Joel Spolsky came up with a twelve-item checklist in August, 2000 that provides a rough measure of – in his words – "how good a software team is":

1. Do you use source control?
2. Can you make a build in one step?
3. Do you make daily builds?
4. Do you have a bug database?
5. Do you fix bugs before writing new code?
6. Do you have an up-to-date schedule?
7. Do you have a spec?

1. A product specification
2. A detailed user interface prototype
3. A realistic schedule
4. Explicit priorities
5. Active risk management
6. A quality assurance plan
7. Detailed activity lists
8. Software configuration management
9. Software architecture
10. An integration plan

These are great lists. But Spolsky's list is 6 years old; McConnell's is almost 10 years old! Does your software project meet all these criteria?

The lists are still highly relevant and definitely worth revisiting today. But I wonder if the field of software development has advanced far enough that we can take any of the items on this list for granted. I also wonder if any new practices have emerged in the last 6 years that aren't accounted for on either list.

So here's my question to you: what core set of practices constitutes modern software development in 2006?