Get Ready for Agile Methods: How to manage constant and rapid change in IT projects
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The document provides an overview of agile development methods, specifically Scrum and Extreme Programming (XP). It discusses the limitations of traditional waterfall methods for managing constant change, and how agile methods address this through iterative development, early delivery of working software, and emphasis on customer collaboration and feedback. Key aspects of Scrum like sprints, daily stand-ups, and product backlogs are summarized. XP practices like planning games and managing the four variables of cost, time, quality and scope are also outlined.
Get Ready for Agile Methods: How to manage constant and rapid change in IT projects
- 1. Get Ready for Agile Methods! How to manage constant and rapid change in IT projects Dr Dimitris Dranidis
- 2. Presentation outline Traditional methodologies Problems Agile methods Extreme Programming SCRUM Conclusions Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 2
- 3. Driving forces… “Deliver quickly. Change quickly. Change often. These three driving forces compel us to rethink traditional software engineering practices.” -- Jim Highsmith Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 3
- 5. Classic “Waterfall” development model Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 5
- 6. Characteristics of the Waterfall development model Heavy documentation Every phase delivers a complete document Late product delivery Big-bang approach No code is written before the Coding phase Late feedback – low customer involvement Customer is involved at the beginning and at the end of the project. Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 6
- 7. The problems Business environment changes at increasing pace. Unpredictability of requirements Traditional methodologies fail to satisfy environment changes due to: Resistance to change Change increases cost Conformance to an initial plan Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 7
- 8. Cost of change Late discovery of design defects Changing requirements Result: costly over-runs and, often, project cancellation. Waterfall tries to avoid change by freezing requirements (contracts) Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 8
- 9. Risk In a waterfall process, you don’t know if you have a problem until late in the lifecycle. Risk is very high until you see some results Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 9
- 10. Customer feedback was late! Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 10
- 11. Following plans when feedback is absent With feedback Without feedback Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 11
- 12. How can we deal with…? Continuous change? Change is inevitable! Unpredictable requirements? High risks? Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 12
- 13. Agile methods
- 14. Agile methods Agile = flexible, adaptable Embrace change! Try to reduce cost of change Focus on customer satisfaction (and feedback) rather than conformance to a plan Early product delivery Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 14
- 15. Agile methods value more… Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 15
- 16. Common characteristic of all agile methods: Iterative process Development is broken down in short iterations Every iteration repeats a “small Waterfall” Delivers some functionality Incremental approach Iterations are time-boxed: No extensions of deadlines There is a product even if the project is cancelled Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 16
- 17. SCRUM
- 18. SCRUM Software development process for small teams (max 9) and small projects (few months) Very simple, only very few principles and rules Emphasis on agile project management practices Toyota uses it since the early 1990s Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 18
- 19. SCRUM process overview Iterative Incremental Time-boxed Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 19
- 20. Initial planning phase Establish vision, budget Initial Product Backlog List of identified, prioritized features Prepared by the customer Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 20
- 21. Sprints - iterations 15-30 day iterations Sprint planning Sprint Daily Scrum meetings Sprint review Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 21
- 22. Sprint planning Spring backlog List of features to be implemented in the current Sprint The most important features from the Product Backlog Expanded to list of tasks by team Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 22
- 23. SCRUM - Sprints The team is left alone and produces the best software possible No changes are allowed during a sprint Anything can change before and after Daily SCRUM meetings Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 23
- 24. Daily SCRUM meetings 15 – 30 minutes stand-up meetings at the same place at the same time every work day Questions to be answered by each team member: What have you done since the last scrum meeting? What obstacles stand in the way? What do you plan on doing between now and the next scrum meeting? Management’s role: remove any obstacles and to supply all necessary resources. Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 24
- 25. Sprint review At the end of a sprint: Meeting with all stakeholders Product demonstration Anything can be changed Continue? Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 25
- 26. SCRUM closure phase Completes product development Operational deployment Documentation Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 26
- 27. SCRUM Roles: Product owner (Customer) Responsible for creating and prioritizing the Product Backlog Chooses goals for the next Sprint Reviews the system after the Sprint Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 27
- 28. SCRUM Roles: Scrum Team (developers) Expand the Sprint Backlog to Tasks Work on the Sprint Backlog tasks Develop the system Daily meetings Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 28
- 29. SCRUM Roles: Scrum Master (Project Manager) Ensures Scrum practices are followed Mediator between management and team Removes obstacles Conducts Sprint review Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 29
- 30. SCRUM Logs: Product Backlog Kept by the Product owner (Customer) List of identified, prioritized tasks Drives team activity Updated and prioritized before each sprint Checked in each meeting Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 30
- 31. SCRUM Logs: Product Backlog Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 31
- 32. SCRUM Logs: Sprint Backlog List of tasks to be completed by the Scrum Team in the current Sprint. Tasks in the range of 4- 16 hours Estimates are updated daily! Total estimated time calculated Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 32
- 33. SCRUM Logs: Sprint Burn-down graph Remaining Actual Ideal estimated time to complete all tasks Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 33
- 34. SCRUM Practices: Project management .. Self-directed teams No guidance from management or Scrum Master Don’t add to iteration Nothing changes during a sprint Scrum Master firewall Team is not interrupted by anyone Scrum Master removes obstacles Decision in one hour Decisions for removing blocks are taken immediately Bad decisions are better than no decisions Blocks removed in one day Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 34
- 35. SCRUM Practices: Project management .. Chickens and Pigs In a SCRUM meeting only the SCRUM Team may talk (the pigs) Everybody else (the chickens) can attend silently Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 35
- 36. Other SCRUM practices Small teams Ideally 7 members Larger projects can be multiple teams Common room Daily Build Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 36
- 37. SCRUM…. the name? A scrum is a team pack in Rugby Everybody in the pack acts together with everyone else to move the ball down the field Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 37
- 39. Four Variables ... Control variables of software development Cost Available budget Time Project duration Quality Product quality Scope Product features Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 39
- 40. Four Variables ... It is impossible to control all four variables Customers can choose to control any 3 of the variables Developers pick the resultant value of the 4th variable Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 40
- 41. Four Variables ... All variables should be visible to customer Scope is the best variable to control Fix cost, time and quality Adjust scope correspondingly If there is no time to complete the whole project remove some functionality (customer chooses) Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 41
- 42. XP Practices XP is based on the extreme application of 12 practices that support each other. Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 42
- 43. 12 XP Practices Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 43
- 44. XP Practices: Planning Game ..... Pieces: user stories Requirements on index cards Written by the customer Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 44
- 45. XP Practices: Planning Game ..... Players: customer & developer Customer decides priorities (Business value) Developer estimates effort Value and Risk first! Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 45
- 46. XP Practices: Planning Game ..... Iteration planning (before each iteration) Time-boxed: 2-3 weeks long Customer selects “user stories” fitting current iteration Developers break user stories in tasks Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 46
- 47. XP Practices: Planning Game ..... Inside the iteration No new “user stories” are added Completeness is measured in terms of completed “user stories” Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 47
- 48. XP Practices: Planning Game ….. End of iteration Iteration ends at the pre-specified date Even if not all user stories were implemented Estimations are evaluated and readjusted for next iterations Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 48
- 49. XP Practices: Frequent Releases A release cycle is usually up to 3 months A release cycle consists of iterations up to 3 weeks In each iteration the selected user stories are implemented Each user story is split in programming tasks of 1-3 days small and frequent releases provide frequent feedback from the customer Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 49
- 50. XP Practices: Pair programming .. Two programmers sit together in front of a workstation one enters code one reviews the code and thinks “Pair programming is a dialog between two people trying to simultaneously program and understand how to program better”, Kent Beck Continuous quality inspection! Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 50
- 51. XP Practices: Pair programming .. Pairs change continuously (few times in a day) every programmer knows all the aspects of the system a programmer can be easily replaced in the middle of the project Ensures continuous code inspection Costs 10-15% more than stand-alone programming but…. Code is simpler (fewer LOC) with less defects (15%) Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 51
- 52. XP Practices: On-site customer The customer must always be available to answer questions resolve ambiguities set priorities review the product Customer is considered part of the team Continuous feedback! Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 52
- 53. Conclusions
- 54. Requirements for the success of agile methods Collaborative environment People-centered organizations Small to medium sized teams (avg. 9 persons) Common open workplace Commitment Customer commitment Management commitment Developers commitment Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 54
- 55. Wrap-up Agile methodologies in a fast changing world! Embrace change! The people factor Trust your team! User involvement Involve the customer! Useful practices even in a traditional development process Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 55
- 56. Thank you! “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Charles Darwin Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 56
- 57. About me… Senior Lecturer Computer Science Dept CITY College, International Faculty of the University of Sheffield Programme director of the MSc in Software Engineering & Telecommunications Leader of the "Software Engineering & Service-Oriented Technologies" research group, research interests: service-oriented computing, model-based testing, object-oriented analysis and design, formal methods, software engineering education, agile software development methodologies, and artificial intelligence. http://www.city.academic.gr/csd/dranidis/ Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 57
- 58. Experience in software project management >10 years of management of >50 short (6-9 pms) software projects Industrial Group Projects Teams of undergraduate and postgraduate students developing software for the industry Plenty of successes and failures http://invent.city.academic.gr/ Get Ready for Agile Methods * D Dranidis * CITY College 58