Agile for Solo Developers

For a long time I have been thinking how Agile can help solo developers become more organized. I do a lot of projects on my own and effectively use an Agile methodology but have never really formalized it.

Key areas I have been thinking about are

  • Requirements Gathering
  • Sprints
  • Retrospectives
  • Testing Automation
  • Deployment (DevOps)

A simple example of what I am thinking about is: The Sprint Daily Standup – how do you do a standup if you are working alone, there is no scrum master to remove impediments. The Daily stand up therefore becomes a daily retrospective and planning session. Each day look at what was done, work out if it was DoD, and plan the next day.

I also want to add in ideas on how to document the different Agile ceremonies so that lightweight documentation is deliver to allow an Audit of progress.

I have also realized there are at least 3 different types of work I do solo and each may require a different solo methodology. I call these

  1. Building – churning out code on a reasonably well understood problem area
  2. Hunting – Error solving and bug smashing. Often as part of Building but also as a support process
  3. Exploration – Got a new idea, or a new tool. Taking the time to learn the tool or resolve the new idea.