Intro to Agile Processes for Developers

AgileProject Management

Traditional Project Management

Waterfall• Spec everything up front• Rigid timelines• Tight estimation of task duration• Fixed timeline + unexpected discoveries + business changes +

unplanned bugs = deathmarch

Don'tHave aDeathmarch

The Agile Way• Delay specifics until task is ready

• Interfaces change as you learn• Flexible timelines respond to emerging needs

• Bugfixes• Unexpected customer needs• Respond to other market players

• Firm up task duration when you're in it

Stand-up• 2-5 minutes• First thing in the morning• Simple agenda

• What did I do yesterday• What am I doing today• Do I have any blockers?

• Anything else: parking lot

PO & Scrum Master• PO owns the meaning of "done"

• Create stories to meet business needs• Establish any requirements• Review & accept stories when complete

• Scrum Master owns the process• Ensure stories are agile chunks• Ensure nobody has too much work• Defend the process

Agile StoriesDiscussion, not a specification• Title: declarative phrase that defines goal

• Who does what, for what business purpose• e.g. "Editor can tag story as breaking news to highlight in news

feed"• Description: minimal if any

Agile Story Sizing• Sized by team when work begins• Not rigid• Sized relative to other stories, not to a specific # of hours/days• Common sizing:

• T-shirt sizes• Fibonacci

• Oversized stories: split up

SCRUM vs. Kanban• Common Agile project management methods• SCRUM is most likely work environment• Kanban is better for Production Project

• Least process overhead

SCRUM• Sprints or Iterations - timed chunk of work

• Usually 2 weeks, sometimes 1 or 4• Commit to scope of work at beginning of Sprint• Focus is on velocity

• Expected # of story points per Sprint• Start sprint with planning, end with retro

Kanban• Continuous workflow• Pull a new story when one is done• Focus is on WIP

• Limit the # of stories that can be worked on at once• Force completion of stories

• No (official) planning, may have retros

Retro• Every 1-2 weeks, max 30 minutes• Go over what happened, do it better next time• Describe the last work segment in 1 word

• Vote on winning word• +/-

• Vote on most significant + and -• How to do the + again• Brainstorm fixes for - & Allocate responsibility for fix

Do it again next weekAnd the week after thatBut a little better next time

Continuous Improvement, Man

(aka Kaizen)