Agile methods applied to embedded firmware development

This paper describes the experience of applying agile approaches to the development of firmware for the Intel/spl reg/ Itanium/spl reg/ processor family. Embedded development (i.e. firmware) projects are quite different from object-oriented and pure software endeavors, yet they face many of the same challenges that agile software development practices address. Several unique challenges are described, including team members' specialized domain knowledge, technical backgrounds and attitudes toward change, and the impact hardware plays in firmware design. We found agile approaches to be well-suited for our project, despite the fact that most agile methodologists come from very different backgrounds.