Demystify Agile

Saket Bansal

PMP, PMI-ACP , CSM , ITIL V3 F

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Essence of Agile Overview of Agile Methods (XP, Scrum) Agile and Traditional Development Methodology APM (Agile Project Management Framework) Myths about Agile Agile Planning User Stories Agile Estimation Timeboxing Burn Down / Burn up Charts Kanban Board

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In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves

best to their environment.—Charles Darwin


The United States Department of Defense (DoD) and NASA have used iterative and incremental development (IID) since the 1950s

In the 1960s, Evolutionary project management(Evo) was conceptualized by Thomas Gilb. Evo recommends one- to two-week iterations, delivery of product each iteration

In 1986, “The New New Product Development Game,” a whitepaper published by Takeuchi and Nonaka

Takeuchi and Nonaka discuss the “rugby approach” of dedicated, self-organizing teams


“The… ‘relay race’ approach to product development…may conflict with the goals of maximum speed and flexibility. Instead a holistic or ‘rugby’ approach—where a team tries to go the distance as a unit, passing the ball back and forth—may better serve today’s competitive requirements.”

The New New Product Development Game


Source: Wikipedia-Photo taken by Maree Reveley (aka Somerslea)


The 1990s saw a flurry of agile approaches Scrum at Easel Corporation Extreme Programming Clear Crystal IBM’s Rational Unified Process Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)


Agile software development is a group of software development methods based on iterative and incremental development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams. It promotes adaptive planning, evolutionary development and delivery, a time-boxed iterative approach, and encourages rapid and flexible response to change. It is a conceptual framework that promotes foreseen interactions throughout the development cycle


The Salt Lake Valley, Snowbird, Utah

The Agile Manifesto was written

In 2001, a group of 17 “lightweight” methodologists met

Including Representative of

eXtreme Programming (XP) Scrum DSDM Adaptive Software Development

Photo taken by Scott Catron


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 toolsWorking software over comprehensive documentationCustomer collaboration over contract negotiationResponding 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.


Focus on empowered, self-managing teams; Autonomous teams do not need the day-to-day intervention

of management Management protects team from outside interference Agile teams are composed of a mix of skills Agile team members are able to step in for each other as

necessary


Traditionally we measure progress by the percent complete of the functional milestones

Agile teams provide actual working product as a status report, “product review”

Design changes as the system is built, results in outdated documentation

Agile teams prefer face-to-face communication over documentation because it is simpler, faster, and more reliable.


Contract negotiation, Identify and define everything and spells out the payment and date specifications

Customers become a part of the development process Writing specs down and throwing them over the fence is

simply not effective


It’s much easier to respond to change when the organization and the customer share a clear understanding of the project’s status

In plan-driven environments, all requirements are specified up front, broken down to the task level and estimated

Agile plans follow more of a rolling wave approach using top-down planning


The empirical model of process control provides and exercises control through frequent inspection and adaptation for processes that are imperfectly defined and generate unpredictable and unrepeatable outputs.


Empiricism asserts that knowledge comes from experience and making decisions based on what is known.

Three pillars uphold every implementation of empirical process control: • Transparency• Inspection• Adaptation


Agile Methods


Scrum Team Events• Sprints• Sprint Planning Meeting• Sprint Review Meeting• Daily Scrum• Sprint Review Meeting• Sprint Retrospectives

Artifacts• Product Backlog• Sprint Backlog



Simplicity Communication Feedback Courage Respect

Agile Vs. Traditional


A project is still a project:• Vision• Life cycle• Requirements• Schedule• Team• Communication mechanisms


Agile : Iterative Traditional: Waterfall


Waterfall Model Agile Project Life Cycle


Agile : Iterative Traditional

Plan as you go Feature-breakdown

structure User stories Release plan Story boards Deliver as you go Learn every iteration Adapt everything Manage team

Plan all in advance Work-breakdown structure Functional specs Gantt chart Status reports Deliver at the end Learn at the end Follow the plan Manage tasks


Agile Project Management Framework


Based On Adaptive Software Development (Highsmith 2000).www.izenbridge.com 30

Envision: Determine the product vision and project objectives and constraints, the project community, and how the team will work together

Speculate: Develop a capability and/or feature-based release plan to deliver on the vision

Explore: Plan and deliver running tested stories in a short iteration, constantly seeking to reduce the risk and uncertainty of the project

Adapt: Review the delivered results, the current situation, and the team’s performance, and adapt as necessary

Close: Conclude the project, pass along key learning, and celebrate.


What is the customer’s product vision? What are the key capabilities required in the product? What are the project’s business objectives? What are the project’s quality objectives? What are the project constraints (scope, schedule, cost)? Who are the right participants to include in the project

community? How will the team deliver the product (approach)?


Speculating establishes a target and a direction. Speculating isn’t wild risk-taking but “conjecturing

something based on incomplete facts or information.” The Speculate phase spotlights product and project. Produce a refined list of scope items Develop a Release Develop detailed Iteration Plans for the next Iteration


Iteration Planning and Monitoring Technical Practices Project Community


A traditional project manager focuses on following the plan, whereas an agile leader focuses on adapting successfully to inevitable changes

Team has to answer critical questions• Is value, in the form of a releasable product, being

delivered?• Is the quality goal of building a reliable, adaptable

product being met?• Is the project progressing satisfactorily within acceptable

constraints?• Is the team adapting effectively to changes imposed by

management, customers, or technology?


Conduct the Project Closure , Pass along key learning and celebrate.


Myths…


Agile Development is Undisciplined Agile Team do not plan Agile Development is not Predictable Agile Development does not scale Agile means teams cannot be controlled by management Agile means I can change my mind whenever I want to Agile means you never have to write documentation


Agile Planning


“Planning is everything. Plans are nothing.” -Field Marshal Helmuth Graf von Moltke


If estimating and planning are difficult, and if it’s impossible to get an accurate estimate until so late in a project, why do it at all?


Reducing risk Reducing uncertainty Supporting better decision making Establishing trust Conveying information


Is focused more on the planning than on the plan Encourages change Results in plans that are easily changed Is spread throughout the project


“No plan survives contact with the enemy.”

-Field Marshal Helmuth Graf von Moltke


Nearly two-thirds of projects significantly overrun their cost estimates (Lederer and Prasad 1992)

Sixty-four percent of the features included in products are rarely or never used (Johnson 2002)

The average project exceeds its schedule by 100% (Standish 2001)


Planning is by activity rather than feature Features not prioritized We ignore uncertainty Estimates become commitments


“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”

-General George S. Patton


Work as one team Work in short iterations Deliver something each iteration Focus on business priorities Inspect and adapt


Most Agile teams are concerned only with the three innermost levels

Release PlanningIteration PlanningDay Planning


User Stories


A user story describes functionality that will be valuable to either a user or purchaser of a system or software.


Card: Stories are traditionally written on note cards. Card may

be annotated with Notes , Estimates etc,Conversation:

Details behind the story come out during conversations with product owner.

Confirmation: Acceptance tests confirms a story was coded correctly


Epic , Is a large User StoryTheme : A Collection of Related User Stories


Independent Negotiable Valuable to users or customers Estimatable Small Testable


Start with a Goal story Monster.com User's Goal Is : Find a Job• Search for jobs based on skill ,location , salary ,

Company • Display resume to the Recruiters so that Recruiters can

search • Easily apply for job


“A Job Seeker can post a resume” Technical Division• A Job Seeker can fill out a resume form.• Information on a resume form is written to the database.

Slice the Cake• A Job Seeker can submit a resume that includes only

basic information such as name, address, education history.

• A Job Seeker can submit a resume that includes all information an employer may want to see.


“A recruiter can manage the ads she has placed.” A recruiter can review resumes from applicants to one of

her ads. A recruiter can change the expiration date of an ad. A recruiter can delete an application that is not a good

match for a job.


Agile Estimation


Commonly used estimation units among agile team Based on size and complexity of work Unit-less but numerically relevant estimate


Apple Orange Pears Melon Banana Grapes Strawberry


Forces the use of Relative estimating It’s a Size estimation Puts estimation in Unit which we can add together


Velocity is a measure of a team’s rate of progress. Calculated by summing up all story points assigned to user

story that the team completed during iteration


The story being estimated is the only thing you’ll work on. Everything you need will be on hand when you start. There will be no interruptions.


Supporting the current release Sick time Meetings Demonstrations Personnel issues Phone calls Special projects Training Email Reviews and walk-throughs Interviewing candidates Task switching


1, 2, 3, 5, and 8 1, 2, 4, and 8 Epic / theme • 13, 20, 40, and 100


Expert opinion Analogy Disaggregation


Each estimator is given a deck of cards, each card has a valid estimate written on it

Customer/Product owner reads a story and it’s discussed briefly

Each estimator selects a card that’s his or her estimate Cards are turned over so all can see them Discuss differences (especially outliers) Re-estimate until estimates converge


Timeboxing


Timeboxing is setting a fixed time limit to overall development effort and let other characteristics such as scope vary.

Timeboxing Examples• Iterations• Daily Standups


Focus Increased Productivity Realization of Time Spent Time Available


Burndown /Burnup Charts


Release burndown chart The vertical axis shows the number of story points

remaining in the project. Iterations are shown across the horizontal axis. A release burndown chart shows the amount of work

remaining at the start of each iteration.


It’s a concept related to Lean and Just In Time (JIT) production

Kanban Boards shows current status of all the tasks need to be done in current iteration, the tasks are represented by cards, and the stauses are presented by area on the baord separated and labeled.

Kanban boards helps the team in knowing how they are doing and what to do next.


Saket [email protected]: 9910802561Web: www.iZenBridge.comLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/saketbansal


Demystify Agile

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Transcript of Demystify Agile