Does Agile Development make sense for SoC design?

By _EDN Practical Chip Design

August 18, 2011

One of the great debates of the last ten years in the software world has been the question of Agile Development. Given the growing role of software in an SoC project, it seems fair to ask if Agile techniques could-or should-be applied to the enormous OS porting, driver development, middleware integration, and application development projects that now envelop most SoC designs. For that matter, should IC design methodologies themselves become agile?

Agile Development, we are told, began early but emerged as a reaction against the growing formalization of software methodology around 2001. Formal methodologies emphasize early validation and freezing of requirements, and then systematic development, documentation, and test of code vs. these requirements. But Agile emphasizes getting to running code quickly, and then entering an iterative spiral, generating code, getting feedback from the customer rather than from frozen requirements, and modifying the code. Adherents say agility seeks out and delivers what the user wants, especially if the requirements are evolving. Detractors say Agile is a cover story for hacking and shoddy documentation. If you would like more detail on Agile methods or on the debate, there are several conference sessions at ESC Boston in September on the subject.

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