Distributed Requirement Handling

Kjetil Moløkken-Østvold – Conceptos ConsultingXP2010, 2.-3. June, Trondheim

The easy part when implementing agile processes

• Having some meetings while not sitting down

• Moving yellow notes around a whiteboard• Using strange titles

(career as a ScrumMaster anyone?)

The hard part when implementing agile processes

• Developing and prioritizing requirements• Providing (accurate) estimates• Collaborating between developers and

customers

The hard part is even harder in a distributed

environment

The case: Lindorff

Lindorff Group• Lindorff Group is a leading

outsourced receivables management company in Europe and on a global basis

• Lindorff has approximately 2200 employees

• Offices in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Russia and Sweden

NextLevel Project• Developers in Oslo and

Bø• Testers and business

developers in Oslo, Røyken and Trondheim

• Users/customers in Røyken, Oslo, Trondheim and other areas

Internal improvement study Q4 – 2007, findings:

• Poor routines for communicating and prioritizing requirements

• Effort overruns• Internal collaboration

rated as average

Describing, refining, prioritizing and communicating requirements is difficult for business people

Understanding, estimating and developing requirements is difficult for software developers

Problem: inefficient communication

Solution

• Implement a flexible sharing regime for requirements, prioritization and estimates

• Lindorff joined a project financed by Innovation Norway

• Main development partner was Symphonical

About Symphonical

• Symphonical is a web-based collaboration platform, that integrates documents, tasks and communication

• Cloud based (Amazon) since 2008

• Spin-off from Simula Research Laboratory

Example features used by Lindorff

• Live (collaboration)• Sharing (to collaborators)• Voting/estimation (for requirements/user

stories)• Conversations (history, replaces mail etc.)• Template – default text on notes

(requirements/user stories)• Tool – reuse settings/templates

Results

• Lindorff improved on all studied areas• Respondents provided ratings (1-5, 1=best)

Main results (two years after)

Selected areas 2007 2009

Collaboration business/IT 2,4 1,9

Requirement handling 3,0 1,9

Estimation process 3,3 2,2

• Effort overrun (perceived) was reduced from an average of 25% to 12%

Responses from Lindorff

• Requirement handlingo All respondents (IT and business) reported that use of

Symphonical had greatly improved how requirements were specified, refined and communicated

• Estimationo About half reported that Symphonical had improved the

estimation processo The other half reported no discernible impact from

Symphonical by itself (though it could have played a role along with other improvements)

o Responses to a large extend depended on company role, with business perceiving most value

Lessons learned

• Analyze your situation regarding requirements and overruns

• Get rid of static documents (word, excel etc.) shared via email

• Implement a web-based collaboration platform

Thank you!

• Presentation: http://www.conceptos.no/

• Email:

• Kenny Rogers (The Gambler):“Then somewhere in the darkness, the gambler he broke even. But in his final words I found an ace that I could keep”

• This research project was funded by Innovation Norway

• Caveat Emptor: the author of this presentation is a member of the board of directors at Symphonical, and has ownership interests in the company