ARE YOU AGILE?

Gwen Daniels, Illinois Legal Aid Online

Peter Campbell, LSC

Project Management Intro

Peter CampbellCIO, LSCpcampbell@lsc.gov

@peterscampbell

Project Management 2

What Is A Project?

Slide 3Project Management Picture: Laurensvanlieshout from nl

Project Factors

• Distinctness – Is it a change from your routine tasks?

• Scope – Is it ambitious or important enough to track?

• Duration - Will it be done before the plan is written down?

• Complexity - Is this simple enough to trust that it can be

done without oversight?

• Budget - Is the cost inconsequential?

• Impact – Will anyone notice when the project is

completed?

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What Does A Project Plan Do For You?

• Summarizes an initiative’s goals

• Sets scope, milestones and schedule

• Keeps multiple parties on task

• Identifies pre-requisites and risks

• Manages workloads

• Provides marketing data

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What Does A Project Plan Fail To Do?

• Go as planned

• Keep anyone on task

• Do the job for you

• Communicate

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Communication

• “90% of a Project Managers time is spent communicating”

– Project Management Institute

• “And the remaining 10% is spent communicating”

– Jeff Herron, Beaconfire

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Communication Styles

• Agreement on communication protocols can greatly support a project’s success

• A great Project Manager understands and adapts to the team’s individual styles

– Traits of a Successful Project Manager – Beaconfire Blog

• In addition to the project plan, large projects also benefit from communications plans

Project Management 8

Waterfall

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Waterfall

• Traditional Project Management methodology

• Focuses on plan, dependencies, resource allocation

• Deadline driven

• Best for large, structured projects with clearly defined outcomes

– Construction, Bridges

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Agile

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Agile

• Modern approach

• Prioritizes communication, constant review, collaboration

• Highly adaptable timeline

• Best for opportunistic projects with flexible outcomes:

– Software applications, web sites, some campaigns

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Why Agile?

Gwen Daniels,

Director of Technology Development

Illinois Legal Aid Online

gdaniels@illinoislegalaid.org

@gadaniels72

The Problem with Waterfall

● Upfront requirements

require lots of

assumptions

● Assumptions are often

wrong

● By the time you get to

testing, it’s too late

How Agile Addresses This Problem

● One feature at a

time

● Frequent:o Communication

o Testing

o Feedback

o Releases

ILAOBuilds: A Case Study in

Scrum

Scrum focus: Website Rebuild

● Technical development

● Content strategy

● Content migration

● Usability testing

ScrumMaster● Keeper of the process

● Servant Leader

● Keeps team focused

● Removes

impediments

The Product Owner

Teri’s Product Backlog

The Team

● Team, not a group of

individuals

● Self-organizing

● Cross functional

skills

Planning for the sprint...

● The team estimates in

Story points

● The team picks items for

the sprint

● The team creates sub-

tasks and a Sprint backlog

● Product owner

prioritizes the

backlog

● Product owner

describes each of

her priorities

The Team’s Sprint Backlog

The Daily Scrum

● What I did yesterday

● What I’m doing

today

● What is in my way

● 15 minutes max

● Video for remote

workers

The Demo

• Who Attends• Team

• Other Staff

• External Stakeholders

• What Happens• Show what’s been built

• Get reactions, comments

• Answer questions

• Next Step• Product owner incorporates

feedback into product backlog

Benefits

● Transparency

● More managable work

loads

● More realistic project

estimates

● Less silod work

● More team ownership and

accountability

● It’s a process

● Nothing is written in

stone

● It’s ok to get it wrong

● It’s a major change

to how we

traditionally have

worked

(So Far!)

Project Management with Trello

(Kanban)

Questions?