Since 2001, CruiseControl has boasted a consistent, intuitive and workable interface. Now, in the age of Web 2.0, we are in the process of adapting this interface – integrating some great new, usable features. At the same time, we are including some new functionality to cater for less technical people such as project managers, testers and business analysts.  

In revising the CruiseControl interface, CruiseControl Enterprise is focused on bringing information to users in a highly visual way – giving users the ability to gain a reliable snapshot of what is happening with a project. This is a very powerful tool to have – especially for someone who may not have the time and the technical understanding to immediately determine a project’s status.  

The project team working on the updated interface includes ThoughtWorks experts from China, Germany, Hong Kong, South Africa, the U.S and the U.K.  Despite lingual and cultural differences, everyone is working towards the same goal of making CruiseControl more user-friendly and intuitive.

So what happens in this project on an everyday basis?  

Well, just as with other ThoughtWorks projects, we have a morning ‘stand-up’ - where everyone catches up and discusses stories in detail. Every week, we then do a showcase of the functionality we have delivered during the week.  Features are drawn up in the form of story cards.  


We also produce considerable numbers of paper prototypes to give everyone an idea of how the interface will look, how the screens are navigated, and usable the application is going to be.  These prototypes are all posted in and around the project room - so whenever we are discussing the finer points of stories, we are able to see them on the prototype.

The developers working on the project are also integrating testing into their day-to-day work in a test-driven approach. In fact, we have several people doing all sorts of testing, ranging from functional tests to performance tests.

At this very moment, we are working towards delivering the first release of the updated CruiseControl - so everyone can try it out. We welcome your feedback.