Natalie CollinsMay 12, 2009

Piloting Agile Project Management:the Google Scholar project

discussion points

characteristics of an "agile" organization managing an agile project adapting traditional PM and BA techniques to the method

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agile principles

Teamwork

Need-based developmen

t

Self-organizing

Light processes & documentati

on

Constant interaction

Knowledge-sharing

Constant deployment

Shared decision-making

Constant adaptation

agile process

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goal of our agile project

To reach into the popular and dominant research workflow bycreating a link between Google Scholar and CISTI products andservices.

why agile?

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is your organization . . . ?

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trusting confident innovative team-oriented flat capable of setting priorities decent at portfolio management willing to accept risk and failure sharing (i.e. knowledge and ideas) enthusiastic, available and committed to agile

are you right for agile?

If you don’t know whether your organization is agile, it isn’t!

If you are agile, negotiate for dedicated team members.

Impossible?? - Negotiate for a high percentage of time- Communicate to team why you project MUST come first- Make sure team knows what is expected from each iteration

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my organization

• National Science Library– National Research Council– Canadian Research and

Development• Collection and services

– Science, Technology, Medicine• Discovery and access to scientific

information

9Photo by Richard Akerman

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goal of our agile project

To reach into the popular and dominant research workflow bycreating a link between Google Scholar and CISTI products andservices.

big DB

extract metadata

not located

or not

authorized

NLM xml

located and authorized

locate authorize

search

MODS xml

convert (metadata)

NLM xm

l

insert location

NLM xmlNLM xmlNLM xml

preparing metadata for the web

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linking from Google Scholar to CISTI Discover

project details

• There were six, three week iterations . . .• . . . then there was an iteration 7 aka etc. etc.

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why this project was chosen

• small components• opportunity to output testable pieces of code each iteration• clear project scope• clearly defined business rules• small effort• familiarity and success with agile software development

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the method:prelude

determine iteration length gather user stories build your backlog prioritize stories estimate the effort to implement each

story

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I must be able to return to my Google Scholar search results.

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2

A USER STORY IS

- testable- prioritized- modifiable

building an understanding of your project

before you begin, try an iteration 0

• assign reading • determine architecture• identify key build or buy components• identify existing components• learn about existing components• storyboard your deliverables or storyboard a like organization’s process• hold a retrospective

– review and possibly reassign the degree of difficulty previously indicated on user stories

– identify training needs

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iteration 1 to n

Iteration planning should include the sponsor and the entireproject team.

• for each story, scope out high-level goals, sub-goals and tasks• identify dependencies between user stories, goals and tasks• recommend user stories for iteration

– highest priority + related tasks– highest risk – least likely to change

• get approval / changes from sponsor• get to work

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the method:an iteration cycle

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Backloggather

requirements

build

testdemonst

rate

reflect

plan

strengths of the method

+ an organic process+ great for software development+ focusing effort on small work packages+ don’t need to know the outcome to begin+ ready to develop sooner+ more sponsor involvement+ improves communications+ excellent way to handle scope issues+ engaged and motivated team

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challenges with the method

- adapting requirements gathering and design processes- user story granularity- working with external organizations- iterating “project control” tasks- demonstrating success to the sponsor

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challenges for the BA & PM

- accepting imperfection and uncertainty- determining the level of detail needed for each iteration- calming the cowboys (i.e. making sure developers aren’t making up

the business rules)- being on-call throughout the iteration- deciding how much information is enough to get started- estimating how much work to put into an iteration- earning the trust your sponsor and clients- planning continuously- tolerating and accepting that some work will be tossed

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let’s talk about communication

• hold brief meetings frequently• launch your project with the whole team • hold weekly meeting (schedule them at the outset of the project) • schedule iteration planning meetings with the sponsor• ask technical team to hold daily meetings• hold a retrospective at the end of each iteration• hold ad hoc meetings as needed• meet with the sponsor after every ad hoc meeting to explain the issue and, if

necessary, to receive approval for changes (i.e. to scope, resources, time, quality)

• make sure the team knows good communication is a global responsibility

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adapting to agile

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From © Scaredy Squirrel by Mélanie Watt, Kids Can Press, 2006

learning points

• characteristics of an "agile" organization• managing an agile project.• adapting traditional PM and BA techniques to the method

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Thanks!

this presentation is now available on slideshare

This material is based on a presentation given at ProjectWorld / BusinessAnalyst World (Toronto 2009) organized by:

Diversified Business Communications Canada42 Bentley Street, Unit 1Markham, ON, L3R 9T2905-948-0470 or 888-443-6786http://www.divbusiness.com

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