am i agile an introspection of our life

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 1

Am I Agile? – An introspection of our life

Presented By: Albert Arul Prakash

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 2

Dilemma when moving to Agile

How can I document a system when all I get are small chunks in each sprint?

Developer

How can I develop software when I don’t have the complete requirement?

Test engineer

How can I test the software when all features are not developed?

Architect

How can I design a system without an understanding of its complete scope?

Technical Writer

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 3

The underlying anxiety• How can I create something by seeing the dots, when I

don’t know what I’m expected to create at the end?

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 4

• I introspected on the path that I took to reach a true understanding of Agile.

• I realized that – our life itself does not

follow the waterfall model– humans have always been

Agilists who have practiced Agile method of living every single day.

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 5

Let’s Begin

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 6

During Infancy days• we always take baby steps to achieve

our goals. – We never take long steps that might

make us fall. • Also the first baby step takes at least 7

months. • we are all provided with just- in- time

requirements like– turning over to one side– dragging ourselves forward– sitting up, crawling– Standing– and then finally taking that first step

• We never had a requirement that we needed to run like Ben Johnson! Or do we?

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 7

During Infancy days• Requirement is – a single baby step – leading then to few more steps at a time without

holding on to anything, walking steadily, and finally running.

• Isn’t the each stage is complete/testable in itself.

• The requirements evolve as we (the product) evolves, and we commit and do it.

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 8

School (K-12) days• At school we still continue in the

iterative mode when it comes to studies.– First we read/learn for the monthly

portion– We collate all three month’s

learning for quarterly exams– Then we continuously expand our

knowledge by studying more chapters

– We collate 6 month’s learning for doing a half-yearly exam

– We add more value by adding another 6 sprints (of 1 month duration) for our final exams.

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 9

School days• None of us

– studied for final exams from day one.

– learnt everything in a single go

– Committed to the requirement that is un-manageable by ourselves.

– Had a fixed product backlog irrespective of the feedback received from stake holders (teachers and parents)

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 10

School days• We continuously

– take the requirement that is to be completed as monthly sprints

– integrate with our previous sprint work and validate them regularly

– follow our own ways to solve the problems that are ahead of us.

– move ahead by solving complex problems using simple solutions which might get changed based on added value (knowledge).

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 11

Adult hood• As we move into college and adulthood,

we follow a similar pattern– in our personal life, – in trying various ways and means to be

attractive to the opposite sex – try and impress the one who has

impressed us. • We may not always succeed, but we do

add our experiences to the knowledge pool

• We constantly refactor ourselves to make things work and achieve an agreeable romantic life.

• Thus from infancy to adulthood, we take one stage of life at a time, trying to achieve what is required to the best of our ability.

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 12

Let’s introspect our career now• As soon as we join the work

army, – we stop being Agile. – We want a situation where

someone commits a deliverable on our behalf.

– we hardwire our brain with a thoughts that • we will follow what our leaders say • they are better people in

committing for us. • they will find ways to solve a

problem • we don’t need to use all the values

that we achieved though all these years.

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 13

Time to break the illusion• Are we not following agile in our career

progression?

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 14

Time to break the illusion• Answer is

we do follow AGILE.

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 15

Time to break the illusion• None of us – became architect from

our freshman year in any software company.

Do you remember how hard we worked during our software engineer life to get that senior software engineer role?

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 16

Time to break the illusion• We followed agile in our

career by – taking one step at a time

to achieve our career goals.

– Marching ahead by adding new goal once we achieve current goal

– adding more value continuously by evolving our knowledge and way of solving a problem.

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 17

Time to break the illusion• But we are the same people who are now

asking – how can I develop software that has a product

backlog that changes constantly – how can I develop product without knowing its full

system design.

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 18

But I want you to ask yourself a question now.

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 19

Am I Agile?

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 20

Presented By:

Connect @

Albert Arul Prakash

albertarulprakash@gmail.com

• http://www.linkedin.com/in/albertarulprakash• http://www.scrumalliance.org/profiles/75425-albert-arul-prakash-rajendran• https://www.facebook.com/albertarulprakash• https://twitter.com/bepenfriends• https://plus.google.com/101433668966009443790