Myths and truths about Agile

Armands Baranovskis

@xabarx eBIT

Disclaimer• This talk is a subjective representation of

my understanding of Agile processes based on my personal experience.

• Any similarities with real life projects are purely intentional.

• No Scrum masters were hurt during the making of this presentation.

The BIGGEST evil:

Agile manifesto

image via geek-and-poke.com

The “I have read about it” group

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

There are no

Jira

Redmine

Pivotal tracker

Git SubversionInformation

radiatorWiki

Etc.

TOOLS:

Scrum

Kanban

XP

FDD

TDD

Planning poker

Continuous delivery

Etc.

Processes:

Working software over comprehensive documentation

There is no

Sufficient

Alive

Should be: Code

User stories

Manuals

Architecture

ER diagrams

Acceptance criteria

Etc.

Types:

Customer collaboration over contract negotiations

There are no

Scope replacement procedure

User stories

with estimatesCooperation

guidelines

Acceptance criteria

Should include:

Responding to change over following a planThere is no

Project plan

Priorities

Estimations

Budget

Scope

Acceptance criteria

There absolutely

MUST be:

Management

Planning

Tracking

Understanding

Gartner hype cycle

image via datameer.com

The “silver bullet” seekers

We will do stuff faster and better

Do expect:

10x increase in productivity

Miracles

Don’t expect:Faster identification of

problems

Better understanding

Shorter feedback

loops

Quicker initial results

We should do it if we don’t know what we need

Please please please

go back to the project

definition

The “once tried and failed” group

It’s a great skill, juniors can’t do it

Our brain is

Agile

Impossible to do under fixed price

Scope replacement procedure

User stories

with estimatesCooperation

guidelines

Acceptance criteria

Should include*:

*See “There is no contract” section

Agile = Scrum!

Everyone should be multifunctional, there is no specialization

Work still needs to be done

Try your best to

learn moreDon’t be scared to

fail

You are not Chuck Norris

Tips to remember:

The “nonbelievers”

image via rockpapercynic.com

It’s more expensive

Costs will be structured differently

It requires more involvement from the client

Want good results?

Get involved!

Impossible to sign off on anything

This might be a

problem

It just blows up scope

DO NOT forget:

Planning

Management

Tracking

Understanding

Thank you!

Any questions?