1. State of the IT Union May 2011 Survey Results
Scott W. Ambler
Copyright 2010 Scott W. Ambler

2. Copyright 2010 Scott W. Ambler www.ambysoft.com/surveys/
How To Use These Slides
I have provided these slides, and the raw data behind them, so that others can use them in their own work.
You may reuse all, or a part of, this slide deck as long as you provide a clear reference to the source.
The suggested reference is: Results from Scott Ambler’s May 2011 State of the IT Union Survey posted at
Some slides have notes
Copyright 2010 Scott W. Ambler

3. Copyright 2010 Scott W. Ambler www.ambysoft.com/surveys/
About the Survey
May 2011-mid June 2011
Survey link included in:
April 2010 DDJ Agile Newsletter
Scott Ambler’s blog at
page
Posting to
Data, summary, and slides downloadable from
248 respondents
48% were programmers or agile team members, 23% were managers or team lead
45% had 20+ years of work experience
74% North American, 18% European 4% Asia Pacific
Copyright 2010 Scott W. Ambler

4. Most recent software development paradigm followed
Respondents were asked to characterize the primary paradigm followed by most recent IT project they were involved with (they had an option to indicate that they had no experience).
Copyright 2010 Scott W. Ambler

5. Copyright 2010 Scott W. Ambler www.ambysoft.com/surveys/
Average time between team interaction with stakeholder(s) (Time in work days)
Calculation:
Took weighted average of average waiting times, where immediate = 0, within day = .5 days, within week = 2.5 days, within two weeks = 5 days, within month = 10 days, and during requirements/test phases = 30 days.
Normalized calculation drops the calculation for phases. Two “agile” respondents indicated that they only interacted with stakeholders during those phases, yet agile doesn’t have phases such as that. So, it like makes sense to drop the responses from those two respondents.
Copyright 2010 Scott W. Ambler

6. How are requirements elicited from stakeholders?
Stakeholder proxy = via a Product Owner, Product Manager, or Business Analyst
Direct = Direct interaction with stakeholders
Self created = Made up by the development team themselves
Calculation: Weighted average from -10 (very uncommon) to +10 (very common)
I’m concerned about how some ad-hoc and iterative teams are somewhat likely to create their own requirements (i.e. gold plate)
Copyright 2010 Scott W. Ambler