This paper was presented at the embedded systems conference. It is an overview of Agile Development with special attention paid to the needs of the embedded software developer.

Agile Embedded Software Development Introduction

Software is hard. Embedded software is doubly so. All the problems associated with
software development, such as delivery-time and defect-rate are amplified by the
constrained and indirect environment faced by embedded developers. As a result,
embedded developers tend to be more disciplined and skilled. They are more closely
aligned with engineering than with programming. It seems likely that this exclusive
talent pool is more effective at addressing the problems of schedule and quality than
normal programmers; and yet the problems remain. Embedded projects are often late,
over budget, and have high defect rates.

Agile Development has been effective at improving the performance of many software
development teams. Their productivity has increased and become more predictable; and
their defect rates have fallen; sometimes by as much as an order of magnitude. This has
caused something of a “fad” in traditional software circles, with all the attendant non-
critical thinking that that implies.

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