Agile Methods A Practical Perspective

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Agile MethodsA Practical Perspective

• Philadelphia SPIN (Software Process Improvement
  Network)
• March 2006

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Agenda

• Background
• Mine
• Agile
• Agile
• What, Where, When, Who, How
• XP Experience
• XP Lessons Learned
• Be a Participant

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My Background

• Application Development and Analysis
• Fortran
• Client/Server
• Web Development
• Management/Leadership
• Application Architecture Design
• Technology Leadership
• Directives
• People, Process, Technology
• Metrics

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Agile

• 1 marked by ready ability to move with quick
  easy grace
• 2 having a quick resourceful and adaptable
  character ltan agile mindgt
• 3 fast nimble active lively well
  coordinated

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What are Agile Methods

• UML Concepts (UML is a design notion)
• Links Modelization Prototyping
• Principles
• Communicate better
• Competence use of extreme tools
• Working Functionalities over Documentation
• Change Acceptance
• Simply Put
• Short Releases
• Small Releases
• Simple Design
• Continuous Testing
• Only a Summary

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Whats the Market saying..

• An Exploited Terminology - buzz word
• Microsoft talks of Agile Development Approach
• Delivery of tools - vendors
• Delivery of methods consultants
• Delivery of agendas internal IT
• Sell ideas to business
• Fund organizations/agenda
• Agile who doesnt want to be Agile
• Implies low cost
• Implies Speed
• Implies Ease
• You must consider The competition already has

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Why Agile Methods

• Its Appealing (fast nimble almost fun)
• Perception is Reality
• Not Bureaucratic
• Not Strictly Engineered
• Adaptive to Change
• Unencumbered by Full Scope Mgmt
• Learning Teams
• Small (effective) Units
• Examples
• Adaptive S/W Dev, Feature Driven Dev, Crystal
  Clear, Dynamic S/W Dev Method, Rapid App Dev, XP,
  RUB, Timeboxing, Scrum, etc..

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Where are Agile Methods

• Forms and Report Design
• Report writing technology
• Data entry
• Decision Support
• Client/Server
• Richness of interfaces
• Web design
• A method for managing the madness!!!
• Graphically rich
• Aesthetically pleasing
• Handheld devices.and beyond

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When to use Agile Methods

• Pressure to respond FAST
• Environments experiencing Rapid Change
• Uncertain/emerging Requirements
• New/Innovative Technologies
• Small Units
• Easy to test and test often
• Trusted Teams
• Focused Teams
• Self starters
• Co-located
• Fixed Timeframes

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When to Implement Agile MethodsKeeping IT Real

• Missing out on eXtreme Success??
• Know where youre feeling pain
• Know when/where youve failed
• Code fixing with little Discipline
• Evaluate
• Your situation
• The People, Process, Technologies
• Understand Directives (goals, objectives)
• Develop Metrics

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When to Implement Agile Methods Keeping IT Real

• Learn
• Identify a Pilot project/team
• Think Small to start BIG later
• Minimal/recoverable Biz Impact (but with some
  skin in the game)
• If Possible, find an Agile Mentor
• Consultant
• Experienced Employee
• Academic Alliance
• Pick the RIGHT people
• Developers
• Customers

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Whos using Agile Methods

• Anyone and Everyone Can
• Web Development
• Academic/Research Teams
• Making Corporate Inroads
• Some have used Agile practices without knowing it

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My Experience with Agile

• Early Web Development
• Corporate Intranet
• Eventually hybrid use on the Corp Internet
• Small Team
• Complex Ancillary Marketing Site
• Co Located
• Close Team
• Eager, fun, willing to learn
• Used XP
• Excellent Consultant on future project

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XP Summary

• Roots SmallTalk
• Kent Beck Creator
• First Edition vs. Second Edition
• Second elaborated and added Principles/Practices
• 5 Values fundamental knowledge Understanding
• Communication
• Feedback
• Simplicity
• Courage
• Respect
• 14 Principles Bridge Practices Values
• MOST POPULAR 40 hour work week!!
• Later Version included 24 Practices
• Concrete and can be done everyday
• Emphasize Testing

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XP Summary (cont.)

• Practices
• Features user stories
• Small Releases early often
• Metaphor naming convention
• Simple/easy design (itll change anyway)
• Continuous Testing (unit/UAT)
• Refactoring
• Pair Programming
• Team (collective ownership)
• Continuous Integration (CM - daily builds)
• 40 hr work week
• Colocated team customer/developer/proxies
• Code Standards

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XP Summary (cont.)

• Highly Iterative
• Meetings
• Discuss Features
• Assign Work/Tasks
• Test Scripts FIRST
• Customer writes UAT
• Ends at some Iterative Step
• No Fancy Release

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Outsiders View Point

• General Skepticism
• Its a HACK, UNDICIPLINED
• Pair Programming increases costs
• Testing was generally inconsistent
• Thats not how you test
• Wheres the Documentation
• Wow!! It worked!!

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Observations w/Agile

• Successful Release and Product
• Winner CIO Corporate Intranet Award
• Commitment of Biz/customer was inconsistent
• Developer Confidence (whos watching?!?)
• Pair Programming Questioned
• By Biz (How much is this gonna cost)
• By Programmer (My Independence/autonomy)
• Little Down Time
• Difficulty achieving closure (Scope creep)

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Scorecard

• Reduced Bureaucracy
• Managed Pace of Change and Change of Pace
• Inevitable fits and starts of the project
• Staff Changes
• Moved Quickly
• Small Releases
• Demonstrated Progress
• Grew Confidence

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Impact to Roles/ResponsibilitiesThe Challenges

• Developers
• Increased relationship dependency/skills
• Loss of autonomy
• Less down time
• Project Managers
• Increased Facilitation/Team Building
• Strong Focus on Testing
• Managing a Highly Iterative Process
• Dependence on issues/Release logs
• More Time/Effort Coordination
• Maintain Focus on Deliverables/Deadlines (easy to
  get side-tracked)

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Impact to Roles/ResponsibilitiesThe Benefits

• Developers
• Better access to Customer
• Refactoring produces better product
• Strong peer interaction better results
• Project Manager
• Results achieved at a quicker pace
• Better requirements gathering
• Less reporting/documentation
• More focus on the deliverables/product
• Ability to change direction (agility)

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Lessons LearnedHind Sight

• Like the Approach
• Like many Principles/Practices
• Recommend HYBRID Approach
• Use Portfolio Mgmt/Biz Cases for early
  Requirements Gathering
• Standardize Platform(s)
• Standard Development Frameworks
• Architectures
• Templates
• Robust Environment
• Service Mgmt Framework in place
• Solid Release Mgmt Processes
• People, Process, Technologies in place
• COMMIT to Testing (Unit/UAT often)

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Best Practice Exchange

• Your Experiences???
• Your Questions???