transition to scrum midway through a aaa development cycle: lessons learned asbjoern malte...

Transition to Scrum Midway through a AAA Development

Cycle: Lessons LearnedAsbjoern Malte Soendergaard

Development Manager Crytek GmbH

Taking advantage of agile in a non-agile environment

Agenda

Why agile this lateOur ProcessNext steps (for us)

Agile worked for us

Shiped Crysis 12 months after implementing Scrum

80 developers (7-12 Scrum teams) 2/3 of the game was redeveloped Meta Critic Score of 91

Why agile this late in the production?

Feature creep Unable to measure progress We needed to reduce scope Vision blurred by a huge project

schedule

Minimize Waste

Crysis strategy Cross disciplinary teams when possible Teams should always sit together Always solve tasks sequeltially, not

simultanously Two things can ever be equally

important – force creative priorities Progress only counts if it works in the

build

Initial Product Backlog

Figure out what features need to be done

A feature means something you need at least two different skillsets to complete

Make one big list in excel and try to group these in related areas

Prioritize list Start with the featuregroup

which is most important

Setting up the first Scrum Team Take the people you need out of

the waterfall production team Seat them together away from

the rest of the team Focus on getting this ONE team

sprinting

Don't panic !

You have just started chaos People in the matrix structure

will be frustrated Shelter your sprint team 80/20 Support Rule

Repeat the process

Figure out what is the second most important feature group on your backlog

Create a team based on who is left in the waterfall project plan

Iterate these simple steps until everybody is sprinting

Make sure leads are not Scrum Masters

First team is the hardest

Department 1

Department 2

Department 3

Department 4

Department 5

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Development Manager

Department 1

Department 2

Department 3

Department 4

Department 5

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Development Manager

Department 1

Department 2

Department 3

Department 4

Department 5

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Development Manager/

Product Owner

Department 1

Department 2

Department 3

Department 4

Department 5

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Development Manager/

Product Owner

Department 1

Department 2

Department 3

Department 4

Department 5

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Development Manager/

Product Owner

Department 1

Department 2

Department 3

Department 4

Department 5

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Development Manager/

Product Owner

Department 1

Department 2

Department 3

Department 4

Department 5

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Lead/Manager

Development Manager/

Product Owner

Product Owner

Scrum Structure at Crysis Product Owner Customer (Lead) Scrum Master Team Members

Product Backlog

Managing expectations NOT schedules Creating Product Backlog Items is a

process of negotiating with the team what you expect

You define what you want, they go do it

Tell people what is expected not how to achieve it

Product Backlog - First Iteration

Product Backlog Grooming – Second iteration

Product Backlog Grooming – Second iteration

Product Backlog Grooming – Second iteration

Product Backlog

This is what we would like to improve Estimation process Valuation process Need a process to encourage people

to prioritize

Current Product Backlog

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Current Product Backlog

Current Product Backlog

Current Product Backlog

Current Product Backlog

Current Product Backlog

Total Work Burndown

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

01-S

ep-2

5

30/0

9/25

31/1

0/25

14/1

1/25

30/1

1/25

14/1

2/25

31/1

2/25

14/0

1/26

31/0

1/26

14/0

2/26

29/0

2/20

26

14/0

3/26

31/0

3/26

30/0

4/26

31/0

5/26

30/0

6/26

31/0

8/26

Final thougths

Common sense works, you just need a framework to scale it

The product backlog helps you manage expectations and guide the team

Don’t be affraid to go down the agile path, but don’t think you are agile just because you call it a sprint plan

Always fall back to lean principles and continue to identify areas you can reduce waste

Questions?

Asbjoern Malte Soendergaardasbjoern@crytek.de