Press Release

NTT DATA Corporation, OGIS-RI Co.,Ltd., Strategic Staff Services Corporation, Technologic Arts Inc., TransCosmos Technologies Inc., IBM Japan, and Hitachi, Ltd. on April 13, 2012, will join the Agile Software Engineer Certificate Exam Preparatory Committee (hereafter referred to as “the Preparatory Committee”). As a member of the Preparatory Committee, some of our responsibilities include deliberation on the organizational structure and the direction for full scale-operation of Agile certification. Along with the establishment of the Preparatory Committee, the official name of the Agile certification will be known as the Agile Software Development Certificate Engineer Certificate Exam (hereafter referred to as “the Agile Engineer Certificate”).

In recent years, due to increased economic competition, it has become essential for software development companies to produce multi-functional, high quality software deliverables in a relatively short period of time. In light of these conditions, Agile has once again caught the attention of the software development community in Japan. The initial reaction towards Agile, when compared to the conventional software development method, was that it was an unrealistic approach for software development. However, ten years have passed since the introduction of Agile, and well trained Agile architects have increased in number, equipped with a wide range of tools enabling full-scale Agile development. This has brought Agile back to the spotlight with many major companies using Agile as the method of choice.

Originally, Agile was created to simplify software development production, focusing on “people” to develop software. However, since its philosophy differs from the conventional development method, it was often labeled unsuccessful because not all project members understood it or were not on the same page as to how to implement it. To solve such problems, the Agile Engineer Certificate will help Agile developers conform to a standard. Technological Arts started a trial examination service in January 2009 and our plan is to make the Agile certification testing service available to the general public.

In order to promote Agile training through public certification, vendors and SIer familiar with Agile work together to establish the Preparatory Committee for full-scale operation of the Agile Engineer Certificate. Furthermore, Preparatory Committee advisors, who are volunteers from end user companies can share useful information regarding the Agile certification, such as: developing a human resource model, defining skills and standards, reviewing the qualification system, promoting internationalization,etc.

To help better enhance and promote the Agile Engineer Certificate, we are currently in discussions to collaborate with CertPro Co., Ltd. (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo), a specialist in certification and qualification consulting and management of various executive authorities.

Message of support

Mr. Koichi Matsuda, President of the Software Engineering Center in Information Technology Promotion Agency, Japan（IPA/SEC）, has given his support for the Agile Engineer Certificate.

In the past few years, Agile has seen a noticeable growth in popularity among the software development community in Japan. IPA/SEC has conducted various surveys to followed the developments Agile in Japan and has concluded that the market for Agile in Japan is still fairly immature and experienced Agile engineers are scarce. I hope that the Agile Engineer Certificate will promote an increase in the number of engineers wanting to be involved in Agile and we will therefore, see an overall increase in the talent pool of Agile developers in the near future.

Koichi Matsuda, President
Software Engineering Cente
Information- technology Promotion Agency, Japan

Affiliated body

［Preparatory Committee］

• NTT DATA Corporation
• OGIS-RI Co.,Ltd.
• Strategic Staff Services Corporation
• Technologic Arts Incorporated
• TransCosmos Technologies Inc.
• IBM Japan
• Hitachi, Ltd.

［Preparatory Committee Advisors］

• Miki Ouchi ー TOKIO MARINE NICHIDO SYSTEMS Co.,Ltd.
• Tatsuo Tanaka ー Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd.
• Shinya Nagai ー Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd.
• Kazuhiro Mitsuji ー Kanden System Solutions Co.,Inc.

About the "Agile Engineer Certificate"

The Agile Engineer Certificate was established as a means to develop a testing standard for Agile development. Currently, there is a L1 course which can be taken online. In addition, L1 testing can be taken online with results immediately following. For companies that implement Agile, this certificate can be used to test an engineer's level of comprehension regarding Agile development techniques.

http://agilecert.org/

(Note)
Agile development was born as a reaction to the Waterfall Method, which is characterized by its critics as heavily regulated and regimented. Proponents of Agile contend that this method is a return to grass roots programming and the name "Agile" signifies that it can adjust to handling multiple concurrent tasks smoothly. There are many methods used in Agile development, however, currently "XP" (eXtremeProgramming) and "Scrum" are most widely used.