1 copyright greg smith agile essentials for project managers keys to using agile effectively with...

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Copyright Greg Smith

Agile Essentials for Project Managers

Keys to Using Agile Effectively With Project Teams

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Greg Smith

[email protected]

AgileSmith

Agile Coach/Trainer: Certified APM, CSM, PMI-ACP®

Co-author of Becoming Agile in an Imperfect World (Part of the reading list for the PMI ACP ® exam)

Specialize in helping companies create Agile frameworks that thrive within their environments since 2001 (such (e.g. Exxon, Microsoft, Fannie Mae, Stanford U., TD Ameritrade, Halliburton, StubHub)

Agile Project Management instructor at Bellevue College since 2005

Speaker at PMI World Congress 2012

Track Chair at Agile 2013 Conference

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Agenda

Why Agile?

Should I Use Agile?

If I Use Agile, Do I Keep any Waterfall?

Who Brings Agile In?

Bonus Material – Agile and Organizational Change

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Who Are You?

• New to Agile?

• Using Agile?

• PMI-ACPs?

• Agile Expert?

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Tell Me About Your Problems

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Why Agile?

Agile addresses problems with the 3 Ps

Process

People

Profits

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Problem

We do steps that do not add value to the project

We serve the process, the process does not serve us

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Design Integration SummaryImplementation PlanImplementation Gateway Checklist

Integrated Test PlanIntegrated Test Case

Implementation Gateway

Executive SummaryProject Financial Control Tool

Plan Gateway

Business Partner Identification Checklist

Project Communication Plan

Deliverables to be Updated in Plan Phase

Requirements Package

Plan Gateway Checklist

Project PlanProject Schedule

Deliverable

Business Partner Identification Checklist

Initiate GatewayBusiness Case

Project Tier Assessment

Initiate Gateway Checklist

Business Case

Project Status Report (Most recent)

Project Tier AssessmentRisk Assessment

Integrated Test Results Report

Organizational Training Plan

- TSG addendum to Exec Summary

- TSG Scoring Model Template- Technical Assessment (Part 1)- Project Cost Estimation Worksheet

Executive Summary

Risk Assessment

Project Document Location FormProject Financial Control Tool

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Agile Fix

• Minimum required

• Additional practices and documents determined by team

• Follow best practices, but the emphasis is on ensuring value

Required Suggested/Optional

Project worksheet

o Project Objective statement

o Team members o User/customer

benefits o High level feature

list o Tradeoff matrix o Major milestones o Risks

Operational worksheet

Feature card exercise (cards optional)

Elevator Statement Document answers to Feasibility Discussion Guide questions

o Cost/benefit analysis

Feature card document – possible that only index cards are used.

User scenarios

Prototypes and/or mockups

Iteration plan

Maintenance plan

Additional documentation as required by the team/project.

Test plan

Detailed schedule

Launch Plan

Action items from project retrospective

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Problem

We deliver stuff that is not used

Standish Group Study – How often features are used in the typical application

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Agile Fix

• We prioritize the work

• We deliver iteratively - by value

• The customer can tell us to stop

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Process Problems

We take too long to deliver

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Agile Fix

• We code to the minimum spec

• We demonstrate often to minimize rework delays

• We estimate based on historical data

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Problem

• Some team members “punch the clock”

• Employees spend a lot of time in their managers office complaining

• Employees don’t believe in the process

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Agile Fix

• Everyone is involved

• Team members are expected to suggest improvements

• The majority of work is done in a collaborative manner

• Fewer vent sessions

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Profit Problems

• We miss our dates

• We go over budget

• We get to market late

• We work on many projects but finish very few

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Agile Fixes

• Agile gets code to customers earlier

• Earlier Delivery = Earlier ROI

• In addition, Agile focuses on loading teams at the correct level for maximum throughput (lower costs)

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When Should I Use Agile?

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Agile Is Approximately 70 Practices

Preconditions Phase1.1 Project Portal1.2 Scrum Master Checklist1.3 Elevator Statement1.4 Focus Matrix1.5 Project Charter

Elaboration Phase2.1 Elaboration Meetings2.2 Features/Epics2.3 User Stories2.4 Product Backlog2.5 Project Framework2.6 SWAG Estimates

Core-Team Research Phase3.1 Architectural Diagrams3.2 Code Design Documents3.3 Risk List3.4 Staffing Plan

Release Planning4.1 Release Planning Meeting/ Release Plan4.2 Ideal Day Estimation4.3 Planning Poker

4.4 Story Point Estimation4.5 Requirements Prioritization4.6 Requirements Modeling4.7 Interaction Flows4.8 Wireframes for Entire Project4.9 UI Designs for Next Sprint4.10 User Research Plan4.11 Test Strategy4.12 Architectural Spikes/ Spike Solutions4.13 Gold Standard Stories

Sprint Planning5.1 Story Design and JAD Sessions5.2 Story Acceptance Criteria5.3 Definition of “Complete” by User Story5.4 Task Identification5.5 Task Estimates5.6 Burn Down Reports5.7 Task Dependencies5.8 Team Availability5.9 Build Schedule

Construction Sprint6.1 Unit Tests6.2 Functional Test Cases

6.3 Test Driven Development (TDD)6.4 Pair Programming6.5 Daily Standup Meeting6.6 Refactoring6.7 Collective Code Ownership6.8 Daily Builds/ Automated Builds6.9 Continuous Integration6.10 Code Reviews6.11 Deferred Bug Logging6.12 Issue Tracking/ Bug Tracking6.13 Smoke Testing6.14 Integration Testing6.15 Exploratory Testing6.16 Project Demo6.17 Retrospective

Team Organization7.1 Small Team7.2 Cross-Functional Team7.3 Self-Organizing Team7.4 Co-location Seating/ Common Workspace7.5 On-site Business Owner7.6 Scrum Master7.7 Sustainable Pace7.8 Scrum of Scrums

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The Right Perspective

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Not Yes or No, but what level of Agile for this situation

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Level Examples

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How Do I Determine My Level?

Agile Framework

ExistingValuable Practices

PracticesNot Covered

By Agile

Low Resistance,High Value Agile

Practices

ComplianceNeeds

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Agile Does Not Cover a Complete Project Lifecycle*

Agile Is Closer to an SDLC than a PMLC

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Guess Who Fills in the Gaps?

PMBOK® is still good,mmmkay?

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How Do We Move to Agile?

• Let’s Use Agile to Move to Agile

• Let’s Let The Teams Roll it Out

I’ll tell the managers we don’t need them anymore!

I’ll make some user stories!

I’ll collaborate

with someone

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Why Not Turn Them Loose?

• Different opinions on what Agile is

• Usually do not know - all practices are not equal

• Agile is not just for teams

• Agile is for entire organizations

• Driving organizational change is difficult

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If Not The Project Team, then Who?

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The Transformation Team

• Often a Coach

• Business People

• Executives

• Managers

• …and yes, the Team

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Executives Clarify What is Expected

• Business• Need to get you feedback throughout the project

• Need to refine your needs throughout the project

• Need to prioritize and identify the minimum viable product

• Managers• Learn the principles and details

• Promote, evangelize, and coach Agile expertise in your area

• Reward teams more and individuals less

• Teams• Ready to self-direct at some level?

• Are you good at self-discipline? (well kept agile secret)

• Ready to be value driven instead of plan driven?

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It Affects Executives Too

For best results, executives need to:

•Prioritize the projects

•Limit how many projects the team works on in parallel (WIP)

•Expose all work and projects

•Limit team members from moving around

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The Team Gets Involved Via the Core Team

• The group is 5 to 10 people, so they can be agile

• The group has aile champions, fence sitters, and detractors.

• The team is diverse and mostly excludes line management

• The group will vet the Agile design, help improve it, and eventually mentor others on it

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Together Management and Team Members Move the Company Toward an Agile Mindset

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Contact

[email protected]

(206) 854-9229

AgileSmith

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Bonus MaterialDriving Organization Change


“PMI” is a registered trade and service mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc. ©2012 Permission is granted to PMI for PMI® Marketplace use only.

What if you could save 100,000 lives?G

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Situation

• Donald Berwick – CEO Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

• Data showed 10% defect rate

• Equates to 15 million instances of medical harm each year

• Equates to thousands of needless deaths each year

• Autos can be built at a defect rate

of .1% – why can’t we be that low?

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The Plan Share the data and the hospitals will jump on board

• 12/14/2004 - Berwick gave speech at

hospital admin convention

• Proposed six specific interventions to

save lives

The ultimate goal – Save 100,000 lives in the next 18 months

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Easy Sell?

All of the admins supported the mission…but were reluctant.

Why?They had to admit to errors

They had to change behaviors that

were ingrained and automatic

The death numbers were just that,

numbers and statistics

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Uphill Battle

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Improved Plan

• Make it tangible and real………..the mother of a victim

She said, “I’m a little speechless, and I’m a little sad, because I know that if this campaign had been in place four or five years ago, that Josie would be fine…But’ I’m happy, I’m thrilled to be a part of this, because I know you can do it, because you have to.”

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18 Months Later - Results

• Berwick announced 122,300 lives were saved

• The IHI had convinced thousands of hospitals to change

What did they learn about organizational change?

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1) A Goal Should be Clearly Defined

• Not “Let’s eliminate some of the medical errors in the future”

• Not “Let’s eliminate 50% of the errors “

• But save 100,000 lives in exactly 18 months.

Berwick met with the Hospital Admins 18 months to the hour, after he proposed the initiative

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Create Specific Agile Goals

• Three teams using Agile by January

• Increase customer satisfaction by 10%

• Reduce first delivery average by 20

days

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2) Motivate the group

• Berwick connected with emotion by bringing in the

mother of a real victim

• How many admins thought of their own families?

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Motivate the Organization

Business

– Criticals sooner

– We can support discoveries

Team

– The Lifecycle is not another impediment

– You get to help beyond your functional area

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3) Shape the path – make it easier

• Only one page to enroll

• Detailed instructions and

training

• Used peer pressure by showing

successful hospital results

• Established mentoring groups

with practice gurus

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Make Agile Easier

• Limit the practices to use on pilots

• Create cheat sheets and checklists

• Benchmark with other companies

• Hands on training and coaching

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Contact

[email protected]

(206) 854-9229

AgileSmith