If
your Agile
project doesn't have a heartbeat declare it dead. A steady heartbeat
has a fixed length iteration as short as you can make it. A strong
heartbeat produces working software ready for deployment to
production with completely finished iteration/sprint commitments. A
responsive heartbeat creates a
new
plan each iteration based on feedback from the previous
iteration and changing customer needs, not what was left unfinished.
Steady
your heartbeat by making your iteration length a constant then
shorten the length to less than you think is possible. Push against
resistance to short iterations forcing your team to learn and adapt to
Agile processes. Don't just accept that a one week iteration seems
impossible. Trust your people to figure it out and fix existing broken
procedures. Shorter
iterations actually increase the chances of being done on time not
reduce it.
Within
an iteration make each day a heartbeat all its own. Start each day with
a
stand up/scrum meeting.
Integrate
code at least once a day if not every couple hours. With everyone
integrating often you can frequently pull the latest code from your
repository so that you always work in the context of the latest
versions of everything. Work as if everyday has a deadline too.
The
one essential ingredient that changes repetitive development into
iterative development