This is a paper written by Everette R. Keith in December 2002. It introduces and discusses Agile Software Processes. It discusses several of the Agile Processes, the philosophy driving them and the challenges faced when implementing them. Includes good overviews of Adaptive Software Development, Crysta, Extreme Programming, and the Rational Unified Process.

The paper can be downloaded through Agile Alliance or using the following URL directly. Here is the abstract of the paper.

In software development there exists a tension between quality, cost, and time. Delivering cost competitive quality software in today’s time constrained market is a difficult task. Many traditional software processes are top heavy with documentation and rigid control mechanisms making it difficult applying them to different software projects. New families of processes, referred to as Agile Processes, are making headway into the software industry. These processes focus on code rather than documentation calling themselves agile because, unlike the traditional processes, they are adaptable, not rigid. This paper discusses several of these Agile Processes, the philosophy driving them and the challenges faced when implementing them.