to be or not to be [agile]? · do not get me wrong - there is value on the ‘right-side’, but...

© Copyrights to Best-Testing, 2008

To be or Not To Be [Agile]?

JULY 2013


Development, Quality, Testing and product assurance coach and trainer – since the last 28 years

Vast experience in SW and embedded systems

Keen on people, how we think, how well we work, how we can do better

Train and coach internationally since 1995

Established the Israeli branch of ISTQB® - ITCB (2004), serve as VP and marketing director, lead the ISTQB® Partner Program w/w

Established the SIGiST Israel – Israeli Testing Forum (2000)

Certified Scrum Master, Lead Quality Assessor (ISO), Assessor TMMi (CMMi), Certified System Analyst, Certified ISTQB® Advanced

Alon Linetzki

January 2013

2


Best Car-Rental service in Norway…3

January 2013


Best made statement bug in the world…

4

January 2013


Challenges of the Agile Manifesto

Cultural Change

What to do next?

Agile readiness & evaluation assessment model

Reflection

Questions

The Discussion of Today…5

January 2013


Challenges the Agile Manifesto can

bring…

Agile values Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools Lack of detailed process + distributed teams challenge

Team is spread over multiple locations, different time zones Unavailability for frequent interactions

Consequences:

limits the ability of Agile to provide high value, high quality software

January 2013



bring…

Agile values working software over comprehensive documentation High level of communication and interaction is required

Lack of documentation when team not stable

High attrition ‘knowledge is leaving the team’

Consequences:

knowledge churn (key members) complete devastation of team knowledgebase and continuity of development

January 2013



bring…

Agile values customer collaboration over

contract negotiations Availability of customer is critical

Customer guides by receiving feedback constantly

Customer is required to lead the team in working on items

with highest value to it’s business

Development manager crowned as PO…

Consequences: Customer availability is low or

infrequent confusion within the team,

leadership and prioritization mess…January 2013



bring…

Agile values responding to change over following a plan

…Money from documented change requests and plan

deviations…

Requirements rise (a lot) towards the end of the project,

when customer sees the software almost ready…

Embracing change let [mature] customers get what they

want

Consequences: Customer flexibility project might be

loosing it’s way… (you need a matured customer who

understands the benefits and constraints in agile)

January 2013


Summary so far…

Do not get me wrong - There is value on the ‘right-side’, but Agile prefers things on the ‘left-side’…

Agile implementation, should be considered carefully, evaluating: The team/organization state of mind,

The maturity [of organization] to make the change,

The solution and technology aspects

Discussing and observing the organization culture, and if that culture can change…

January 2013


Scrum [implementation] is much more

about changing the way we think than

it is a process…

Tobias Mayer

Agile is a cultural change…11

January 2013


Many companies have a ‘Control’ culture while agile is all about ‘Collaboration’ and ‘Cultivation’ and to a lesser extent about ‘Competence’

People implementing Agile, have to feel ‘in-peace’ with it’s culture requirements

Fixation of the team on different cultures than Collaboration and Cultivation, will lead [eventually] into conflicts

Agile is a cultural change…12

http://agilitrix.com/2011/03/how-to-make-your-culture-work/

January 2013

http://agilitrix.com/2011/03/how-to-make-your-culture-work/


Agile Assessment 13

What to do next?

Assessment Influence factors

Assessment in practice…

January 2013


What to do next?

Getting into Agile, requires assessment and

evaluation of our ability to become agile (as an

organization)

Evaluate:

Management influence

Stakeholder influence

Project team influence

Technology influence

Solution [nature] influence

Suggested by: Peter Eeles, IBM, October 2012

January 2013


The model hereafter, was suggested by Peter

Eeles, from IBM, on October 2012.

I am enhancing it with more questions on each

topic to become less subjective model for

preparation and readiness assessment

Final model version can be obtained in the future

– send me your email/contact to [email protected]

Thank you!

Agile influence assessment

July 2011

15

mailto:[email protected]



Assessment sheet – data collection

January 2013

Project Life Cycle Selection v1.xlsx




Example:

SW Product development company named: “We-Like-

Stand-Up-meetings”

Manager – Bob No-Chance

Development Manager – Charlie Big-Noise

QA manager – Dorothy WAD

Product – Virtual Markers + Board, WiFi,

tablets/mobiles/laptops, Sketch board, painting tools,

ready-made sketches, sharing, company pool

January 2013




Business Flexibility

Management are willing to accept that business

parameters, such as cost, schedule and intermediatemilestones, are flexible

Empowered Teams

Management is willing to allow the team (including the

product owner) to make key project decisions

January 2013




Quality

Scope

BudgetTime

Quality

Scope

BudgetTime

So Far… In Agile…

January 2013



Our Story…

Management

influence

Business Flexibility

Bob No-Chance:

Empowered Teams

Charlie Big-Noise:

January 2013

No way we can

flex the dates

here…

I am the one who

makes decisions!



Stakeholder Influences Acceptance of Agile

Stakeholders understand and accept agile practices and theconsequences of following these

Number of Stakeholders

The number and diversity of stakeholder relationships to be managed - is limited

Stakeholder Responsiveness

The business representative, end users and testers are committed to spending a good deal of time working with the team in an iterative fashion

January 2013



Our Story…

Stakeholder Influences

Acceptance of Agile

Number of Stakeholders

Stakeholder Responsiveness

January 2013

If it means

more free time,

count me in!

I like iterations. It

makes others see

less of my

mistakes…



Project Team Influences

Team skills

Individuals on the team are team players, good communicators and are familiar with agile practices

Embracing Change

Team members expect and embrace frequent changes and

iterative refinement of the solution

Co-located Teams

The project team will be co-located

January 2013



Project Team Influences - continue

Team Stability

Individuals will be assigned to the team for the duration of the project

Team Roles

Team members are able (and willing) to take on multiple roles during the project and to take on new roles if/when

needed

Agile Disciplines

Team members have proven ability in performing disciplines that are critical for agile development with short iterations (design, testing and configuration management)

January 2013



Our Story…

Project Team Influences

Team skills

Embracing Change

Co-located Teams

Team Stability

Team Roles

Agile Discipline

January 2013

I have been to the

Agile course, and

am telling you: we

have to

communicate!

We should

welcome

Change. I

know him, he is

nice...

I have worked in

short iterations all

my life, switching 5

jobs a year…



Technology Influences

Development Environment

The development environment (methodology, tools,

training) will support an agile way of working - such as

automated regression test, continuous integration and real-

time dashboards - and is sufficiently mature

Execution Environment

The execution environment can support regular and

frequent releases

January 2013



Our Story…

Technology Influences

Development Environment

Execution Environment

January 2013

Of course:

automated

regression? No

problemo!



Solution Influences Requirements Churn

There is a strong likelihood that there will be significant changes to requirements (and the solution) during the project

Solution Complexity

The required solution is relatively-complex (e.g. requires the use of unfamiliar technologies) and/or there are many different solution options possible

Time-to-market

The deadline (time) is the most important factor for the solution while the scope of the solution is flexible

January 2013



Solution Influences - continue

Dependencies

There are no (or only a few) dependencies on internal or

external suppliers

Release Frequency

The solution can be subdivided in viable and meaningful

business releases that can be delivered within a few months

Demonstrability

The solution can be easily demonstrated on an incremental

basis (through a user interface, for example)

January 2013



Our Story…

Solution Influences

Requirements Churn

Solution Complexity

Time-to-market

Dependencies

Release Frequency

Demonstrability

January 2013

…but

requirements

change all the

time…we should

accept that

Solution is

complex, and TTM

is very important

We can divide the

product into small

parts, and ship

every 12 weeks

…in that case, we

can demo the

parts easily!


Agile Influence Assessment32

Assessment Data Collection Sheet

Assessment Radar Graph

January 2013



Assessment sheet – data collection

January 2013





January 2013


We are required to assess:

Are we ready to start implement Agile?

Which considerations and efforts do we have to

invest in order to be ready?

We should be willing to invest, in order to be ready!

Know, Acknowledge and Act upon the Agile

implementation consequences.

Iterate on readiness (re-assess) when preparations are

Done, after a few moths implementation, after 1 year –

learn and improve…

Reflection35

January 2013


Questions?36

Never Ever Give Up!!!

January 2013


To be or Not To Be [Agile]?

JULY 2013


References

http://www.paulklipp.com/articles/ToBeOrNotToBeAgile.pdf

http://managetheproject.blogspot.co.il/

http://www.ilean.be/docs/ilearn/20121017_BeAgile/BeAgile.pdf

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/petereeles/entry/t

o_be_or_not_to_be_agile21?lang=en

http://submit2012.agilealliance.org/node/15443

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/c914709e-8097-

4537-92ef-8982fc416138/entry/dont-just-do-agile-be-agile?lang=en

http://holoom.com/2009/11/03/to-be-or-not-to-be-agile/

38

July 2011

to be or not to be [agile]? · do not get me wrong - there is value on the ‘right-side’, but...

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