Introduction to AgileThe world awaits

Agile Maine Day May 5, 2017

@HeidiAraya

Heidi “there’s got to be a better way”

ArayaMBA, PMP, CAL, CSP, CSM, CSPO, LSSBB, CRCMP

• Agile & Lean enthusiast

• Process improvement aficionado

• Systems thinker

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Enabling happy workplaces by making it fun to work together to deliver value for the business.

@HeidiAraya

What will we discuss today?

• What is Agile (and what it is not)

• Dispel common myths about Agile

• How it is changing the way we work and live

• How to be Agile minded

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What did we do “before Agile”?

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Requirements

Deploy

Design/Analysis

Implement

Integration

Test

Project start

Project end

• All-or-nothing approach

• Partially done work

• Extra features

• Task switching

We thought …

• Customers knew what they wanted

• Nothing would change after planning

• If something went wrong, it was because someone didn’t plan right or enough

The result was:

• Handoffs

• Delays

• Defects

• Product no one used And it was called… “Waterfall”

Now we have Agile...

• Agile is a set of principles and values that offers a foundation for decision-making… A “mindset”

• Agile uses iterations, frequent feedback, & close customer collaboration to deliver the highest-priority items first

• Change is welcomed, and requirements and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of small, self-organizing, cross-functional teams

• Quality, inspection and adaptation are key principles

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Project end

Project start

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History of Agile * abbreviated

• 1930s - Walter Shewhart proposed a series of short “plan-do-study-act” (PDSA) cycles to improve products & processes

• 1943 - Lockheed researched and delivered a fighter jet using key Agile practices

• 1950s - Toyota hired Deming, who developed the Toyota Production System (TPS), the beginning of “lean” thinking

• Late 1950s - NASA’s Mercury program used half-day iterations to produce working software

• 1961 - John Boyd’s ”OODA” Loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) which Scrum later borrows

• 1970s - US Navy developed helicopters using short cycles (iterations)

• 1986 - “the New New Product Development Game” by Takeuchi & Nonaka identified specific conditions in successful product manufacturing companies and coined the term “Scrum”

• 1990s - Rick Dove’s book “Response Ability” discusses enterprise agility

• 1995 - Scrum for software was presented at a conference by Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber

• 2001 - “Agile Manifesto” specifically related to software development (signed by 17 software leaders)

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Agile is not …

• A methodology

• A framework or process

• A specific system

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Agile is …

• Upheld by a mindset

• Described by a set of 4 values

• Defined by 12 principles

• Supported by many practices, processes and tools

Mindset

Values

Principles

Practices

Processes & Tools

@HeidiAraya

Agile Manifesto- Describes 4 Agile Values

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

We are uncovering better ways of developing

software by doing it and helping others do it.

Through this work we have come to value:

That is, while there is value in the items on

the right, we value the items on the left more.

Created in 2001 by 17 software development leaders

12 Agile Principles – acknowledged & addressed issues encountered with traditional projects

1 Satisfy the customer through early and

continuous delivery of valuable software

2 Welcome changing requirements, even

late in development

3 Deliver working software frequently

4 Business people and developers work

together daily throughout the project

5 Build projects around motivated

individuals and trust them

6 Convey information face-to-face where

possible

7 Working software is the primary measure of progress

8 Agile processes promote sustainable development

9 Continuous attention to technical excellence and

good design enhances agility

10 Simplify: Maximize the amount of work not done

11 The best architectures, requirements, and designs

emerge from self-organizing teams

12 Team reflects, inspects and adapts to become

more effective

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Practices, Methods, Ideas, & Frameworks that support Agility

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Modern Agile.. and more

Processes and Tools

Many processes and tools support the Agile mindset & way of working

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Story points

RetrospectivesBacklog

refinement

Definition of Done

Visual Boards

Small teams

Acceptance Criteria

Planning Poker

StandupsSprint

Review

Kickoffs Pair

Programming

It’s easy to forget…

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…Without the right mindset, the practices will have little value

Doing Agile Practices Being Agile Mindset

~20% benefit• Ability to manage

changing priorities• Improved visibility• Improved quality• Reduced risk

~3x benefit• Customer delight• Joy at work• Engagement• Innovation, creativity• Continuous learning

Most value comes from mindset & culture, not practices

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Mindset

Values

Principles

Practices

Processes & Tools

≠

Why we need Agile

• Agile enables organizations to cope with continuous change

• Embracing Uncertainty: businesses must handle increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous situations

• Competition: Businesses must become as nimble as the rapidly changing world

• Sustainability: The only way to cope intoday’s marketplace is to embrace Agile

• Software is becoming central to most businesses… Agile is becoming key

• Agile puts the customer first

• People love working this way

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Agile is changing the way we work

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• Large projects lasted for a year or more without interim check-ins

• People were given instructions by their managers and expected to carry them out independently

• No worker feedback was given for up to a year in a written annual review

• Daily collaboration is normal; feedback almost instantaneous

• Workers may know more about a topic than their manager

• Teams need to make independent decisions quickly

• Managers are now expected to enable an environment so people can do their best work

The Org chart is turning upside down

• Workplaces are evolving … often, entire organizational structure needs to change

• Some organizations & managers are struggling to change from giving top-down orders to enabling self-organizing teams

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Challenges of “Transforming” to Agile

• Difficult to start & transform a company when it includes organizational design changes (especially larger orgs)

• Many misunderstandings about Agile

• No one Agile recipe that fits all companies or situations

• Not all teams likely can use the same tools, processes or frameworks

• Management is used to seeing information presented in a certain way and it’s difficult to train them to want new kinds of information

• Change is hard!

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Some Myths about Agile

• Agile is new

• Agile is only for software

• There is no planning in Agile

• Agile means no documentation

• There is no room for managers in Agile

• Agile will fix a troubled project immediately

• Agile delivers the same scope of work but much cheaper

• Implementing Agile is easy; we don’t need help or training

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Advantages of Agile1. Revenue – early to market fewer features

results in better ROI over time

2. Speed-to-market – deliver sooner and get feedback

3. Ability to respond to change

4. Value-driven and goal-oriented

5. Quality is built in from the beginning

6. Visibility & transparency into actual progress

7. Risk management – early warning of problems

8. Customer needs are met through business & customer engagement

9. Cost Control – usually fixed, stable teams

10. Happier, more productive people

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How to be Agile-minded

1. Break things down into bite-size pieces

2. Focus on outcomes instead of output

3. Make your work visible and transparent

4. Track your progress

5. Inspect & adapt using feedback

6. Embrace change

7. Daily standup meetings

8. Look to limit “Work in Process” & work “Just in Time”

9. Continuous improvement & learning through education

10. Self-organize instead of expecting to be directed

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Being Agile-minded: getting started

1. Bite-sized pieces of work

2. Focus on outcomes instead of output

3. Limit WIP

4. Work is visible/transparent

5. Track progress

6. View daily

7. Ask for feedback along the way

8. Adjust to priority changes

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Digital boards can be created free at Trello.com

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Heidi ArayaAgile Leader @

Phone: 407-403-3361Email: Heidi@brightlogicgroup.comLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/heidiaraya/Twitter: @HeidiAraya

Questions?