responding to change agile familiarisation overview of what agile is june 2008
TRANSCRIPT
Responding To Change
Agile FamiliarisationOverview of what Agile is June 2008
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Sound Familiar
Time to market for projects is too longUnrealistic deadlinesPoor EstimationRequirement ChangesImmature architecture and designNo Documentation or too muchInadequate Testing
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Projects today are...
Too slow “My needs are changing, but IT can’t keep up” “Nothing gets done in less than a year”
Not valuable enough “Project scope is wrong. And we’ve already coded half the
system” “I’ve got lots of documentation that no one uses for a system that
doesn’t meet my needs.” “We waste time designing and building features that are never
used”
Not responsive “Projects force the agency to close on requirements before they
really know what they want” “Every little modification results in a change order”
Not in control “Don’t know what’s going on with the project” “I’m stuck with consultants that don’t provide value”
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Waterfall versus Agile
Timeline Comparison
Requirements for theEnd State
Design for theEnd State
Release 1Development
Month: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Release 2Development
Test
Initial ROI Delivered
Test
Waterfall
High LevelScopeand
Design forEnd State
Release 2Development (includesdetailed requirements,
design & test)
Initial ROI Delivered
Month: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Agile
New businessdemands are absorbed
Technical environmentchanges are absorbed
Release 1Development (includesdetailed requirements,
design & test)
§Clear “Go/No-Go” decision for next phase§Lower initial investment§Earlier ROI§Early visibility into project success§Ability to absorb change
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Comparing
Development team is idle or not formed
Testing team peakDesign
team peak
Development team peak
Requirements peak
Requirements and test team are not on project
Design
Development
Test
Requirements
Typical water fall model development (With some overlap)
§ Little scope in the project plan for accepting changes with out re-planning and long Change request cycles
§ Re work due to late feed back and unclear requirements
§ Business only see finished article during UAT
§ Benefits not realised till end
Design
Development
Test
Requirements Design
Development
Test
Requirements
Design
DevelopmentTest
Requirements
No big team peaks/Spikes
All the teams formed at start of project
Small iterations help in getting early feedback
§ Close communication reduces re work§ Better requirements understanding with
user stories§ Better quality products with regular
demos and testing§ Each iteration gives value to business§ In production early§ Ability to absorb change requests easily
Agile model with Iterations
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Iterative Incremental Development
“Iterative development is an approach to building software (or anything) in which the overall lifecycle is composed of several iterations in sequence. Each iteration is a self-contained mini-project composed of activities such as requirements analysis, design, programming, and test. Usually the partial system grows incrementally with new features, iteration by iteration; in other words, incremental development.”
--Craig Larman
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Iterative Development
Time
VisibilityIterative Development
All-At-Once Development
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Incremental Development
Time
Value
IncrementalDelivery
All-At-OnceDelivery
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What is an Agile methodology?
Agile development is a methodology of software development that emphasizes customer satisfaction through continuous delivery of Functional software. Based on a variety of iterative development disciplines Agile methods put developers to work in small teams to tight budgets and short timescales.
Agile methods are considered
Lightweight
People-based rather than Process-based
Adaptive rather than predictive
Less document oriented than rigorous methods
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Why Agile
Create and build the right requirementsReduce wasteAccelerate client valueImprove predictabilityProvide unparalleled transparency and control to the client
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What is an Agile methodology? (Contd..)
Agile Method Types
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What is an Agile methodology?
Agile Manifesto: Values Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Continuous Testing Short iterations (Incremental cycles) Responding to change over following a plan Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
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Agile summary - on a postage stamp..
• establish a vision
• change always happens
• so prioritise your activity
• do something small
• get feedback
• decide next steps
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Agile Myths ….
no design
no testing
no documentation
no idea of progress
poor quality
no plan
auditors won’t allow it
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Key benefits of Agile
Increases Flexibility - Minimizes up-front investment and maximizes return on investment (ROI) by creating an efficient IT development process
Delivers the right solution - Aligns users and stakeholders with the right people to deliver the solution that the business actually needs
Accelerates Delivery - Iterations get to the right solution faster
Reduces risk and increases Quality - Greater stakeholder visibility and control
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Key benefits of Agile…Contd
Increases Flexibility
2003 Standish Group report highlighted an alarming statistic with technology projects: Nearly two-thirds of the features built into these solutions
are rarely or never used
Solution: Evolutionary design It is a nonlinear approach where change is expected, and
where the team uses actual development to gain empirical data to inform the design
Blind alleys or requirements that simply don’t work are abandoned early on or are identified and eliminated before they are even reached
The solution evolves over multiple cycles (known as iterations), converging on an optimal response to the business problem with minimal waste.
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Key benefits of Agile…ContdAccelerates DeliveryIterations reinforce evolutionary design and form a repetitive 'timebox' mentality for the project teams and clients. This translates into speed: the solution gets delivered faster and earlier
Solution The development teams deliver working, fully production-grade software much earlier in
the engagement This early software is not merely a proof of concept. The team focuses development first on high-risk and high-value aspects, which means the
earliest completed software is actually the most critical part of the solution. Stakeholders can choose to deploy this functionality (they may also elect to learn and
improve it to converge on an optimal solution over multiple iterations) Putting working software in front of business users early yields other critical benefits: it
helps legitimize the project spend, drives eventual adoption, and, thus, facilitates organizational change
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Key benefits of Agile…Contd.
Reduces risk and increases quality Stakeholders know exactly where
the project stands at all times and can change its course as the business needs change
SolutionThe Story Log The story log is an active, living
scope of work that stakeholders use to drive the initiative
A story is a work item that delivers tangible stakeholder value within the iteration. Examples include implementing a report, adding a new feature to a web application, etc.
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Agile Disadvantages
It’s hard!Makes all dysfunction visible Its doesn’t fix anything: the team has to do it Feels like things are worse at the beginning
Bad products will be delivered sooner, and doomed projects will fail faster Partial adoption may be worse than none at all
