Although Agile has proven to provide incredible benefits in software development and delivery, it is not foolproof, nor a “Silver Bullet.” Plenty of factors need to be considered before attempting this highly disciplined approach. On December 6, 2012, ASPE Instructor Andy Painter discussed the mistakes other organizations have made and which pitfalls to avoid to ensure that your first attempt at applying an Agile approach will be met with a successful outcome. This web seminar explored these areas and provided clear steps your team and organization should consider to provide a clear set of tools to maximize the opportunity for best results possible.
You can listen to a complete recording of this presentation at aspeevents.webex.com. Select “View Event Recordings” in the top right corner. You can also download the slides from this presentation by visiting our Web Seminar Archives.
Need to find more about Agile? The ASPE Agile Boot Camp will help with Iteration Planning, Product Roadmap and Backlog, Estimating Practices, User Story Development and Iteration Execution. Agile is not just methods and approaches. Bring your team together to learn and experience Agile as it should be done.
Web Seminar Q&A:
Q. Many developers don’t really seem to care about “Agile” frameworks as they don’t see any benefit to them – all they want to do is work on tasks. What do you think would be a good approach to get them to understand the benefits to them?
A. The first step is to have the developers engage with the Customer to understand the true needs and value that should be delivered. A key component in any successful Agile implementation is the collaboration with the customer. Without customer collaboration you can never really realize the promise of Agile.
Q. Are there metrics on what types of projects are typically successful using Agile?
A. The type of project is rarely an issue in the success of agile. The context in which the project exists. Contextual things like organizational support, culture, knowledge and understanding of Agile. However there are some relative metrics to look at when choosing a pilot Project such as size of project, business support, and importance.
Q. What about this methodology works in a product Re-engineering process?
A. Looking into the Agile Engineering and Testing practices of highly disciplined Agile teams is paramount in a re-engineering process. Getting good unit, component and functional tests that prove the software is working prior to the re-engineering process. Techniques such as Test-Driven Development and Continuous Integration can greatly increase the success of a re-engineering effort.
Q. In a prior organization a common opinion was that implementing Agile was synonymous with IT no longer needing the user community to provide requirements input. In other words, IT should just move forward with limited or no requirements. Is this a common issue?
A. To restate a previous comment, a key component in any successful Agile implementation is the collaboration with the customer. Without customer collaboration you can never really realize the promise of Agile.
Q. How should you handle it when 1-2 people dominate the Scrum team?
A. A great ScrumMaster is well versed in personalities and behavioral styles along with facilitation skills. This is critical role to achieve the promise of Scrum. Understanding this role & why Scrum specifies it a specific role but everyone else is simply a team member. The role will be responsible for facilitation communication across the whole team and removing impediments like this one.
