Baby steps in an Agile world

Agile strategies and techniques that will save your sanity while making your

committee better. Probably.

None of what I talk about here has anything to do with individuals or groups specifically. After going through two redesigns of the campus web presence, spending two years on a large scale campus project, and working with countless clients in the *real world* along with Startups I have devised the following “Agile story.” Use at your own risk.

Disclaimer

http://gapingvoid.com/ms2125.jpg

# S: (adj) agile, nimble, quick, spry (moving quickly and lightly) "sleek and agile as a gymnast"; "as nimble as a deer"; "nimble fingers"; "quick of foot"; "the old dog was so spry it was halfway up the stairs before we could stop it"

- http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=agile

Agile Manifesto •Individuals and interactions

over processes and tools

•Working software over comprehensive documentation

•Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

•Responding to change over following a plan

http://agilemanifesto.org/

User stories•Customer focus: “Improve the

results of searching for jobs.”

•Make them elevator friendly: 30 seconds to explain or less.

•Make them the right size: Something that can be done in a week or two.

•Make them testable: “A user can mark 5 jobs for a follow-up in under 2 min”

From http://www.flickr.com/photos/orcmid/3879384912/

People that don’t work in the same physical space need software.

Basecamp

•Overall feature or story item

•Tasks or stories

•Who is responsible, when is it to be done, comments, was it complete?

Pivotal tracker

Time estimation and management

http://web.hbr.org/email/archive/managementtip.php?date=120309

Other software components

•Besides Basecamp or Pivotal Tracker?

•Word, Excel, notepad…

Integrate version control with bug reporting and fixing.

Process

•Item is completed

•Fix is tested, status is reported and changed

•User has feedback added, feedback assessed

•New story is written or item is reopened

•Back to step 1

Use a process that works for you.

In short

•Use Basecamp or excel or a word document

•Break down the project for the sponsor (and you)

•Provide time estimates for each phase

•Share information, open up

About me.Jesse Rodgers

Associate Director, VeloCity -- University of Waterloo

Blog: http://whoyoucallingajesse.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/jrodgers

Email: jrodgers@uwaterloo.ca