Other Publications
Early Estimation with Stakeholders
This article was published in the January 2011 issue of the Agile Record. Agile uses Planning Poker as its main estimation tool. Whereas Planning Poker works very well for estimating a Sprint or iteration, it is less useful for an early project estimation. For estimating Use Cases or Epics at an early stage (i.e. before they are detailed) we have used Use Case Points Analysis. In this article we show we share our experiences in applying this method in combination
with an estimation game in which the team, users and other
stakeholders estimate the product backlog together.
Authors: Eef Dekker and Remi-Armand Collaris.
Scrum in a Traditional Project Organization
This article was published in the Oktober 2010 issue of the Agile Record. In this article we show how we have embedded Scrum teams in existing PRINCE2 project organizations. Scrum is a framework for managing Agile teams. An important practice in Scrum is that the development teams are self-organizing. This means that the team determines and optimizes its approach to its specialist work. Development teams are enthusiastic about it, that's for sure. They quickly apply Scrum, but quite soon it becomes clear that the organization in which they work has to accommodate the new approach.
Authors: Eef Dekker, Remi-Armand Collaris and Jolande van Veen.
Keep it simple – Seven
rules of thumb for effective
software development
This article was published in the July 2010 issue of the Agile Record. In this article we present seven rules of thumb which help you concretize a software
development method in the organization. This step is easily
forgotten in introducing and applying a new method, and it is
easy to slip into the habit of regarding a full and clean application
of a method as a goal in itself.
Each of the rules supports balancing of costs and revenues.
Authors: Eef Dekker and Remi-Armand Collaris.
Software Process Improvement Using Scrum, RUP and CMMi: Three Reasons why this is a Bad Title
This article was published in the April 2010 issue of the Agile Record. In this article we show how the mindset needs
to be changed, in order to successfully improve on realizing value for the business. Furthermore we show how this change in mindset can be initiated and
consolidated using Agile and iterative practices from Scrum and RUP, resulting in an increase of the organization's maturity.
Authors: Eef Dekker and Remi-Armand Collaris.
Scrum and RUP: a Comparison doesn't Go on All Fours
This article was published in the Januari 2010 issue of the Agile Record. Many developers who have embraced Scrum or
any other ‘agile way of working’ perceive the Rational Unified Process (RUP) as the opposite of what they see as useful and fruitful. So, we have
heard many professionals in the field saying things like: ‘If you do Scrum, you have no room nor need for RUP’, ‘You should always apply Scrum
exactly, otherwise it doesn’t work. So it is dangerous to try to apply more.’ On the other hand, developers who are used to RUP or another process-based
development method perceive Agile software development as being unstructured, undisciplined and lacking any form of documentation.
In our experience, Scrum and RUP do not collide but rather complement each other. In the article, we show
• what (mis)interpretations of both Scrum and RUP are behind the collision view, and
• what evidence there is to sustain the complementary view.
Authors: Eef Dekker and Remi-Armand Collaris.
Software cost estimation using use case
points: Getting use case transactions straight
This article was published in the March 2009 issue of the The Rational Edge, the e-zine for the IBM Rational internet community. The use case points method
is a useful model of estimating effort and cost on software development projects -- provided you can appropriately specify and count use case transactions. This
article explains how (and how not) to count transactions for estimation purposes using this model.
Authors: Eef Dekker and Remi-Armand Collaris.
Tailoring RUP made easy: Introducing the Responsibility
Matrix and the Artifact Flow
This article was published in the September 2006 issue of the The Rational Edge, the e-zine for the IBM Rational internet community. The authors present
a technique for tailoring the Rational Unified Process to the specific needs of a software project, even if the hired-from-outside RUP specialist is unfamiliar
with the company and its culture.
Authors: Eef Dekker, Remi-Armand Collaris and Jos Warmer.
Book: RUP op Maat
The authors of ScrumUP also wrote a very successful Dutch book on the Agile application of RUP called RUP op Maat: Een praktische handleiding voor IT-projecten,
which translates to RUP Tailored: A Practical Guide to IT Projects. The second revised edition was published in 2008. It is used by a number of Dutch
companies as a basis for their software development process. Major Dutch colleges use it as part of professional IT-training. More information can be found at
the accompanying website www.rupopmaat.nl (Dutch). This website also holds links
to other Dutch articles by the authors of ScrumUP.