Being agile while standing in a waterfall

Being agile while standing in a Waterfall

!Mike Edwards

!!!!

[email protected] Twitter: @mikeeedwards

Blog: www.mikeeedwards.ca References: agilewaterfall.ca

OBLIGATION

RESPONSIBILITY

SHAME

The Responsibility Process™

JUSTIFYLAY BLAME

DENIAL

QUIT

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CHRISTOPHER AVERY& THE LEADERSHIP GIFT

Agile will fail at my workplace because of ...

• The concept of dedicating to one task at a time is not supported

• Because of our culture

• They won’t change

• Of me

• It’s counterintuitive and hard to practice

• Too focused on mechanics

• Ridiculous product owners

• What we do already works

• Not everyone on our team understands it

• We only fund capital projects

• My boss who manages with fear

( Taken from Agile 2013 )

Agenda

Stories

What worked for me

Views & experiences

Where to from here

Does Waterfall work?

“I believe in this concept, but the implementation described above is risky and invites failures” -- Winston Royce (August 1970)

I SYSTE M

I ANALYSIS

PROGRAM DESIGN

I c o o , . o

TESTING

I OPERATIONS

Figure 2. Implementation steps to develop a large computer program for delivery to a customer.

I believe in this concept, but the implementation described above is risky and invites failure. The problem is illustrated in Figure 4. The testing phase which occurs at the end of the development cycle is the first event for which timing, storage, input /output transfers, etc., are experienced as distinguished from analyzed. These phenomena are not precisely analyzable. They are not the solutions to the standard partial differential equations of mathematical physics for instance. Yet if these phenomena fail to satisfy the various external constraints, then invariably a major redesign is required. A simple octal patch or redo of some isolated code wil l not f ix these kinds of diff iculties. The required design changes are l ikely to be so disruptive that the software requirements upon which the design is based and which provides the rationale for everything are violated. Either the requirements must be modif ied, or a substantial change in the design is required. In effect the development process has returned to the origin and one can expect up to a lO0-percent overrun in schedule and/or costs.

One might note that there has been a skipping-over of the analysis and code phases. One cannot, of course, produce software wi thout these steps, but generally these phases are managed wi th relative ease and have l i tt le impact on requirements, design, and testing. In my experience there are whole departments consumed with the analysis of orbi t mechanics, spacecraft att i tude determination, mathematical opt imizat ion of payload activity and so forth, but when these departments have completed their di f f icul t and complex work, the resultant program steps involvea few lines of serial arithmetic code. If in the execution of their d i f f icul t and complex work the analysts have made a mistake, the correction is invariably implemented by a minor change in the code with no disruptive feedback into the other development bases.

However, I believe the illustrated approach to be fundamental ly sound. The remainder of this discussion presents five addit ional features that must be added to this basic approach to eliminate most of the development risks.

329

Computing: Then & Now

IBM System/360

.034 MIPS max 16MB memory 225MB Disk $50k/month to lease $15mm to buy

What is Agile?

Saying you do one of these ...

Agile

Lean

ScrumXP

Kanban

DADRUPFDD

DSDM

Crystal

RAD

SAFe

... can be like carrying one of these

Story time!

The situation

• Towards end of a larger troubled project (we kept dropping scope)

• Team only available for 3 more months

• Budget defined by available people and time

• Low key enhancement project

• Waterfall was best described as a religion

Go!

• Secured a war ‘area’

• Given free reign to ‘try something different’

• Simple one sentence scope statement

• No authority to NOT do something in the department’s process

• Executive sponsorship watched closely

The Result!

• Finished early

• Finished slightly under budget

• Features delivered exceeded customer expectation

• No quality issues after go-live

• Happy customer!

Ideas for being Agile?

Describe the characteristics of a successful project?

Agile Manifesto

We are uncovering better ways of developingsoftware by doing it and helping others do it.Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and toolsWorking software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiationResponding to change over following a plan

!That is, while there is value in the items onthe right, we value the items on the left more.

Ideas

Make it about principles

LearningWe can learn the mechanic didn’t latch the cowling

Feel better?

What does it mean to improve?

vs. Improving

Improve how you Improve

• Conduct regular retrospectives throughout the project

• Empower teams to improve

• Make room for ongoing improvements

• Make improvement an objective for teams

Ideas

Make it about principles

Conduct regular Retrospectives & Improve

People• Support those who deliver value

• Motivate them

• Trust them

• Create sustainable pace

• Foster responsibility

• Have fun!

Collaborate!

• Examine the value of your weekly status meetings

• Tear down the walls

• Eliminate the hierarchy

• Make information visible

• Build a cross functional team

• Build a high performing team

Ideas

Make it about principles

Conduct regular Retrospectives & Improve

Create a high performance team

“The customer just asked for a couple changes”

Why do we need Change Management?

Decisions are made prematurely!

Our customers cannot possibly know what they want in detail at the start of a project

Scope

! In Scope " Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah " Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah " Blah blah blah blah " Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah " Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah " Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah " Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah " Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah !

! Out of Scope " Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah " Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah " Blah blah blah blah " Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah " Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah " Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah " Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah " Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

O

Scope

!Scope Statement !

! In Scope " Add a feature <to the system> and

supporting functionality !

! Out of Scope

Create a story map

!

!

!

!

!

!

User Story format:

As a <user>, I want <some goal>, so that <some reason>

Scope ManagementFront Burner Back Burner Fridge Freezer

User Stories

Scope

What can you do about change?

Embrace it! Welcome changing requirements, even late in

development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.

(Agile Manifesto - Principle #2)

!!!!!

Create an environment allowing everyone to learn

Ideas

Make it about principles Conduct regular Retrospectives & Improve Create a high performance team Defer decisions until the last responsible moment

Why do we schedule?

An effective schedule?An ineffective schedule

Schedule

Ideas

Make it about principles Conduct regular Retrospectives & Improve Create a high performance team Defer decisions until the last responsible moment ‘Deliver’ frequently Simplicity

Status Reporting

• Start ALL projects red

• Check the politics at the door

• Honesty & Transparency

• Put your status on the wall

• Build plans allowing for clearer reporting

Ideas

Make it about principles Conduct regular Retrospectives & Improve Create a high performance team Defer decisions until the last responsible moment ‘Deliver’ frequently Simplicity Start ALL projects red!

Tracking ProgressCritical Path Actual vs Target Hours

Hou

rs

0

3

6

9

12

8-Mar 15-Mar 22-Mar 29-Mar 5-Apr 12-Apr 19-Apr

Daily burn

Burn up

0

450000

900000

1350000

1800000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Budget Cumulative Actuals Cumulative Planned

Be careful what you measure ...

You might just get it!

MeasurementsTime sheets

OPM3

CMMI ITIL

COBIT

Schedule Accuracy

The importance of timeliness!

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Some words of wisdom!

a.k.a. Things I’ve learned the hard way

Things I’ve learned

• Culture cannot be changed - change how the work is done and culture will follow

• Start from where you are today and never be satisfied

• Improve the whole

• Improve one step at a time

• Iterate (Build Measure Learn)

• Have fun!

Thanks!

For more Information: http://agilewaterfall.ca

http://bit.ly/VKyFD5 !

Stay in Touch! [email protected]

Twitter: @mikeeedwards Blog: www.mikeeedwards.ca

My upcoming LeanPub book: Being agile while standing in a waterfall!

Once upon a time ...

• Final component of a larger program

• Estimated at 1200 days

• Drop dead date of 3.5 months

• Highly visible if we failed

• Core team assigned of 5 IT people

• Waterfall was all we knew

Go!

• 15 contractors in the door within 2 weeks

• Secured a team room

• Broke the work out into projects

• Published a team manifesto • Developed a mantra: “Failure is not an

option”

• Strong executive sponsorship

The Result!

• Delivered on the date we said we would

• Actuals came in $8000 under budget

• Delivered all key scope items

• No significant quality issues after go-live

• Happy customer!

Another story!