoft also has an ALM platform in
Model Driven Development (MDD) in the guise ofVisual Studio Team System (VSTS), with an
software factories would at some point deliver onecosystem of vendors providing products that
the next leap forward, a technological breakthroughplug-into the platform. However, the upcoming
such as a higher abstraction compiler that takesrelease – VSTS 2010 – will take Microsoft to
models rather than a high-level programming languagethe ranks of end-to-end ALM vendors, competing
to churn out the machine code. The Objectdirectly with IBM and Borland at the top. VSTS is a
Management Group's Model Driven Architecturenatural candidate for Microsoft developers building
(MDA) appeared to be moving in that direction. This.NET solutions, its support for other languages and
did not transpire, and is not likely to in the immediateoperating systems is limited though.
future. These themes are expanded upon below.The ALM system architecture (see Section 3.1) has
SCCM as a core ALM tool, but a number of ALM
Business Issuessuite vendors have opted out from competing in a
Ultimately, software applications are built to satisfysegment of the market they view as mature and
the needs of the business, and the subject of thesaturated. Vendors like Compuware, HP, and Rally
clash of two different cultures – the ITSoftware will need to provide deep and orchestrated
department and the rest of the business – hasnative integration to a range of SCCM products in
been discussed often, possibly to exhaustion. Someorder to achieve what Butler Group considers to be
intractable problems become ‘solved' throughessential ALM functionality. They all support the
irrelevance because the ground has moved, and itpopular open source Subversion SCCM product.
can be said that whereas in the early days ofCompuware and HP are long-time ALM providers,
computing the computer department in a businessspanning mainframe and distributed systems, and also
was a quite distinct function, a place where data wasoffer strong Application Performance Management
sent to be processed and returned with some usefulsolutions. HP Software also incorporates what was
statistics or reports, today there are businessesthe Mercury product line and has deep capability in
whose sole basis for existence relies on the ITtesting tools. Rally Software is one of a new breed
function. Examples vary from obvious ones such asof ALM solution providers with an Agile development
online banks and Web 2.0 companies, to less obviousfocus and a hosted solution business model (although
virtual companies that operate solely due to theRally Software will consider on-premises provision).
existence of the Internet and products withThe appearance of these new ALM vendors, Polarion
embedded software where the software componentSoftware and TechExcel are further examples that
has grown exponentially. The net result of this shiftappear for the first time in this Report, indicates that
towards greater reliance on IT is that the businessthere is a great opportunity in the market to address
has to take a greater interest in its IT function tocustomer needs. In its early years ALM had a mainly
succeed in the market, especially if the IT people arelarge enterprise appeal, so the market is wide open
not delivering.for expansion. Finally, MKS and Serena Software
A real-world example illustrates how businesses arecontinue to mature and build on their ALM solutions,
tackling this problem (names are omitted forare a short distance from the leading group, and can
confidentiality reasons): an IT company arose fromoffer their unique takes on the ALM market. For MKS
being a small operation to having a billion dollarit is all about organic growth and tight integration,
turnover in a short period. This company used toeach time Butler Group visits MKS it has added
release its key platform application on an annual basis,another segment to its native ALM capability. Serena
but as a result of this rapid growth its currentSoftware has also made progress with support for
releases were taking 18 months and longer. The CEObusiness mashups and Agile development as
gave the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) the highestcoreactivities. Butler Group views the ALM solution
priority directive to solve the problem. The CTOmarket as being in a revitalised state, with Agile and
decided that all the company's developers wouldSoftware-as-a-Service creating new opportunities
switch to Scrum, the most popular Agilethat should see ALM adoption reach further into the
methodology, in big-bang fashion. The switchoverdeveloper community. Despite the world economic
was a success and delivery was back to a 12-monthrecession at the time of writing this Report,
cycle. BT is another example where in this instanceinvestment in an ALM approach is a sound course of
the CEO directed the company to adopt Agile, andaction to take that will lower development costs in
an incremental adoption plan is in progress.the long run, and also help deliver better software
Alternately, the concept of reducing waste is aproducts.
message that many businesses understand and this isLate Breaking News
central to Lean Development, which takes manyAs this Report went to publication the news broke
ideas from the lean movement and Total Qualitythat Micro Focus International (a UK company) is
Management, and combines them into an Agiletoacquire Borland in a cash deal described as a
methodology. Lean Development is found to be moredefinitive agreement. Furthermore it was also
comprehensible to businesses than some of the moreannounced that Micro Focus is to acquire assets from
developer-oriented Agile practices.Compuware's Quality Solutions portfolio, covering
Businesses also want greater real-time insight intoApplication Testing and Automated Software Quality
software project progress, and the new generationproducts. The move, if concluded successfully, will
of BI solutions integrated into ALM suites provide thiscatapult Micro Focus into the front rank of the ALM
capability. Rather than reacting post-event, seniormarket. This acquisition follows the recent acquisition
managers can act to avert problems escalating intoof Sun Microsystems by Oracle, with particular
software crisis dimensions. In particular, visibilityintointerest to developers concerned with the future of
quality control and test performance of the work inJava.
progress is necessary. When schedules becomeThis Report reveals:
pressured, testing is the area that is traditionally cut- The impact of Agile methodologies in application
by Project Managers. Therefore senior businessdevelopment.
managers must keep track of testing and quality- How a new generation of Application Lifecycle
– getting this wrong incurs long-term damage toManagement (ALM) systems support team
the organisation in the marketplace. Agilecollaboration.
methodologies are liked by business executives- A side-by-side feature comparison of ALM products.
because they maketesting an integral part of the- What Business Intelligence for application
development lifecycle, not the last activitydevelopment canoffer.
beforeshipping.- How new process and methodology support in ALM
Enterprise Web 2.0 represents a puzzle to manysolutionsimproves development.
company executives: they see staggeringly- The latest advances in Agile Project Management
successful businesses emerge, based on the Internetand Test Management.
and the set of concepts and technologies behind- Market analysis of the leading ALM vendors.
Web 2.0, but do not see how this is relevant forTable of Contents :Section 1: Management Summary
them, or how they can emulate that success. This is9
likely to change as Web 2.0 culture permeates the1.1 Management Summary 11
workforce, that were raised in the Internet age, andSection 2: Application Development and Lifecycle
use of the Web grows. Cloud Computing willManagement Today 17
accelerate that process, as various entrants trial new2.1 Report Introduction and Objectives 19
business models for earning revenue by offering2.2 Application Development Trends 21
utility-like computing services. Addressing security2.3 Advances in Processes and Methodologies 26
concerns is paramount though and will act as the2.4 The People Aspects of ALM 30
brake whenever any mission-critical applications are2.5 Application Development in Emerging
considered. Expendable, low-risk business activity willEnvironments 34
find its way to the Cloud today. It will probably takeSection 3: The Butler Group ALM Evaluation Model 39
the Internet mark 2 (there are various initiatives for3.1 The Butler Group Application Lifecycle
upgrading the Internet, increasing bandwidth andManagement System Architecture 41
improving security at nodes being prime motivations),3.2 The ALM Solution Features Matrix 46
for Cloud Computing to become truly ubiquitous.Section 4: Agile Development and Project
Technology IssuesManagement 57
The ALM suite represents the best investment to4.1 Understanding Agile Development 59
support developers and management. However, its4.2 Agile Software Change and Configuration
takeuphas tended to be at the large enterprise level,Management 63
with many smaller organisations relying on point4.3 Advances in Project Management 66
solutions. This has changed in the last few years withSection 5: Testing and Test Management 73
the increasing adoption of Agile methodologies and5.1 New Tools in the Market 75
the need to support the greater discipline and5.2 Test Driven Development 78
process required in these practices. The waterfall5.3 Advances in Test Management 81
process is relatively straightforward, with simpleSection 6: Market Analysis 85
stage-gates and linear workflow, whereas an Agile6.1 Butler Group Application Development and
methodology like Scrum has iterations (daily Scrums)Lifecycle Management Features Matrix 87
within iterations (Sprints, Spikes, and Retrospectives)6.2 The Application Development and Lifecycle
within iterations (the release plan). In order to supportManagement Decision Matrix 113
complex projects and distributed team members6.3 Vendor Analysis 119
there is a need for tooling that allows Agile workSection 7: Technology Audits 145
items, called ‘stories' or ‘features', to beAldon – Aldon ALM Solution 147
easily moved around the workflow. Developer testingBorland – Borland ALM Portfolio 157
is a core activity in Agile, so rigging-up automated,Compuware Corporation – Compuware ALM
continuous testing is necessary. Real-time reportsSuite 167
with charts for velocity and burndown need to beHP – HP ALM Solution Set 177
easily accessed and displayed to all team members.IBM Rational – IBM Rational Software Delivery
The project managers need the electronic equivalentPlatform 187
of a white board to easily manage an Agile projectMicrosoft – Microsoft Visual Studio Team System
and perform the various activities in the process. For2010 197
example, at the iteration end a retrospective is heldMKS – MKS Integrity 2009 205
that requires allstakeholders to attend and thePolarion Software – Polarion ALM Enterprise 3.
product owner to re-prioritise stories. This needs to