A Gentle Introduction To Agile

A Gentle Introduction to Agile Michael Sahota October, 2009

Michael has been doing Agile for 8 years including senior leadership roles B.A.Sc. in Engineering Science M.Sc. in Computer Science Companies I have worked at … Universities I learned at …

Overview

What is software development?
Art?
Science?
Engineering?
Poetry?

It’s a cooperative game of invention and communication Infinite Organization Survival Career Management Competitive Cooperative Finite w/ no fixed end King-of-the-hill wrestling Finite & goal-directed Tennis Software Development Poker Rock-Climbing
Alistair Cockburn 2003-2005
Jazz music Product Management

Project work is in conflict with Product work
Project is primary goal: deliver working, useful software
Need to “invent” solution for needs based on technology
Transfer of ideas from domain experts to developers
Product is secondary conflicting goal: set up for the next game
What is your companies philosophy about long-term planning?

Incremental and Iterative Development (IID) is a precursor of Agile
Use time-boxed iterations to reduce risk
Provided feedback early
In-tune with end users needs
Responsive, not predictive

IID is not new – it has a 50 year track record with big successes
1950’s X-15 hypersonic jet, Project Mercury
1960’s - Weinberg teaching IID at IBM
1972 - TRW uses IID on $100M Army Site Defense software (1972)
1977-1980 NASA’s Shuttle Program
1985 - Barry Boehm’s Spiral Model
1993 - First SCRUM at Easel Corporation
1995 – Microsoft IID published
Larman, Craig and Basili, Vic. A History of Iterative and Incremental Development. IEEE Computer, June 2003 (in press)

Waterfall history is accidental and based on misunderstandings
1970 - Royce publishes landmark paper as a conceptual non-working model
1985 - DoD-Std-2167 - Establishes Waterfall as mandatory process (by accident)
1994 - Mil-STD-498 - Permits both Waterfall and IID
1998 - Standish Group CHAOS Project Report: among the top reasons for project failures were aspects of the waterfall method:
“ Research also indicates that smaller time frames, with delivery of software components early and often, will increase success rate.”
2000 - DoD 5000.2 IID is identified as preferred approach

2008 Agile adoption survey has striking, unambiguous results
February 2008
Message sent out to DDJ mailing list
Data, summary, and slides downloadable from www.ambysoft.com /surveys/
642 respondents:
54.8% were developers, 29.4% were in management
41.6% had 10-20 years IT experience, 37.2% had 20+ years
37.7% worked in orgs of 1000+ people
71% worked in North America, 17% in Europe, 4.5% in Asia
Copyright 2008 Scott W. Ambler www.ambysoft.com/surveys/

Agile has crossed the chasm in U.S. and Europe; just starting in Canada

Agile is not a silver bullet! People factors dominate software development
“A well-functioning team of adequate people will complete a project almost regardless of the process or technology they are asked to use (although the process and technology may help or hinder them along the way).” – Alistair Cockburn

The Agile Manifesto sets out values and principles While there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan Craftsmanship* over crap * 2008 proposal by Bob Martin

Principle: Working software is a fundamental metric
“ Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.”
See more @ http:// agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

Principle: Face-to-face communication is fast and effective Copyright Alistair Cockburn

Documentation matters too!
It is important that details get stored (paper, models, images, video, etc.) to handle:
Gaps in time - What did we decide last month?
Gaps in space - Keeping off-site people in the loop
Contracts & change of personnel
Traceability

Agile processes come in different flavours Lean Agile Scrum (XP)Extreme Programming Crystal Clear Scrum, but… RUP IID Lean Software (Kanban)

Scrum has been used for almost 20 years for just about everything
Empirical management and control process for any (development) project
Used at product companies and IT organizations since 1990
Cross-functional teams self-organize to deliver the sprint goals
Delivers business functionality in 2 to 4 weeks
Scalable to distributed, large, and long projects
CMMI Level/2 and Level/3 compliant
Extremely simple but very hard
CC Mountain Goat Software LLC

Scrum has been used by many companies
Microsoft
Yahoo
Google
Electronic Arts
High Moon Studios
Lockheed Martin
Philips
Siemens
Nokia
Capital One
BBC
Intuit
Intuit
Nielsen Media
First American Real Estate
BMC Software
Ipswitch
John Deere
Lexis Nexis
Sabre
Salesforce.com
Time Warner
Turner Broadcasting
Oce

Scrum has been used for many types of projects
Commercial software
In-house development
Contract development
Fixed-price projects
Financial applications
ISO 9001-certified applications
Embedded systems
24x7 systems with 99.999% uptime requirements
the Joint Strike Fighter
Video game development
FDA-approved, life-critical systems
Satellite-control software
Websites
Handheld software
Mobile phones
Network switching applications
ISV applications
Some of the largest applications in use

Scrum cycle shows the essence of an iterative Agile process

eXtreme Programming (XP) engineering practices are critical for sustained success
(Version Control, Coding standards)
Automated Testing
Test driven development
Refactoring
Shared code
Pairing
Continuous Integration (Automated builds)
User Stories

Crystal Clear is a light Agile process with 7 properties for successful projects
Frequent Delivery
Osmotic Communication
Reflective Improvement
Personal Safety
Focus
Easy Access to Expert Users
Technical Environment with
Frequent integration
Automated testing
Configuration management
Core properties of “Crystal” Properties increasing project safety (rubustness to adverse events)

Lean principles can be used to enhance success with Agile
Eliminate Waste
Amplify Learning
Decide as Late as Possible
Deliver as Fast as Possible
Empower the Team
Build Integrity In
See the Whole

Kanban is Agile too… and uses continuous flow instead of iterations Graphic Copyright Jeff Patton AgileProductDesign.com

Overview

What questions do you have?

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A Gentle Introduction To Agile

by Michael Sahota

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