The Software Project Managers Bridge to Agility

Michele Sliger September 23, 2008 michele@sligerconsulting.com

Michele Sliger Sliger Consulting, Inc.

www.sligerconsulting.com Over 20 years of software

development experience, with the last 8 in Agile Certified ScrumMaster Trainer BS-MIS, MBA, PMP Co-author of The Software Project Managers Bridge to Agility, part of Addison-Wesleys Agile Software Development series
2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.
2

What well cover.

Brief Overview of Agile Acceptance of Agile by the PMI Traditional vs. Agile Mapping to Agile Practices:
Integration Project Management Scope Project Management Quality Project Management Risk Project Management

How Your Role Will Change Where to Find More Information

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.
3

Agile PrinciplesThe Agile Manifesto

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.
-- http://www.agilemanifesto.org/
2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.
4

How is Agile Different from Traditional Approaches? The Paradigm Shift

Waterfall
Fixed
Requirements Resources

Agile
Time

Plan Driven

Value Driven

Estimated
Source: www.dsdm.org

Resources

Time

Features
Release themes & feature intent drive estimates

The Plan creates cost/schedule estimates

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

Agile Frameworks
SCRUM (Ken Schwaber) XP (Kent Beck) Crystal (Alistair Cockburn) Lean Software Development (Mary Poppendieck) Dynamic System Development Method (Dane Faulkner) Adaptive Software Development (Jim Highsmith) Feature Driven Development (Jeff DeLuca)

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

A Generic Agile Process

Product Backlog
Feature 1 Feature 2 Feature 3 Feature 4 Feature 5 Feature 6 Feature

Release A
Feature 1, Feature 2, Feature 3a Release to Production

Release Backlog
Feature 1a Feature 1b Feature 1c Feature 1d Feature 2a Feature 2b Feature 3a

Iteration 1
Feature 1a Feature 1b

Iteration 2
Feature 1c Feature 1d Feature 2a

Iteration 3
Feature 2b Feature 3a

Product Backlog
Feature 3b Feature 3c Feature 3d Feature 4 Feature 5 Feature 6 Feature

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

A Generic Agile Process

Product Backlog Release A Release B Release C
End of Project

Release Backlog

Iteration 1

Iteration 2

Iteration 3

End of Release

Iteration Backlog

Daily Work Daily Work

Daily Work...

End of Iteration

Iterations are 1 to 4 weeks

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

PMBOK Project Phases vs. Agile Project Life Cycle The Agile Fractal
At the Release level: And at the Iteration level:

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

Planning: Vision, Product Roadmap

Release or Quarter

Release or Quarter

Release or Quarter

Project Retrospective

Agile Project

Release Planning

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Release Retrospective

Agile Release or Quarter

Iteration Planning

Daily Work

Daily Work

Daily Work

Iteration Demo, Review, Retrospective

Agile Iteration

Daily Stand-up

Task Completion

Task Completion

Task Completion

Update Progress

Daily Work
10

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

PMIs View of Agile

There is no single best way to define an ideal project life cycle. PMBOK, p. 20 The project manager, in collaboration with the project team, is always responsible for determining what processes are appropriate, and the appropriate degree of rigor for each process, for any given project. PMBOK, p. 37
2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.
11

More Agile Acceptance

April 2005 PM Network article titled Reconciling Differences by Peter Fretty In 2003, Shine Technologies found:
93% of its clients reported improved productivity as a result of using Agile methods 88% found the quality of the products to be better 83% experienced better business satisfaction

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

12

And More Agile Acceptance

In Virtual Reality Marcia Jedd shared the following principles and practices in use by Kenneth Fong, PMP, at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology: collaboration, team empowerment, team norms, project manager as leader and not dictator Mike Griffiths is teaching Agile in PMI Seminars World, a PMIsponsored event

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

13

Traditional vs. Agile Project Management

Traditional: Plan what you expect to happen Enforce that what happens is the same as what is planned
Directive management Control, control, control

Agile: Plan what you expect to happen with detail appropriate to the horizon Control is through inspection and adaptation
Reviews and Retrospectives Self-Organizing Teams

Use change control to manage change

Change Control Board Defect Management

Use Agile practices to manage change:

Continuous feedback loops Iterative and incremental development Prioritized backlogs
14

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

What Paradigms are we Breaking? The Software Development Continuum

Agile Development
Process
Measure of Success
Waterfall Development Iterative Development Iterative and Incremental Development Parallel Test Development Acceptance Test Driven Development

Conformance to Plan Command-and-Control

Response to Change Leadership /Collaborative

Culture

Design

Big Design Up Front

Continuous

QA

Big Test on Backend

Continuous

Graphic Rally Software Development Corp., All rights reserved

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

15

New Measures of Success

Agile Development
Process
Measure of Success
Waterfall Development Iterative Development Iterative and Incremental Development Parallel Development Acceptance Test Driven Development

Conformance to Plan

Response to Change

Critical Path Work Breakdown Structure % Complete of Tasks Serial Checkpoints Procedural Process Fixed Scope

Critical Chain Features and Plans # of Features Accepted Parallel Checkpoints Empirical Time Boxes Fixed Time and Resources

Graphic Rally Software Development Corp., All rights reserved

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

16

Culture of Discipline and Collaboration

Agile Development
Process Culture
Waterfall Development Iterative Development Iterative and Incremental Development Parallel Development Acceptance Test Driven Development

Command-and-Control

Leadership /Collaborative

Culture of Sign-Offs High-Level Plans = Roll-up of Detailed Plans Detailed Planning Early Protect the Project Scope Demonstrate at End Long Weekly Status Meetings
Graphic Rally Software Development Corp., All rights reserved

Culture of Learning Gross Estimates of Backlog Create the High-Level Plans Detailed Planning within Iterations Protect the Iteration Scope Demonstrate Every Iteration Short Daily Stand-up Meetings

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

17

Continuous Design and Test

Agile Development
Process Design QA
Waterfall Development Iterative Development Iterative and Incremental Development Parallel Development Acceptance Test Driven Development

Big Design Up Front Big Test on Backend

Continuous Continuous

Contract with Customer Big Design Sign-Off Dreaded Integration Phase Never Miss Dev Complete Date Work in Big Phases Testing Squeezed
Graphic Rally Software Development Corp., All rights reserved

Partner with Customer LRM Design Decisions Continuous Integration Never Break the Build Work in Small Chunks Low Priority Features Squeezed
18

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

 2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

19

Integration Management
Traditional Agile Project Plan Release and Iteration Development Planning Project Plan Execution Iteration work Direct, Manage, Monitor, Facilitate, Serve, Lead, Control Collaborate Integrated Change Constant feedback: Control During the iteration
At the end (demo, review, retrospective)

Ranked Backlog
2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.
20

Start with a prioritized (ranked) product backlog

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

21

 2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

22

 2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

23

 2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

24

 2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

25

Scope Management
Traditional Scope Definition Create WBS Scope Verification Scope Change Control Agile Planning Meetings Release and Iteration Plans Feature Acceptance Constant feedback:
During the iteration At the end (demo, review, retrospective)

Ranked backlog
2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.
26

 2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

27

WBS
Release Plan Iteration Plan

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

28

Using Gantt Charts

Feature breakdown structure does not show tasks Duration = full length of the iteration No resource allocation (unless assigning teams)
Graphic Mountain Goat Software, All rights reserved

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

29

Acceptance criteria for the feature is written on the back of the card. This is the basis for the test cases.

Passing test cases arent enough to indicate acceptance the Product Owner must accept each story.
2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.
30

Burndown Charts

Estimated Scope

Iteration/Time
2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.
31

Quality Management
Traditional Quality Planning Quality Assurance Agile Test-Driven Development Committed QA resources involved from the beginning Reviews & Retrospectives Test early & often Feature Acceptance

Quality Control

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

32

Photo courtesy of a2gemma at http:// www.flickr.com/photos/a2gemma/552208117/ 2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

33

Example of an Iteration Review Meeting Agenda

Stakeholders should be invited to attend the demo Team only for the review and retrospective

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

34

What Worked Well?

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

35

What Challenged Us?

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

36

What Recommendations Do We Have?

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

37

Decisions and Action Plans

Action Plan What
Requirements Review with Greg, Francine, and Tatyana Meet w/CEO re: timeslicing

Who
Mark Jay

When
Monday Monday

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

38

Risk Management
Traditional Risk Identification Qualitative Analysis Response Planning Monitoring and Controlling Agile Iteration Planning and Daily Stand-ups and Retrospectives Daily Stand-ups and Highly Visible Information Radiators

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

39

The Agile Framework Addresses Core Risks

Intrinsic schedule flaw (estimates that are wrong and undoable from day one, often based on wishful thinking)
Detailed estimation is done at the beginning of each iteration

Specification breakdown (failure to achieve stakeholder consensus on what to build)

Assignment of a product owner who owns the backlog of work

Scope creep (additional requirements that inflate the initially accepted set)
Change is expected and welcome, at the beginning of each iteration Self-organizing teams experience greater job satisfaction

Personnel loss

Productivity variation (difference between assumed and actual performance)

Demos of working code every iteration

Core risks from Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister: Risk Management During Requirements IEEE Software

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

40

 2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

41

 2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

42

In Planning Meetings -

In Daily Stand-ups -

2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.

43

Lets Review
Project planning is broken out into multiple levels of planning: we looked at quarterly /release planning, iteration planning, and daily planning Facilitating and coaching a team helps them to make the best decisionsand frees you to focus on strategic and organizational issues The ranked backlog, owned by the business, is the primary means of change control
2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.
44

Lets Review
Scope is defined at a granularity that is appropriate for the time horizon Scope is verified by the acceptance of each feature by the product owner Work Breakdown Structures become Feature Breakdown Structures Gantt charts are not typically used; instead burndown charts help us to track progress
2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.
45

Lets Review
Test-driven development and cross -functional teams help to bring quality assurance and planning activities up to the beginning of the project, and continue throughout the project Bugs are found and fixed in the iteration; features are then accepted by the product owner
2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.
46

Lets Review
The very nature of the agile framework allows core risks to be addressed by the team throughout the project Highly visible information radiators and constant feedback cycles help teams to identify and monitor potential risks, and respond effectively once the risk event occurs
2008 Sliger Consulting Inc.
47

Your New Role as a Servant Leader

Your Responsibilities
Safeguard the Process:
Facilitate meetings Remove roadblocks Protect the team from distractions Help people communicate Act as the teams memory

Be the voice of reality

Remind the team of the overall vision Remind the team of the purpose of the process Remind the team of decisions they agreed to Ask the team to explain things to you if it doesnt look like what theyre doing makes any sense Keep velocity estimates in check Bring the probability of unfinished features to their attention Keep metrics
2008 Sliger Consulting, Inc.

49

Your Responsibilities
Communications: Mediate team disputes Be the first rung in the escalation ladder Negotiate with those outside the team Provide highly visible information radiators
And formally report on progress

Manage external dependencies Coordinate with others on releases

2008 Sliger Consulting, Inc.

50

Your Responsibilities
Build a community: Create a safe environment that fosters collaborative decision-making and encourages experimentation Maintain an environment that supports high productivity Serve as a liaison and ambassador and advocate Participate in organizational change Share your experiences with others

2008 Sliger Consulting, Inc.

51

You Do NOT
Own the product backlogthe product owner does Own the estimatesthe delivery team does Make delivery decisionsyou facilitate this activity for the team, and instead make decisions regarding project administration and strategic and organizational issue resolution Make product decisionsthe product owner does, or his/her proxy Have to have all the answersask the team!
2008 Sliger Consulting, Inc.
52

Where to Find More Information

2005 Rally SDC

Free Online Resources

www.agilealliance.org www.scrumalliance.org www.apln.org www.sligerconsulting.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scrumdevelopment/ http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/ agileprojectmanagement/

2008 Sliger Consulting, Inc.

54

Additional Resources
Stretching Agile to Fit CMMI Level 3, an experience report by David J. Anderson:
http://www.agilemanagement.net/Articles/Papers/ StretchingAgiletoFitCMMIL.html

Books:

The Software Project Managers Bridge to Agility by Michele Sliger and Stacia Broderick Lean Thinking by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones Implementing Lean Software Development by Mary and Tom Poppendieck Agile Project Management with Scrum by Ken Schwaber Scaling Software Agility by Dean Leffingwell Behind Closed Doors by Esther Derby and Johanna Rothman Collaboration Explained by Jean Tabaka Agile Estimating and Planning and User Stories Applied by Mike Cohn
2008 Sliger Consulting, Inc.
55

Tools Agile Project Management

ScrumWorks
www.scrumworks.com (Danube)

Rally
www.rallydev.com

Version One
www.versionone.com

2008 Sliger Consulting, Inc.

56

Tools Various, Free

CardMeeting
www.cardmeeting.com

Planning Poker
www.planningpoker.com

FIT and FitNesse

www.fitnesse.org

Watir
www.watir.com

Selenium
www.openqa.org/selenium/

XPlanner
www.xplanner.org
2008 Sliger Consulting, Inc.
57

Thank you!
michele@sligerconsulting.com
Visit www.sligerconsulting.com for more information on this and other agile training and coaching offerings