The Journey to Agile - Case Study on a Waterfall to Agile Transformation Project
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The document discusses the journey of a company transforming to Agile practices. It began with a traditional 2-day Agile training but failed to see results as business stakeholders were not engaged and teams remained separate. Small continuous changes were then made, such as embedding testers and business analysts into development teams. These small changes led to greater effects over time. Demonstrating working software to senior management helped gain their support for further Agile adoption, including major refactoring work. The key lessons are to take small incremental changes, expect continuous change, and take the team through the journey together.
The Journey to Agile - Case Study on a Waterfall to Agile Transformation Project
- 1. @shabbirnaqvi14 The Journey to Agile Shabbir Naqvi Senior Delivery Manager at YNAP
- 2. @shabbirnaqvi14 How many of you can relate to this?
- 3. @shabbirnaqvi14 The Journey to Agile 1. Agile transformation projects don’t work 2. Smaller continuous change is more effective 3. Using change from your teams to drive bigger change 4. Lessons learnt I want to talk about these four things...
- 4. @shabbirnaqvi14 Image credit: http://www.techdaring.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/OLD-COMPUTER.jpg Going to use a real company as a case study They had very legacy systems, ~15-20 years old Many stakeholders across the world, serving >50 brands They could only release monthly Waterfall development practices Separate development and tester teams
- 5. @shabbirnaqvi14 Image credit: https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrinknp_800_800/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAS9AAAAJD ExODBlM2ZkLTNkMWEtNGQ0Mi1iNzMyLTk2ZWU0ZWU5NzJjOQ.jpg Main problem was releasing things slowly, or projects considered to take too long Business needed things quicker
- 6. @shabbirnaqvi14 Image credit: https://www.iag.biz/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/387-Agile-Business-Analysis-Trainin g.jpg Senior management decided to adopt Agile Hired a consultant to give a 2 day Agile training course to the whole development team Started doing sprints, had burndown charts in place, etc. Somewhat re-structured teams, apart from embedding testers and aiming for cross-functional teams
- 7. @shabbirnaqvi14 Image credit: https://cdn.meme.am/instances/60746446.jpg Didn’t actually change anything Business were not engaged, separate Project Management team with their own Business Analysts No Product Owner
- 8. @shabbirnaqvi14 Image credit: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/842cc63d-b913-47e 2-aeef-7e2811b27c68-728.jpg.jpg Decided to start small: - Work with the team to figure out the main challenges they’re facing - Perfect venue: retrospectives First challenge: MVPs Got the BA somewhat embedded into the team to work with the developers Next challenge: Estimations were new to the team Cautiously did our sprint commitment and tweaked it every couple of weeks Next challenge: Skillset gap Testers embedded into the teams properly Team commitment meant everyone helps each other Devs did testing, testers helped with BDDs sitting with devs
- 9. @shabbirnaqvi14 Image credit: http://media2.govtech.com/images/770*1000/shutterstock_iterate.jpg Continued tweaking, assessing, iterating Small changes led to greater effects
- 10. @shabbirnaqvi14 What about having a bigger impact? Senior management often wants to just see results Demo’ed MVPs to them & customers Despite being able to release monthly due to the legacy systems, we could show them for certain what we were going to release This meant we could release the best value to the customer every month thanks to the slightly shorter feedback loop Senior management noticed and started to like this Agile thing! Where did we get to? - 3-4 development teams with Scrum - Support team with Kanban - Started major refactoring work, signed off by senior management
- 12. @shabbirnaqvi14 1. Image credit: http://leissonlife.com/files/2016/02/babysteps.jpg Take small baby steps to change Concentrate on a single thing at a time Too much change all in one go causes confusion, unsettles people Take everyone through those baby steps
- 13. @shabbirnaqvi14 http://www.wcpm.co.uk/epmbook/orgchange.htm Managing change is crucial As can be seen, change can have serious negative impacts on people
- 14. @shabbirnaqvi14 2. Image credit: https://www.cmscritic.com/site/assets/files/2177/webchanges.jpg Change is neverending Technology always changing, so expect change in the future Be prepared for change, embrace it
- 15. @shabbirnaqvi14 So much coming up in tech... ● ‘Exponential’ tech - robotics, VR & AR, 3D printing ● Artificial Intelligence ● Cognitive Technologies ● Blockchain ● IoT ● ‘Anything as a Service’ ● Cybersecurity https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/technology-media-and-telecommunications/articles/technolo gy-industry-outlook.html Or Google ‘Deloitte Technology Industry Outlook 2017’ Some examples of change coming up in 2017
- 16. @shabbirnaqvi14 3. Image credit: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4zWztThK1n8/T9UcTNov_gI/AAAAAAAAAoc/lLI8jL4uucM/s 1600/133+on+jounrey+together.png Take the team through this journey together The best teams I’ve worked with have always been the ones who have shared the journey They know why they use certain processes, because they’ve seen what happens when they don’t They respect each other’s opinions They understand each other’s ways of working Good example: - Worked with a team for >12 months - Tweaked processes continuously - Tried formal Scrum, tried Kanban - Changed all sorts of things, timings of meetings, sprint cycles, etc. - Team experienced this together, hence they understand why they work the way they do - And of course, team has bonded very well during the journey