Using tools like TDD and ATDD, Agile provides the means to be confident that your brand new software is well tested-- even for life critical situations such as criminal justice software.  But hold on a minute!  It is a rare mission critical system that is built completely from scratch.  There are always legacy components your team didn't build or doesn't control.  Maybe the previous contractor built it-- but now they are gone and it is your problem.  How can you be certain that everything functions properly in such a situation?  How much testing is enough?  How can you know whether a system has been tested?  These are the questions that standards such as CMMI and PMBOK seek to answer with traceability.

The debate about traceability has been raging for a long time, with passionate advocates on both sides of the argument.   Projects following traditional waterfall methods, and projects that conform to PMBOK or CMMI standards often create and maintain a requirements traceability matrix, or RTM, a document that traces “shall” requirements to functional capabilities and testcases.  Some Agilists argue that the RTM is rarely consulted in practice, so the significant efforts required to maintain such a document are “waste.”  Others point out that agile practices such as TDD provide all the traceability that may be needed. This talk will explore the underlying reasons why traceability may be important and worthwhile in many Federal government contexts, and review exciting new technologies that may provide an “agile answer” to this conundrum.

Many Federal government agencies are implementing Agile methods in addition to or in lieu of traditional waterfall lifecycle models.  However, comprehensive documentation is often still required by Federal IT governance, legal, regulatory, or statutory frameworks, or to meet outside audit or “watchdog “ requirements.   The Agile Manifesto values “working software over comprehensive documentation,” but that does not mean that Agile teams cannot or should not produce valuable documentation.  Although there are some well-publicized Agile success stories in the federal space, some agile federal projects are receiving criticism for failing to meet applicable standards when it comes to documentation deliverables.  With Agile’s emphasis on small, lean teams and intensive technical practices such as pair programming, meeting documentation requirements set forth by Federal IT governance poses challenges for Agile teams in the Federal space.  This session will review the documentation that is typically required in a heavily regulated environment, and discuss specific techniques for reducing, replacing, generating, or “slimming” the document deliverables.  Specific tools, techniques and best practices will be reviewed and analyzed with “before” and “after” snapshots and a look at cost versus benefit.    Documentation generation is an area of intensive activity with some very exciting new developments that can change the game significantly for the better!  Tune in to share insights and discuss strategies for breaking down one of the last big barriers to significant agile adoption in the federal space.