The document discusses issues with traditional development approaches and how adopting Agile practices helped address them. It introduces Agile concepts like Scrum, user stories, and ceremonies. While some have concerns that Agile has become diluted, the document argues the heart of Agile is experimentation - observing, forming hypotheses, running experiments, and analyzing results. This allows teams to solve their own problems through individual interactions over processes, focus on working software through experimentation rather than documentation, collaborate with customers through experiments instead of contracts, and constantly adapt through change by embracing experimentation.

1. GETTING TO THE
HEART OF
AGILE
Jamie Strachan
@jamiestrachan

2. OUR
STORY

3. ISSUES
• Slow to market
• Lack of quality
• Struggle with scope creep
• Weak stakeholder relationships
• Poor internal communication
• Siloed teams

4. We hired consultants

5. We got Agile training

6. PRACTICES
• Scrum
• Small, cross-functional teams
• 3 Roles: Product Owner, Scrum Master, Team
Member
• 2 week sprints
• User Stories
• Maintain a Product Backlog
• Ceremonies

7. We lived happily ever after

8. Let’s go further

10. MANIFESTO FOR
AGILE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT

11. We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
• Individuals and interactions over processes
and tools
• Working software over comprehensive
documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract
negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

15. AGILE BACKLASH?
“The word ‘agile’ has been subverted to the
point where it is effectively meaningless, and
what passes for an agile community seems to
be largely an arena for consultants and
vendors to hawk services and products.
So I think it is time to retire the word
‘Agile.’”

16. “I think it is time to retire the word
‘Agile.’”
Agile Is Dead (Long Live Agility)
Dave Thomas, March 2014

17. “[T]here is danger in such a wide range
of ‘we are Agile because we implement
L with X, Y, Z’. We need to worry about
how diluted the meaning of agile is
becoming, and focus on real quality.”
Agile at 10 – A State of Contradiction
Mike Beedle, May 2011

18. “If you are dogmatically following along
with a handful of agile practices, but
don’t really ‘get’ the intentions behind
the agile mindset, you may be
disappointed in your results.”
Agile Schmagile: The Backlash Against Agile
Jon Kern, March 2011

19. CARGO CULT
AGILE

20. “intentions behind the agile mindset”
?

21. CONSULTANTS
Michael
Sahota
http://agilitrix.com
Paul Heidema
http://paulheidema.co
m

22. THE HEART OF AGILE
EXPERIMENT
LEARN

23. EXPERIMENTAL PROCESS
1. Observe
2. Form a hypothesis
3. Establish parameters
4. Run the experiment
5. Analyze the results

24. EXPERIMENTAL PROCESS
It’s not an experiment if there is:
• No scheduled reassessment
• More than one thing being tested
• No success criteria

25. HOW DOES
EXPERIMENTATION
FIT?

26. User Stories: experiments on your
product

27. Retrospectives: experiments on your
process

28. Individuals and interactions
over processes and tools
YOUR TEAM
SOLVES
YOUR PROBLEMS

29. Working software
over comprehensive documentation
EXPERIMENTATION IS
ACTIVITY INSTEAD OF
SPECULATION

30. Customer collaboration
over contract negotiation
EXPERIMENTS
CANNOT
BE DONE IN
ISOLATION

31. Responding to change
over following a plan
CONSTANT
EXPERIMENTATION
INSTILLS A
CULTURE OF
ADAPTATION

32. ACCEPT CHANGE
FEAR CHANGE
EMBRACE CHANGE

33. Experimenting with Waterfall
is more agile than
blindly following Scrum

34. Stop doing Agile
Start being agile
EXPERIMENT
ON EVERYTHING