Agile 103 - the three big questions

Agile 103 for Project Managers The BIG THREE Questions about Agile

A presentation for

A presentation for

1 Copyright 2012 Square Peg Consultiing, All Rights Reserved

Produced by Square Peg Consulting, LLC

Orlando, Florida www.sqpegconsulting.com


The BIG THREE Questions

What is this thing called Agile?

How do I do “agile in the waterfall”?

How do I get started?

It’s more than old wine in new bottles!


It’s more than old wine in new bottles!


YES NO

What is this thing called Agile (project management)?

1. We manage for quicker results – delivery every few weeks

2. We distribute authority and responsibility differently – more

federalized team ‘rights’; less centralized

3. We prioritize differently – focus on output more so than input



4. We address quality differently – fidelity to customer expectation

dominates fidelity to specification

5. We involve the customer/user more intimately – during the whole

project lifecycle

6. We accept that the customer drives the value proposition – even

though the project sponsor provides the resources



7. We go for best value scope – the highest

quality and most important possible within the

investment provided.


8. We honor “other people’s

money” – OPM

What is this thing called Agile (technical practices)?

1. Some new practices – to get the speed with quality

– Test Driven Development

– Pair Programming

– xUnit Continuous Integration

2. Some familiar practices renovated – different sequence and

staffing, and distributed differently in the project

– Architecture

– Refactoring

– Unit & Integration Tests


What is this thing called Agile (technical practices)?

3. Document only that which we are going to faithfully maintain –

more lean on the documentation

– Architecture

– Story cards, Use cases

– Test scripts

4. Emphasize developer discipline – personal commitment and

accountability to get it done.

– Burn down charts; Kanban boards


Manifesto and Principles

Agile Manifesto and Agile Principles are the operating framework


Principles


agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

Best value

The highest quality and most important scope

possible – within the investment provided Quality representing highest fidelity to customer expectation:

• Functionality, performance

• Importance, urgency, functional sequencing


Grand Bargain – Project & Sponsor


Best Value

Agile PM

Manifesto &

Principles

Customer

drivers

GRAND BARGAIN

Grand Bargain


The grand bargain – with the

project sponsor – is to deliver

"best value" in trade for latitude

to evolve the scope details

• Not to exceed maximum

investment

• Not to overrun ‘critical

milestones’






The fundamental tension

1. Traditional is “strategically” planned – predictable scope

2. Agile is tactically planned – accommodating scope

3. Management challenge: strategic – tactical scope tension


Agile generic plan


Release

Cha

rte

r

Vis

ion -

narr

ative

Busin

ess c

ase

Arc

hitectu

re

Agile sprints

embedded in white space (for maneuver)

Traditional generic waterfall


Predicting and planning – from

the top – your way down this

swim lane is problematic

Say the agilists: “It can’t be

done, except incrementally”

Wrap the plan in a traditional framework


Traditional wrapper

With swim lanes

Agile sprints

embedded in white space (for maneuver)

Interface (with buffers built in)

Release with Buffers

Cha

rte

r

Vis

ion -

narr

ative

Busin

ess c

ase

Arc

hitectu

re

To make it work


• Architecture

• Interface discipline

• Black-box commitments

• Intra-wrapper coordination

Wave commitments

1. Architecture in waves

2. Tweak interface needs/requirements/demands at each wave

3. Trusted Black Boxes– it all happens at the terminals


Redistribution of power

1. Federalism allows for ebb and flow of power

2. Some autonomy is surrendered

3. Complexity begets more power in the executive

4. Team to team coordination







Start initiatives

1. Conceptual arguments – sell success according to customer

acceptance

2. Management arguments – proffer the grand bargain

3. Project practicalities – begin with a pilot project and a team

disposed to ‘early adoption’


Success mapped to business scorecard

1. Project success maps to business success – customer is the root

of business success

2. Stay close to business metrics that govern input (cost and

resources) – there’s usually no business metric on scope


Strategy for the Grand Bargain

1. Re-up quarterly (at least)

2. Be prepared to stop! – don’t assume you can run

through the limits

3. Keep the customer on your side – no side channel

complaints


Pick a workable pilot

1. Follow Mike Cohn’s advice

2. Recruit early adopters and experimenters

3. Think about scale – practice where possible



Tell’em what you told them

What is this thing called Agile? Fidelity to customer need replaces fidelity to specification

How do I do “agile in the waterfall”? Wrap agile with a framework and adhere to interface

discipline

How do I get started? Pick the right pilot

The author of this seminar

John C Goodpasture, PMP

Program manager, author, coach,

and instructor • PMI eSeminarsWorldsm instructor for Agile

Project Management, and

• Advanced Risk Management, and

• Understanding Organizational Change


[email protected]

johngoodpasture.com

Read more …..


• Jim Highsmith: “Agile Project Management: Creating innovative products”

• Dean Leffingwell: “Agile Software Requirements: Lean requirements practices for Teams, Programs, and the Enterprise”

• Mike Cohn: “Agile Estimating and Planning”

• Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory: “Agile Testing: A practical guide for Testers and Agile Teams”

• John Goodpasture: “Project Management the Agile Way: Making it work in the Enterprise”


All done and ready for questions!

Business

Agile 103 - the three big questions