1. Agile project kick-off from the trenches /// Sharing Experiences | 2014-02-17 | Page 1
Agile project kick-off
from the trenches
The recipe
2. Agile project kick-off from the trenches /// Sharing Experiences | 2014-02-17 | Page 2
About the chef
George StamosGeorge Stamos
Agile/Lean coach and trainer at Intracom Telecoms S.A.Agile/Lean coach and trainer at Intracom Telecoms S.A.
george.m.stamos@gmail.comgeorge.m.stamos@gmail.com
3. Agile project kick-off from the trenches /// Sharing Experiences | 2014-02-17 | Page 3
Recipe background
Agile project initiation should contain
all activities needed to start the project
with confidence.
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Recipe background
It should provide the team
and the stakeholders all the needed
âstartupâ information.
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Masters voice
Before we start
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Successful agile
project initiation
Main Course
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Main Ingredient
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Discipline
Is doing what you know
needs to be
DONEeven when you donât want to do it
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Required ingredients
Cooking in a Scrum kitchen
âșProduct Owner, Scrum Master, Development team
âșOptionally selected & identified feature stakeholders
âșKick-off meeting
âșProject vision, goal(s) and business value
âșStakeholder management
âșStakeholder alignment
âșCollaboration tools
âșContinuous integration
âșBug and improvement tracking system
âșTeam competence gap analysis
âșRisk management
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Preparation time
One to three days
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Execution time
Two days
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The kitchen
âș Scaling & Distributing
Scrum where
distributed teams may
work in parallel with
dependency reduction
and sync
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Equipment,
Environment and Tools
âș Brief high-level feature presentation
âș Presentation of the preliminary feature time-plan/anatomy
âș Shared Working agreements
âș Shared US-DoD, Q-criteria, Release-DoD
âș Preliminary version of the feature backlog
âș A lot of time-boxes
âș Versioning system
âș Continuous integration platform
âș Bug tracking tool
âș Collaboration and communication tools
âș Stakeholder map or value network
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About the main ingredients
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Product owner (CHEF)
âș Why?
â The key to a successful agile software development project (recipe)
âș How?
â 0.5oz of eagerness to discover new ideas
â 0.5oz of exploring Product Ownership
â 0.5oz of willingness to help their teams to grow
â 0.5oz of ability and willingness to try new things and experiment
â 0.5oz of willingness to foster innovation
âș What?
â 10g of being able to understanding PdOs role
â 10g of being able to call the business decisions that needs to be taken
â 100g of responsibility for the product backlog
â 80g of being able to produce a concise and accurate release plan
â 10g of being able to motivate the team
â 100g of being to listens to all stakeholders
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Scrum master (SOUS-CHEF)
âș Why?
â The coach of the Development Team, Product Owner and Organization to
follow Scrum values, practices, and rules.
âș How?
â 2 tbsp. of being able to explain Scrum to the organization
â 2 tbsp. of being an expert on the Scrum process
â 2 tbsp. of being able to handle the fact that a SM has no authority
â 2 tbsp. of being able to help the team to improve its engineering practices
â 2 tbsp. of being able to works on his/her Scrum impediment list
âș What?
â Pinch of Facilitating (helping all roles and functions to collaborate closely)
â Pinch of Coaching, (to high productivity and to expand Scrum in the
organization)
â Pinch of âShieldingâ (for the team and educating others outside the team
about how the team is working)
â Steer everything to remove impediments for the team
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Development team
(Le commis de cuisine)
âș Why?
â The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-
organizing teams
âș How?
â 1.5oz of authority over the sprint
â 1.5oz of empowerment
â 1.5oz of commitment to work at sprint planning
â 1.5oz of responsibility
â 1.5oz of continuous improvement
âș What?
â 100g of knowledge from a-z on how to build the feature
â 100g of cross functional team working as possible on one product backlog
at a time
â 100g of transparency (Be careful, hiding undone work will ruin your recipe)
â 100g of continuous engineering practices improvement
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Kick-off meeting
âș Why?
â The best opportunity for a Product Owner to energize his or her team.
During this meeting, the Product Owner can establish a sense of common
goal and start understanding each individual.
âș How?
â A strong and clear agenda
â Review project vision and goals
â Establish key priorities and concerns
â Establish candidate releasable
â Decide what to do first
âș What?
â Project business value
â Stakeholder alignment
â Continuous integration
â Team competence gap analysis
â Risk management
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Preparation phase
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Preparation phase
Scope & Vision
âș Start with WHY first
âș What do we want to accomplish
âș Imagine what the product will be like when it is
âfinished.â
âș Describe this finished state and publish it.
âș Explain the business value and opportunity exist
for your product to your audience
âș Use an elevator pitch concept (see next slide)
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Preparation phase
Elevator pitch
âș The elevator pitch must answer six questions:
â What is the project
â Who is your target customer or user profile
â What problem does your product solve
â How does your product solve the problem
â Who is behind the project
â What makes your product special
âș Tips
â Must be short (30 to 60 seconds)
â Easy to understand
â Must have a hook to attract your audience
â Must be convincing
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Preparation phase
Stakeholder
management & alignment
âșThe process
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Preparation phase
Collaboration tools
Focus on your needs
âșCollaboration comes in all shapes and sizes. Meaningful
collaboration may be what your group is seeking.
Basics
âșProject and team member calendar
âșTo-Do Lists
âșAnnouncement and discussion boards
âșKnowledge management tools
âșInstant messaging
âșSocial networking
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Preparation phase
Continuous integration
Masterâs voice
Continuous Integration is a software development practice
where members of a team integrate their work frequently,
usually each person integrates at least daily - leading to
multiple integrations per day. Each integration is verified by
an automated build (including test) to detect integration
errors as quickly as possible.
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Preparation phase
Continuous integration
âș Maintain a Single Source Repository
âș Automate the Build
âș Make Your Build Self-Testing
âș Everyone Commits To the Mainline Every Day
âș Every Commit Should Build the Mainline on an Integration
Machine
âș Keep the Build Fast
âș Test in a Clone of the Production Environment
âș Make it Easy for Anyone to Get the Latest Executable
âș Everyone can see what's happening
âș Automate Deployment
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Preparation phase
Continuous integration
Popular CI tools
âBamboo
âTeamCity
âHudson
âLuntBuild
âQuickBuild
âApache Continuum
âCruise (Control)
âAnthill pro
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Preparation phase
Bug tracking system
To provide a clear centralized overview of development
requests (including both bugs and improvements) and their
state.
âșPopular tools
â Bugzilla
â Jira
â Mantis
â Trac
â And the ones you already use
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Preparation phase
Competence gap analysis
âș Identify the Needed Skills
â What is the team mission?
â What are the teamâs business goals?
â What processes and procedures are currently in place?
â What critical skills are needed to be able to perform the mission and
meet the goals?
âș Analysis and data collection
â Develop job profiles and identify critical skills needed for the job role
â Identify employeesâ competencies and skill levels
â Review current position for future needs
â Take the time to develop a list of competencies that most clearly
and accurately describe what is needed to do the work
âș Share information gathered
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Preparation phase
Risk Management
Set-up the process to anticipate risks that might affect the project
schedule or the quality of the software being developed, and then take
action to avoid these risks
âșRisk Categories
â Project risks
â Product risks
â Business risks
âșThe process
1.Risk identification
âș Identify possible project, product, and business risks.
1.Risk analysis
âș Assess the likelihood and consequences of these risks.
1.Risk planning
âș Make plans to address the risk, either by avoiding it or minimizing its effects on
the project.
1.Risk monitoring
âș You should regularly assess the risk and your plans for risk mitigation and
revise these when you learn more about the risk.
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Execution phase
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Execution phase
Call to kick-off meeting
âș Organizer notes
â Need for meeting
â Meeting purpose
â Time
â Meeting length
â Participants
â Equipment
â Agenda
â Pre-meeting preparation
âș Participant notes
â Review purpose, agenda,
participants, timing
â Confirm participation
â Meeting preparation
â Start your individual
preparation
â Check for open action points
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Execution phase
Kick-off meeting
Facilitator notes
âș Organizer notes
â Start on time
â Welcome participants;
Repeat purpose
â Remind of roles
â Go through the agenda and
the expected outcome
â Keep notes and time
â Facilitate the discussions
â Maintain focus and pace
â Keep planned brakes
âș Participant
â Be on time
â Participate actively
â Support the meeting facilitator
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Execution phase
Kick-off meeting
Facilitator notes
âș Organizer notes
â Finish in time
â Summarize results/decisions
â Agree upon actions
â Collect feedback,
improvements
â Thank the participants
â Clean-up the room
âș Participant
â Support consensus
â Make notes on own actions
â Suggest improvements
â Clean-up own area
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Execution phase
Kick-off meeting
âș Present and share
âScope & Vision of the feature
âFeatureâs business value
âBrief high-level feature presentation
âPresentation of the preliminary feature time-plan
âOther useful feature related information
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Execution phase
Kick-off meeting
âș Agree on your way of working (what?, who?, when?)
â Collaboration tools
â Continuous integration strategy and tools
â Bug & improvement tracing tools
â Communication tools
â Risk management handling
â On working framework i.e.:
âș Time box length
âș Planning session
âș Review/Demo
âș Improvement meeting
â Quality Assurance activities
â User story Definition of Done
â Release Definition of Done
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Execution phase
Kick-off meeting
âș Stakeholder management
â Identify Stakeholders
âș Consider those who have...
- The ability to impact your project
- The ability to enhance your project (SMEs)
- The ability to slow down your projects (e.g., teams or groups
you depend on)
- The ability to remove impediments
- The ability to lead opinions
- The ability to facilitate the change
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Execution phase
Kick-off meeting
âș Stakeholder management
â Analyze Stakeholders
âș The stakeholder map
What is it?
âąProvides a framework for
managing stakeholders
based on interest and
influence
âąY-axis sometimes labeled
âPowerâ
âąX-axis sometimes just
labeled âInterestâ
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Execution phase
Kick-off meeting
âș Stakeholder management
â Prioritize Stakeholders
âș Stakeholders may
- Find faults
- Delay approvals
- Provide little support
- Be overly controlling
- Reassign resources
- Sway opinions in a negative direction
- Start a competing project
- Pull the plug!
âș Ask for their expectations
âș Provide yours
âș Agree on a clear communication strategy
Set the frequency
âąOne-on-one conversations
âąStanding meetings
âąProject events â Workshops
âąReports
âąother?
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Execution phase
Competence gap analysis
Do the exercise
âș Identify the Needed Skills
â What is the team mission?
â What are the teamâs business goals?
â What processes and procedures are currently in place?
â What critical skills are needed to be able to perform the mission and
meet the goals?
âș Analysis and data collection
â Develop job profiles and identify critical skills needed for the job role
â Identify employeesâ competencies and skill levels
â Review current position for future needs
â Take the time to develop a list of competencies that most clearly
and accurately describe what is needed to do the work
âș Share information gathered
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Execution phase
Risk Management
Have your first session
Set-up the process to anticipate risks that might affect the project
schedule or the quality of the software being developed, and then take
action to avoid these risks
âșRisk Categories
â Project risks
â Product risks
â Business risks
âșThe process
1.Risk identification
âș Identify possible project, product, and business risks.
1.Risk analysis
âș Assess the likelihood and consequences of these risks.
1.Risk planning
âș Make plans to address the risk, either by avoiding it or minimizing its effects on
the project.
1.Risk monitoring
âș You should regularly assess the risk and your plans for risk mitigation and
revise these when you learn more about the risk.
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Execution phase
Project backlog
Present
âPreliminary presentation of the project backlog
âMinimum marketable features
âProduct Milestones
âRelease plan
âșExercise
âDraw project release plan
âșTools
âStory Mapping
âTreeMap
âEnhanced Burndown Chart with Epic Bars
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Note from the chef
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Note from the chef
Do not forget
âșHave an engaged team
âșBe informed of the teamâs progress
âșReceive good-faith estimates
âșBe educated on technical and architectural
factors that impact estimates
âșBe informed of featureâs risks
âșReceive Lean/Agile training and coaching
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Note from the chef
but
âșRemain engaged from the definition to the
completion of your feature
âșProvide ongoing feedback and support
âșDefine and clarify requirements
âșCollaborate with the Product Owner
âșContribute to the growth of a trusting Agile
environment
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Note from the chef
Managing expectations
âșBe prepared for questions from those not
familiar with Agile
ââWhat do you mean you canât commit to
what Iâm getting six months from now?â
ââCan you squeeze it in? Itâs really small.â
ââWhy are you wasting time on architecture
and refactoring?â
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Note from the chef
What is needed
âșPatience
âșSetting the right expectation
âon scope
âand timing
âșPrioritize right
âșAllocate feature resources and budget right
âșBe able to justify your decisions
âșContinuous planning and risk assessment
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Note from the chef
And . . .
Tips for effective discipline
Respect/follow the rules and the duties set by your organization and work within the limits.
Stay calm and do not get carried away when people misbehave. Avoid screaming, name-calling (negative criticism) and disrespect. Talk to people as you would want to talk to you.
Make sure people understand that it is the misbehavior that you are unhappy
Allow for negotiation and flexibility
Whenever possible, consequences should be delivered immediately and relate to the rule broken
Remember to show acknowledgement and give credit and praise good behavior.
Consistency and predictability are the cornerstones of discipline and praise is the most powerful reinforce of learning.
Be a good role model