agile myths and legends

Agile: Myths and Legends

FEATURING: TFS AND VISUAL STUDIO 2012

Angela Dugan

Mobile Solutions

Project Leadership

.NET Solutions

Application Lifecycle Management

Obligatory Dilbert

Agile Tenets

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

Quick review of Agile/Scrum

SCRUM = Agile Agile <> Scrum

My Top Agile Myths & Legends

1. Organizations are not succeeding with agile

2. Agile works better than traditional approaches (e.g. Waterfall)

3. Traditional (Waterfall) works better for distributed/offshore teams

4. Agile teams waste a lot of time testing that traditional teams don’t

5. Agile teams don’t produce documentation

6. Daily stand-ups are just glorified status meetings

7. Without detailed records, I don’t know that my people are really working all the time!

8. If we convert to Agile, that means we can “do more with less” right?

Myth #1

Organizations are not succeeding with agile

(a.k.a. “Agile is just a fad”)

Regarding that fad nonsense…

Agile has been around as a general methodology since as early as the 70s

Agile was introduced as an “official” flavor of software development processes in the early 90’s

The Agile Manifesto came into being in 2001

Myth #1

Organizations are not succeeding with agile

False: At least 86% are trying, and most are succeeding!

Myth #2

Agile generally works better than traditional approaches (e.g. Waterfall)

The Numbers Don’t Lie

But Agile Projects Still Fail!

Agile is more than 3 time LESS likely to fail than Waterfall.

Agile is 3 times MORE likely to succeed than Waterfall.

But…

Agile is not a guarantee of Success (“no silver bullet”)

Agile will never be perfect so long as imperfect people are executing it

Myth #2

Agile generally works better than traditional approaches (e.g. Waterfall)

True: Anybody can fail with Agile, but when done right I’ve yet to see a situation where adopting agile practices didn’t improve things

Myth #3

Traditional (Waterfall) works better for distributed/offshore teams

Challenges of Distributed TeamsCommunication and coordination can be hampered by time-zone differences

Self-management and communicating impediments is difficult for some cultures

Daily stand-ups may require additional technology to facilitate

Peer review and code quality/standards enforcement may require extra effort and diligence

TFS 2012 Team Dashboard

TFS 2012 Backlog Planner

VS 2012 Code Review Tool (requires VS Premium or better)

Distributed Agile StrategiesCoordinate schedules to ensure overlap in the work-day

Meet face to face to establish trust

Install web cameras, Skype, and/or on-line task boards to enable real-time communication

Establish continuous integration CI and target high test coverage across all teams

Keep iterations short

Myth #3

Traditional (Waterfall) works better for distributed/offshore teams

Sometimes: Agile can work for distributed teams, but takes work and it IS succeeding.

Myth #4

Agile teams waste a lot of time up front testing that traditional teams don’t

Why Does Testing Early and Often Matter?

Agile Testing PracticesTDD

ATDD

Automated Unit Testing

Automated Regression Testing

Continuous Integration

Exploratory Testing

Again… tools are your friend!

VS 2012 Unit Test Frameworks

MTM 2012 Exploratory Testing

MTM 2012 Web UI

Myth #4

Agile teams waste a lot of time up front testing that traditional teams don’t

False: Agile teams do a LOT more *continual* testing than traditional Waterfall teams, but I wouldn’t say the time is wasted. Testing early and

often builds in quality, rather than tests in quality.

Myth #5

Agile teams don’t produce documentation

Agile Tenets

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

VS 2012 Storyboards

Myth #5

Agile teams don’t produce documentation

False: Agile teams only produce as much documentation as necessary

Myth #6

Daily stand-ups are just glorified status meetings

Daily StandupsShould be 15 minutes or less

Limited to what you did, what you plan to do, impediments

Goal is coordination and collaboration

If it devolves into a status meeting you are DOING IT WRONG!

TFS 2012 Task Board

Myth #6

Daily stand-ups are just glorified status meetings

False: Standups are only about the entire software team collaborating on the next 24 hours of work.

Myth #7

Without detailed records, I don’t know that my people are really working all the time!

http://www.slideshare.net/willevans/kanban-forcreatives-slideshare

TFS 2012 Sprint Planning tool

TFS 2012 Remaining Work Report

F i n d an swers to th e se q u e st ions :

H ow fast i s th e te am b u r n ing d ow n re main ing wo rk?

I s wo r k b e i ng ad d ed d u r ing th e i te rat ion?

H ow mu c h p ro gress can th e te am make i n th e ava i l ab le t i me ?

A p p rox imate l y w h en can th e te am f i n i sh th e wo rk ?

I s to o mu c h wo rk i n p ro gres s?

I s th e f l ow o f wo r k b e i ng i mp eded o r b l o cked?

W h en w i l l th e te am f i n ish th e c u r rent i te rat i on?

TFS 2012 Cross-Team Reporting

Be Careful What You Measure

Time to rethink what you are measuring! ;)

Myth #7

Without detailed records, I don’t know that my people are really working all the time

With agile you are MORE likely to know EXACTLY what people are working on every day.

The better question might be, why are you focusing on the number of hours worked?

Myth #8

If we convert to Agile, that means we can “do more with less” right?

The Cost of Multi-Tasking

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/09/the-multi-tasking-myth.html

Do More With LessHumans are TERRIBLE at multi-tasking!

Multi-tasking includes meetings, answering email, one-off conversations, they are all distractions

You will get 6 – 7 hours of productive time a day out of people AT BEST, but only if you *leave them alone*

Agile is not magic, you won’t get more hours in a day, but you will deliver more VALUE in the same amount of time

Myth #8

If we convert to Agile, that means we can “do more with less” right?

Sort of: People will be allowed to focus, and you will see more value delivered with less bugs in

the same amount of time

Good reads

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Daniel H. Pink

$10 on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-Motivates/dp/1594484805

Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2012:

Adopting Agile Software Practices

Sam Guckenheimer

Neno Loje

$30 on Amazon

Good readshttp://www.amazon.com/Visual-Studio-Team-Foundation-Server/dp/0321864875

Questions?