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Implement Agile Practices That WorkDeliver on time and improve communication with the business to minimize project failure.

Info-Tech's products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use toolsand templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns.© 1997 - 2014 Info-Tech Research Group

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Today’s application development is hard to manage due to increased scope and decreased timelines. Poor communication amplifies the problem.

Introduction

Is tasked with rolling out Agile within a team or organization.

Needs to understand the risks and gaps that currently exist prior to rollout.

Has to prove Agile effectiveness using metrics prior to wider rollout.

Determine suitability of Agile for your current organization.

Determine the most appropriate projects for Agile adoption strategy based on complexity, duration, importance, and ownership mapping.

Apply best Agile processes to a pilot project.

Calculate the people and technology costs to implement Agile.

Conduct a multi-project rollout.

Communicate with stakeholders.

This Research Is Designed for an Agile Evangelist who:

This Research Will Help You:

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Executive Summary

• App Dev Managers are under increasing pressure to perform more, with less time available to reach markets. Stakeholder miscommunication is being manifested through costly rework.

• Agile offers the ability to clarify communication processes in the form of easy-to-use, mix and match practices. Scrum, a frequently adopted process, should be the foundation of your Agile implementation strategy.

• Migrating to Agile requires a deep understanding of its philosophy. Appreciate how its components are integrated in order to optimize your implementation results.

• Any transition to Agile should start with an assessment of how your organization currently operates. Selection of champion early adopters, a suitable pilot project, and the right metrics measurement is critical to stakeholder buy-in and success.

1. Evaluate organizational metrics: team, management, technology, and culture.

2. Analyze pilot project metrics: complexity, duration, importance, and ownership.

Assessing fit:

Optimizing implementation:

1. Organize the appropriate roles

2. Adopt Scrum processes

3. Track costs

4. Measure performance results

5. Communicate with stakeholders

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What’s in this Section: Sections:

Make the Case for Agile

• Recognize the limitations of the traditional Waterfall methodology.

• Understand the benefits of Agile development and why it is critical in today’s fast paced IT world.

Make the Case for Agile

Assess and Prepare Your Organization

Choose the Right Pilot Project

Rollout Your Agile Pilot

Measure and Communicate Success

Prepare for a Wider Rollout

Summary

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Only a sliver of today’s IT projects are considered on time and on budget, meaning that traditional development methods are not delivering results.

Project failure is still prevalent

• Most development teams experience a disconnect between themselves and the end user. From a CompTIA poll, 28% of respondents reported poor communication to be their greatest cause of project failure*.

• When communication suffers, development teams have a poor understanding of the true needs and expectations of the end user.

Poor communication

• Business needs are rapidly changing as organizations try to maintain their competitive advantage and react to the shifting needs of the market. Development teams struggle to accommodate these changes, resulting in projects being delivered late.

Unrealistic deadlines

• Development teams fail to initially understand all the requirements needed to fully execute the project. This often causes them to fall under budget.

Insufficient resource planning

28%

18%

13%

41%

Root cause of project failure*

Poor communica-tion

Insufficient re-source planning

Unrealistic dead-lines

Other

Other causes of project failure include poor project requirements; lack of stakeholder buy-in/support; undefined project success/closure

criteria; unrealistic budget; insufficient or no risk planning; and lack of control/change process.

- *Rosencrance, Linda. “Survey: Poor communication causes most IT project failures.” Computerworld, 2007.

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We had problems with some of our earlier projects using a Waterfall approach where we got to the end and the customer would tell us that it

was not what they were looking for.

- Jason Burrow, Software Architect

Business strategies and requirements are constantly evolving and teams are having trouble catching up.

Business models are consistently remolded and adjusted

What’s needed

Planning: Defers formal organization, until the business determines it is important for delivery.

Prioritization: The most important requirements are executed in the current iteration, even if it is a modification of a previous delivery.

Focus: Since development teams work closely with their customers, they are able to make changes after each iteration to ensure that priority features are being worked on.

Business needs change too quickly

The success of your project or application is often dependent on how quickly you can react to changes in requirements.

Businesses struggle to keep up with change as applications are delivered with many features never or rarely being used.

Unused features in software development are attributable to features specified in some upfront planning phase, before their ratio of cost to value was considered or known.

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Traditional development processes limit you to obsolete techniques

Waterfall and other traditional processes and practices are delivering undesirable results.

Lack of stakeholder interaction

Changes to a product are difficult and disruptive during the release cycle. Stakeholder communication is pertinent during the entire application life cycle.

Unpredictable futurePlanning for uncertainty is unrealistic and unsustainable. Whether it be internal technical issues, or an unexpected move by a competitor, having enough flexibility to react to these changes keeps stakeholders informed and is financially responsible.

Condemned by an idea

Since all ideas are developed at the beginning of the release cycle, there is no room for expansion or innovation. The product is condemned to be as good as its original idea and it is difficult or nearly impossible to tailor the project to accommodate market changes.

Mediocre products

A process that does not support continuous change management produces a rigid and uncreative product. New and innovative ideas introduced to the market mid-release cycle can push a product to be less leading edge and more commodity.

Software applications developed through the agile process have three times the success rate of the traditional Waterfall method and a much lower percentage of time and cost overruns. The Standish

Group defines project success as on time, on budget, and with all planned features.

- Cohn, Mike. “Agile Succeeds Three Times More Than Waterfall.” Mountain Goat Software. 2012.

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Embrace Agile to reduce churn and effectively react to change in requirements

Iterations

Continual ImprovementPrioritization

Collaboration

Provides more opportunities for

feedback, as features are tested and released

after each process increment.

By having regular briefings, the team is able to self-manage

improvements and can better focus on

innovation efforts.

The most important requirements are

executed in the current iteration, even if it is a

modification of a previous delivery.

Emphasizing collective progress ownership

motivates team members to work through issues in a professional manner.

Agile facilitates change and allows the development team to change direction every iteration. The cost of change is low and it provides an opportunity for the customer to reassess the features for inclusion in the current iteration based on value and business ROI.

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Agile is a proven methodology

Pragmatism should rule when looking for evidence of project success rates.

Agile alleviates common pain points

Helped us deliver more value to the customer.

- Jason Burrows, Pacific Blue Cross

Agile has opened the flood gates of innovation.

- Senior Director

Of those who have implemented Agile:

52% of teams enhanced their ability to manage changing priorities

58% increased their productivity

54% of teams increased team morale

50% of teams enhanced their software quality

51% of teams experienced accelerated time-to-market

55% reported reduction in project risk

44% reported better alignment between IT and business goals

Source: VersionOne, LLC. Survey: “The State of Agile Development.” 2007.

Agile helped increase communication, collaboration, and transparency.

- Jim Wetzel, Former Project Management Office Director

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Use Info-Tech’s Agile Readiness Assessment Tool to document and track your Agile implementation

Each tab in this tool will help you assess readiness and the impact of rolling out Agile in your organization. This tool will be used throughout this toolkit.

Ensure your evaluation is accurate by including multiple business and IT stakeholders from various departments in the details gathering, evaluation, and discussions.

The Agile Readiness Assessment Tool:

Info-Tech’s Agile Readiness Assessment Tool can be used to collect information about the appropriateness of Agile for your organization given your existing team, culture, and project constraints. It will show opportunities where implementing Agile can increase productivity and reduce costs.

This tool will help you:

• Find the gaps in your organization, departments, and teams.

• Select a test pilot project for your initial implementation of Agile.

• Ensure Agile opportunities are rolled out in an efficient manner.

Info-Tech’s Agile Readiness Assessment Tool.

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Establish an Agile rollout plan

Use a systematic and choreographed rollout strategy for a smooth Agile implementation.

Rollout Agile on a broader scale using lessons learned.

Choose one of several methods for spreading Agile development throughout the organization.

Track the appropriate metrics to validate the pilot as proof of concept.

Understand your sprint velocity and effort overhead to improve project predictability and task completion rates.

Start your Agile implementation by instituting scrum processes with your pilot.

Document the tasks that you were able to complete and note any blockers and complications.

Step 1

Readiness

Step 2

Pilot

Step 3

Implement

Step 4

Measure

Step 5

Rollout

Determine what may be preventing you from reaching your desired Agile state in your organization.

Don’t jump into Agile before establishing the appropriate organizational environment.

Pick the right pilot project with the appropriate duration, complexity, ownership, and importance.

The pilot can be used to develop a proof of concept for wider Agile rollout.

How To Use This Toolkit:• Run through this toolkit multiple times with multiple projects to gauge the success and suitability of Agile in your

department and organization.• Fill the organization and project level gaps identified by the toolkit’s readiness and appropriateness

questionnaire.• Track the effort point burndown and velocity of your pilot project using scrum.

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