agile for business analysts
DESCRIPTION
A presentation to IIAB about Agile for Business AnalystsTRANSCRIPT
Agile Methods for Business Analysts
© 2009 – 2010 SQUARE PEG CONSULTING, LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Today’s speaker
John Goodpasture, PMP
Program manager, system engineer,
author, and coach
Managing Principal
Square Peg Consulting, LLC
www.sqpegconsulting.com
www.johngoodpasture.com
John’s new book
• Agile in the enterprise
• Multiple methodologies
thoroughly explained
• From business case
to benefit capture
PUBLISHED BY J. ROSS PUBLISHING
Production assistance for today’s
presentation from
Todd W. Ruopp
A speaker, facilitator and coach
who promotes understanding
and integrated teamwork
Co-founder & President of
Unleashing Performance, Inc.™
Todd empowers professionals
to develop the knowledge & ability
to drive personal, professional
and organizational growth.
www.unleashingperformance.com
Dilbert
We need 3 more programmers.
Boss
Use agile programming methods.
Dilbert
Agile programming does not mean
doing more work with less people.
Boss
Find me some words that do mean
that and ask again
Dilbert™ is a creation of Scott Adams
It’s not about productivity
• Almost any methodology can be
made to work on some project.
• Any methodology can manage to
fail on some project.
• Heavy processes can be
successful.
• Light processes are more often
successful, and more importantly,
the people on those projects credit
the success to the lightness of the
methodology.
It’s not the holy grail
Alistair Cockburn
The Requirements Paradox
• Requirements must be stable for
successful development; but user
requirements are never stable
• We don’t want requirements to
change, but because changing
requirements are a known risk,
we should provoke change now.
It’s about requirements!And requirements analysis
Niels Malotaux
Requirements
Dilemma
Not everything the customer
wants is known at the outset
Requirements evolve with
operational experience
Build in Increments
Freeze requirements over short cycles
Define a little, build a little
Allow evolution, encourage creativity
Embrace change and innovation
No Big Bang!
Waiting until the end invariably misses the mark
Five Essential Points
Embrace change —
rather than fight it
Accept incremental
progress and results
Respect short delivery cycles
Keep value proposition
current and relevant
Leadership & Management1
Orient best value to the customer or end-user
Deliver the most bang as seen through the customer’s eyes
Best Value Method2
EXTREMELY
URGENT
Most Important
3
Deliver frequently & incrementally
Respect urgency and the importance
conveyed by the customer
Frequent & Incremental
Six to twelve people
Self-managed
Performance oriented
Small Teams4
Focus relentlessly on outcomes, not activities
Knock down barriers to team success
Communicate to sponsor and beneficiaries
Coach for success5
Business case: a
framework for details
Only the goal—the shape of
the outcomes—not the
details
‘Just enough’ for
a mind’s eye of how it will be
‘Just enough’ for
compelling attraction
Value begins in
the business case
Customer pays
or accumulates
advantage to realize
value of investment
3
Project transforms investment
into outcomes with potential
customer value
Sponsors
visualize and
invest
1
2
Value in Three Steps
Milestone
Milestones,
not Gantt charts
Investment, Milestones & More
Investments,
not budgets
Vision, not
specifications
Details will
emerge
Partition project goals
Sequence the most urgent first
Schedule sequences to hit milestones
Most Urgent
Most Important
Least Urgent
Least Importa
nt
The Incremental Project
1 + 2 + 3 = 6
Use Cases, User Stories, &
Backlog
User Stories Vignettes
Use Case ScenariosActionable backlog
22Copyright 2010 John Goodpasture, All Rights Reserved
Backlog cycle
One Time box
Lessons learned
Creative ideas
New cycle plan
Dynamic Backlog Cycles
Must be completed
Should be completed
Milestone
Work on
Backlog
Feedback Make Course
Corrections
TIMEBOX
Time boxes regulate team work
Increments of the backlog are delivered at milestones
Time box throughput: rate of go-live value added
Throughput benchmark: enables planning predictably
Team work benchmarks
Cadence
is the
key
Team 2
Team 1
Team 3
All time boxes are planned within one horizon
Plan to the horizon
END
Throughput only measures “value added”
Throughput AccountingMeasure Value Added to the business
Benefit realization
Throughput is where the benefit is
Benefit is not realized until customer pays
and / or
Benefit is realized when the deliverable advantages the customer
Beneficiary linkages
Sponsor recovers investment
Project manager earns the value of the deliverable
Beneficiary pays according to the value of benefits
More information
www.johngoodpasture.com
PUBLISHED BY J. ROSS PUBLISHING
Send John questions at
johngoodpasture.com
Square Peg Consulting, LLC