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While some of the furor around agile development methods has died down over the past year, these approaches to creating software are still a hot topic. Now that there has been some time for studios to try out these ideas and judge them for themselves, developers from around the industry sat down at this roundtable to discuss their experiences.
虽然在过去的一年里面，对敏捷开发方法的热情有一些消退，但使用这些方法来创建软件仍然是一个热门的话题。如今我们已经有一段时间来尝试这些方法，并做了一些总结和批判。现在是让我们坐在圆桌边来讨论这些经验的时候了。
No Silver Bullet
没有银弹
It appears that the prescient words of Fred Brooks remain true: there is as yet no magical silver bullet for making software development radically simpler. Despite the hopes and hype surrounding agile methodologies, the cold hard light of day seems to indicate that they simply won't salvage a project that is too far gone, or rescue a dysfunctional production team.
佛瑞德·布?克斯（Fred Brooks）的预言在今天看来依旧正确：没有一种魔力“银弹”可以让软件开发变得彻底的简单。就算那些充满希望并被吹捧得天花乱坠的敏捷方法也是如此。残酷的现实告诉我们，这些方法并不能拯救一个项目，说远点，更不能拯救一个混乱的开发团队。
However, there is still much benefit to be gained from adopting agile techniques. The general consensus of the roundtable was that a team with solid training in agile methods can develop a sort of hybrid methodology that works best for their purposes and their specific game(s). It is critical, though, to really understand the foundational concepts of agile development; misconceptions and misunderstanding is rife across the industry. For this reason, many developers strongly recommend sending a team to specific agile training courses.
然而，通过这些敏捷技术的运用，仍然让我们得到很多益处。这次圆桌会议的一个普遍的共识：一个受过严格训练的敏捷团队可以创造出一种适合其目的和游戏项目的混合方法。这需要真正理解敏捷开发的基本概念，然而在整个行业中充满了对敏捷方法的误解和误会。基于这个原因，很多开发商都会派遣一个专门的小组接受敏捷训练的课程。
Keeping Perspective
长远的规划
Agile's primary area of strength is short projects, usually of durations measured in months. For a major game title which can stretch into several years of development, it can be difficult for agile methods to keep a good sense of perspective and overall direction. A common issue is becoming "lost in the weeds" of short-term details and forgetting the larger scope of the game.
敏捷方法所擅长的领域是短期项目，通常而言是针对一个月的工作而言。而对于一个大型游戏开发，可能需要耗费几年的时间来进行，在这种情况下，敏捷方法难以保证一个良好的整体方向和全局的规划。一个常见的问题是“迷失在周工作中”——因为过度注意身边的细节而失去了对游戏整体长远的规划。（翻者：这里面应该强调“隐喻”作为整体规划的作用。）
For this reason, it is highly advisable to keep a long-term roadmap similar to the schedules used in more traditional development approaches. However, as each short term goal is reached, the data should be used to adjust the future schedule and refine the roadmap as much as possible.
因为以上的原因，在开发过程中，采用一个类似日程表的长期工作图来指导是很有价值的（类似传统开发模型）。然而在敏捷开发方法中，在每个小没标节点完成的时候，我们需要尽可能的更新调整工作图的误差。
It is vital for everyone on the team to keep in sight of this larger perspective; the goal is to produce a great game, not just a great piece of technology. A significant benefit of agile methods is that they require everyone on the team to be in more or less constant communication. There is no opportunity for segments of the team to disappear for months at a time, and return only to discover that their work is unusable for some reason.
更重要的一点是，团队中的每一个人都需要有一个宏观而伟大的远景；这个目标是创造一个伟大的游戏，而不是仅仅开发一个精辟的技术。敏捷模式给我们带类的一个好处是，他规定了团队中每个人都需要或多或少的持续交流。这就避免了某个小团队消失了几个月，结果制造了一些项目不需要的东西。
It is also important to keep upper management and/or the publisher up to date. Since agile methods are much less conducive to the sort of payment structures of traditional publishing arrangements, it can be difficult to persuade a publisher to allow agile methodologies to be used. Clear communication and explanation of the tremendous benefits available from agile techniques is essential.
同样的，和高层管理人员以及发行商的定期会面也是很重要的。因为敏捷方法导致相对传统出版模式而言更短期的支付结构，可能会难以说服出版商同意采用敏捷方法。清晰的交流和解释敏捷方法带来的好处，是必不可少的工作。
Tools and Practices
工具以及实践
Everyone at the roundtable agreed on the importance of disciplined and consistent usage of bug and task tracking databases. Without these tools, it is impossible to keep reliable track of who is doing what, and how long their work is taking - both central elements of agile methodologies.
参与圆桌会议的每个人都同意遵守和贯彻Bug和任务的跟踪数据是非常重要的。没有这些工具，我们很难跟踪谁做了些什么事情，以及他（她）们工作了多久。这两项都是敏捷方法中的核心元素。
Another important tool is automated testing. Ideally, both unit tests (to ensure functionality is working correctly) and regression tests (to ensure everything works as it used to) should be deployed where possible. Judicious use of automated tests can dramatically reduce time spent in manual QA and testing, thereby reducing operating costs and freeing up man-hours for other tasks.
另外一个很重要的是自动测试工具。在最好的情况下，不论是单元测试（用来确保每个功能都工作正确）还是回归测试（用于确保每个部分都可以正常使用）都是需要尽可能的在所有的地方部属。相对于手动的问答和测试，明智的使用自动测试工具可以显著的节约工作时间。继而减少相应的操作成本，节约下来人力时间被用到其他有价值的任务中去。
后面正在翻译。。。 |
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发表于 2010-4-9 13:43:00