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Agile + Lean

April 23 2016

Discussion with McK Alums

A Better Way to Build Software

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Disclaimer• Just my perspective

• For the most part, nothing here is my original IP

• Nothing ground breaking, many of you probably already know all this

• (Shamelessly) leveraging visuals from others, but given due credit where due

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The Problem

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Source of data: Standish Group, CHAOS Manifesto 2011 http://aimconsulting.com/overcoming-agile-failure-six-ways-beat-odds/

• Users/Customers • Engineers/Team • Executives/Investors

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Root Cause

Evolving/Changing Business Requirements• Multiple, inconsistent inputs

• Change is usually good though

Inherent R&D Nature of Software Development• Software performance issues

• Changing/New technologies

Technology Environment with Many Moving Parts• Dependence on external technology components –HW/SW

• Constantly changing environment

Distributed Teams Needing to Collaborate• Team communications

• Need for complementary skills

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• Unlike other engineering disciplines (e.g. manuf, bldg const), building software is harder and more complex

• If not managed properly, a lot can go wrong!

• Needs to be properly managed – with appropriate level of process discipline

• Agile approach works very well in most cases

Building Software is Complex

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Deeper Look – Stacey Matrix

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Source: Strategic Management and Organizational Dynamics by Ralph Stacey in Agile Software Development with Scrum by Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle

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What is Agile?Agile approach accounts for unique nature of software development. It is a…•software project management approach that encourages delivering in short cycles, with frequent inspection, feedback, and adaptation•leadership philosophy that encourages team-work, self organization, and accountability at team level•disciplined engineering approach to software development that results in rapid delivery of high quality software•business approach that focuses on delivery real business value (=customer needs) above all.

Various flavors are practiced – SCRUM, XP, Kanban etc.

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Agile Manifesto - 2001“We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

– Individuals and interactions over processes and tools– Working software over comprehensive documentation

– Customer collaboration over contract negotiation– Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.”

Kent Beck Mike Beedle Arie van Bennekum

Alistair Cockburn Ward Cunningham Martin Fowler

James Grenning Jim Highsmith Andrew Hunt

Ron Jeffries Jon Kern Brian Marick

Robert C. Martin Steve Mellor Ken Schwaber

Jeff Sutherland Dave Thomas

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Waterfall Approach

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• 6+ month• Too linear, with no learning/feedback cycle• Expects all requirements upfront• No value based prioritization of features• Often results in over engineering• Often testing/quality compromised

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Agile Approach

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• First working software in 4 weeks or less• Emphasis on learning/feedback • Embraces changing/evolving requirements• Consistent focus on high-value features• “Just-enough” engineering, with emphasis

on frequent refactoring• Focus on repeated testing/quality

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Useful Visual

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Source: Erik Jongezoon’s update on LinkedIn

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Incrementing vs. Iterating

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Incrementing Mona Lisa (Source: Jeff Patton)

Iterating Mona Lisa (Source: Jeff Patton)

http://itsadeliverything.com/revisiting-the-iterative-incremental-mona-lisa

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The Problem w/ Agile –“What”1. Assumes that the right software

requirements are available to engineering team at the beginning of every sprint

2. Unreasonably, relies upon a single “Product Manager” 1. He/she magically knows what to build?

2. Single throat to choke!

3. In reality, often, even the users/customers don’t know what they really need, until they see it

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More on that…

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http://www.slideshare.net/TechWellPresentations/at4-bankston

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Solution: The Lean Startup (2011)

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Lean Startup 101

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http://www.slideshare.net/TechWellPresentations/at4-bankston

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Market-Problem-Solution

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Another Visual

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http://www.mindtheproduct.com/2013/09/validate-or-die-using-validation-to-build-the-right-product/

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Accelerated Learning

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Accelerated learning cycles to reduce unknowns

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Advice on Building MVP

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Parallel w/ McKinsey Work• 2-weekly progress reviews w/ clients

• Starting with a story board

• Hypothesis driven data collection

• Data driven conclusions, hard nosed, empirical

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Key Points for Executives• Software projects need to be managed differently

– Leverage Agile + Lean Startup concepts– Short build cycles with customer/use feedback loop

• Most often, figuring out “What” to build is more important, than actually building it

• Planning is valuable, but dogmatically sticking to a (old) plan is asinine– New information will inevitably surface– So, regularly re-plan, taking new info into account

• Avoid the myth of maximizing resource utilization - don’t build feature bloat– Usable feature is an asset, but software code is a liability

• Software is never done! So, plan for on-going investment, not just one-time

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