LSCTIG 2015 Session Materials - Are you agile ? Agile can make projects more visible, more focused on delivering value, and more responsive to ever-changing needs. Learn what Agile is and how Illinois Legal Aid Online and Legal Services Corporation are using two of the most popular Agile frameworks to better manage teams and projects, improve quality, and deliver solutions that meet user needs. We'll also demo free and low-cost Agile tools for managing Agile projects.

1. ARE YOU AGILE?
Gwen Daniels, Illinois Legal Aid Online
Peter Campbell, LSC

2. Project Management
Intro
Peter Campbell
CIO, LSC
pcampbell@lsc.gov
@peterscampbell
Project Management 2

3. What Is A Project?
Slide 3Project Management Picture: Laurensvanlieshout from nl

4. Project Factors
• Distinctness – Is it a change from your routine tasks?
• Scope – Is it ambitious or important enough to track?
• Duration - Will it be done before the plan is written down?
• Complexity - Is this simple enough to trust that it can be
done without oversight?
• Budget - Is the cost inconsequential?
• Impact – Will anyone notice when the project is
completed?
Project Management 4

5. What Does A Project Plan Do For
You?
• Summarizes an initiative’s goals
• Sets scope, milestones and schedule
• Keeps multiple parties on task
• Identifies pre-requisites and risks
• Manages workloads
• Provides marketing data
Project Management 5

6. What Does A Project Plan Fail To
Do?
• Go as planned
• Keep anyone on task
• Do the job for you
• Communicate
Project Management 6

7. Communication
• “90% of a Project Managers time is spent
communicating”
– Project Management Institute
• “And the remaining 10% is spent
communicating”
– Jeff Herron, Beaconfire
Project Management 7

8. Communication Styles
• Agreement on communication protocols
can greatly support a project’s success
• A great Project Manager understands and
adapts to the team’s individual styles
– Traits of a Successful Project Manager – Beaconfire
Blog
• In addition to the project plan, large
projects also benefit from
communications plans
Project Management 8

9. Waterfall
Project Management 9

10. Waterfall
• Traditional Project Management
methodology
• Focuses on plan, dependencies, resource
allocation
• Deadline driven
• Best for large, structured projects with
clearly defined outcomes
– Construction, Bridges
Project Management 10

11. Agile
Project Management 11

12. Agile
• Modern approach
• Prioritizes communication, constant review,
collaboration
• Highly adaptable timeline
• Best for opportunistic projects with flexible
outcomes:
– Software applications, web sites, some campaigns
Project Management 12

13. Why Agile?
Gwen Daniels,
Director of Technology Development
Illinois Legal Aid Online
gdaniels@illinoislegalaid.org
@gadaniels72

14. The Problem with Waterfall
● Upfront requirements
require lots of
assumptions
● Assumptions are often
wrong
● By the time you get to
testing, it’s too late

15. How Agile Addresses This Problem
● One feature at a
time
● Frequent:
o Communication
o Testing
o Feedback
o Releases

16. ILAOBuilds: A Case Study in
Scrum

17. Scrum focus: Website Rebuild
● Technical development
● Content strategy
● Content migration
● Usability testing

18. ScrumMaster
● Keeper of the process
● Servant Leader
● Keeps team focused
● Removes
impediments

19. The Product Owner

20. Teri’s Product Backlog

21. The Team
● Team, not a group of
individuals
● Self-organizing
● Cross functional
skills

22. Planning for the sprint...
● The team estimates in
Story points
● The team picks items for
the sprint
● The team creates sub-
tasks and a Sprint backlog
● Product owner
prioritizes the
backlog
● Product owner
describes each of
her priorities

23. The Team’s Sprint Backlog

24. The Daily Scrum
● What I did yesterday
● What I’m doing
today
● What is in my way
● 15 minutes max
● Video for remote
workers

25. The Demo
• Who Attends
• Team
• Other Staff
• External Stakeholders
• What Happens
• Show what’s been built
• Get reactions, comments
• Answer questions
• Next Step
• Product owner incorporates
feedback into product backlog

26. Benefits
● Transparency
● More managable work
loads
● More realistic project
estimates
● Less silod work
● More team ownership and
accountability

27. ● It’s a process
● Nothing is written in
stone
● It’s ok to get it wrong
● It’s a major change
to how we
traditionally have
worked
(So Far!)

28. Project Management with Trello
(Kanban)

29. Questions?