lessons learned in agile development

www.synerzip.comConfidential

Lessons Learned in Agile Development

Jim SmithPDX, Inc.

http://www.synerzip.com/


Disclaimer:

• I am not a consultant! (not that there’s anything wrong with that)

• I am:– Developer, by trade.– Been in management for the past eleven years.– Oversee development of four complex product

lines.– Approximately 250 programmers, QA testers,

Software architects and DBA’s.



Context

• PDX. . .• The original PDX Agile project. . .



Lesson #1

• Everybody thinks they’re already Agile.



Lesson #2

• Enabling developers to commit has spectacularly good effects:– They own it!– They manage their own overtime!– They drive teammates!– They escalate!



Lesson #3

• Managers get to do good things:– Coach/mentor– Strategic organizational and infrastructure

enhancement and fixes (e.g. – switch from proprietary bug tracking system to Jira)

– Audit– Get and stay plugged into business– Keep foot soldiers educated– Give morale maintenance the care and feeding it

deserves– Talk to each other



Lesson #4

• Write good user stories.– Good user stories are beautiful.– Apply the “no system” litmus test.



Lesson #5

• The industry feels that pre-planning is necessary.



Lesson #6

• TDD: a way of life



Lesson #7• At all levels, currents push us back toward

waterfall:– More docs– More time up front– More time for regression testing– Email, IM and bug record correspondence



Lesson #8• Even the best and brightest have trouble with

collaboration.– It’s a required skill in today’s software

development shop.



Lesson #9

• The team will gladly turn in slackers.



Lesson #10

• [Lean] documentation is still good.



Lesson #11

• “Nothing is over! Nothing!” –John Rambo



Lesson #12

• The team must understand: You can’t do everything that falls out of retrospectives.



Lesson #13

• Although not ideal, team members can be scrum masters.



Lesson #14

• You can get executive, managerial and customer buy-in with your first demo and through training on user stories



Lesson #15

• Customers and other stakeholders at demos = bueno!



Lesson #16

• Let the scrum team stay focused; retain a production support team.



Lesson #17

• Get your DBA team to agree to an SLA.



Lesson #18

• Break down those user stories!



Lesson #19

• Keep noisy managers and executives out of kick offs.



Lesson #20

• The stand up is for all.



Lesson #21

• The PO must appreciate the value of paying technical debt.– 20%



Lesson #22

• The PO is not the team owner.



Lesson #23

• People won’t talk? Slamming doors? Putting up walls? = dysfunctional Agile team.



Lesson #24

• Parties and other rewards after demos == bueno!



Lesson #25

• Don’t let a sprint go longer than five weeks.



Lesson #26

• Train your developers to sign off on user stories early.



Lesson #27

• The PO position is a fulltime job, for a member of the business, who can appreciate technical debt.



Lesson #28

• Co-location of sprint team members is good!• At a minimum, members of a given sprint

team should live on the same continent (except business analysts and architects)



Lesson #29

• Your development and test environments are production environments.– Enormous waste when they’re down.– Many grumpy people when they’re down; they’re

missing deadlines to which they committed!



Lesson #30

• Don’t treat your India folks like warm bodies. . .or they’ll act like warm bodies.



Lesson #31

• Sashimi is a great idea, but not always 100% possible.



Lesson #32

• Velocity steadily increases when your team rosters are constant, and working on the same product(s).– If you frequently change team rosters, then

abandon hope that velocity will increase.



Lesson #33

• The product ought to be ready for production after every sprint.– Although not always practical, strive for it with

every sprint!



Lesson #34

• The Scrum Master is a strong servant leader.



Lesson #35

• Plaster that product backlog EVERYWHERE!– The whole team needs to know it!– The company brass needs to know it!– Customers need to know it!



Lesson #36

• Developers are professionals – not privates in the army. Treat them as such.



Lesson #37

• “Scrum” is not an acronym.



Q&A


www.synerzip.comConfidential •4284

www.synerzip.comHemant Elhence

[email protected]



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