www.eng.it

Some thoughts and tips for aprogressive path to highermaturity & capability levels

L4A – Lean for (being) Agile

Luigi Buglione, Ph.D.Process Improvement & Measurement Specialist

Industry & Services Business Unit

Engineering Ing.Inf. SpA

ISMA11- IFPUG Int. Conference on Sw Measurement & Analysis

Sao Paulo (Brazil), November 18 2015

www.eng.it2 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

L4A Presentation goals

G1. Analyze the most common measurement-relatedpractices in the Lean/Agile communities towards a ‘L4A’viewpoint (not the same thing!)

G2. Discuss most relevant potential issues from ameasurement viewpoint

G3. Propose possible counter-measures to overcome suchflaws for strengthening measurement practices also in L4Ateams/projects

www.eng.it3 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

L4A Let’s Social...ize!

If you want to sharecomments/notes/pics…

@IFPUG

@engineeringspa

@lbumeasure

@Gufpi_Isma

#Lean

#Agile

#L4A

#AgileMeasurement

#FSM

…

www.eng.it4 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Agenda

• Introduction

– Lean/Agile – what does it mean? Friends or Foes?

– Lean Six Sigma + Agile Manifesto – Values and Principles

– Lean/Agile Measurement – Main Issues

• Best Practices

1. Requirements - Elicitation

2. Requirements - Management

3. Measurement – Sizing Units

4. Estimation

5. Monitoring & Control

6. Estimation – Project Historical Data

7. Project Management – Standard definitions

8. Agile Measurement Plan

9. Agile RCA-based improvements

10. Lean Measurement – Automation (Data Collection)

• Conclusions & Prospects

• Lessons learned

• Q & A

L4A

www.eng.it5 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

www.eng.it6 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Introduction L4A – Lean for (being) Agile

Not Lean Lean Agile

www.eng.it7 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Introduction Lean/Agile – Definition

Q:…but what about Measurement/Estimation practices in Lean/Agile?

www.eng.it8 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Introduction Agile is Lean? Which relationship?

www.eng.it9 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Introduction Lean & Agile – Comparing Approaches

www.eng.it10 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Introduction Lean & Agile – Comparing Approaches

www.eng.it11 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Introduction Lean – The Seven (7) Mudas

www.eng.it12 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Introduction Lean – The Eight (8) Mudas

www.eng.it13 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Introduction Lean & Measurement – Six Sigma DMAIC

www.eng.it14 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Introduction Agile Manifesto (2001) – The new values

Source: www.agilemanifesto.org

“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 documentation

Customer 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”

www.eng.it15 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Introduction Agile Manifesto (2001) – 12 principles

Source: www.agilemanifesto.org

1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.

3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.

4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and

trust them to get the job done.6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a

development team is face-to-face conversation.7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be

able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.10.Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.11.The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.12.At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and

adjusts its behavior accordingly.

www.eng.it16 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Introduction Lean/Agile Measurement - Main issues

An initial list of issues from which moving for improving lean/agile measurementpractices:1. Measurement is not an evaluation/assessment2. Managing a project in an agile way does not mean to do not measure at all, but you cannot

measure anything from data collection (lean) to Story Points (agile), let’s find a balance!3. The attention paid to historical data risks to be less than needed for properly re-estimating an

artifact when the team composition will change over time4. Story Points (SP)

Are not a ‘size unit’ but an elaboration of effort needed to develop an artifact Are relative and specific to a team, not necessarily to several ones Have not a common, shared definition (repeatibility issue)

5. Bad perception from Agile teams/projects on ‘typical’ measurement practices and techniques6. Some Agile Measurement best practices

improving the current ones Moving from the Agile Manifesto principles and values

• …

www.eng.it17 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

L4A: Best Practices

www.eng.it18 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Best Practices 1) Lean Measurement – Automation #1

Some notes for starting:• Often misunderstandings about which tools to adopt to make faster the measurement

process, not asking if they’re the right tools for obtaining the right result(s) at the right price• Look at the final informative goal and its accuracy (e.g. what is a LOC?)• Open Source Software (OSS) can be a good source of solutions for starting to automate and

allow an easier data collection for a Lean Measurement• Need to choose the right tool without adapting it too much before adopting it, otherwise

better to choose another one

...ToFrom...

www.eng.it19 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Best Practices 1) Lean Measurement – Automation #2

Some notes for starting:• Another risk separating Lean from Agile could be about the amount of data needed to

become Lean (before) and Agile (later)• How many data should we need to understanding where are our ‘mudas’?• Which non-intrusive ways to adopt for obtaining such result(s)?

From... ...To

www.eng.it20 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Best Practices 2) Requirements – Elicitation

Some notes for starting:• User Stories (US) are not Use Cases, related but not the same thing• US do not take much information from UML documentation (e.g. sequence diagrams)• US typically contain the ‘functional’ side of the story but often miss the non-functional ones

and those related project-level activities/constraints to be mentioned for do not reducing thereal scope in terms of effort/cost,

• Move to US2, with MoSCoW priority criteria and fsu/nfsu for sizing FURs/NFRs

From... ...To

www.eng.it21 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

3) Requirements – Management

Some notes for starting:• Using the INVEST (Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable) criteria by

Mike Cohn a US should be evaluated both by customer and provider, but the ‘negotiation’ stillrisk to be mostly on the qualitative/subjective side

• Move to the INVEST Grid and INVEST Process

From... ...To

Best Practices

www.eng.it22 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

4) Measurement – Sizing Units

Some notes for starting:• US typically use Story Points (SP) that’s a manner to determine in a subjective way a

magnitude scale between the less (or more) complex requirement against the other ones(e.g. 2x, 3x, …)

• US are currently not sized, as meant from a measurement viewpoint• If a US would contain both the expression of FURs+NFRs, at least two sizing units should be

expressed in the card, not only one US2!

From... ...To

Best Practices

www.eng.it23 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

5) Estimation

Some notes for starting:• The Planning Game (and/or Planning Poker) are the typical way the Team discusses and

evaluates. Story Points and not sizing unit(s) are used, missing the determination ofquantities of work to be done, using historical data about specific productivities

• Assumed that CMMI (or other Maturity Models) are heavy-weight and not light-weight ones

From... ...To

Best Practices

www.eng.it24 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

6) Monitoring & Control

Some notes for starting:• The Burndown chart logic is typically used ‘burning’ Story Points…• …but it could be applied also to other (sizing) units, also FP and SNAP Points (SP) for

better tracking different entities (product, not project) and attributes (e.g. functional size, noteffort)

From... ...To

Best Practices

www.eng.it25 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Best Practices 7) Estimation – Project Historical Data

Some notes for starting:• The Planning Game is a process for estimating Stories and Epics, determining on a local

base an estimation• But what about the recording of data into a Knowledge Base (e.g. MEB – Measurement

Experience Base in ISO 15939)? Several frameworks/best practices as ITIL, CMMI and ISOx-management systems ask for it

From... ...To

www.eng.it26 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Best Practices 8) Project Mgmt – Standards adoption

Some notes for starting:• Story Points (SP) are a good example of ‘local definition’ for a team and not for the whole

organization, as well as a priority scale for implementing that SP by the related assignedtasks…What is the ‘standard’ definition of a SP? Is it repeatable and consistent?

• A standard definition for a sizing unit, for instance, would lead more teams to exchangetheir own project historical data and thus sharing a larger knowledge base across theorganization (higher value for mid-large organizations)

• Another buzzword is “velocity”…

From... ...To

Some possible definitions:• Source #1• Source #2• Source #3• Source #4• Source #5• …

www.eng.it27 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Best Practices 9) Agile Measurement Plan

Some notes for starting:• Since SP represent the way to estimate the needed effort and each Sprint is time-boxed,

very few other measures are typically gathered in an agile project, often not collected underan organic measurement plan

• What about a project measurement plan defining – as usual – the “5Ws+H” elements towhich add a second “H(ow much)” for upper/lower thresholds moving from historical data?

• What about to introduce GQM as a goal-oriented technique and EAM (Entity-Attribute-Measure) analysis for not missing/overlapping measures in a balanced plan?

From... ...To

[US typical (old) structure]:• As a [Role]

• I want [...]• in order to [...]

• Acceptance Criteria: [...]• Story Points: [...]

[US typical (new) structure]:• As a [Role]

• I want [...]• in order to [...]• Measure by […] EAM

• Acceptance Criteria: [...]• Thresholds (UCL/LCL)

• Story Points: [...]

www.eng.it28 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Best Practices 10) Agile RCA-based improvement

Some notes for starting:• Retrospectives are in Scrum the typical final Sprint meeting with a continuous improvement

purpose run out from the Team and participated also by the Scrum Master and the ProductOwner

• What about running an agile Root-Cause Analysis (RCA) using mind maps and adding detailsabout measures and historical data? Q-RCA!

From... ...To

• Mind Maps software: http://goo.gl/ltxfao

www.eng.it29 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Best Practices Goal: Reinforcing Maturity & Capability

www.eng.it30 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Best Practices Goal: Reinforcing Maturity & Capability

Special cause

(GP.2.2 @ OT)

Common cause (GP.2.9 @

+PA)• Source: http://goo.gl/i6IvI

www.eng.it31 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Some Conclusions...

www.eng.it32 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

L4A Some conclusions...• Lean vs Agile: not the same thing...

Misconception – complementary approaches Need to be Lean (before) in order to become Agile (after) – common stream is ‘measure well’ Mixing techiques and approaches can return a better results, keeping the best from the two

• Lean/Agile vs Measurement: a false perception Lean is strongly based on Measurement LSS (Lean Six Sigma) Not true that an agile project doesn’t measure and it’s only based on the time-box principle Measurement and measures can be apply with care, applying the lean/agile values-principles

• How many measures to apply? 2-3 measures per informative goals could be a good target, as ITIL v3 CSI suggests Improve a typical Hypothesis/User Story (US) also specifying sizing units (e.g. FP/SP) and MoSCoW

prioritization criteria, together with a refinement of INVEST criteria using the INVEST Grid+Process

Lean/Agile Measurement and Tools Data from log files could be a good way to gather data in automatic manner Apply the Burndown chart but also applying the concept to the sizing units used in a Sprint

Lean/Agile Projects and Measurement Plans Measurement plans can be derived using few measures, possibly connected each other Base measures can be joined into derived measures (metrics) obtaining more informative value at

the same gathering costs and included as ‘new’ different measures into the plan

An optimist will tell you the glass is half-full; the pessimist, half-empty; and the engineer will tell you the

glass is twice the size it needs to be(Unknown)

www.eng.it33 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Lessons Learned...

URL: www.dilbert.com

L4A

URL: www.bitstrips.com

www.eng.it34 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Q & AL4A

Thanks for your attention!Obrigado pela sua atenção!

www.eng.it35 IFPUG ISMA11 (Sao Paulo – Brazil) – 18/11/2015 © 2015 L.Buglione

Contact DataL4A

Luigi Buglione

Engineering Ing. Inf. SpAluigi.buglione@eng.it