News

On-demand Web service aims to aid Agile development

• By Lana Gates
• July 6, 2004

Rally Release 1, described as an on-demand software development management solution, can ease Agile software development by providing visibility into organizations and synchronizing distributed development teams, contend officials at Rally Software Development Co., Boulder, Colo.

The company took a ground-up approach rather than trying to meet customer needs through acquisitions, said Richard Leavitt, VP of marketing and sales. "We're all about solving this problem that's been hanging around for a long time: lack of integration," he noted. Rally integrates requirements management, test management, defect management and then all of the project management, he explained.

"We don't touch the code," Leavitt continued. "But we touch all of the things that revolve around the code." This, he said, brings visibility into an organization and helps to synchronize distributed teams.

The completely hosted Web service allows developers to better coordinate efforts, while at the same time keeping management aware of development progress. Because development requirements can change rapidly in a period of six months, Rally focuses on smaller increments at a time. This allows companies to deliver releases in small batches through iterative development, Leavitt pointed out.

Agile techniques are all about delivering something every two weeks or every four weeks using time boxes, he said. This technique provides a premium on developer/tester communication.

The monthly subscription service is available immediately starting at $65 per user per month after a free 30-day trial to qualified software organizations.