Agile & Scrum ImplementationIntel in a Complex Project Combining HW & SW

Project Characteristics

The main challenge of this project was the necessity for project planning, execution, and building an entirely new R&D group. Creating the new group was a particularly difficult challenge that involved working with complex product technology as well as with personnel.

Forming the new group of 100 + employees involved creating a multi-disciplinary group (e.g., hardware, software, FW, drivers, tools, and algorithm), with geographically distributed teams; aggregating into one large team people who came from different projects and organizations and with different organizational culture. This was a key reason for the Project Manager to implement Agile Methodologies.

His vision: Create a common process for the new R&D group, to enable the emergence of teamwork across the new group, with unified team spirit, and strong collaborative culture.

Due to the special challenges in establishing the R&D group and the high uncertainty level of the project, the planning process required analysis of complex technologies, internal and external dependencies (e.g., on other projects) from which derived the need for a high level of coordination and risk management planning.

Another aspect of planning in this project was the need to meet long-term milestone targets. Planning process visibility was another means Agile was expected to provide to measure the progress of future projects.

For such a complex project, it was required to define a new process for R&D planning and execution integrated with the existing TFS tool.

The project manager expected Agile Methodology to provide a clear process for both project management and for the R&D teams and at the same time to enable the creation of a working culture that is based on collaboration and taking responsibility.

Solution

Agile Planet’s solution included Agile methodology adjusted to meet the complexity of the project. The solution also involved the creation and facilitation of an Agile migration steering committee. This committee considered the possible solutions for advanced Agile implementation issues, and Agile Planet provided best practices and know-how from our vast experience. This allowed us to be sure the resulting processes had a firm basis in Agile methodologies while being tailor-made for the customer’s specific needs and corporate culture.

The project planning process involves multiple sites teams in several disciples on projects that have multiple dependencies, all of which had to be taken into consideration in designing a solution that would provide “working software” matching the Project Manager’s goals.

To accomplish this, a unique Agile process needed to be put together – a solution that Agile Planet implemented, comprised of the following components:

• The Product Owner worked together with a Management Team of project leading executives - Project Management Team (PMT) – to refine the requirements and define next sprints goals. This is done frequently and in an executive’s framework of this type due to the project’s complexity.

AGILE PLANET | CASE STUDY - INTEL | FEBRUARY 2014

This group worked as a team, meeting once a week, and concentrated on project planning: defining goals for the next sprint and reviewing long term PBL in an epic resolution.

The practice that this group used is the Agile “PBL Grooming”, but with some variations.

• The Project Management Team, as part of the “PBL Grooming” process, delegated responsibilities to the Feature Owner because of the fact that extremely technically challenging “epics” were involved.

• The Feature Owner did a comprehensive analysis of these epics, understanding the architecture, and all the internal and external dependencies.

• The Feature Owner then broke the epics down into “User Stories” for the scrum teams.

• There were monthly kickoff meetings attended by all of the group in which members:

9 Shared vision 9 Presented sprint cross groups’ “Common

Goals” 9 Shared improvements to the Agile process.

An equally important and major factor in the successful implementation of Agile planning process was the fact that the managers primarily focused on the project planning, whereas the teams focused on execution. This was done by:

• Implementing Scrum framework• Delivering Agile Spirit to empower the teams

towards self-managed teams• Personalizing the framework for this project

by introducing a “Multi-level Scrum of Scrums” (SoS2) to manage execution even in case of interdependencies

Benefits

The successful deployment of the Agile process supported shared product vision, and led the group to meet almost all sprint goals.

It provided benefits for day-to-day processes and also improved the team’s adjustment to changes because of the well-defined working processes.

In the 100+ employee project group, we are happy to report that people are engaged, have a greater sense of solidarity among all members of the group, and cross-team alignment is working well to accomplish the sprint “Common Goals.” Effective synchronization dramatically has increased between all parties of the project and within the group.

The most important benefit is that by the end of the sprint, the group was able to demonstrate impressive end-to-end demo according to Definition of Done (DoD), including integration, testing, and bug fixing.

The Agile framework and the pace maintained during organizational change; helped the group to overcome obstacles in making the transition.

The Agile planning process embraced true prioritization resulting in the correct balance between product features and infrastructure. The process kept the flexibility to add unplanned extras and on-the-fly activities successfully without losing focus on the project and jeopardizing committed deliveries (e.g., following up on feedback from the demos).

The Agile process enabled us to properly assess the real status of the implementation of project features during the sprint, and throughout the entire PBL and this status was continuously visible to the Project Management Team and was constantly updated.

Agile Planet

Agile Planet specializes in implementing Agile and Scrum methodologies and qualifying employees to hold positions within these fields.

The Company’s team of professionals offer an effective, flexible and creative implementation processes, customized to the specific needs of every organization, from a single team to Scaling for the entire organization.

Our client list includes Nice, Intel, Websense, Israel Aviation Industries, McAfee and Playwise.

www.agile-planet.com | 077-3142374

AGILE PLANET | CASE STUDY - INTEL | FEBRUARY 2014