Primer into Agile methodology – how it differs from Waterfall

Blue Ocean Workshops

BlueOceanWorkshops.com

Agenda:

• Waterfall as a point of reference and project’s methodology understanding

• Why and when Agile projects better fit for some types of projects

• Scrum overview

• Scrum’s cadence of events

• Lessons learn how to transition from waterfall to Agile

Waterfall Project Management process as a point of reference

• Started in circa 1970 as a software process

• Each block in the diagram is a distinctive phase (previous phase must be completed and signed off before next phase is started)

• Requires strict hierarchy and control over all phases

Planning Executing Closing

Team’s view

Waterfall (SDLC) project management - PM

Business or PM view

Initiating Planning Executing Controlling Closing

4

Slide 4

AS1 Andrew Soswa, 11/8/2018

Waterfall hierarchy

• Waterfall or predictive methodology requires top-down, command-and-control structure

The Boss

Director A

Worker A Worker B

Director B

Why Waterfall projects fail?

• Long delivery time form Initiation to product/service’s delivery to operational state

• Inability to provide a preview of a product to stakeholders

• Costly changes within and after the project’s end

• Wrong fit for organization’s culture and strategy

• Wrong fit or product/service for a project’s type

• Can you name any others?

Iron Triangle vs Agile Triangle

Waterfall vs Agile utilization

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

Initiation Planning Executing

(dev&QA)

Closing

Waterfall utilization (2,763) vs effective (1,306) hours – per year

Utilization hours per team Effective hours per team

0

50

100

150

200

250

HO

UR

S S

PEN

T

SPRINT NUMBER - 2 SPRINTS IN 1 MONTH

Agile utilization (4,720) vs effective (2,464) hours – per year

Utilization (billable) hours Effective hours

Agile Principles

• # 1: Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

• # 7: Working software is the primary measure of progress.

• # 8: Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

Source: https://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

WhatIs Agile?

Agile is seen as…

Organizational reason d’etre

• Innovative and transformational business strategy

Methodology

• A framework of processes focused on the Team delivering a Minimum Viable Product

Process:

• Just a process for a specific project

Agile as business strategy

Change Management strategy that transforms organization to rapidly innovate and adapt to changing environment

Primary goal is to remove silos and create cross-functional collaborative teams

• Caveat – most Agile

Transformations will fail

Picture: http://www.powermasters.com/Centrifugal_Force.html

Agile as a methodology

A methodology is a set of processes and governing principles

Agile methodologies include:

• Scrum

• Lean

• XP

• Kanban

• Others

Agile as a process

Because Agile is still evolving and expanding knowledge area, it allows to creatively experiment and propose new designs (fail forward)

At this state of Agile development, the language is imprecise and confusing, which results in some Agile practitioners to call their process Agile (instead of i.e. Scrum, or maybe it is truly new Agile process that does not have a name)

The confusion arise because there is no central body governing the Agile process development (like PMI)

Misconceptions about Agile

• Comparing Agile processes to waterfall, i.e.

Earned Value is same as MVP

• Planning is not required

• Only for software development projects

• Documentation is not created

• Team is lacking standards and hierarchy

Agile makes sense because…

…the main goal of the Agile methodology is to deliver what customer wants (MVP) as soon as possible

Minimum Viable Product

• It is a finished product that can be shown, sold, or delivered to a customer in a shortest amount of time

• It might not be perfect, but Just Barely Good Enough for customer’s or business needs

• Also known as:• Minimum Marketable Product

• Potentially Shippable Product

Qualities of Agile teams

• Self-directing

• Adaptive

• Knowledgeable

• Resourceful

• Committed

• Trustful

• Collaborative

Agile teams might not fit your organization when

• Your organization is highly siloed with a limited knowledge sharing and cross-department collaboration

• Your business management methodology depends on directive management style (giving/taking orders) rather than trusting individuals to perform to the best of their abilities

• Your HR calls employees as resources rather than valuable team members and individuals

Best methodology for type of project

Type of project Best

methodology

Why

Compliance Kanban End product is known but must be delivered asap (i.e. planning is irrelevant)

Software Scrum End product must evolve to be fully known (creative)

Hardware / Construction

Waterfall End product is known at the beginning of the project (adherence to pre-set requirements is important)

Production Line / Call center

Lean (Six Sigma) End product depends on superior quality and customer’s satisfaction

WhatIs Scrum?

What is Scrum?

An Agile methodology that delivers MVP (Minimum Viable Product) iteratively

• Lightweight (on processes)

• Simple to understand (aha moments)

• Extremely difficult to master

Agile Methodologies and Practices used today

Source: https://stateofagile.versionone.com/

Agile Scrum

• Each sprint (also called iteration) is a separate ‘phase’ of a project

• Each iteration consists of:• Backlog Refinement

• Sprint Planning

• Daily Scrum

• Sprint Acceptance

• Sprint Retrospective

• Based on:• Repeatable cadence of events• Team interactions• Iterative product development/testing/refinement

The Scrum Team

Product Owner

(more responsibilities than a BA)

Scrum Master

(different responsibilities than PM)

Team Members

(more responsibilities than a waterfall team)

3 types of Product Owner roles

• Acting as an ultimate end-user

• Directing the team that acts as end-users

• Facilitating works based on research from true end-users

Howdoes Scrum

work?

Agile Scrum projects initiation

• Envisioning / Product Ideation• Initial product/service business planning

• Project starts with Sprint 0• Team Onboarding

• Backlog creation by PO

• Backlog Refinement by team (need enough refined user stories for approx. 2.5 sprints)

Events on a sample Scrum project

• Sprint 1 through Sprint n must contain 5 events in every sprint:

• Sprint Planning – on day 1 of the sprint

• Backlog Refinement – on day 3 or 4 of the sprint

• Sprint Delivery – on last day of the sprint

• Sprint Refinement – last event of the sprint

• Daily Scrum – every day of the sprint

• Other evens are introduced when needed:• UX/UI design sprints

• Architectural design sprints

• QA testing sprints

• Release Sprints

RequirementsBacklog (of User Stories)

Refinement

Waterfall users SMART refining, while Agile should use INVEST refining

SMART

• Specific

• Measurable

• Achievable

• Relevant

• Time-bound

INVEST

• Independent

• Small

• Negotiable

• Valuable

• Estimate-able

• Testable

More aboutAgile & Waterfall

Agile/waterfall hybrid methodology

Project Initiation

Sprint 0 Sprint 1 Sprint 2 Sprint nProject Close

PM as Agile Project Manager

PM as SM PM as SM PM as SM PM as SM

Management / Stakeholders

Three primary reason why it is so difficult to transition to Agile

• Organizational culture

• Philosophy:• PMI.org:

• Project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result

• 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

• Lack of consistent methodology/processes

Top reasons why you should NOT implement Agile

• My competitor is doing it

• Lack of understanding of own business strategy and competitive advantage

• I’ve read about it

• Agile is easy to read and is based on best work practices – but it is also frequently misunderstood

• I want to see if it works

• Does more damage to your business & Agile than any other reason

• Everything Agile is great and everything great is Agile

• Sales pitch from Agile vendors and Agilists

Factors of a successful Agile project

• The firm possess one, established project methodology for each product/service type

• The organization possesses a tool fitted for the project’s type that helps in managing a project (Jira, MS Project Agile, TFS Agile, Azure, or another Agile tool)

• The Team learns, understands, accepts, and follows the methodology

• Each project has an Agile Project Team

Agile is NOT something that you become…

… Agile is something that you become more of

About the presenter:

Andrew Soswa, PMP, CSM, PSM, PMI-ACP, Agile Coach

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewsoswa

Blogs on www.blueoceanworkshops.com

Email: andrew@blueoceanworkshops.com