The complete software process needs to be agile

As a software project manager some of the problems that most puzzled me are related to how we can change the way the development team works with Agile methods to adjust for the parts of the software development organization that are not yet ready for Agile (localization, delivery, documentation, training, support, sometimes even testing).

To start solving that problem, a colleague of mine has started, after a conversation that we had some months ago, working on making the localization process more Agile/Lean. Mika Pehkonen of F-Secure went on to implement an Agile/Lean method for his localization team and their work and he will now present it at a localization conference in Barcelona, Spain at the end of May.

Excellent work Mika, I just hope we in development can take full advantage of the changes you brought to the localization process.

For a software project to rip all the benefits from the Agile methods and Lean techniques it requires that all participants in the project are in tune with the methods and techniques. This change in the localization process has already helped F-Secure to fulfill extremely tough time-to-market requirements and will indeed in the future make our work at F-Secure a lot more productive and fun! :)