managing an agile mobile app development project with asana

Managing an Agile Mobile App Development Project with asana

Anthony Monticchio CSM/PMPuReach Technologies Holmdel, NJ

NJ IPM Day November 1, 2012

uReach Technologies 2

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


Prior Methodology wasn’t working Missed Delivery Dates Low Team Morale Poor Communication

Dissension amongst team members High degree of Software Rework

PM Methodology


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


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


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 $ * ****


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


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)


asana


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


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


BusinessCall Mobile v1.0


Thank you

NJ IPM Day November 1, 2012