Agile Software Project Management Sep 2006

http://www.compuware.com/blogs/jkern/

2006 Jon Kern, Compuware. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. 1

CompuwareCorporation

Agile Project Managementor

How to Be on Time and Within Budget!(Really!)

V1.1

Jon Kern

Agile / MDA Evangelist

Compuware

USA

jon.kern@compuware.com

http://www.compuware.com/blogs/jkern/Newsletter: http://frontline.compuware.com/javacentral/straight-talk/default.asp

Agile Software Project Management Sep 2006

http://www.compuware.com/blogs/jkern/

2006 Jon Kern, Compuware. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. 2

http://www.compuware.com/blogs/jkern/

About Me (as if you care) Doing software since 80s, O-O since ~late 80s

10 years DoD consulting, real-time, flight simulation, centrifuge, fighter agility, etc.

Formed Lightship Inc in 95, clients like IBM, Ingersoll

First published agile method in 97

Co-author Java Design w/ Peter Coad

Joined Peter to form/grow TogetherSoft Sep 99

Led OO/Java workshops, mentored hundreds

Led development team in St. Petersburg, Russia

Co-author Agile Manifesto, 01

Sold TogetherSoft to Borland in late 02

Recruited by OptimalJ Team 03

Agile Software Project Management Sep 2006

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2006 Jon Kern, Compuware. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. 3

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Topics Why is building software so hard?

Keys to Successful Agile Project Management Laying the Foundation

Gathering requirements

Domain Modeling

Constructing with Architecture & Quality

Estimation Techniques Release Planning

Managing Risks

Constant feedback and re-estimation

Time boxing to meet schedules and budget Iterations

Agile Software Project Management Sep 2006

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2006 Jon Kern, Compuware. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. 4

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What Makes Software Dev So Hard? Ability to meet the demands of the business

Shrinking business cycle, need more business agility

Clear business vision/goals for the application

Ability to meet the demands of development Crazy schedules/death marches

Need for application agility

Requirements are nebulous, non-prioritized

Striving for effective process & productivity

Ability to meet the demands of development Deploying a performant system

Building the app properly for the expected lifespan

Ask yourself questions like:

How would you characterize your current development methodology?

Waterfall, RUP, XP, FDD, ad hoc, could be better and so on.

What kinds of modeling do you practice?

Answers may range from very little (napkin designs? Sketches on whiteboards?), to too

much (RUP).

How do you manage requirements from conception to manifestation in your

application?

Here we seek to understand how well you are able to meet customer needs in the end

product. Do you try to nail requirements down with 100 pounds of documentation? Or,

are you more agile/XP like? Are you able to easily go from requirement to design and

implementation? Can you understand/determine the impact of a change request

through your application architecture?

Agile Software Project Management Sep 2006

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2006 Jon Kern, Compuware. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. 6

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What do we Fix? Common Problems Today

Requirements unclear, changes cause disruption

Poor architecture & quality, maintenance nightmares

Late breakage

Delaying risk mitigation

Performance woes

Non-repeatable processes

Lack of testing

Blown schedules

Built the wrong thing

Filled an outdated need

Outright abrupt cancellation

Doesnt deliver expected ROI (if it was known)

Staff is a revolving door

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Putting Engineering into S/W Dev Applications need to be architected and designed

not just built

Hardware/construction engineering uses Processes/Process Improvement

Tools (but no silver bullets)

Standards

Highly Skilled, licensed/certified People

Employs System Integration concepts

Things arent just built with no planning

Take advantage of the soft and apply more agile techniques (that manufacturing could only dream of)

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2006 Jon Kern, Compuware. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. 8

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Where We Are Headed Agile Project Management must be discussed in context

Discuss Agile concepts

Think about Classic Project Management as applied to software projects (estimating and conducting)

Describe how to conduct an agile software project

Revisit ways to manage

Risk

Estimation

Scope

Time

Budget

The management techniques I use require being in the right state of affairs.

That is, there are some synergistic foundational building blocks that make the

techniques all more effective than their singular cumulative value.

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2006 Jon Kern, Compuware. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. 9

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How Is Software Built? People,

Process, and

Tools!

In about that order Good people will trump poor/non-existent process

Good people will either create tools or use tools in an effective manner

Process and Tools cannot make up for inadequacies of the development staff

Gray matter is a pre-requisite

It takes good people to build quality software.

I would sooner take a team of 10 or 20 high-quality developers and

management that gets it over a team of 50 or 100 with an insane

stakeholder.

To work with a good team is a tremendous pleasure.

Good teams:

Will form process if none exists.

Will create helpful tools and utilities if none exist

Will develop communication strategies to ensure minimal rework

Will be able to intuit much of the development requirements

Conversely, an under-performing team with old hat management and

stakeholders will likely fail regardless of process and regardless of shiny

new tools.

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2006 Jon Kern, Compuware. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. 10

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Agile Development A state of mind, not a set of steps!

Shrink waterfall cycle into small iterations

Ensure working application and feature progress

Make it simpler to embrace change

Improve communication between business and IT

Deliver business valuefaster and continuously

Running Software: Necessary but not sufficient!

Quality & -ilities from the start

ANALYSIS

DESIGN

CODETEST

DEPLOY

One of the keys to successful software development lies in the

straightforward principles of agile development:

Prefer people and communication over tools

Prefer working software over reams of documentation

Prefer working with customers collaboratively versus contentious

contracts

Prefer embracing change over rigid project plans

The bottom line is to demand progress, but ensure it is on top of a good

architecture. Put another way, running software is necessary but not

sufficient (even poorly designed software can look good on the

surface!). By always supporting frequent, tangible, working results, a

team is able to demonstrate progress at developing features to the

users.

Remember, running software is necessary but not sufficient!

Dont be fooled by running software alone

It must be built on a good architectural foundation

It must not incur technical debt

It must be treated as an important asset

Even poorly architected software can give the appearance of being

good at the user interface level.

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2006 Jon Kern, Compuware. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. 11

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Agile Manifesto

Individuals and Interactions

Working software

Customer collaboration

Responding to change

Processes and Tools

Comprehensive documentation

Contract negotiation

Following a plan

While we value the things on the right, we value those on the left more

http://agilemanifesto.org

over

over

over

over

You can read more about these principles at: www.www.www.www.AgileManifestoAgileMani