agile. is it only for it?...the agile manifesto manifesto for agile software development: we are...

AGILE. IS IT ONLY FOR IT?

By Chris Vandersluis

President, HMS Software

Learning Points

You will leave this presentation with a new way of thinking about deploying complex projects

Starting tomorrow, you will be able to apply Agile concepts on complex enterprise and change management projects and how Agile methodology can be applied to business processes outside the software development arena.

You will have an understanding of which aspects of Agile are appropriate to apply to your enterprise business process projects and what types of projects will benefit the most from this approach.

Introduction

Founder of HMS Software; publishers of TimeControl, a project-based timesheet system

Over 30 years experience in project and timesheet systems

Author of the EPMGuidance.com blog

Teaches Advanced Project Management at McGill University

Writing has appeared in:

Fortune Magazine, American Management Association’s Project Management handbook, PMI’s PMNetwork, Microsoft’s TechNet, Computing Canada, and PM Times magazines.

Agenda

Introductions

What is an Enterprise Project?

Enterprise Project Challenges

What is Agile?

Agile’s history

Does this Agile stuff really work?

Big Bang vs. Phased Approach

Potential Pitfalls

Wrapping Up

What is an Enterprise Project?

It affects operations across the enterprise; the organization

It changes behavior

Examples:

Changing the Finance system, moving our headquarters, Corporate merger/acquisition, implementing a centralized Project Management Office…

What is the challenge of an enterprise project management initiative

Underestimating

Enterprise projects are almost always underestimated and therefor underfunded, under supported and under sponsored

Omnibus Mentality

Just as in politics, enterprise projects can be so large that everyone tries to stick their pet projects into them and the scope therefore becomes unwieldy

Common Pitfalls

Technology can solve any problem

Management is behind us… aren’t they?

We will do everything at once in one big bang

What is Agile project management?

Agile is a methodology that is almost always thought of for software development in which the creation of software is an iterative process of releasing small waves of development as it is complete

With each wave, the software is expected to be useable right away with whatever functionality has been completed

The Agile ManifestoManifesto for Agile Software Development:

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 tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding 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.

Source: http://agilemanifesto.org

Agile History

The incentive:

Precursors

Rapid Application Development

Design-Build

Rolling Wave

Design

Commission

Design

Commission

Traditional Project Tracking

Design/Build Project Tracking

Design Build

An Example of Rolling Wave (Circa 1987)

Does Agile work?

Yes it can

The proof is in the pudding...

Agile has worked to bring complex software development to manageable levels

So Agile is just for software?

Agile was always conceived as a methodology which could be applied to both software development and process change

What is applicable from Agile to managing an enterprise project?

We can eat the elephant if we can make the bites small enough

Agile Practices Acceptance test-driven development

Agile Modeling

Backlogs

Sprints

Behavior-driven development

Cross-functional team

Continuous integration

Domain-driven design

Information radiators

Iterative and incremental development

Pair programming

Planning poker

Refactoring

Scrum meetings

Test-driven development

Agile testing

Timeboxing

Use case

User story

Story-driven modeling

Velocity tracking

Agile Practices Acceptance test-driven development

Agile Modeling

Backlogs

Sprints

Behavior-driven development

Cross-functional team

Continuous integration

Domain-driven design

Information radiators

Iterative and incremental development

Pair programming

Planning poker

Refactoring

Scrum meetings

Test-driven development

Agile testing

Timeboxing

Use case

User story

Story-driven modeling

Velocity tracking

Agile PracticesBacklogs

Backlogs are the functions and features that will become a part of the final delivered project

Backlogs are unassigned scope items

Backlog items are assigned to resources only once they are about to be started as part of a Sprint

Agile PracticesSprints

A sprint is a short mini project of a few days in duration

All tasks in the Sprint are expected to be completed within the Sprint’s duration

Work is both tightly managed yet team members feel freedom within the Sprint

Agile PracticesCross-Functional Teams

A cross-functional team includes members from across all the resource groups required to deliver this section of the project

Siloed teams often find they work at cross purposes with other groups

Agile PracticesContinuous Integration

Continuous integration brings elements of the project from different groups together ongoingly so that no one element of the project becomes a silo

Integrating continuously reveals potential challenges while they’re in their infancy

Agile PracticesInformation Radiators

The resurgence of the Project War Room

The team project team congregates regularly in the room to update the project

The entire team becomes more effective thanks to improved person-to-person communication

Agile PracticesIterative and Incremental Development

This is a fundamental aspects of Agile that is highly applicable to any enterprise project

When a project like an enterprise project is difficult to accurately predict, working incrementally is very effective

The larger the scale, the higher the risk

This is similar to the Rolling Wave planning concept as described in the PMBOK

Agile PracticesScrum Meetings

Scrum meetings are meetings in which the cross functional project teams meet with a facilitator to update the project and take on new tasks

Scrum meetings are almost always blissfully quick and it is easier to focus on a smaller aspect of the project

The facilitator who is neutral can resolve conflicts quickly and keep the project moving forward

Agile PracticesTime Boxing

Timeboxing takes a scope of work and puts it into a schedule; a “box” of time.

While this is not always a primary focus of Agile, it is common to more traditional project scheduling and a great place for both concepts to align

Agile PracticesUse Case

A Use Case describes what someone will do to complete a function.

Instead of just a task title, the use case describes the function’s steps one after the other

Use Case techniques can reveal deficiencies in the process which could cause delays in the project down the road

Agile PracticesUser Story

Unlike the Use Case, a User Story is a narrative of a business problem.

This is often forgotten in project planning as team members focus on delivery of the solution rather than remembering the original problem

When you create a User Story, you are describing in plain language what the problem is and how it can be overcome.

How to implement Agile thinking in our project management practices?

Use Agile thinking to deploy your Agile changes

Think phased approach vs. big bang

Use Trim Tabs to turn the ship

Big bang or phased deployment?

Big Bang Phased

Implementing AgileBig Bang vs Phased approach

Big BangBenefits: Better chance that the entire vision will

be implemented

Disadvantages: The longer the project lasts, the more chance no value will be delivered at all

PhasedBenefits: ROI happens fast and continues

Disadvantages: Better chance that the entire vision will not be implemented thanks to the law of diminishing returns (80/20 rule vs 20/80)

Potential pitfalls

Adopting everything

Wholesale change

Not managing this change as a change management project

Trim Tabs

How do we shift from one way of managing projects to another?

Turning the ship

Ship Rudder

Buckminster Fuller’s Trim Tabs

Rudder

Trim-tab

Learning Points

You will leave this presentation with a new way of thinking about deploying complex projects

Starting tomorrow, you will be able to apply Agile concepts on complex enterprise and change management projects and how Agile methodology can be applied to business processes outside the software development arena.

You will have an understanding of which aspects of Agile are appropriate to apply to your enterprise business process projects and what types of projects will benefit the most from this approach.

Wrapping up

Lessons Learned

Next Steps

For more information, please contact me at:

Chris Vandersluis

Email: chris.vandersluis@hms.ca

Tel: 514-695-8122

HMS Website: www.hms.ca

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/cvandersluis

Blog: www.epmguidance.com

YouTube: youtube.hms.ca

Contact Information

Thank you

agile. is it only for it?...the agile manifesto manifesto for agile software development: we are...

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