introduction to agile methods

Richard Cheng

2015 Project Management Symposium

INTRODUCTION TO AGILE METHODS

• Agile trainer and coach

• Member of PMI, Scrum Alliance, Agile

Alliance, Agile Leadership Network

• CST, CSM, CSPO, CSP, PMI-ACP,

PMP

• Founder & executive committee

member of Agile Delivery for

Agencies, Programs, and Teams

(ADAPT)

• Experience in Federal and

commercial Agile transformations

Richard Cheng

richard.cheng@excella.com

@RichardKCheng

“Traditional” IT Project Management

◊ Process and tools◊ Comprehensive documentation◊ Contract negotiations◊ Following a plan

This is how we control projects….

Waterfall Development

Requirements

Design

Develop

Test

Deploy

IT Industry average success rate?

Success rate ~ 33%

IT Industry average success rate?

Success rate ~ __%

Industry Success Rate

From 2010 report from The Standish Group

Problems with Waterfall

Requirements

Design

Develop

Test

Deploy

“I believe in this concept, but the implementation described above is risky and invites failure” – Dr. Winston Royce

Managing the Development of Large Software Systems, Winston Royce (1970)

Agile Manifesto

Individuals and interactions

over Process and tools

Working software over Comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over Contract negotiation

Responding to change over Following a plan

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

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

http://agilemanifesto.org/

1.Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.

3.Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.

4.Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.

5.Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.

6.The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a

development team is face-to-face conversation.

7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.

8.Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users

should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

9.Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.

10. Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.

11.The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.

12.At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Agile Principles

Scrum vs. Waterfall

◊ Waterfall is based on Predictability– Feedback is usually not

attained until late in the project– Works best when all details are

known up front– Change is expensive

◊ Scrum is based on Adaptability– Constant feedback– Allows for discovery throughout

the lifecycle– Provides infrastructure to

support and implement change

The Stacey Diagram

◊ Simple projects don’t need Scrum

◊ The Complicated projects benefits from Scrum to increase certainty and agreement

◊ Scrum returns the biggest process gains in the Complex space

◊ In the Anarchy space, there is high risk regardless of method

Ralph Stacey, Strategic Management and Organizational Dynamics

Technology

Req

uire

men

ts

Agile Methodologies

Agile

Scrum – Iterative method used by most teams

XP – The software engineering practices

Kanban – Often used in operations

Lean – Concepts used for organizational Agile

Scrum Overview

Product VisionRoadmap

Day

Sprint

…

…

…

Pla

n

Day

Day

Daily Scrum

Revie

w

Retr

oSprintP

lan

Revie

w

Retr

o

Idea

Initiation ReleasePla

n

Release ReleasePla

n

Pla

n

Time

Scrum Framework

* Diagram from Scrum Primer From the Scrum Primer

Product Backlog

Kanban

◊ Visualize Flow◊ Limit Work In Progress (WIP)◊ Measure Workflow◊ Optimize the Workflow

Visualize Flow

In Queue

Development

In Progress Done

QA Tests

In Progress Done

Release

In Progress Done

Item

Item

Item

Item

Item

Item

Item

Item Item

Item

Item

Item

Item

Item

Item

Item Item

Item

Limit Work In Progress

In Queue

(5)

Development (3) In

ProgressDone

QA Tests (4)In

ProgressDone

Release (5)

In Progress

Done

Item

Item

Item

Item

Item

Item

Item

Item Item

Item

Item

Item

Item

Measure Workflow

◊ Average Time In Queue – 3 days◊ Average Time In Development – 2 days◊ Average Time Waiting for QA Test – 2 days◊ Average Time In QA Test – 5 days◊ Average Time Waiting for Release – 9 days◊ Average Time in Release – 3 days◊ Average throughput - 24 days

Optimize Workflow

◊ Average Time In Queue – 3 days◊ Average Time In Development – 2 days

◊ Average Time Waiting for QA Test – 2 days◊ Average Time In QA Test – 5 days

◊ Average Time Waiting for Release – 9 days◊ Average Time in Release – 3 days

◊ Average throughput - 24 days

Optimize Workflow

In Queue

(5)Development (3)

In Progress Done

QA Tests (4)In

ProgressDone

Release (5)In

ProgressDone

Item

Item

Item

Item

Item

Item

Item Item Item

Item

Item

Item

ItemItem

When to use Kanban

◊ Operational Work– Networking– Help Desk– Pure Operation and Maintenance

◊ When 1 weeks Scrum Sprints are too long◊ Visualizing and measuring across multiple workflows or

teams

◊ If Scrum is not working for you, transitioning to Kanban will usually make things worse (other than the cases above)

◊ Kanban concepts can be applied to Scrum and Waterfall

Scaled Concepts

◊ Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)◊ Large Scaled Scrum (LESS)◊ Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD)◊ Spotify model …

Scaled Agile Framework™ Big Picture

LeSS

Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD)

Disciplined Agile Delivery:The Foundation for Scaling Agile

© Disciplined Agile Consortium 24

Scrum LeanKanban

XP Agile Modeling

And more…SAFeOutside In Dev.

Team SizeGeographicDistribution

Compliance Domain Complexity TechnicalComplexity

OrganizationalDistribution

DAD leverages proven strategies from several sources,providing a decision framework to guide your adoption and

tailoring of them in a context-driven manner.

Scaling at Spotify

Excella ConsultingExperience and Expertise in Agile Solutions

– Coaching– Training– Assessments

– Agile Adoption– Agile Development Teams– Agile PMO

Training Courses– Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)– Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO): The Agile Business Analyst– Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)– Certified Scrum Developer (CSD)– Agile Testing– Agile Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing– Automated Acceptance Testing – Great for Analysts and Testers!!

See http://www.excella.com/training for more information

Contact Information

Richard K Chengrichard.cheng@excella.co

m703-967-8620http://www.excella.comTwitter: @RichardKCheng