Agile Software Development Methodologies

Anyone who is familiar with software development is also knowledgeable about the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and/or the Waterfall software development process.  These methods seem to be tried and true in the software community but with all things involving technologies this is beginning to change.  The newest kid on the block is a method called Agile.  There are many different types of Agile mythologies such as:

• Extreme Programming
• Kanban
• Scrum
• Lean
• Continuous Integration

Some organizations even mix a few different types of Agile to better suit their needs.  No matter which type of Agile methodology an organization chooses they are looking for a few common features:

• Ability to change requirements late in development
• Working software sooner and more frequently
• Self-organizing teams, no micro-managing
• Frequent face-to-face conversations
• Close relationships between developers and business managers

These are just a few of the reasons organizations will choose to try an Agile method over the traditional waterfall approach.

For now I would like to focus on the Scrum framework because this is one of the most popular of the Agile Methodologies.  The teams in Scrum are called Scrum teams and they are comprised of 3 main roles. 

The first role is a Product Owner and this role is usually held by just one person in the team.  The Product Owner is the voice of the customer and is responsible for the deliverable. 

The next member is the Scrum Master which is usually held by one team member.  This person is responsible for removing any impediments to the team’s goals.  These impediments could be lack of resources, miscommunications and other issues that distract from team progress. 

The final members are the team which is typically 2-12 people.  These people are responsible for the actual work that gets done.  These members can be involved in design, development, testing, documentation, etc. 

This is the typical structure for each team.  These teams communicate constantly.  One important aspect of the Scrum method is the daily stand-up meetings.  These meetings should be held by each individual team and should only last about 15 minutes or less.  Members will state what they have accomplished since the meeting 24 hours ago and what they plan to accomplish within the next 24 hours and finally if they have any impediments or issues standing in their way.  This helps everyone understand what others are working on so productivity can increase. 

There are other meetings held during each iteration for planning and improvement reasons but this is the main structure of the Scrum Agile software development methodology.  In later blog posts I will state some of the pros and cons of the Scrum team methodology. 

Posted by: Leslie P

Social Media: Asset or Liability? The Choice is Yours!

Like it or not, we are right in the middle of what I like to call the Social Media Age.  The opportunities to exploit this social media are endless, but you have to be careful of what you are doing on your profiles.  This day in age, you can see what your favorite player or singer is doing with the push of a button.  While it's amazing what you can do with your phone or computer, it has also minimized everyone's privacy.

Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are all examples of social media that nearly everybody has.  You can use these tools to market yourself in a very beneficial way.  A vast majority of companies out there have a Twitter or a Facebook account.  You can follow these companies and be notified of job openings they might have.  You can also respond to their posts and possibly get your foot in the door.  Using LinkedIn, you can basically float your resume out there for any business to look at if they're interested.  This is a great way to get your name out there and market yourself to various companies.  Your Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn account should look professional so you can catch the eye of potential employers.

There is also a possibility that these social media applications could prevent you from getting an interview or hired.  Employers have began to start to use social media as a sort of employee screening process.  If a potential employer goes onto your Facebook account and finds a bunch of pictures of you partying, your chances of getting an interview have severely decreased.  A smart thing to do would be to go through all of your social media accounts and make sure your profile looks professional and would impress a potential employer if they were to visit it.  This is such a perfect way for you to go out and market yourself to any company you want.  You just have to put yourself in the employer's shoes and ask yourself if you would give yourself an interview from looking at your social media profiles.

Social media can be an asset or a liability to anybody.  This all depends on how you present yourself through your social media.  If you have a bunch of pictures of you out at a bar, an employer probably won't even give you a chance to interview.  This is why we need to take advantage of these opportunities that are presented to us.  The choice is all up to you on whether you want to use social media to further your career and get many more opportunities or if you just want to make it a joke and lose out on potential jobs and interviews.  If used correctly, social media could be one of your most valuable assets that you have.

Posted by: Nate Gaskill

The Oculus Rift: Virtual Reality’s Newest Star

Did you ever think you would be able to ride a rollercoaster from your own home?  What about taking a stroll in Tuscany, or a tour of the planets?  Well, you soon may be able to thanks to a brand new device that’s taking the tech world by storm:  the Oculus Rift.

Oculus VR rose to fame in fall 2012 with an extremely successful fundraising campaign on the crowd-sourcing website KickStarter.  Promising a higher field-of-view, faster response time, and lower price point than almost every virtual reality headset that has come before, and backed by many big names in the video game industry, Oculus VR sold around 6,000 development kits and raised almost 2.5 million dollars during the drive.

So does Oculus deserve the hype?  The Rift features a diagonal field of view of 90 degrees (110 degrees horizontal), more than double that of most competitors.  In the developer kit, Oculus uses a 250 Hz head tracker, which has very low input lag.  The consumer version will utilize a new specially designed 1000 Hz tracker which Oculus promises will reduce lag even further.  At the moment, the two main complaints are the poor resolution and the lack of positional tracking. However, both of these concerns will be addressed by the consumer version, which promises at least 1080p resolution and added positional tracking.  All of this adds up to an incredible user experience which may have to be seen to believe.  Oculus has hopes that their device can be utilized outside of the world of gaming as well.  Other applications could include the use of modeling software for engineers or architects to visualize their work in a realistic 3D environment, or as an educational tool for demonstrational purposes.

So you’re probably thinking that the Rift will cost thousands of dollars right? Wrong.  The developer kit is selling for $300, and they are hoping to release the consumer version for the same price.  There’s no specific date for the consumer model as of yet, but Palmer Luckey, the 20-year old founder of the company, has stated that he believes it will be months rather than years.  As the hype builds to greater and greater heights, only time will tell if the Rift is the breakthrough that VR enthusiasts have been longing for.  But if the predictions made by many in the industry come true, we may all be enjoying a new form of entertainment in the years to come.  Until then, keep an eye on Oculus VR and the Rift.

Get to know us!

Hello, we are Pegaha Tech! For our first blog post we would like to tell our readers a little bit about ourselves:

My name is Chelsea H. I am a senior Management Information Systems major at the University of Northern Iowa, and will graduate this December. Currently, I have an interest in becoming a software developer after graduation. I also look to move to Madison, Wisconsin. While attending UNI, I have worked as a phone bank employee in the Admissions Office, and as a computer lab attendant at Sabin Hall. I have also held a leadership role in one of UNI’s newer student organizations, Dance Marathon, the last two years, as a Morale Captain.

My name is Nate G. and I am a senior at the University of Northern Iowa majoring in Management Information Systems. I have been working at John Deere for the past year. I have gotten some experience with implementing information systems into real world situations during my time at Deere. I developed a software program to help with auditing. I just recently have been offered a part time internship at Banno. I will be developing software there for the next 3 months. I'll be dealing directly with clients and what their needs are. I'm looking forward to getting a better idea on how information systems are developed in the real world and how the whole process works.

My name is Leslie P. and I am a senior Management Information Systems student at the University of Northern Iowa. I enjoy studying and working in the information technology field and as I am getting closer to graduation I am now ready to use all of the skills and techniques I have learned. I currently work for John Deere part time which has given me the opportunity to gain useful experience in my field of study. I have been actively involved in software system testing, defect resolution, automation development and the Agile software development process while working at Deere. Outside of work and school I enjoy spending time with my family, volunteering, camping and traveling.

We will be posting an array of different tech blogs throughout the semester. We will each decide what tech based topic to post on based on our individual interests. We look forward to posting interesting and informative blogs and we hope you enjoy!