How do you program collaboratively and agilely?

Certainly, here's some points: Tools: Use Git, Slack, and GitHub. Planning: User stories, sprints. Automation: CI/CD pipelines. Coding: Standards, reviews. Collaboration: Pair programming, open communication. Testing: Comprehensive testing. Improvement: Retrospectives. Documentation: Keep it updated. Culture: Foster collaboration.

One of the challenges of programming agilely is when and how to use it effectively across different developer personas. Some developers are able to program effectively when they’re alone and able to think of a solution to a problem by themselves, others are just naturally collaborative. Finding a middle ground and doing agile programming in the best timing makes sure that developer efforts are not put to waste.

At the same time, agile doesn't imply (I am intentionally omitting the word "programming" because what I am saying applies to agile in general) the acceptance of whatever change without deep analysis nor accepting continuous priority changes. The word agile is sometimes misused by leaders who don't have a solid vision and cannot direct a team toward meaningful progress for their customers.

It's a sw dev methodology that emphasizes flexibility, collaboration, and rapid iteration. The key features: 1) Iterative Dev: agile prog breaks down large projects into smaller chunks. This allows for more frequent releases and faster feedback loops. 2) Collaboration: agile teams are cross-functional and self-organizing, meaning they have the skills and autonomy to complete the project. They work closely together and with stakeholders. 3) Adaptability: agile prog embraces change and is designed to respond to new req, priorities, and feedback. This allows teams to adapt their plans and deliverables. 4) Continuous Improvement: agile teams regularly reflect on their process and perf to id areas for improvement and optimize their workflow.

In my opinion, To control a version need to have a good CICD and DevOps system, so can control GIT , even in UAT and PROD you can manage commit code.

Version control systems help the team to review contributions and give feedback. It helps the entire team to be on the same page.

Code reviews are not only extremely useful when done right but a requirement for companies having to comply with SOX for instance. Two suggestions on what not to do in code reviews: 1- Code reviews should not focus on issues easy to lint beforehand such as code formatting and other nitpik. This is a waste of time, just use a tool to find and fix those. 2- It is too late to find design issues at code review time. A design review of some kind using a RFC or ADR as a base document can be beneficial to find design issues before coding. Bugs of any kind are less expensive to fix the sooner you find them!

While agile programming offers numerous benefits in terms of adaptability and collaboration, it's essential to note that it can sometimes become cumbersome and potentially counterproductive if not managed wisely. Finding the right balance between agility and structure is crucial to ensure the effectiveness of your development process.

More important than Agile per-say, the success in delivering impact on the business is in having a durable cross-functional product team such as a pod that owns a well-defined area like a specific domain. All functions within that pod work together on the same area towards a common objective, that objective being defined by the pod itself. Agile principles are fantastic yet that close collaboration within a pod is critical to success.