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Agile Foundation, Promises and Myths
Executive Brief For
Turner Broadcasting PMO
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Better Software Delivery
• Get working software to market faster• Optimize resources• Improve predictability of delivery• Satisfy customer needs• Improve delivery capability
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Software Development Circa 1994
Technology is a key driver for business strategies
But most business weren’t very successful at it
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The Predictive Approach
To improve software delivery we need to:
• Standardize processes• Optimize resource utilization• Perform Rigorous up-front design• Produce Comprehensive documentation• Get commitment to a definitive Scope, Cost and
Schedule• Enforce strict adherence to the detailed plan
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Predictive ApproachUnderlying Assumptions
Scope• All requirements are
knowable initially• Requirements can be
documented completely up front to guide development
• Change requests provide sufficient flexibility to new and/or clarified needs
Variation• Tasks required to
deliver requirements can be precisely known and estimated
• Tasks must start and finish according to the predictive schedule
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Predictive Approach: Underlying Assumptions
Process• Software engineering
is linear in nature• Manufacturing-centric
practices apply directly to software engineering
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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 process 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.
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PREDICTIVE / AGILECOMPARISON
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Get to Market Faster
Predictive Approach• The best way to finish projects faster is to dictate that all tasks
be finished on time
Flaw • Variation from estimates is natural
Agile • Separate estimates from execution. Promote Road Runner
behavior.
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Optimize Resource Utilization
Predictive Approach• The highest ROI depends on maximum resource utilization
Flaw • Software development is not linear in nature – Optimizing
resources doesn’t improve cycle time, it creates WIP and lost knowledge.
Agile• Focus on finishing and flow of work
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Predictive Approach• Planning every detail up-front results in stable projects
Flaw• You don’t know where you are until you deliver things.
Agile• Frequent delivery of tested, deployable solutions provides the
best learning and predictability (you can trim the tail)
Business Value GrowingKnowledge Growing (risk reduction)
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
Cost Value
$ in
k
Improve Predictability
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Satisfy Customer Needs
Predictive Approach• Study the problem until you know everything
Flaw• We can not have perfect (even reliable) up front knowledge of
all tasks, how to do them, how long they will take, or what challenges we will face.
Agile• Get started early delivering value and get customer
feedback
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Improved Capability
Predictive Approach• Rigorous adherence to work standards, hand-offs, and detailed “how”
based process
Flaw• Every team, product, and situation is different with different needs
and strengths
Agile• Engaged, fully capable, self organizing teams that are continually
assessing their performance and applying situation specific strategies, processes and practices
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Better ways of developing software
Agile Methods deliver on the promise:
• Get to market faster• Optimize resources• Improve predictability• Satisfy customer
needs• Improve delivery
capability
Because Agile is designed to deal with these realities:
• Inevitable uncertainty in scope
• Natural variation from estimated task effort
• Non-linear nature of software engineering
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AGILE MYTHS
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No Planning
Origins• Comprehensive detailed
planning is not realistic• Treating estimates as
commitments destroys moral and value
Agile Approach• Identify major outcomes,
milestones & dependencies
• Plan & prioritize backlog iteratively
• Establish context & simple policies
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No Documentation
Origin• Detailed up front spec’s
are wrong in retrospect• Perfect documentation
provides little customer value but results in delays and rework
Agile Approach• Document high level,
stable concepts• Just in time detail• Rich forms of
communication• Focus on long lived doc’s
that support adoption and achieving value
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No Commitments
Origin• Tasks cannot be defined,
much less estimated, up front
• Committing to tasks does not ensure the project is on track
Agile Approach• Estimate the big project by
order of magnitude• Commit at the sprint level• Demonstrate predictable
delivery of working software
Commit at OOM
Commit to PO Pull work -
Commit to Team
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No Process
Origin• Detailed process is different
from task to task• And difficult & wasteful to pre-
determine & enforce• Teams know the most about
the task in the moment
Agile Process• Establish standards & policy• Establish competencies within
teams• Teams self-organize armed
with most current understanding
• Automate repetitive processes
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No PM, BA, QA
Origin• Scrum does not specify PM,
BA, QA• Agile started with small teams
where a Product Owner embodied these functions
Agile Approach• These competencies still exist
either on the team or coordinated by the Product Owner
• Larger org’s require a PO team
PM
BA
QA
PO
DEV
DBA
UI
Product Owner Team
Development Team
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CONCLUSION
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How do you know you’re Agile?
The question is not are you Agile
Where are you on the Agile scale?• Balance predictive and Agile methods where
appropriate to optimize your organizations ability to deliver value
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Summary
• Agile arose in response to problems with predictive planning
• Balance predictive planning and Agile execution to achieve these goals of software delivery– Get working software to market faster– Optimize resources– Improve predictability of delivery– Satisfy customer needs– Improve delivery capability
• When applied responsibly and purposefully, the appropriate Agile efforts will dramatically improve the ability to deliver software.
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QUESTIONS?
Dennis StevensPresident, SynaptusEnabling the Agile Enterprisewww.synaptus.comwww.dennisstevens.com