Agile phase I - the pragmatic case study of Schneider National

Schneider National began the journey toward Agile software development last year (2004). After doing some research the company sent three representatives to the 2004 conference in Calgary. Using some of the learnings gathered from the conference, Schneider began using Agile in a pilot mode. Schneider´s approach was pragmatic in the sense that it took its current three release a year waterfall process and made changes in an incremental fashion. The steps included getting organizational buyoff for the pilot, forming the pilot team, breaking up a release into three 6-week iterations, constructing an open pod area for the group, integrating a offshore (on-site and remote site) element comprising 50% of the 25 person project team, and as of late introducing an offshore testing team strategy. Why is this a neat story? Because the first project incorporated delivering 17,000 hours+ in a 4.5 month time frame... ahead of schedule and under budget with a substantial offshore component!.