ten things about agile

BA Conference 2013, Ten Things about Agile | Christian Heldstab, Zühlke

CHRISTIAN HELDSTABBA CONFERENCE

LONDON 2013

TENAGILETHINGS ABOUT

I am a ski instructor complex motion ∙ learning by doing ∙ be an example

I am Software Engineer / BA / Agile Coachat Zühlke ∙ various projects ∙ various domains

I was working as a Software Developer in agile projects with Business Analysts.

We struggled many times. But we learned from it!

KANBAN

Therefore, these are the TEN THINGS I think you should know:

THE AGILE MANIFESTOADAPT

SILOS ARE FOR FARMERS

THE BING BANG

THEORY

STAY CLOSE

INFORMATION ISNOT KNOWLEDGE

STORIESPRODUCT OWNER

THE AGILE MANIFESTO

agilemanifesto.org / 2001

To achieve better software development, we believe that the items on the left have more value than the items on the right:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

• Working software over comprehensive documentation

• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

• Responding to change over following a planBA Conference 2013, Ten Things about Agile | Christian Heldstab, Zühlke

A little exercise:

Think about your current project and use the agile manifesto as

a checklist.

There are also 12 principles, here are three of them:

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

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

The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a team is face-to-face conversation.

Can that be possible?

no CR’s and quick response to

market changes?

Well, they are very busy.

How should that work?

Can we not just write

documents?

SCRUM2

Good things about SCRUM

Visualises status

Every sprint leads to a deliverable (e.g. walking skeleton)

Team gets quick feedback

Team improves process

Product Owner can decide what comes next

Team is highly focused (shielded, minimal task switching)

An example of a backlog: planning my wedding

visualise status

Who is responsible?

trouble makers

Hint: Evolve the board! (But don’t push it, especially not with your fiancé ;-)

Kanban3

Good things about Kanban

Will not change an existing process but will show bottlenecks

Also visualises blockages and dependencies on external sources

Allows steady pace

Supports continuous delivery

Remember: Pull not Push!

Remember: Stick to the work in progress (WIP) limits

Swarming around bottlenecks

Source: wallpaper-base.blogspot.ch/2010/12/big-bang-theory-wallpaper.html

ONCEJUST WORKED

Big Bang doesn’t workfor executing a project

(you just hurt yourself)

Problem

Users are not able to express all their needs/wishes right from the start.

You can’t understand everything from the very beginning.

Maybe the team has already implemented what is needed. But how can you know without asking the users?

Constant collaboration …

… generates customer value

Source: youtu.be/502ILHjX9EE

ADAPT!5

Source: mrwallpaper.com BA Conference 2013, Ten Things about Agile | Christian Heldstab, Zühlke

You might wonder:

Why can’t I just take a process and apply it

like a recipe?

Most of our projects are complex.

Cynefin FrameworkComplicated

The relationship between cause and effect requires analysis and application of expert knowledge. The approach is to “Sense – Analyse – Respond” and use good practice.

Complex

The relationship between cause and effect can only be perceived in retrospect but not in advance. The approach is to “probe – sense – response” and we can sense emergent practice.

Dave Snowden, 1999

Remember: Adapt!

In a complex project environment, there is no plan-driven solution.

With your team, study agile processes, learn best practices and adapt them to your situation.

Learn! Adapt!

Do this iteratively and incrementally.Not Big Bang!

INFORMATION ISNOT KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge ?

So, what is…

BA Conference 2013, Ten Things about Agile | Christian Heldstab, ZühlkeSource: Rainer Grau, Zühlke

Knowledge

Linking of Informationitems

Make information-networks accessible

Applyingknowledge and creating value

Knowledge is context specific

Knowledge is…

More precise, there are two types of knowledge

Tacit Knowledge…as the efficient form of

Knowledge

Explicit Knowledgerequires effort

Information

durablevolatile

Knowledge Work is the way…Identify and close knowledge gaps

feedback, iterative, learning, experiment

…solving aComplex Problem

ContextBA Conference 2013, Ten Things about Agile | Christian Heldstab, ZühlkeSource: Rainer Grau, Zühlke

Remember

Knowledge is context specific.

Knowledge is acquired in the heads of people.

Tacit and shared knowledge is the efficient form of knowledge.

Documentation (of any form) holds information not knowledge.

Source: digital.lib.ecu.edu

SILOS ARE FOR

FARMERSNOT PROJECTS

Stuck in Silos?

Or better all on the same pasture?

Remember

No, you can’t just document knowledge!

Build up tacit knowledge in your team by encouraging them to work and learn together.

Keep the team stable.

Again: Documentation is information, not knowledge!

STAY AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE

The thing about bubbles

Think of information as bubbles.

You learn and perform best if you are together in the same room with your customer and the rest of your team.

How to deal with a distributed team?e.g. off-shoring, multiple developer centres

Use tools and be creative, because you are a team:

- Distributed planningwith tools like Jira Agile, VersionOne, IceScrum, Mingle, Rally

- Distributed pairingby screen sharing and telephone conferences

- Distributed retrospectiveswith tools like the Microsoft LiveMeeting, Google docs, MS Powerpoint

Important: From time to time, meet in person (e.g kick-off, Hackathon)

How to deal with missing customers?

Well, that’s so important that it gets its own number!

The Product Owner9

Will that be my job??

Hm,probablyNot, butlets talkabout it.

Responsibilities of a Product Owner

Empowered to make decisions

Business Analyst = Product Owner?

BABOK:Business analysts should always work to ensure that requirements are aligned with organizational goals and objectives and that all stakeholders have a shared understanding of those goals, objectives, and requirements. They must also work to manage risks and validate that the requirements, if delivered, will create real value for stakeholders.

YesWe care about vision, collaboration and customer value.

Business Analyst = Product Owner?

NoWe are trained to focus on details. Can we focus on the big picture and just-in-time documentation?

We are not used to delegate requirements maintenance (stories, acceptance criteria).

Are we really able to plan releases?

Can we prioritise the stakeholders requests?BA Conference 2013, Ten Things about Agile | Christian Heldstab, Zühlke

Are we empowered to make decisions?

Probably not.

In the role of the Product Owner, we are most likely a Proxy-PO.

If you don’t have the power to make decisions, then you will go back and forth to the real decision maker and the team.

WORK WITH

STORIES

Stories are the new requirements

As a teacher, I want to update

grades online so that I no longer

depend on administrators to do it

for me.

Acceptance Criteria:

I can add grades for all subjects in the syllabus.

I can add grades from my office computer or

my notebook at home connected to the

university network.

As a <person in role> I want to <goal> so that <the benefit>

Add flesh on the

Work with stories

It is very productive!

Sketch the product during a workshop with customers.

Bring them in order.

Note dependencies, sources, hints, etc.

Split them if required.

And if you like to, put them into an electronic system.

Plan releases with story mapping

EpicsFirst release or sprint: walking skeleton

A real world example

Mapping of RAM abstraction levels to agile terms

Product Level (product goals)

Business Function Level

Feature Level (product features)

Function Level (use cases, actions)

Component Level (details – consists of)

Themes

User Stories

Visions

Source: fileadmin.cs.lth.se/cs/Education/Examensarbete/Rapporter/2008/Vetart_2008-27.pdfBA Conference 2013, Ten Things about Agile | Christian Heldstab, Zühlke

If you need to be more formal use RAM(Requirements Abstraction Model - University Blekinge)

• structured requirements management approach

• standardization

• traceability (reduce gold-plating or detects missing stories)

Mapping of RAM abstraction levels to agile terms

Product Level (product goals)

Business Function Level

Feature Level (product features)

Function Level (use cases, actions)

Component Level (details – consists of)

Themes

User Stories

Visions

Source: fileadmin.cs.lth.se/cs/Education/Examensarbete/Rapporter/2008/Vetart_2008-27.pdf

If you need to be more formal use RAM(Requirements Abstraction Model - University Blekinge)

• structured requirements management approach

• standardization

• traceability (reduce gold-plating or detects missing stories)

Alternatives:

SAFe: Scale Agility Framework

DAD: Disciplined Agile

Delivery

Enjoy your ride!

Agile ManifestoScrumKanbanBig BangAdaptInformation ≠ KnowledgeSilos are for FarmersStay CloseProduct OwnerStories

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