agile adoption - what's the payoff?

ADOPTING AGILE SCRUM

Sparkhound Lunch & Learn

Presenter: Rick KellySparkhound Strategic Engagement Manager20+ years of technology delivery experiencePMP Certified in 1994 (#2433!)Certified Scrum Master (CSM) – 2008Certified Scrum Professional (CSP)- 2013Seven years PMO and PM process consultingExtensive hands-on agile project delivery

Dell, Cognizant, Blockbuster, Lowe’s, Walgreens, Mutual Mobile

Extensive distributed team & offshore scrum deliveryStill learning! 2

A Day in the Life of an IT Delivery Manager

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Waterfall – A SummaryThe waterfall SDLC approach focused on development in discrete phases in series:

• All Requirements, then

• All Design, then

• All Development, then

• All Testing, then

• All Deployment

• Usually implemented – painfully – before the iPad

• Safe and traceable, but is it the most effective way to build most software? 4

Some Fundamental Questions

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Agenda

Agile Scrum - the 5-minute primer ROI - Real world statistics on agile benefitsImplementing Scrum:

Our recommended frameworkTips and techniques by framework phase

Q&A

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Timeboxed

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What is Agile vs. Scrum? Is there a

difference?Agile is a philosophy to deliver and act in an iterative manner

Scrum is a specific agile software delivery approach implementing Agile principals

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A Very Short History of Scrum:

“A flexible, holistic product development strategy where a development team works as a unit to reach a common goal“ as opposed to a "traditional, sequential approach" - The New Product Development Game, Takeuchi and Nonaka, 1986

1990’s: The Scrum Godfather, Ken Schwaber, builds the principals

2001: Schwaber published Agile Software Development with Scrum

Yada Yada Yada…Now the most common iterative software development approach in the world

8Image: sitcomsonline.com

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But…why?

Focus on People vs. Process

Low Upfront Planning

Minimal Documentation

Priorities regularly updated

High & Early Customer Involvement

Early & incremental ROI

Facilitative vs. command leadership

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ProductBacklog

DailyStand Up

1-4 WeekSprint

PotentiallyShippableProduct

The Basic Scrum Development Process

Prioritize Plan

SprintBacklogDemo

Retro

Agile ROI

Waterfall

Successful16%

Failed26%

Challenged58%

Successful41%

Failed14%

Challenged48%

Agile

Agile vs. Waterfall Development Success Rates

Source: The Standish Group; 2012

Our Observation:Companies are far more likely to gain the benefits of Scrum if they follow these three foundational guidelines:

Scrum is customized for their specific environment The Scrum implementation itself is conducted in a formal, structured mannerThere is senior management commitment - and a little patience – to make the needed cultural and workplace changes

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Scrum Implementation Tips and Techniques

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High-Level Scrum Implementation Roadmap

Stage 1: Quick Start

Stage 2: Pilot & Refine Stage 3: Rollout

Stage 1: Quick Start

• Requirements, KPI & Objectives Confirmation

• Quick Start Agile Asset & Process Implementation

• Selection of Pilot Project(s)

• Creation of Product Backlog

• Pilot Team(s) Quick Start Training

Defining & Base-lining Implementation Success

How will your business know if implementing Scrum is successful?

If you track actual, hard statistics, congratulations! What are they?

In many cases, “success” is defined by business customer perception

Not fast enough, too expensive, not responsive to change, etc.

To track success, a baseline of current performance needs to be captured.

Picking a Pilot

Image: Businessweek.com

Project

Stage 2: Pilot and Refine

• Lead/Support Pilot Project(s)

• Refinement of Agile Assets & Processes

• Define Agile Training, Rollout, and Comms. Plan

• Define Prioritization & Estimation Model

• Agile Tool Recommendation• Agile PMO Setup

Image: Paper Airplanes, Google Play Store

Estimates & Scrum: the age-old conflict

Provokes an age-old question:

Does your company write no-estimate blank checks?

Hybrid Estimation Process1. Via a Planning Sprint

2. Outputs:

Feature-level, Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) estimate

Baseline sprint & release plan

A resource plan/proposal with a +/-50(??)% level of accuracy

3. Updated after each sprint

Customizing Scrum

• Plan-Level

Deploy to production after each sprint?

Adding “Technical Debt” and UAT/Launch Sprints

• Within Sprints

A mid-point reading of the User Stories

By-feature Sprint Review approvals

Sprint Duration

Factors The need for speed

The overhead of Sprint planning & properly prepped client demos

Demonstrable progress & wow factor

Client review burnout

Recovery time for the sprint “Oh %$&!” moment

Recommended Default Starting Point: 3 weeks

Should be re-assessed and agreed with team on ongoing basis

Stage 3: Rollout

• Implement Pilot Lessons Learned

• Agile Process & Tool Rollout

• Training & Comms. Plan Rollout

• PMO and KPI Reporting Rollout

• Cross-Team “Scrum of Scrums” Rollout

• Team Coaching

Image: nasa.gov

Initial Team Training

For new projects, a 1-hour intro session is enoughLike Scrum itself, get Sprinting ASAPMandatory, short reading: The Scrum Guide

13 pages of text, covers all the “rules”https://www.scrum.org/Scrum-Guide

More Training Tips

• Expect someone new each Sprint

• Start each Sprint Planning Session with a 10-minute Sprint Planning Overview Deck

• If at all possible, send your Scrum Master to a public, classroom certification Course• http://

www.scrumalliance.org/courses-events/course?type=Csm

• Informal Monthly Agile Brown Bag Lunches

Image: scpoliycouncil.org

In Conclusion…Key Scrum Implementation Factors

Treat as a formal project

Drinking the Koolaid - Pilot, learn, adjust, implement

Respecting & incorporating real-world existing budget and approval processes

Company-specific customization - Scrum as an approach, not a doctrine!

Time provided to allow for the fundamental change in the way the enterprise works

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Stage 1: Quick Start

Stage 2: Pilot & Refine Stage 3: Rollout

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Example of a Hybrid Scrum One-Month Sprint Delivery Approach

Questions?

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