shape shift - xp 2009

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Makes Jira Agile

XP 2009 Conference


Makes Jira Agile


Who we are …

Fabio Armani CTO @ Sequenza SpA - DEDAGROUP Agile Consultant & Traineer, Scrum Pratictioner

Massimiliano Dessi Software Architect @ Pronetics SpA Author of: Spring 2.5 Aspect Oriented Programming


Agenda

Do We Need Another Tool? Background Challenge Why Jira? Make Jira Agile Integration In An Open Agile Suite Questions


Do We Need Another Tool?


Why Do We Need aTool?

•  Let's assume that we have a large and shiny nail. What is the best tool for the nail? Hopefully, the answer is obvious to most of us. Now, let's assume that we have a development team and a "shining“, promising, cool new agile development process. Most likely the hammer will not help.

•  To tackle this problem, it is essential to have at your disposal a tool that enables requirements gathering, iteration planning, progress tracking and reporting. You can't rely on memory for requirements gathering. You can't rely on the universal perception for iteration planning and you definitely can't rely on telepathy for progress tracking and reporting. You need a tool that will do the job with minimum effort and minimum side effects.

•  “I think that people and how they interact on a project are the most important thing, and I think that they need to create a way of working -- a process -- that works best for them. Because their interactions are critical to project success, I suggest that teams begin the work with an approach that will bring them together as people, not one that will let them remain apart, communicating electronically”.

Ron Jeffries


Agenda

Do We Need Another Agile Tool? Background Challenge Why Jira? Make Jira Agile Integration In An Open Agile Suite Questions


Agile Fractal Process


Lifecycle - Scrum


Background

In the beginning Agile was …


Background


Background

Now we have a lot of Agile Tools …


Background

•  Currently there are different kind tools: •  Simple tools (whiteboards, cards on walls …) •  Tools which are specific to a methodology (ie: ScrumWorks,

XPlanner) •  Methodology Agnostics Tools •  Application Lifecycle Mangement (ALM) that are complete but

expensive tools (VersionOne, ResultSpace)


Tool Categories

•  The table below contains results of project management tools usage taken from TargetProcess leads (from May to July 2008).

Most likely, many people in the "None" category use paper and whiteboards. However, it is just an assumption. [source; TargetProcess]


Background

•  24% companies use traditional project management tools (vast majority use MS Project)

•  16% use Spread Sheets (vast majority use MS Excel)

•  12% use various Bug Tracking tools (JIRA is the winner in this category)

•  11% use Agile Project Management Tools (open source XPlanner is a leader)

[source: TargetProcess]


Agenda



Challenge

•  An Enterprise Agile Tool should support and satisfy a set of key features.

•  An Agile Tools should aims at be a transparent and lightweight wallet to your process and day by day job of team members.

•  Seamless integration of different tools (i.e.: IDE environment, Issue Tracker, Project Management Tool…).

•  Agile Teams should be collocated but Open Source development demands for distributed “virtual” teams spread across the Globe. How can we manage it?


Challenge •  1. Iterative, Feature-driven Development

Although it may seem to be an obvious mismatch, many teams attempt to use a series of traditional tools that complicate their work because they don't support basic Agile practices.

•  2. Integrated Lifecycle Management Tracking project information in multiple tools can inhibit accurate, real-time visibility.

•  3. Cross-Functional Teams True support for cross-functional teams means consolidating and facilitating the project planning and tracking needs

of customers, product management, project management, programmers, testers, etc. in a single environment for improved collaboration and consistency.

•  4. Flexible Configuration A scalable management tool should allow organizations to define, organize, and plan according to their unique

organizational requirements.

•  5. Simplicity Like agile development, the more simple the tool the better. Most importantly, tools should never replace the

benefits achieved by using the Agile practices - an Agile lifecycle management tool is only as good as the process it facilitates and the people that use it.

•  6. Enterprise Scale An agile tool for deployment within an enterprise must be able to handle a sophisticated project structure and

thousands of features and defects.


Challenge

•  Modern agile project management software combines common activities and provides open API for advanced integration.

•  It powers: •  User Stories and Epics management. •  Backlogs prioritization. •  High level release planning and low level iteration planning. •  Progress tracking via virtual Burndown Charts, Task Board and Daily Progress. •  Tests management via Test Cases support and integration with automated testing

tools. •  Bugs management via Bug Tracking support and integration with external bug

tracking tools. •  Customers’ requests management via Help Desk functionality or integration with

third-party tools like Salesforce.


Agenda



Why Jira?

JIRA Solutions – Jira could be used to support different solutions And it’s a standard de facto.


Bug Tracking

Customisable, powerful defect tracking designed for teams large and small.

JIRA is a system developed to track, manage and close bugs. More than 8,700 organisations depend on JIRA because it offers: straightforward tracking that follows the entire life of a bug integration within your IDE and other development systems flexible security strong reporting and project tracking capabilities


Bug Tracking


Project Management

Track, allocate and report on project tasks with real-time statistics.

It can be a nightmare trying to keep track of all the tasks in a project. JIRA helps you manage and complete each task according to your workflow to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.


Agile Software Development

Estimate, allocate and track your iterations. •  Extreme Programming. •  Scrum. •  Lean Development. •  Feature-Driven Development. Agile development methodologies have revolutionised the way we

develop software. It helps teams to deliver higher quality code more quickly, more frequently and in better alignment with what customers really want.


Technical Support / HD

Escalate cases, monitor response statistics and manage team workload.


Opensource projects using Jira


Highly Customizable

The success of Jira is based on: •  Wide range of aviable plugins for al the needs •  sdk-plugin that allows to write custom plugins •  Fully customizable interface, dashbord and so on •  Fully customizable "skin"


Jira and Tasks

A key point of Jira is the Creation of task and sub-task. <screenshoot here>


Jira Dashboard


Points iterations chart


Gantt


Stories


Stories over iterations


Jira with IntelliJ IDEA


Jira with Eclipse


Jira talks with IPhone


Jira and Green Hopper


Agenda



Make Jira Agile

•  Don’t reinvent the wheel! •  Build the new tool as a plugin on the Jira platform allows

us to take advantage of: •  Other Plugins Integration •  Open Solution


ShapeShift

•  Vision


ShapeShift

•  Main features: •  Planning management of release and iteration •  Independent definition of values and story points •  Automatism to aid in release planning and estimations •  Agile prioritization using MoSCoW (taken from DSDM)

•  Must have (or Minimum Usable Subset) •  Should have •  Could have •  Won't have (but Would like in future)


ShapeShift

•  'Must Haves' are features that must be included before the product can be launched. It is good to have clarity on this before a project begins, as this is the minimum scope for the product to be useful.

•  'Should Haves' are features that are not critical to launch, but are considered to be important and of a high value to the user.

•  'Could Haves' are features that are nice to have and could potentially be included without incurring too much effort or cost. These will be the first features to be removed from scope if the project's timescales are later at risk.

•  'Won't Haves' are features that have been requested but are explicitly excluded from scope for the planned duration, and may be included in a future phase of development.


ShapeShift

•  The integration of the entire planning and development process is the major argument for a dedicated tool. Almost any development process includes activities like:

•  Requirements management (product/release backlogs). •  Planning (release/iteration planning). •  Tracking (project/release/iteration progress tracking). •  Quality Assurance (testing, bugs management). •  Feedback Gathering (feedback from customers, ideas, issues).


Agenda



Integration in an Agile Suite

•  ShapeShift in the first module of a suite of inter-cooperating plugins devoted to bring a complete set of tools for: •  Agile Teams •  Agile Executives •  Agile PMOs

•  The suite will Process Tracking •  Manage portfolio as well as economics


Integration in an Agile Suite

“A trend that will continue to influence software tools is ever-tightening release cycles. Where releases once took years, an increasing number of software products will release new functionality to production monthly, week, daily, or even more frequently. […] The trend towards support more frequent transitions between activities will continue. More activities will be supported without large changes of context.”

—Kent Beck

Agile project management tools have a short history. It is obvious that current tools are just a first tryand they will evolve in the future. Currently three main trends may be mentioned.

Tangible – intangible linkage

Obviously, teams like tangible tools and agile software tools will use something tangible to provide

better user experience. Large sensor displays like Microsoft surface

(http://www.microsoft.com/surface/index.html) will be used for iteration planning, daily meetings, and

other interactive meetings.

Complete integrated development life-cycle solutions

Agile project management software is evolving into complete life-cycle solutions. Development teams

need a platform that combines and exposes information about all aspects of software development,

from initial requirements to unit tests results and source code commits.

Distributed collaboration tools

More and more companies will have development teams worldwide working on the same projects.

Distributed teams are a reality in a software development world and this trend will be progressing over

time. Agile tools will focus on distributed teams support better, providing integration with

communication tools like Skype and WebEx.


Agenda



Questions & Answers


Thanks

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shape shift - xp 2009

Technology