When the System Creaks: Lessons Learned in Agile Maintenance

We often talk about agile in terms of development of new systems, sometimes called greenfield projects. These scenarios present us with a “cleaner” version of agile. But Jim Peers is asking the question: What about agile methodologies when applied to the maintenance of a mature product? A mature product brings into play many more variables—addition or upgrading of features, addressing technical debt, bug fixing, security and accessibility concerns, and working with an aging codebase. And each variable brings its own challenges. By necessity, these scenarios can force us to adapt our work model, moving away from a pure agile workflow to find the right blend. Jim describes some of his experiences—both good and bad—as a tester dealing with the maintenance of a mature product in an agile environment. Join Jim for some important takeaways—Your product is going to live longer than you think. Technical debt will come back to haunt you within a year. And yes, you do have to implement that security fix.