Database Reference
In-Depth Information
(3) Simplicity
• Create simple content,
• Depict models simply,
• Use the simplest tools.
(4) Validation
• Consider testability,
• Prove it with code.
AM includes supplementary practices that support its core practices and that the team
can optionally adopt. They are also organized in categories:
(1) Productivity
• Apply modeling standards,
• Apply patterns gently,
• Reuse existing resources.
(2) Documentation
• Discard temporary models,
• Formalize contract models,
• Update only when it hurts.
(3) Motivation
• Model to communicate,
• Model to understand.
It is obvious that AM practices are not new; they are techniques that modelers have
been following for years, but Scott Ambler, the author of AM, claims that they have been
packaged for the fi rst time together and represented as a modeling framework. AM differenti-
ates between two types of modeling tools: simple tools (sheet paper, whiteboards and index
cards) and advanced CASE tools. Both of them have their advantages and disadvantages
in relation with the AM principles and practices. Generally agile modelers should select
the simplest tools that are best suited for the particular project regarding the added value
and investments in learning and working. AM does not precisely defi ne human roles, but
makes suggestions on how agile work areas should look and how to organize an effective
AM team.
Since many AM principles and practices are derived from the XP ones and map straight
to XP, there is a clear potential of AM to fi t well with XP and add value to an XP project.
AM can be applied throughout the XP life cycle, especially during
Exploration
,
Planning
and
Iteration to Release
phases. For this purpose, the sketches (or CASE-made diagrams)
of use cases, architectural overviews, UI screens, data models, class diagrams and sequence
diagrams can be used. Regarding the RUP, it can be noticed that many of the AM principles
and practices are already a part of the RUP, although perhaps not as explicitly as stated in
AM. This is because the RUP is very fl exible, and can be tailored to meet particular needs,
making it easy to merge AM practices into the RUP. Both the RUP and AM are based on the
incremental and iterative strategy of software development. However, according to Ambler,
for the purpose of Agile Modeling the RUP and UML should be extended with other modeling
artifacts, e.g., for representing business concepts and processes, navigational fl ows within
the user interface, data models of the physical design of the database, user stories and CRC
cards. The agility in using AM on top of the RUP is not achieved by using fewer modeling
