Why does Agile Software Development pay?
Why Stack Overflow recommends it
Stack Overflow users link it when they need a short, non-technical pitch for agile or Scrum to managers and clients.
Recommended by 3 people across 3 different months, 2008 to 2009.
What it is
A five-minute explainer from OutSystems making the economic case for agile software development. It argues that agile projects pay off through faster delivery, lower defects and better protection of the investment in the code.
What people said
Recommends Ilja Preuß · 2008-11 · Stack Overflow · on “What has been your successful pitch to Management for using SCRUM?”
An additional point is protection of investment - with traditional approaches, a system typically "ages" with time, its value decreases, and maintenance costs rise until it's no longer feasable to maintain it. With an Agile approach applied well, the code should be maintainable and extensible indefinitely. Here is a good, short video on all three points: [this video]
Recommends Justin Standard · 2008-12 · Stack Overflow · on “Agile Development 101 Video”
Aggregating the answers here as a single answer: Video Links Introduction to Agile for Traditional Project Managers [LINK] Autumn of Agile [LINK] Scrum Et Al: Google Tech Talk [LINK] [this video] Scrum in less than 10 minutes [LINK] (Hamid Shojaee) Resource Links Ken Schwaber Videos & Links [LINK] Scrum Alliance [LINK] Introductory Podcast Re Scrum (audio only) [LINK]
Recommends InvertedAcceleration · 2009-10 · Stack Overflow · on “How to convince a client that all next projects/enhancements should be done via TDD (with some agile practices)?”
I spent the time since asking this question looking for the best videos I could and I've come across a number that are very close to what I need. I will post them here so that others will find them if they are in a similar position to me. I realise that I asked more about TDD - but these videos capture a good portion of the message I'm trying to drive home... especially 'Why does Agile Software Development Pay' and 'Scrum in under 10 minutes'... it is the process of being responsive to change, producing higher quality code, having fewer defects and faster development cycles. Agile vs waterfall: A Tale of Two Teams (8:20) [LINK] Why does Agile Software Development Pay? (5:03) [this video] Scrum Ba
Cites Ilja Preuß · 2008-12 · Stack Overflow · on “What are some situations where Agile is inappropriate?”
Let me answer your concerns point-by-point: Isn't there a minimum size for this? Big design up front must be more efficient for a three or four week project... Right? I'm not sure what makes you think that drawing rectangles on paper must be faster than refactoring code. Anyway, even if it was, the question of whether BDUF pays back would be much more a function of how much learning you expect during the project than of project size. The more you can expect to learn something about the design, the requirements, etc. while implementing the system, the more your up front design becomes wasted. I have yet to encounter a project where I didn't learn significant things while implementing the syst