Managing an Agile Mobile App Development Project with asana Anthony Monticchio CSM/PMP uReach Technologies Holmdel, NJ NJ IPM Day November 1, 2012
Managing an Agile Mobile App Development Project with asana
Anthony Monticchio CSM/PMPuReach Technologies Holmdel, NJ
NJ IPM Day November 1, 2012
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Convince a reluctant software development team to try a new work process called Agile Development
Minimal budget available to try something new
Resistance to give-up prior work style Unwillingness from team members to
‘trust’ the Agile Process and the Scrum Master
Challenge
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Prior Methodology wasn’t working Missed Delivery Dates Low Team Morale Poor Communication
Dissension amongst team members High degree of Software Rework
PM Methodology
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How Agile helped solve the issues Missed Delivery Dates
Time-boxed Sprints resulted in increased productivity
Low Team Morale Team members naturally prefer self-organizing
teams Poor Communication
Agile tool creates a transparent information repository
High degree of Software Rework Agile ‘locks-in’ Time and Cost and actively
manages scope via Product Backlog ‘grooming’ by the Owner
PM Methodology
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Why Agile was selected for the ‘BusinessCall’ Mobile App development project Desire to try something new from CTO Liked the ‘idea’ of a ‘learning organization’ Senior leadership risk tolerance was sufficient to get
started Intuitively understood the Benefits of a Cross-
Organizational team Quickly grasped the power behind the simple Agile
Process 3 Roles – Product Owner, Scrum Development Team, Scrum
Master 5 Meeting Types 5 Process Artifacts
PM Methodology
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Several Tools were reviewed/considered ScrumWorks Pro from CollabNet BaseCamp from 37signals Rational Team Concert from IBM asana
Tool Selection
Product Price Features TechnologyScrum Works Pro $$$ *** ***Base Camp $$ * **RTC IBM $$$$$ **** ***asana $ * ****
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Decision to try asana Price was right asana is sufficiently flexible to adapt to
managing an Agile Project asana has been built with the latest technologies
making adoption somewhat easier from the development community
For small teams a ‘light-weight’ tool that focuses on collaboration vs performance measurement is sufficient
Cloud-based offering allowed for quick startup and low maintenance overhead
Tool Selection
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After a brief/streamlined Agile Training course for the team we quickly moved to establishing our joint Team Practices Meetings will start on-time
Fine for late comers Agreement on Product Ownership Defined notation for PBI, User Story, Tasks, Defects Meeting frequency Show-n-Tell Format for Scrums 7 person cross-functional team 3 week Sprints
uReach Agile Practice (UAP)
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asana
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asana
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asana
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asana
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asana
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BusinessCall Mobile v1.0 was finished in a 7 month timeframe Prior project required 12 months to complete
with fewer User Stories Shifting requirements were managed with
minimal software rework Product Owner was able to have a ‘demo’
version available for an industry trade show deadline (Sprint 3)
BusinessCall Mobile v1.0 (android) Launched into Google Play market October 2012
Results
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Scrum training required for all roles Scrum Master Product Owner Scrum Development Team
Resist changing the process Agile will uncover problems not solve
them Product Owner needs be actively
involved, reviewing Sprint results and grooming the PB
Recommendations
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BusinessCall Mobile v1.0
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Thank you
NJ IPM Day November 1, 2012