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Key factors for successful Agile project delivery Nick Price, Programme Manager and CSM, Lean Practitioner

Introduction: in late 2013, having recently completed my Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) qualification, I wanted to gather inputs from Agile and Scrum practitioners on what really makes the difference for successful Agile project or product delivery.

After more than a year has passed, I wanted to share this information again as, first and foremost, I was really grateful for the feedback shared by these communities and the interest that the question sparked; and secondly, because I am very interested to gather any additional inputs… Question posted in 2013: Please provide, in order, your top 3 to 5 key factors for successful Agile project or product delivery. Audience: posted on LinkedIn

© to both the Scrum Practitioners Forum and Certified ScrumMaster Forum.

Outcomes: Below is a summary of the responses received. In order to summarise the many responses provided, I have had to paraphrase in some cases and also combine some responses into a single ‘success factor’, but I hope that the meaning and the message has not been lost as a result!

‘# Responses’ – shows the number of contributors who raised each success factor ‘# Top Criteria’ – shows the number of times this Success Factor was rated as a Top 3 factor for success.

The list below is ranked by the ‘# Top Criteria’, with the top 3 success factors highlighted below followed by the next 5, and so on.

So… what do you think?

Do the survey results still stand and hold true? Any additional success factors or any missing? Would you stress the importance of one of the factors below over the ‘top’ items highlighted? (I was surprised that

Item 18 did not feature more prominently!) Any further thoughts or feedback very welcome!

ID Success Factor # Responses

# Top Criteria

1 Experience and/or Training and Coaching: An organisation (Product Owner, Scrum Master and Team) that: a) has experience of working in Scrum/Agile OR who have received proper Training and/or coaching. OR b) has been Trained and has Coaching to enable full commitment to their roles. If the entire organisation is all new to Scrum and do not have adequate coaching, it is very likely to fail...

20 14

2 Product Owner who fulfils most of not all of the requirements: a. Ensures adequate funding for the Product/Project. b. Is Accountable for the ROI and decision making c. Able and willing to prioritise the Product Backlog d. Is Knowledgeable (business AND technical) e. Is Available (full access to the product owner for the team).

21 12

Key Factors for successful Agile project delivery Nick Price, Programme Manager and CSM, Lean Practitioner

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ID Success Factor # Responses

# Top Criteria

3 Sponsors/ Senior stakeholders & Customer commitment: who are educated about Agile delivery (why, benefits, what it takes to be successful...) to make sure they really buy-into-it; and provide support to the Team. This could of course be a paradigm shift for many organizations.

16 12

4 Self-organising Team that: a. Collaborates b. Strives always to achieve the committed sprint goal c. Does not wait for some else to bring up/solve their problems. d. Is empowered to make decisions and solve its own problems e. Respects the Definition of Done (If not, then what's the point…) f. Is a balanced team, with a good mix of personalities.

13 8

5 Co-located Team & Facilities e.g. Project WAR room set-up correctly and actively used and utilises visuals (Stories on boards, Task Board, Burndown Charts...) (implies co-location...)

9 7

6 ScrumMaster / Agile PM who:

a. Empowers the team to raise impediments b. Tackles issues raised immediately (mid-Iteration and from Retrospectives) c. Knows their role (versus a 'traditional' PM) d. Is empowered and has the required leadership skills to break down barriers

and remove blockers e. Is available!

14 5

7 Involvement of the customers/end users to: review user stories, acceptance tests, Demos & Reviews; to provide feedback as early as possible.

13 3

8 A properly groomed product backlog: High quality (clarity) and Detail of Stories (Requirements) in the Product Backlog that are prioritised.

8 2

9 Tooling & Enablers - Software architecture, engineering practices, Code management/ CI practices, code reviews, pair-coding and test methodology all have to be amenable to delivering working features in short sprints. Often this is not the case.

5 2

10 Sprints/Iterations that deliver usable, working features - take features through to Production (or as close as possible) and not just “Build”.

2 2

11 Properly functioning Retrospectives - Continuous improvement (find the waste and eliminate it, find the ways to become better). Retrospectives that enable the whole team to make iterative improvements (behavioural).

6

12 Openness & Trust: Team is in an environment of trust. The team selects the stories, provides estimates and commits to the sprint.

3

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ID Success Factor # Responses

# Top Criteria

13 Teams are stable (no major changes in teams) for at least 3-4 Sprints in a row, so that teams can increase efficiency and learn to work together.

3

14 Vision clearly communicated from the Product Owner(s) & stake holders and understood by the team.

2

15 Developers who are prepared to Test i.e. Test Driven Development Practice which enables early defects surfacing.

2

16 Strong communication

a. Strong, positive communication flow between technical and product teams at all levels.

b. Internal team communication - through daily scrum meetings and sprint planning.

2

17 Sizing of Sprint Backlog Tasks: containing tasks of <8 hours effort, to ensure that to right level of detail.

1

18 No/ Low tolerance to change of Backlog during Sprints - backlog stays stable during Sprint.

1

19 Test Automation: of as many technical and acceptance tests as is humanly possible!

1

In addition, contributors provided the following factors for unsuccessful project delivery that I have also included in the summary to complement the information above:

1. Stories with vague requirements and "nice to have" addendums.

2. Story churn during the sprint: add, remove and modify stories constantly See Item 18 above!

3. Story churn in the backlog: team spends much time (re)grooming stories that never make it to any sprint.

4. De-empowerment: do not allow the team to resolve recurring impediments even when the team has plausible suggestions how to do so.

5. A PM (masquerading as a Scrum Master) micro-managing the team: telling each team member which story to work on and how. Never trust them to do the right thing, second-guess every decision. Perform status checks several times a day…

Avoid these and you are on your way to success!