A Different Kind of Presentation• Aspires to foster discussion of new topics and draw
in new constituencies to Agile Austin:– Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs, Venture capitalists
• “This presentation is a 'think-piece,' the spelling out of an interpretation, with enough illustrations to strengthen the case and stimulate interaction.“
[Paraphrased after Carlota Perez]• Agile is becoming more business-relevant amidst the
current macro-economic crisis:– Focused on the “What” of Agile rather than the “How”– Applies Agile principles end-to-end, and then some:
• Primarily with respect to contractual aspects• Secondarily with respect to customer development aspects
Agenda
• Part I: A New Paradigm• Part II: The Agile Contract Problem• Part III: Applicability to the entrepreneur,
intrapreneur and the venture capitalist
The Classical Techno-EconomicParadigm a la Perez
• A sequence of events characterizes each of the techno-economic cycles:– Major technological innovation introduces new
infrastructure– The new infrastructure disrupts both industry and
commerce (and very possibly society)– In good time the new infrastructure becomes a stabilizing
force• The technology gets understood and harnessed• Confidence builds in the new order that evolves around the
technology
– Inertia becomes the legacy of successful innovation
Five Successive Technological Revolutions
Revolution Name Country Initiation Year
First The ‘Industrial Revolution’
Britain Arkwright’s mill 1771
Second Age of Steam and Railway
Britain The Liverpool-Manchester railway
1829
Third Age of Steel, Electricity and Heavy Engineering
USA and Germany
The Carnegie Bessmer steel plant
1875
Fourth Age of Oil, the Automobile and Mass Production
USA Ford Model-T 1908
Fifth Information/Tele-communication
USA The Intel Microprocessor
1971
Source: Carlota Perez, Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital Source: Carlota Perez, Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital
Revisionist Techno-Economic Theory a la Hagel, Brown and Davison
• The historical pattern itself has been disrupted:– Disruption followed by stabilization is no more the case
• The pace of change in Information and Telecommunication is exponential– Uncertainty and instability are pervasive– Sustained periods of prolonged equilibrium are unlikely
• Both business and social systems need to adapt on an on-going basis to turbulent changes– But, the entrepreneur can now punch “above his weight
class” through the global digital infrastructure(*) Hagel, Brown and Davison, Shaping Strategy in a World of Constant Disruption, Harvard Business Review,
October 2008
Implications for Strategy• “This is not the time to be passive and wait
out the storm.” [Christine Davis; Cutter Consortium]
• Two schools of thoughts to choose from:– Adaptive: Winners are those that can move faster than
their competition Sense change and respond quickly– Shaping: Winners use technology changes to create new
business eco-systems Alter the industry/market fast
• Both strategies critically depend on Agility– “Agility is the ability to act quickly and with
economy of effort in accurate response to change and also to initiate change for business advantage” [Paul Allen; Cutter Consortium]
Role of Software in Your Strategy• As software is malleable, it can respond exceptionally
well to the exponential pace/change in the new paradigm:– As an end to itself– As embedded software– As part of a business process/initiative
• The higher the embedded software content in a product is, the more malleable the whole product becomes:– Example: cellular phones
• Chunking through Agile methods facilitates quick changes on a granular level at any phase of the product life cycle
Relentless Innovation• Geoffrey Moore: Many kinds
of innovation– Disruptive innovation– Product innovation– Platform innovation– Value engineering
innovation– Process innovation– Business model innovation– Line extension innovation– Enhancement innovation– Various others
• Jim Highsmith: Innovation through experimentation
– Learning what does not work is as important as learning what works
– The low cost of experimentation enables finding by trying
– For Agile, the bi-weekly Agile iterations provides a “firewall” that caps investment
Sustainable Innovation• “All known compound objects decay and become
more complex with the passage of time unless effort is exerted to keep them repaired and updated. Software is no exception…
• Indeed, the economic value of lagging applications is questionable after about three to five years…
• The degradation of initial structure and the increasing difficulty of making updates without “bad fixes” tends towards negative returns on investment (ROI) within a few years.”
[Capers Jones, Estimating Software Costs]
Software Decay
• Once on far right of curve, all choices are hard
• If nothing is done, it just gets worse• In applications with high technical
debt, estimating is nearly impossible• Only 3 strategies
– Do nothing, it gets worse– Incremental refactoring,
commitment to invest– Replace, high cost/risk
• Source: Jim Highsmith 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Years
Technical Debt
Co
st
of
Ch
ang
e (
Co
C)
ProductRelease
ActualCoC
Optimal CoC
ResponsivenessTo Customers
Avoiding the Shiny New Toy Syndrome• Four considerations to keep in mind while
relentlessly pursuing innovation:– Software developed today might indeed be sold as a shiny
new toy tomorrow– However, unless the underlying software process is
improved, a little down the road the new software will have maintenance problems similar to today’s software
– The corrosive effect of technical debt on the shiny new software will become more and more severe as a function of time
– Whatever strategy you follow, sustainability is critical• “Cut costs by cutting costs” strategies will accelerate your
technical debt
The Agile Process Platform• Sustainable value creation can transform Agile into a
process platform customer and vendor share• Requirements for a successful Agile process
platform:– Agile principles considered indivisible:
• Customer as partner in a distributed innovation modus Share customer own learning and plans
– Joint infrastructure between vendor and customer• Ease of use of both process and practices of Agile
through the software life cycle Reduced risk
– Shared benefits:• Passing on the benefits of Agile from vendor to
customer Agile contracts
Agenda
• Part I: A New Paradigm• Part II: The Agile Contract Problem• Part III: Applicability to the entrepreneur,
intrepreneur and venture capitalist
The Agile Contract Problem
• Internally or externally, relationship between supplier and customer defined by mutual risk/reward sharing pattern – implicit or explicit contract
• Defines parameters of relationship• Contract language assumes zero trust
– Developed expressly to eliminate the ‘wiggle room’ we seek to create with Agile
• Challenging to build trust a priori between parties so that you can create the context for meaningful collaboration• Requires creation of 2nd dimension to the “risk” axis – “agility”
Business / Technology Culture Gap
• Not product of simple misunderstanding• Difficult to defuse anxiety with Agile rhetoric like
“fail fast” and “walk away with working code”• Risk all tied to accuracy of estimates• Downside for customer is very significant
Mar
gina
l Bus
ines
s V
alue
$/Time/Iterations/Stories/Features
Marginal Dev’t Cost
Spec
Agile Perception
Mar
gina
l Bus
ines
s V
alue $
Spec
Marginal Dev’t Cost
Biz Perception
Fixed Price, Fixed Scope• The classic software contract, and emblematic of the
pitfalls of development that spurred the creation of Agile• Estimating will remain a black art• Have to assume a lot about the problem and the solution• However, might still be necessary with conservative
customer• Applying Agile to go as fast as possible can produce
outsized margins• Legitimate to earn more margin vs. T&M since the developer is
taking on execution risk not present in T&M• Can sneak in change clauses that allow for modifications if
both parties agree.
Time and Materials
• “Pay as you go” with no scope boundaries – no execution risk for developer
• T&M allows no risk mitigation for customer – fully exposed project
• Plenty of room for Agile methodologies to be used (or not)
• Enforce self-discipline: – deliver working code, tight sprint management, etc
to avoid unintentionally taking advantage
Incremental Payment for Incremental Delivery
• Define multiple small fixed price projects• Deliver per schedule, invoice on acceptance• This is an approximation of typical sprints but with a
fixed scope up front• Agility introduced through flexibility of definition from
one iteration to another at the acceptance stage• Can be useful to ease customers into Agile• Still difficult to preserve reprioritization of backlog
based on experience, introduction of new or changed story points
Fixed Price per Function or Story Point
• Closely related to incremental delivery, but more Agile face up front
• Forces use of Agile – have to agree on sprint length and create a backlog of sprints to even get started– Make sure to build flexibility into the estimating process to
take advantage of learning as you go• Still at mercy of black art of estimating size of effort,
however the small scale of stories ensures any error won’t be that big
• Can be a hard sell for more traditional customers (“story point? No requirements document?”)
Money for Nothing
• Sutherland’s experimental approach works for developers with strong established brand or business with existing faith in Agile
• Interesting reconfiguration of relationship between business and software supplier
• Great for modifying a fixed cost contract to reward Agile efficiencies• Overrun risks still owned by developer – set discounted rate in advance• The % split of remaining contract should be determined by supplier’s
expected margin in order to ensure indifference to early termination
Varieties of Contractual Experience
• Ideal doesn’t just balance risk but actually creates structural incentive to drive Agile collaboration
• Entirely new dimension to the ‘shared risk’ scale• Reward rapidity, don’t penalize changes to features• New approaches being experimented with currently• All current generic models are imperfect, however all can be mitigated with
modifying clauses
Contract Style Trust required Agile compatibility
Fixed everything Little Little
Fixed price per function or story point
Medium Good
Incremental delivery with payment on acceptance
Medium Medium
Time & Materials Lots Medium
Money for Nothing Medium Lots
Current Best Principles
• It depends.• Do more “free” work up front with the business, assess:
– Where they are with Agile and Waterfall and development in general– Where they are with their business model and plan– Appetite for risk and experimentation
• Push for the maximum trust and novelty they will tolerate.• Generally inversely proportional to their business’ maturity• Common problem – customers see fixed cost estimate for entire
project as canonical, don’t accept that 80% of the total scope might deliver 100% of function
• Ensure your rates are matched to the level of risk you are assuming
Agenda
• Part I: A New Paradigm• Part II: The Agile Contract Problem• Part III: Applicability to the entrepreneur,
intrapreneur and venture capitalists
Agile lessons for business innovation
• Both Shapers and Adapters driven by need for continuous innovation
• Neither internal nor external innovation begin with understanding of customer
• Start with stories & design goals, not an elaborate business plan• Take advantage of lowered barriers to
entry in digital marketplaces• Iteratively discover the customer and
define the product in tandem• Variable engineering costs• Contained cost of experimentation
The Lean Startup
Steve Blank and Eric Ries
Process API for Highest Caliber Developers
• “Agile” as a set of methodologies allows non-technical innovators to access the way techies build stuff
• Formalizing what tiny startup development teams do naturally– creates an interface through which non-technical
people can take advantage of the same approach• Requirements-driven processes were created to
fill the culture gap between business and development
• Agile is a better translation
Post-Internet Startups
• Classic model: 2 propeller heads with a neat new toy approach VC for money and business maturity
• New model: business person has entrepreneurial idea that happens to be expressed via a Web application
• The new tech entrepreneur is less likely to be able to build their own technology
• Agile is the only development methodology that can fulfill the needs of the early stage innovator.
A New Venture Model• Most innovative and successful businesses are holistic
recombinations of proven patterns in a novel way – Starting with a cool widget makes the outcome essentially
random– Discontinuous innovation puts fund at risk
• Instead: • Start with an idea to create value in a market & a business founder• Start with business design conversations• Marry to development resources, bring them into the conversation• Iterate through the process of building the parts of the business and
figuring out how they fit together. • Repeat at portfolio level: build an self-reinforcing ecosystem, not a
one-off firm
Part I• The Classical techno-economic paradigm a la
Perez• Reshaping paradigms a la Hagel, Brown and
Davison• Implications for Software• Relentless innovation• The myth of the shiny new toy• The myth of separating contracts from
operations
Links
• The Lean Startup• Alistair Cockburn’s collection of software cont
ract descriptions• Agile Contracts working group