the dancing agile elephant

Austin Distinguished Speaker Series – February 11 th, 2009

“The Dancing Agile Elephant”

Sue McKinneyVice President,

Development TransformationIBM Software Group

[email protected]

IBM Software Group’s Transition to Agile and

Lean Development


1 Software Group Dynamics

2The “How”

3 Sustainability

Agenda…Agenda…

4 Summary


Software Group DynamicsSoftware Group Dynamics


Business and Operational Dynamics

• Innovating the business to differentiate and capture new value

• Heighten responsiveness and closer linkage to our customers

• Improve Time to Value

• Better workload management

• Improve Quality

• Improve project development cycle times

• Improve predictability on schedule

• Making better use of resources to be more productive


A Global Team of IBM Software Group DevelopersA Global Team of IBM Software Group Developers

CanadaToronto,Ottawa

Montreal, Victoria

EdinburghLondon / StainesMilton Keynes

Haifa Rehovot

ChinaBeijing

ShanghaiYamato

Taiwan

ParisPornichet

BeavertonKirklandSeattle

Foster CitySan FranciscoSVL/San Jose

AlmadenAgoura Hills

IrvingEl SegundoCosta MesaLas Vegas

AndoverBedford, MABedford, NHLexington

WestboroughWestford

Cambridge

CorkDublinGalway

IndiaBangalore

PuneHyderabadGurgaon

Cairo

Rome

Gold CoastSydney

Canberra

Fairfax Raleigh

CharlotteLexington, KY

AtlantaBoca Raton

Tampa

Perth

KrakowWarsaw

Sao Paulo

Malaysia

DelftStockholm

PittsburghPoughkeepsieSomers

Rochester, MNBoulderDenver

Lenexa, KATucsonPhoenixAustinDallas

Boeblingen

HursleyWarwickYork

SouthburyNew York CityPrinceton

USCanadaLatin AmericaEMEAAP

Total

USCanadaLatin AmericaEMEAAP

Total

11,0003,500

1003,9006,600

25,100


Software Group Acquisition Milestones


AGILEAGILE

ITERATIVEITERATIVE

WATERFALLWATERFALL Waterfall development• Rigid, late feedback, slow

reaction to market changes

Iterative development• Customized RUP, community

source and component reuse, emphasis on consumability

1980’s

1990’s

Present

Rigid

Continuous Learning

and Adaptive Planning

Agile / Lean development• Global reach, SOA, agile

practices, outside-in development, tools and not rules

IBM Software Development TransformationIBM Software Development Transformation


Diversity and Complexity Requires Teams to be More Effective and Adaptive

New project Small team Simple application Co-located Minimal need for documentation

Maturing projects Multi-platform Growing in complexity Remote or offshore work Greater need for coordination & handoffs

Mature projects Complex, multi-platform applications Distributed teams Need for scalability, reproducibility, and

traceability

Organizational DriversTeam Size

Geographical DistributionOrganizational Distribution

Entrenched process, people, policy

Technical and Regulatory Drivers

ComplianceGovernance

Application complexity

Agility at Scale

“Incremental to deal with uncertainty”

“Process to deal with complexity”


The “How”The “How”

Do not attempt this at home. All stunts performed by semi-professional SWG executives. No animals were used in this experiment.


Things to Consider before getting Started

• Management Support

• Strong and Experienced Leader(s)

• Picking the right project as a proof point

• Providing the right education, tooling and governance

• Ability to allow change to occur

• Keep it Simple


Manifesto for Agile Software Development

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

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan

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

See www.agilealliance.org


2007 Agile Deployment Approach

Short, Time-boxed Iterations with Stakeholder Feedback


Short, Time-boxed Iterations Create ……..

Automatic Constraints

Transparency

Find Defects Earlier

Being More Responsive


Constraints Cause Us To ……..

Eliminate Waste

Optimize and Become More Effective


Stakeholder Feedback Causes Us……..

To Focus on the Essentials


Sametime Development Approach…• Agile Process

– Employed frequent / short code iterations; published builds for regular consumption

– Organized around features crews for increased code sharing and reviews– Employed use of light-weight UI specs and implementations outlines

• Closed gap between developers and end users– Combined Teams from across WPLC, CIO Office and Research– Used TAP program for posting weekly builds; – Fostered community of contribution and collaboration; Inspired expanded

participation from over 40,000 IBM’ers; plus energized product developers!

– Produced public beta (multiple builds) for over 100+ external customers; led to increased product acceptance and accelerated roll outs

• Engineering practices– Continuous prototyping of code deliverables– Frequent code reviews; automated static code analysis– Aggressively eliminated unnecessary work!


SustainabilitySustainability


Architecture Blueprint

Outside-in Development

Agile / Lean approaches

Modeling and Componentization

Fostering Communities and sharing Best Practices

Discipline, adaptive development approaches

Continuous stakeholder feedback to understand changing needs

Time-boxed iterations

Eliminate waste, increase visibility

Tools, not Rules Community source Shared asset

repository Best practices Common

components Clearing House

for dependency management

Educate, Enable and Empower

Lightweight central governance mechanisms

Development Steering Committee

Architectural Board Culture of sharing

and reuse Developer Web site Centralized

development services

Sound Development Governance Principles Enable for

Success

Execute Agile / Lean for Productivity

Guiding Principles for

Software Development++ ++ ==

Best Practices for Distributed DevelopmentBest Practices for Distributed Development


Educate, Enable and Empower

• “Disciplined Agile” Workshops: – 150 workshops completed– Over 7,000 attendees

• Workshop has also been videotaped

Existing On-line Resources

Coaches Available

Questions Answered

Main Wiki Case StudiesContacts and Collateral:


SummarySummary


In Summary ……

• Challenges– Very geographically dispersed teams with different approaches to

building software– Many projects, often large teams– Innovating the business to differentiate and capture new value.– Making better use of resources to be more productive.– Avoiding the trough of disillusionment

• Solution Approaches– Continuously transform development using new techniques, and

tools– Enable and empower teams– Collaborate more effectively at larger scales, both internally and

externally and share knowledge, assets and best practices


Sue [email protected]

Acknowledgement and Thanks to:

Mary and Tom Poppendieck

Pollyanna Pixton

the dancing agile elephant

Technology