Agile Project Management: A Deep Dive

Mohammad Faiz and Daniel MonahanIRC Monthly meeting – October 10th 2013

Agenda

The Speakers

Agile Scrum Origin Trends Framework

Role of Project Manager

Pitfalls & Suggested solutions

Q&A

Mohammad Faiz

Mohammad Faiz PMP, CSM

Program Manager & Agile coach

Daniel Monahan PMP, PgMP, CSM, PRINCE2 Practitioner

ObjectiveObjective of todays session is to share best practices and our experiences in managing Agile scrum projects. The presentation will help us understand the contributions

and value provided by Project Manager and pitfalls that can be avoided in an Agile scrum project

Agile Scrum

Origin

Lean Management and The Toyota Way

Muri, muda, and mura

XP (Extreme Programming)

Scrum was first defined as "a flexible, holistic product development strategy in 1986 by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka in the "New New Product Development Game”.

PMI’s Journey with Agile

Research shows that project management practitioners are embracing agile principles and practices for successfully managing projects.

Keeping in mind growing trends, standardization and need for quality professionals , PMI started Agile certified professional certification from 31st Jan 2012

Note: Challenged projects are those that were completed but had issues related to quality, cost, schedule etc.

Why Enterprises Embrace Agile

Source: Version One Annual Agile Adoption Survey 2012

Top Benefits of Agile According to Users

Source: Version One Annual Agile Adoption Survey 2012

Some Trends & Facts

84.5

respondents

to a survey

use Scrum

as favorite

agile method

¾ of

respondents

says agile

projects were

successful, ¼

say 100%

successful Scrum

originated in

Japan during

year 1986, but

now has one of

the lowest

adoption rate

The number of

those who plan to

implement agile

development in

future projects has

increased from

59% in 2011 83%

in 2012

The most

popular

Agile

method

used is

Scrum

(52%)

Scrum Framework

Scrum Accelerates Value Delivery: Incremental and Iterative

4 444 :Documents Documents Unverified Code Software

Priority 1

Priority 2

Priority 3

Priority 4

Priority 5

Priority 6

May not be needed

Working software available to users after Sprint 1 and features released incrementally

Why Prioritization Is Necessary

Some-times; 16%

Rarely; 19%

Never; 45%

Always; 7%

Often; 13%

Always or Often Used20%

Never or Rarely Used64%

Source: Standish Group Study Reported at XP2002

Agile Project Management

We will look at activities that we can do in addition to regular project processes, in order achieve best results

for the Agile scrum project

Role of the Project Manager

Plan

ProcessPolicy

Customer

Scope Value based prioritization Addition vs. Prioritization Non functional scope

Estimate Track burn down and keep adjusting velocity

Schedule & Release Sprint planning, track and adjust velocity Sprint components

Produce + Fix + Validate + Plan Deliverables

Incremental updates to design documents Staffing

Multi-functional team

Plan

Communication Total transparency and extensive involvement of

product owner Reporting

Value analysis Metrics

Configuration management Continuous integration Contingency plans

Process

Contract management Organization`s commitment to Agile Continuous education

Financial management Costing

Cost value analysis, comparing the value and size of story

Policy

Involvement Collaborative approach Continuous validation

Engage senior management Demonstrate value Share metrics

Retrospective & follow up`s

Customer

Common Pitfalls and Suggested Solutions

Prediction

Pitfall Suggested Solutions

Predicting the Product, Budget, and Technology

- What will be created in the end?

- Requirements are always changing

- Lack of prioritization- How many online PM tools

do we need?

- Emphasize that no business can predict what they want in six months time; business is dynamic. Track and demonstrate value, compare value with scope (Apply 80-20 concept)

- Track velocity, target XX size in XX months, demonstrate XX size as XX value to business.

- Provide iterative releases, reduce time to launch and encourage feedback.

- Tie your budget with your project schedule.

- Less online tools, more whiteboard and paper = greater transparency.

Knowledge

Pitfall Suggested Solutions

Lack of Training and Knowledge- 2-3 days training, no

practical experience- Scrum rites not followed- Burndown charts not

maintained, velocity not tracked.

- Doing waterfall phases across various sprints.

- IT department gets training, but what about the business and users

- Understand that Scrum is like chess: You can learn in one day but it takes years to master.

- Encourage group discussions, blogs, knowledge sharing.

- Have Agile sessions that involve the entire team (including PO) specially at the beginning and continue throughout the project.

- Educate value of Scrum rites, follow religiously.

Organization

Pitfall Suggested Solutions

Organizational Model- Culture is deeply rooted in

traditional & set waterfall model

- Not focused on delivering value

- Lack of prioritization at the portfolio level

- Availability of personal with right skill

- General resistance to change

- Management vision & support

- Developers do QA? Huh?!- No PMs?!

- Train BOTH business users and IT on Agile Scrum.

- Emphasize on reduced time to market

- Short, iterative releases give business users something to play with.

- Users often don’t know what they really want until they see it.

- Give people time to consider Agile.

- Screen potential team members for the right skillset and background.

- Demonstrate the value of developers assisting with QA.

Communication

Pitfall Suggested Solutions

Communication and Collaboration- Availability, involvement

and responsiveness of product owner

- No constructive criticism; no transparency in issues.

- Scrum master ability to facilitate

- Conflict resolution techniques missing

- Organize site visits, face to face interactions to improve trust and comfort level

- Create and implement communication matrix at the beginning

- Use smart presence (PO & Team logged on to video cam through out the day)

- Use situation walls- Encourage business canvas,

Product canvas approach

26

Situation Walls

27

Smart Presence

Q&A

Contact Us

Mohammad Faiz - mdfaizu@gmail.com

LinkedIn group – Agile Project Management in Tokyo

Daniel Monahan - dan_monahan@yahoo.com

LinkedIn group – Project Management in Tokyo