KB Definition - Agile Modelling For XP

Agile Modeling (AM) is a practices-based software process whose scope is to describe how to model and document in an effective and agile manner. The practices of AM should be used, ideally in whole, to enhance other, more complete software process such as eXtreme Programming (XP) (Beck, 2000), the Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) (Microsoft Corporation, 2001), the Rational Unified Process (RUP) (Rational Corporation, 2001), and the Enterprise Unified Process (EUP) (Ambler & Constantine, 2002) to name a few. These processes cover a wider scope than AM, in the first three cases the development process and in the fourth the full software process including both development and production. Although these processes all include modeling and documentation activities, in one form or the other, there is definitely room for improvement. In the case of XP and MSF the modeling processes should be better defined, and in the case of both the RUP and the EUP the modeling processes could definitely stand to be made more agile.