EVAN LEYBOURN

AUTOPSY OF A FAILED AGILE PROJECT

Evan LeybournLean / Agile Business Leader and AuthorMelbourne, Australia@eleybournhttp://theagiledirector.com

Project 1: Business Intelligence

Primary Cause of Failure: Customer Engagement

SYMPTOM #1:

POOR ENGAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATION

SYMPTOM #2:

NO TRUST BETWEEN BUSINESS &TEAM

SYMPTOM #3:

LACK OF SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS

POORLY MANAGED EXPECTATIONSSYMPTOM #4:

MISUNDERSTANDING BUSINESS VALUESYMPTOM #5:

‘A manufacturer is not through with his customer when a sale is completed. He has then only started with his customer.’

- Henry Ford, 1922

PREVENTION #1:

DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT PRODUCT OWNER?

PREVENTION #2:

HAVE YOU TRAINED THE CUSTOMER & PRODUCT OWNER?

PREVENTION #3:

ARE THERE CLEAR AND AGREED EXPECTATIONS?

Project 2: Telecommunications

Primary Cause of Failure: Poor Planning

SYMPTOM #6:

CONFLICT BETWEEN CUSTOMER AND STRATEGIC WORK

SYMPTOM #7:

POORLY DEFINED PROJECT GOALS

POORLY DEFINED SUCCESS CRITERIASYMPTOM #8:

‘It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.’

- Winston Churchill, ~1960

PREVENTION #4:

IS THE SYSTEM FRAMEWORK AVAILABLE?

PREVENTION #5:

ARE THE GOALS AND END STATE CLEARLY DEFINED?

PREVENTION #6:

HAVE YOU PLANNED THE INITIAL ITERATIONS?

Project 3: Government

Primary Cause of Failure: The Team

SYMPTOM #9:

POOR AWARENESS OF THE WHY’S BEHIND AGILE

SYMPTOM #10:

CHRONICALLY UNDERSTAFFED

SYMPTOM #11:

MISSING REQUIRED SKILLS

COMPETING PRIORITIESSYMPTOM #12:

SYMPTOM #13:

LOW TEAM MORALE, TRUST OR RESPECT

SYMPTOM #14:

POOR SUPPORT FROM EXTERNAL TEAMS (e.g. DBA)

SYMPTOM #15:

NOT DELIVERING VALUE IN EACH ITERATION

‘Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley.’

- Sun Tzu, ~6th Century BCE

PREVENTION #7:

ARE YOU RECRUITING FOR AN AGILE TEAM?

HAVE YOU FOCUSED ON DEVELOPING TEAM CAPABILITY?PREVENTION #8:

PREVENTION #9:

CAN YOU POSTPONE STORIES NEEDING MISSING SKILLS?

IS YOUR TEAM TRAINED IN AGILE?PREVENTION #10:

Project 4: Information Management

Primary Cause of Failure: Infrastructure

UNDER-DEVELOPED ARCHITECTURESYMPTOM #16:

SYMPTOM #17:

MISSING SUPPORT DOCUMENTATION

SYMPTOM #18:

UNSTABLE UPSTREAM SYSTEMS & DATA

SYMPTOM #19:

POOR TEST TOOLS AND DATA

‘Beautiful objects are wrought by study through effort, but ugly things are reaped automatically without toil.’

- Democritus, ~4th Century BCE

HAVE YOU BUILT THE BASELINE INFRASTRUCTURE?

PREVENTION #11:

PREVENTION #12:

DOES YOUR INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORT ITERATIVE WORK?

PREVENTION #13:

DO TEAMS MANAGE THE DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT?

HAVE YOU INVESTED IN AUTOMATED TEST TOOLS?PREVENTION #14:

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DIRECTING THE AGILE ORGANISATIONBY EVAN LEYBOURN

AVAILABLE AT AMAZON AND ALL GOOD BOOK STORES

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