A Peek Inside Agile: Understanding Scrum & Kanban

© 2012 cPrime Inc., Foster City, CA. All Rights Reserved.© 2012 cPrime Inc., Foster City, CA. All Rights Reserved.

Agile

Kanban

Scrum

© 2012 cPrime Inc., Foster City, CA. All Rights Reserved.

cPrime: Who We Are• Consulting and Transformation• Training and Coaching• Staffing


Today’s Presenter

• Jeff Howey, Agile Coach – Trains & coaches teams and

companies in Agile processes• 7+ years practicing Agile• Certified Scrum Professional• 5 years mentoring, coaching &

training• 18 years in QA, Business

Analysis, Project Management and Business Architecture


AGILEA Peek Inside


Agile Values

A Way of Thinking!

• Transparency• Collaboration• Self-organized teams• Response to change

– Customer needs– Team growth– Process Improvement


Agile is not


Nor is it


Agile is about Collaboration

Project Management

Product Management

Software Development


Progress is Visual & Predictive

• How are we doing?

Each Sprint

Toward our Goals


Progress is more than

• % Complete– We are either Done or Not Done

• Gantt Charts– Show us where we have been, do little to predict

where we are going


Agile Project Management

• Integrates Corporate Project Governance– Plans, Reports, Resource Allocation, Budgets– Audit & Regulatory Requirements

WITH– Real-time, honest, visual information radiators– Sufficient adherence to Governance requirements


Agile Project Management

• Emphasizes collaboration and conversation– Technology works based on agreement and

understanding of requirements– Asking questions and offering solutions

NOT– Blindly building to requirements that were

“signed-off” – Taking orders without giving insight


Agile Product Management

• Controls the dialogue with Customers, Management, Stakeholders

• Sets the direction of the Product – In turn driving the team’s goals

• Is most successful when they are seen as a Team Member– Respectful of the process & knowledge required to

deliver


But! It’s not always easy to be a Product Owner


WHY NOW?Why Agile?


“The Way We Do It Now” is painful

Data from 50,000 projectsCopyright © by The Standish Group International, Inc.

Challenged• late (100% median)• over budget (50% median)• lacking functionality• low quality

37% Success

42% Chal-lenge

21% Fail

2010 Project Success

16


And if history is any indicator…

1994 1996 1998 2000 2004 2006 2009 2010

% Success 16 27 26 28 29 35 32 37

% Challenged 53 33 46 49 53 46 44 42

% Failed 31 40 28 23 18 19 24 21

5

15

25

35

45

55

Standish Chaos Reports: Project Success

% 5

0,00

0 Pr

ojec

ts


Is Agile Helping?• “In 2002, agile projects made up less than 2% of

overall projects and less than 5% of new application development projects. Today, agile projects account for almost 9% of all projects and 29% of new application development projects...

The increase in project success rates can directly tie back to projects resolved through the agile process.”

2011 Chaos Manifesto Copyright © by The Standish Group International, Inc


Wait! Is history an indicator?

1994 1996 1998 2000 2004 2006 2009 2010

% Success 16 27 26 28 29 35 32 37

% Challenged 53 33 46 49 53 46 44 42

% Failed 31 40 28 23 18 19 24 21

5

15

25

35

45

55

Standish Chaos Reports: Project Success

% 5

0,00

0 Pr

ojec

ts


How much does Agile help?

Series142%

49%

9%

Agile

14%

57%

29%

Waterfall

SuccessfulChallengedFailed

Data from 2002—2010 Copyright © 2011 by The Standish Group International,

Inc.


Some Key Benefits of Agile

84% Improvement in ability to respond to changing priorities

77% Greater project visibility

72% Improved team morale

71% Improved speed-to-market

Copyright @2011. Version One, Inc. 2011 State of Agile Development Survey of over 6000 Agile

practitioners.

What were motivations of companies to adopt Agile that didn’t pan out?• Cost Savings• Better ability to manage distributed teams


AGILE POSSIBILITIESWhere does Agile make sense?


2 Distinct Options

Scrum• Iterative, cyclic, planned

response to change• Manage on monthly,

quarterly, annual Roadmap• Change in Priority

addressed between Sprints• Delivery Content limited by

# of Resources and Release Dates

Kanban• Incremental, immediate

response to change• Manage on “patch” or

“continuous release” basis• Change in Priority

addressed continuously• Delivery Content limited by

# of Resources


Scrum is Cyclic

24

Work items are prioritized between

cycles


Inner Scrum Cycles provide regular opportunity to adjust to reality

• Priorities shift between Sprints

– (no more than 30 days to respond to change, ideal is 2 weeks)

• Tasks shift as quickly as possible

– (respond to change no less than daily)

• Issues addressed immediately

– (respond to issues no less than daily)

25


Kanban is Steady

Work items arrive in a steady stream, are

prioritized daily, hourly or “regularly”

26


Fit with Project Management

Scrum• Budget Plan based on

Release Dates, Development Estimates and Resources

• Supports cross-platform and Program-level integration well

• Target Date-Driven Releases!

Kanban• Budget Plan based on

Resources

• Supports isolated or independent changes well

• Target Content-Driven Releases!


Progress is… Visual

Scrum• Sprint Burn-Down

– Work remaining

• Release Burn-Up– Requirements delivered

toward the goal

Kanban• Cumulative Flow

– State of Work in Progress

• Cycle Time– From Request to Delivery– Between each step in the

process


Agile Process SelectionConsideration Scrum Kanban

How long will customers wait ? Weeks, Months, Quarters Minutes, Hours, Days Weeks

How many dependencies or integration points?

A few to many integration points or complex integrations

0 to a few simple integration points

How often do changes in priority affect our plan?

Rarely. Changes in priority can be addressed in the next Sprint.

Regularly. And our business model does not allow us to say “no”

How many resources are available to work on projects?

5 or more with shared technical expertise & knowledge (generalists)

3 or fewer (in total) or each team member is a “specialist” in their area


Most Likely Agile Process

• A Mix of Scrum and Kanban (and, admittedly, waterfall)

• Scrum– New application development– Enhancement and defect resolution in

complex/dependent systems• Kanban

– Immediate response to Customer Production Issues

– Independent/Low-complexity systems


Real World Example

• Scrum Application Development Team– Quarterly new feature releases for a mature product– Defect resolution, technical debt reduction, platform

stability– Complex, complicated system with low-degree of

regression testing automation• Kanban Response Teams

– Patch Releases for immediate production support needs– BI/Report development– Infrastructure Support (h/w, DB, OS)


Hybrid Project Management

Sprint 1 Sprint 2 Sprint 3

M1 T1

A2 A3 A5

M2Waterfall Project

ScrumTeams

Team A

Team B

A1

B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6

A4

Release

ReleaseAgile Project

32

Now multiply the dependencies, projects and resources by Your reality… you can see that Agile isn’t Easy… But it IS powerful


Where We are Seeing Agile…

Scrum• New Application Dev• Major/minor enhancements• Brand development• Marketing Campaigns• Large enterprises with

quarterly/timed release schedules

Kanban• Production Support• BI/Report Development• Art Design & Production• Ux Design• Patch Releases• Marketing Collateral• Press Releases


WHAT’S NEXT?


How Agile are you?

• Glacial Flow– Our waterfall may eventually thaw to release the waters of

delivery– Maybe. – Someday?


How Agile are you?

• Maybe too rapid…– Class 6 Rapids - “Whitewater, typically with huge waves, huge rocks

and hazards, huge drops… almost inescapable hydraulic… considered hazardous even for expert paddlers using state-of-the-art equipment, and come with the warning "danger to life or limb."


Agile Maturity Levels

• Iterative– Big Bang Deliveries, Big Requirements– Iterative Development, Follow-on QA

• Incremental– Regular Deliveries, Smaller Requirements– Iterative Development, QA side-by-side

• Evolutionary– Continuous Delivery, Small Requirements– Test-First Development


Take Your Next Step

• Identify Current State Goal State• Define achievable interim goals and ownership• Inspect Progress Regularly (Metrics)• Adapt to reality• Share Successes & Learn from Experience


cPrime is here to Help!Engaged for your project management success.


Agile Transformations are NOT Easy


What Services We OfferConsulting When you need expert advice, our consultants can help

• Solution Architects – Assess , design, and drive solutions for your Agile transformation

• Coaches – Mentor and guide your Agile Teams through their growing pains

• Technical Experts – Install, configure, and train your people on tools required for the new Agile process

• Engagement Managers – Manage the logistics, scheduling, and resources for your Agile transformation

TrainingFor individuals and organizations. Public. Private. On-site. On-line.

• Practical “how it’s done” training for Agile processes• Certification Based Training - PMP®, PMI ACP, Certified ScrumMaster, Certified

Product Owner, PgMp(SM), Etc.• Customized Trainings – Customized trainings for the PMO & Technology groups in every format

(Instructor-led, e-learning, training portals)• We’re Accredited! - We are a Registered Education provider for the PMI.

StaffingFull-time employment, Executive Search, Consulting, and Contract to Hire

• ScrumMasters, Product Owners, Project Managers, Business Analysts & Technical Experts - From one resource to a complete team

• Technology Experts – In test and deployment automation, continuous integration, agile project-management tools, Oracle, SAP, Business Intelligence, E-Commerce, Web Applications, SharePoint & more.

• Specialized Recruiting Process - HR and IT technical experts ensure we find the right person, every time.