spike wiki

From SwinBrain

A Spike is an agile software engineering practice used to overcome some gap in knowledge or skills. In these cases it is difficult to build a plan or design in which you can have much confidence. The aim of the spike is to overcome these issues as quickly as possible.

When performing a Spike you build the smallest possible core solution in the shortest possible time that can then be used to inform your progress using that technology/domain etc. The idea of the spike is to determine how the project should proceed.

The Spike Plan can be used to describe the reasoning and objectives of the spike. The template describes the context of the problem and the gaps being covered. It outlines the risks being addressed as well as the goals and deliverables that the spike aims to achieve. The spike plan ends with resourcing details that list who will be undertaking the spike, the starting date and delivery date, as well as any notes on how the spike will be undertaken. These details are then used to guide the progress of the spike, and to ensure that the right points are addressed.

At the conclusion of the spike a Spike Outcome can be used to document the results of the spike. The start of the report indicates an overview of the spike's outcomes. Following the overview the goals and risks from the plan are reiterated with additional information gained from performing the spike. The body of the outcome report lists the tasks undertaken, the findings, and any issues or risks that have not yet been addressed which may include issues that were uncovered during the spike. The report concludes with recommendations on how the team should proceed.