Workshop: Customizing the Software Development Lifecycle with Agile and Formal Practices: Assumptions, Standards, Tools, Performance and Case Studies (Half-day Workshop)
Leaders: Stephen Cohen and William H. Money

This workshop will seek to develop or resolve the underlying basis for determining why “… associated consequences of implementing specific practices as measured through cost benefits, performance, and risk mitigation results are widely varying.” (from HICSS-42 discussion). Practitioners and researchers will have a dedicated time to consider the available metrics, and to focus attention on defining critical lower level individual practices that result in specific performance success metrics. The output will 1) contribute to advancing the field of Agile practices beyond guideline and principles to an analytical appreciation of the complexity of assembling groups of practices to accomplish software development; 2) to understanding the overlap and similarities shared across some Agile approaches and practices; and 3) contribute to the growing research interest in providing/testing the theoretical frameworks (such as CAS, complex adaptive systems) that may explain the processes behind the successes of the practices in some circumstance (proven by strong metrics) and lack of success associated with individual as well as combinations of practices in other domains.

Moderator variables (and potential relationships) will also be hypothesized to offer explanations that determine: conditions/degrees of success, pre/post condition assumptions, and potentially negative outcomes associated under a given situation, with regard to the overall accomplishment. We believe that there is a growing need to advance agreement (or at least definitions and understanding) on Agile assumptions, taxonomy and definitions. The workshop will make a significant contribution to the field of research because it provides a forum for vetting the validity and structure of the needed data.

Stephen Cohen (Stephen.Cohen@microsoft.com or stcohen@microsoft.com) is Senior Architect with Microsoft Enterprise Services, Public Sector practice focusing on large, complex, command and control systems for the US Government. Mr Cohen has been the Primary Enterprise Architect and Lead System designer for multiple Federal and State government agencies. Mr. Cohen developed and delivered the Federal Enterprise Architecture course for Public Sector Consultants as well as co-authored “Analyzing Requirements and Defining Microsoft .NET Solution Architectures”. Mr. Cohen is a frequent speaker on recovering failing projects and combining Agile and formal practices (TwC 2006 2007, PMI 2007, Agile Conference 2008, HICCS 2008 2009, IASA 2008 2009) and occasional guest lecturer for George Washington University.


William H. Money (wmoney@gwu.edu), Associate Professor of Information Systems, School of Business, joined The George Washington University in September 1992 after acquiring over 12 years of management experience in the design, development, installation, and support of management information systems (1980–1992). His research publications and recent research focus on knowledge information systems, information systems development, Agile, Edge system designs, collaborative system solutions, and information system project management. He is a practiced organizational facilitator, has extensive project management experience on significant systems projects, and has consulted for the Department of State, GSA, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army and a number of private corporations.