Effective Product Development Using Agile Methods

Effective Product Development using Agile Methods Bapiraju Nandury Ramchandra Takkar Cúram Software

Agenda • Introduction to Cúram • New product development process • Agile methods come to rescue – Best Practices • Lessons learnt

Cúram – World Leader in SEM • Cúram – Gaelic for “Care and Protection” – Is a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Business Application Suite for Social Enterprise Management. – Is specifically designed for social enterprises such as Human Services, Labour, Health, Social Security, Workers Compensation and Veteran’s Affairs etc. – Supports both welfare and insurance business models – Based on a Buy and Build philosophy – Uses J2EE and related technologies. XML, Web Services and UML used extensively – Has a workflow engine, code generators and rules engine as part of the framework – Runs on Windows, Unix and Mainframes © Copyright 2006 Cúram Software Limited

What is SEM? • Social Enterprise Management – A business and technology blueprint that supports the transformation from a Program-driven business model to a client-centered, integrated service delivery model Military & Human Social Security Labor Health Veterans Services & Pensions Affairs TANF Medicaid Income Support Disability Services UI Benefits UI Tax Food Stamps WIC Disability Services Return to Work Employment Medicaid Mental Health Pensions Workers’ Services Compensation Child Welfare Adult Services Workers’ Workers Compensation Loans Child Support EIS Compensation Contributions Child Care Disability Services Loans © Copyright 2006 Cúram Software Limited

Development Process

Product Development Overview Source: http://scrumone.typepad.com/

The Team • Product Management Team • Product Development Team – Application Development Team – Technical Product Management Team – Technical Infrastructure Team – Testing Team © Copyright 2006 Cúram Software Limited

Team Interactions Technical Infrastructure Technical Product Technical Product Management Management Team Team Requirements documentation, Support, Handovers Product Product Development Management Engineering Resources T (Brainstorming Workshops) Reviews Support, Identification Scenarios, & retesting of Reviews bugs Release builds, Bug Fixes, Support Test © Copyright 2006 Cúram Software Limited

Development Process • Requirements Analysis and Elaboration – Q&A Sessions – Workshops with all Stakeholders: Business, Development, Quality And Deployment – Functional Specifications © Copyright 2006 Cúram Software Limited

Development Process • Testing – On Developers machines – On Integration box (BAs - Bangalore) – Testing Environment (Testers – Dublin) – Tracking – Harp – the online bug tracking system – Weekly Status Reports on Bug Status © Copyright 2006 Cúram Software Limited

Development Process • Different phases of development – Ready To Play – In Progress – Development complete – BA Testing Complete – Testing Complete – Testing Signoff © Copyright 2006 Cúram Software Limited

Development Process • Change Control and Issue Resolution – Defined process – Product Management team logs issues in “Change Control” document and posts it on Sharepoint – Developers review and agree upon requirement changes which are scheduled and implemented in subsequent iterations – Issues are resolved by constant communication with BAs on the floor and conference calls with Product Management team © Copyright 2006 Cúram Software Limited

Development Process • Retrospectives are held at the end of every iteration • Prime Directive – Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand • The Four Key questions – What did we do well, that if we don’t discuss we might forget? – What did not go well? – What should we continue to do? – What should we change? © Copyright 2006 Cúram Software Limited

Best Practices

Project kick-start hiccups • Planning and Estimation • Framework-related technical issues • Setting up new development stream • New team • Functional dependencies • Integration Testing © Copyright 2006 Cúram Software Limited

Best Practices – Agile Process • Iterative Development – 2 Weeks Iterations • Focus on delivering value • Collaborative Code Ownership (up to an extent) • Plan such that developers are not overloaded (occasional burn-outs are expected to meet deadlines) • Infrastructure • Design Reviews © Copyright 2006 Cúram Software Limited

Best Practices • Functional Test Scenarios • Design Discussions • Involve developers in end-to-end work • Tightly coupled team (Business Analysts and Developers) empowered to take ownership and deliver • Requirements Workshops © Copyright 2006 Cúram Software Limited

Best Practices • Winning Trust of ALL stakeholders – Critical factor for success in distributed software development – Can be achieved through establishing transparency in development process – Our team effectively used Sharepoint for “information-at-your- finger-tips” – In addition to this, we had weekly status meetings – Set right expectations with ALL stakeholders © Copyright 2006 Cúram Software Limited

Lessons Learnt

Lessons Learnt • A well defined “Change Control Process” helps to review and implement changes in a systematic way • Testing of cards by BAs as soon as they are done (instead of piling them up) • Unit Testing should be planned along with development of story cards • External dependencies can be resolved by scheduling weekly calls with respective teams • Common vocabulary © Copyright 2006 Cúram Software Limited

Lessons Learnt • A process for bug fixing should be defined to NOT to break the code of current development • Refactoring is required to make code-base stable • Pair signups for reading specs and peer review • Pre-IPM for better planning • Small teams are extremely useful in resolving coordination issues • Build knowledge base with tech-pool, tech discussions, tech- forums © Copyright 2006 Cúram Software Limited

Recap • Agile Manifesto works for Product Development too! – Individuals and interactions over processes and tools – Working software over comprehensive documentation – Customer collaboration over contract negotiation – Responding to change over following a plan • Customize agile methods to suit your needs • Continuous feedback is the key • Empower the teams

Thank You Q&A baps@curamsoftware.com rtakkar@curamsoftware.com

Effective Product Development Using Agile Methods

by Naresh Jain on Oct 18, 2007

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