Your Client Wants What
- 1. Your Client Wants What?Don’t Worry, Be AgilePresentation Copyright © 2008, Agile For All, LLC. All rights reserved.Presented byBob HartmanAgile For All303-766-0970bob.hartman@agileforall.com
- 2. Before We StartCell phones, pagers, PDA’s, etc. to silentIf you have a question, please ask it. Don’t wait! It is better to answer the question while we are still in the same area than to go back.Your Client Wants What?2
- 4. Bob Hartman (Agile Bob)30+ years of software industry experienceCertified Scrum PractitionerBachelor and Masters degrees in Computer ScienceRoles included Tester, Developer, Dev Manager, QA Manager, Product Manager, Project Manager, VP…Started with agile in 1999bob.hartman@agileforall.com303-766-0970Your Client Wants What?4
- 5. Who are you?Type of consultants we have hereAgile experienceAboutMeYour Client Wants What?5
- 7. Sound familiar?Your Client Wants What?7
- 8. What the client thinksFixed PriceMinimum TimeSUCCESS!Your Client Wants What?8
- 9. But to do that…we need accurate requirements up frontYour Client Wants What?9
- 10. Not realistic because client really wants…CHANGES!!!At end ofprojectDuringprojectEven afterdelivery!Your Client Wants What?10
- 11. By the way, don’t change the schedule!Your Client Wants What?11
- 12. The reality of the problemSqueezed timeFixed priceFAILURE!ChangesYour Client Wants What?12
- 13. How we normally react13
- 14. At first we react like this…Your Client Wants What?14
- 15. Then we regroup and say…No problem. This willjust cost more moneyWhat do youmean, no???OK, we’ll split the costYour Client Wants What?15
- 16. And we end up saying…Gulp! You’re right. You are an important client so we’ll make the changes for free.Your Client Wants What?16
- 17. The resultYou make less profit, AND you feel like you had to beg to get even that!Your Client Wants What?17
- 18. What Can we do?18
- 19. We could find better clientsYour Client Wants What?19Know whatthey wantCan pay forthe changesYeah, riiiiight!
- 20. We could change our mindsetYour Client Wants What?20Not knowingeverything is okJust charge moreto make up for itYour bid willstand outUnfortunately
- 21. Or… we could change our processYour Client Wants What?21Should encourage feedback and allow changes!
- 22. How Agile Can Help22
- 23. Delivers the right softwareYour Client Wants What?23Highest value softwaregets completed first
- 24. Accommodates changeYour Client Wants What?24
- 25. Mitigates riskYour Client Wants What?25
- 26. Doesn’t rely on luck to deliver on timeYour Client Wants What?26
- 27. When done properly we will end up…building the highest value software…with high quality…as fast as possible.Your Client Wants What?27$$$$$
- 28. Specific Agile Practicesfor Consultants28
- 29. Work from a ranked feature listYour Client Wants What?29Highest priority items first!Less time spent on junk
- 30. Changes the status quoYour Client Wants What?30Question: What percentage of software features are NEVER used?
- 31. Meet customer expectationsWhen does the customer know what they really want in a product?How can we help them know earlier?Exactly! Work in iterations to allow this.Demo working software every iterationRe-rank work after every iterationUse a retrospective each iteration for improvementYou MAY be able to deliver less functionality at an earlier point in time and save a lot of work!Your Client Wants What?31
- 32. Build slices of functionality not layersAll work in each iteration should slice all the way through every layer of the feature. It is less expensive to refactor than it is to overbuild!Your Client Wants What?32
- 33. Layers vs. slicesYour Client Wants What?33Slices = lesswork to doLayers = Allwork doneWhich is easier to change?
- 34. Expectations34
- 35. Common myths about agileYou will release more software fasterYou will release the highest value software as quickly as possibleMore code will NOT be written in less time, but when you are continuously releasing high value software it APPEARS that you are going fasterAgile doesn’t need any documentationThe phrase to keep in mind is “just enough, just in time” and this applies to most agile mythsThe developers run the show in agileThe developers follow the rule of finding the highest priority task to work on and doing thatThe Product Champion role defines the priorities, not the development teamYour Client Wants What?35
- 36. What others are seeingYour Client Wants What?36
- 37. VersionOne Survey Results (2008)Survey asked people: Please try to estimate SPECIFIC IMPROVEMENTS you have actually realized from implementing Agile practices.Source: VersionOne 2008 State of Agile Development SurveyNOTE: All 2008 data is within 2% of 2007 data implying these numbers are not one-time anomaliesBiggest causes of company-wide agile failure: Company philosophy or culture could not be overcome – 23% Lack of experience with agile – 21%Your Client Wants What?37
- 38. Agile is a Proven ApproachSome Agile Companies (there are MANY more)Your Client Wants What?38
- 39. Be careful!39
- 40. #1 cause of agile failureA dysfunctional Product Champion! (poor prioritization)Your Client Wants What?40
- 41. We need to avoid this!The Customer wanted a swing…The Customer got a swingYour Client Wants What?41
- 42. #2 cause of agile failureLack of automatedtesting!Your Client Wants What?42
- 43. Lack of automation causes delays…Vicious Cycle:Testing is overloaded with workResult: Testing occurs long after codingResult: Developers don’t get immediate feedbackResult: Developers create more defectsResult: Testing has more work. Systems have more defects.Result: Feedback to developers is delayed further. Repeat cycle.Regression Deficit DisorderTechnical DebtQuality suffers“Release it now!”
- 44. Practices for high qualityAutomated testingNightly buildIf the build breaks team commits to fix it firstContinuously generating testsDevelopers using test-driven developmentCode is not done until it passes unit tests and acceptance testsTests are written FIRST, then the code!!!Have tests live with the requirements so everything stays in sync through changesYour Client Wants What?44
- 45. #3 cause of agile failureNot giving it enough time to succeed!Don’t fall into this trap!Your Client Wants What?45
- 46. What is enough time?Requires at least 3 iterations1st iteration is usually very rough2nd iteration will be much better3rd iteration gets to near the new normProcess is self-correcting – use that to your advantageMake decisions and correct them the next day if it becomes necessaryTry something in the process and correct through retrospection if necessaryLearn from history – don’t commit to more work than was completed in prior iterationYour Client Wants What?46
- 47. Case study47
- 48. The problemConsultant asked to bid on a project with time, scope and quality fixed for the projectConsultant paid 33% up front, the rest upon delivery of the software, but in stagesAll companies were bidding on basically how much it would cost them for resources during the project, plus profit (sunk cost + profit)No advantage for being more creativeNo advantage for higher qualityThis particular consultant usually charged higher prices because they were creativeYour Client Wants What?48
- 49. The big question…Your Client Wants What?49Given this consultant’s model of charging more for their creativity, how do they make money on this one?(don’t just say “be agile”give some specifics)
- 50. Their solutionThey asked the client if there was any advantage to delivering an earlier revision of the software with primary features all workingIt turned out there was! Client’s customers could effectively use (and would pay for) a partial release as long as certain features were presentClient willing to pay more for an earlier delivery of part of the software, plus they were willing to pay part of it on delivery of the earlier releaseConsultant investment is less because of early payment (which allows a lower bid to win the business!)Overall profit is higher because the client was willing to pay more in order to receive early ordersLet’s look at this graphically… Your Client Wants What?50
- 51. Initial investment modelYour Client Wants What?51Paid at final delivery of productSoftware deliveredFinally start making some money!CostTimeStart with money in the bank (33% paid up front)Cost of development
- 52. Actual investment modelYour Client Wants What?52First software deliveryPaid at final delivery of productFinal software deliveredMake profitCostTimeStart with money in the bank (33% paid up front)Cost of development
- 53. ComparisonYour Client Wants What?53Original total investment (sunk cost)New total InvestmentCostTimeCost of development
- 55. Websites www.agileforall.com (me!)www.agilealliance.orgwww.apln.org (Agile Project Leadership Network)www.scrumalliance.orgYour Client Wants What?55
- 56. Message groupsYahoo! GroupsscrumdevelopmentleandevelopmentagileprojectmanagementeverydayAgileleanagilescrumpmiagileAlso many LinkedIn groupsAgilistas, Scrum Practitioners, Agile Alliance, …Your Client Wants What?56
- 57. BooksYour Client Wants What?57
- 58. ConferenceAgile Development Practices ConferenceNovember 10-13 in Orlando Floridawww.sqe.com/agiledevpracticesYour Client Wants What?58
- 59. questions?59
- 60. Thank you!Sign up for mailing list (1 message per month)See more about me and my companyat www.agileforall.com60