April 18, 2012 Meeting

Presenter: Alston E. Hodge, CSP, PMP

CONSIDERATIONS IN AGILE ADOPTION AND ADAPTATION

A PRESENTATION TO THE AGILE KNOXVILLESOFTWARE GROUP

AGENDA

• Agile vs. Scrum

• Principles vs. Practices

• Risks and consequences

• Case Studies in Adoption and Adaptation

• Summary

AGILE VS. SCRUM

• Agile – an umbrella term for all iterative and incremental development approaches• eXtreme Programming

• DSDM

• Crystal Orange

• Scrum

• Scrum – an Agile project management framework• Over 70% of “Agile” companies use Scrum or Scrum/XP

COMPARISON OF AGILE TOOLS

• 3 roles

• 4 ceremonies

• Small cross-functional teams

• Knowledgeable PO

• Senior level championship

• One project at a time

• Time-boxed

• Design-Build-Test-concurrently

• Early and continuous delivery

• Short duration iterations

• Business and developers together

• Empowered teams

• Face to face conversations

• Working software is the metric

• Emergent architecture & design

• Continuous improvement

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES

Core Principles Core Practices

ADOPT OR ADAPT?

Is it OK to adapt Scrum to fit our culture and work environment?

• Adopt the values and principles – these are foundational.

• Adapt the practices and techniques – make accommodations to match current reality

But realize the work and our world are constantly changing, so we need to change (adapt) our practices accordingly.

BUT UNDERSTAND THE RISKS

UNDERSTAND THE CONSEQUENCES:

CASE STUDIES REVIEW

CASE STUDY: NGO

• Introduced Scrum 4 years ago

• One 40-member team Five 8-member teams

• 16 offshore people (QA Testing, Production Support)

• Mini-waterfall (Scrum-lite)

• High turnover

• No acceptance criteria, no definition of done

• Stakeholders do not attend Demos

• Stories injected mid-sprint

• Most managers/leads work 60 hr weeks

• Frustrations at all levels, organization polarized

• CST refused to give certificates to participants in training

ADOPTION/ADAPTATION CHALLENGES:NGO• No ScrumMaster

• PO served as SM

• No one protecting the team

• No checks and balances

• No retrospectives

• Agile Champion = Theory X Vice President• Highest number of HR complaints

• Injects stories without informing PO

• Threatens employees with termination

• Training incomplete• Managers heckled trainer

• Trainer left after completing 75% of training

• 3 roles

• 4 ceremonies

• Small cross-functional teams

• Knowledgeable PO

• Senior level championship

• One project at a time

• Time-boxed

• Design-Build-Test concurrently

• Early and continuous delivery

• Short duration iterations

• Business and developers together

• Empowered teams

• Face to face conversations

• Working software is the metric

• Emergent architecture & design

• Continuous improvement

NGO: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES VIOLATED

Core Principles Core Practices

CASE STUDY: EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES

• Fast-pace work environment

• Four Product Owners

• High-turnover

• Stories injected mid-sprint

• Mini-waterfall (Scrum-lite)

• Offshore QA testing

ADOPTION/ADAPTATION CHALLENGES:EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES

• Certified ScrumMaster replaced by IT director

• Uncomfortable with cultural diversity

• No lead Product Owner

• Business side not trained in Agile

• No retrospectives

Product Owner

Scrum Master

Team

Simple Scrum

Product Owner 3

Scrum Master

Scrum Team

Product Owner 1

Product Owner 4

Product Owner 2

• 3 roles

• 4 ceremonies

• Small cross-functional teams

• Knowledgeable PO

• Senior level championship

• One project at a time

• Time-boxed

• Design-Build-Test concurrently

• Early and continuous delivery

• Short duration iterations

• Business and developers together

• Empowered teams

• Face to face conversations

• Working software is the metric

• Emergent architecture & design

• Continuous improvement

EMS: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES VIOLATED

Core Principles Core Practices

CASE STUDY:VACATION OWNERSHIP COMPANY

• New to Scrum

• $24M program

• Director was senior developer promoted, XP experience

• PMO director ex-military officer

• Recent down-sizing then re-hiring

• Big-bang Agile implementation

• Big up-front requirements gathering

• Big up-Front design effort

• Highly specialized team members

• Off-shore testing

VACATION OWNERSHIP:ADOPTION/ADAPTATION CHALLENGES:

• Lack of Scrum training

• SMs go to director for all issues and ideas

• Reluctance to start until all requirements known

• 60% contractors with different opinions of Scrum/XP

• 4 different contract companies working on one team

• Contracts dis-allow cross-functional development

• Command/Control leadership

• Leadership not on same page (IT, PMO, Business)

• 3 roles

• 4 ceremonies

• Small cross-functional teams

• Knowledgeable PO

• Senior level championship

• One project at a time

• Time-boxed

• Design-Build-Test concurrently

• Early and continuous delivery

• Short duration iterations

• Business and developers together

• Empowered teams

• Face to face conversations

• Working software is the metric

• Emergent architecture & design

• Continuous improvement

VACATION OWNERSHIP: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES VIOLATED

Core Principles Core Practices

CASE STUDY:HEALTHCARE SERVICES COMPANY

• Introduced Scrum 4 years ago

• Heavy offshore utilization

• Common practice to have 3 to 4 projects per sprint

• Only 55% of teams adopting Scrum

• Sprints vary from 2 to 10 weeks

ADOPTION/ADAPTATION CHALLENGES:HEALTHCARE SERVICES

• Business Partners not part of early adoption

• Various Sprint models

• In-effective retrospectives

• Large scale adoption not coordinated

Product Owner

Scrum Master

Team

Simple Scrum

Product Owner 3

IT PM

SME/ArchScrum Master

Scrum Team

Business PM

Product Owner 1

Product Owner 4

Product Owner 2

Lead Product Owner

IT PM

SME/Arch

Scrum Master

Scrum Team

Business PM

Product Owner 4

Product Owner 3 Product

Owner 2

Model D-D-D-S-U

DEV DEV DEV …. SIT UAT

Model D-S-U

DEV UATSIT

DEV UATSIT

DEV UATSIT

Model DS-U

DEV + SIT DEV + SITUAT UAT UATDEV + SIT

Defects Defects

Defects Defects

Sprint Models

DEV-SIT-UAT

Model S

DEV-SIT-UAT DEV-SIT-UAT ….

Failing Struggling Healthy0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Projects/sprint

Failing Struggling Healthy0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Team Size

Failing Struggling Healthy0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

True sprint length (wks)

Failing Struggling Healthy0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

PO Experience (yrs)

• 3 roles

• 4 ceremonies

• Small cross-functional teams

• Knowledgeable PO

• Senior level championship

• One project at a time

• Time-boxed

• Design-Build-Test concurrently

• Early and continuous delivery

• Short duration iterations

• Business and developers together

• Empowered teams

• Face to face conversations

• Working software is the metric

• Emergent architecture & design

• Continuous improvement

HEALTHCARE COMPANY: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES VIOLATED

Core Principles Core Practices

WHY ADAPTATION OCCURS

• Scrum viewed as methodology rather than framework of processes

• Reluctance to be truly transparent (risky)

• Reluctance to address organizational impediments (territorial)

• “That’s just how we do things here” (culture)

• Viewed as threat to hierarchical & command/control organizations

• Difficult to transition from process to product mindset

ADAPT, BUT REMEMBER …

• The closer you follow true Scrum, the less risks

• Don’t rest on your laurels

• Always room for improvement

TIPS AND TRICKS

• “If at first you don’t adopt, try, try again.”

• Track impediments

• Conduct regular organizational retrospectives

• Create and promote a culture of continuous improvement• Lean IT

• SixSigma

• Agile

• Community of Practice

SUMMARY

• Adopt, then adapt.

• Stop. Inspect. Adapt. Everyday.

• Take risks. Early.