Microsoft got agile years ago in tools development. You can read about that in Agile Software Development with Visual Studio where they describe how 3000 developers cut their bugs from 30,000 down to 3,000. They now deliver a new release of all development tools every three week sprint and bugs are down 90% because they got rid of test teams. Testing becomes part of the development process. It is not something you do at the end with a separate team. Both Ken Schwaber and I were consultants on that project.The next problem is Windows. At Agile 2013 last summer, Microsoft reported on a companywide initiative to get agile. 85% of every development dollar was spent on fixing bugs in the nonagile groups of over 20,000 developers. To fix that requires a major reorganization at Microsoft. And the Wall Street Journal is reporting on how it is going down.
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Microsoft Plots ‘Agile’ Development Course as Talk on Job Cuts Loom
![[Clint Boulton]](data:image/gif;nitro-empty-id=NDAxOjI5Mg==-1;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIABAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==)
Microsoft Corp. CEO Satya Nadella is preaching a more nimble approach to building software as part of the company’s transformation to “reinvent productivity” in a “mobile-first and cloud-first world.” The effort, known as agile software development, is designed to lower costs and hone operations as the company focuses on building cloud and mobile software, say analysts. Microsoft’s new approach may also make redundant certain app development positions, a result that could prove beneficial should reports on upcoming job cuts, which could top 5,800 positions and be the largest in the software giant’s history, prove to be true.
- Jin Lee/Bloomberg
- Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp.
Following a July 10 memo in which he promised to “develop leaner business processes,” Mr. Nadella told Bloomberg Thursday that it makes more sense to have developers test and fix bugs instead of a separate team of testers to build cloud software. Such an approach, a departure from the company’s traditional practice of dividing engineering teams comprised of program managers, developers and testers, would make Microsoft more efficient, enabling it to cut costs while building software faster, experts say. Read more ...
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