Scaling Agile Distributed Development

Slide 2: About Equal Experts A network of like-minded independent consultants, experts in the fields of Agile practices and delivery of large-scale enterprise systems With highly motivated individuals and lower overheads, Equal Experts offers more “bang for the buck” to its Customers than other consultancies Equal Expert consultants’ experience includes: – Coaching activities at the project team, off shore distributed team, departmental and organisational level – Delivery of mission critical solutions for wide range of sectors: financial, retail, insurance … – Collaboration with software vendors and blue chip companies in the UK and the US like TietoEnator, RBSG, BP, AOL, Dixons, Fidelity, Dresdner, MetLife, Caterpillar… © 2006 Equal Experts Ltd Ltd 2008 UK www.equalexperts.com 2

Slide 3: Everybody agrees: Agile works … … in a perfect world: – Small project – Colocated team – Onsite customer – T&M or internally funded – Green field © 2006 Equal Experts Ltd Ltd 2008 UK www.equalexperts.com 3

Slide 4: Everybody asks: can Agile work ... … in the real world ? – Many people: Large project – Many projects: Across the enterprise – Many locations: Distributed project – Many lines of code: Legacy project – Many external systems: Integration project – No onsite customer – Fixed price contract Can Agile scale ? © 2006 Equal Experts Ltd Ltd 2008 UK www.equalexperts.com 4

Slide 5: Offshore is a risky proposition Increase dramatically the risk of failure Distance amplifies all the pitfalls of waterfall: – Reliance on documentation over any other form of communication – Disconnect between business and IT – Plan and try to fix everything up-front – Any mistake is detected late in that project and expensive to fix – Degradation of quality given all the other variables are fixed and more visible: time, scope, cost – Being told what to do in minute details increases job dissatisfaction which increases staff turn-over Our first reaction is to make it even more riskier … © 2006 Equal Experts Ltd Ltd 2008 UK www.equalexperts.com 5

Slide 6: Desperate need for effective risk mitigation … That transparently reports progress, measured objectively That focus on quality by putting it at the heart of the delivery process That shows problems early so they are easier/cheaper to correct That incorporate feedback loops to engage business frequently That helps bridge the distance by increasing collaboration between offshore and onshore That multiplies the forms of communication above and beyond written documentation That trusts offshore people to make timely decisions with proper checks and balances in place © 2006 Equal Experts Ltd Ltd 2008 UK www.equalexperts.com 6

Slide 7: … Agile brings that to the table Agile is like a big magnifier glass – no one can hide! – Single code base with Continuous Integration – Focus on quality with pairing, automated unit / functional tests – Short feedback loops and short iterations – Showcases – Measurable progress with Stories 100% done or not – Collective code ownership – Increased communication – Fosters creativity, that leads to increased job satisfaction, that leads to increased staff retention © 2006 Equal Experts Ltd Ltd 2008 UK www.equalexperts.com 7

Slide 8: Distributed Agile There is today a toolkit of best practices to apply Agile in a distributed environment, in numerous articles The easiest thing: adapt the process to the constraints of distance The hardest thing: shape the culture offshore © 2006 Equal Experts Ltd Ltd 2008 UK www.equalexperts.com 8

Slide 9: Adapt to the constraints of distance More up-front thinking onshore: – requirements and design at the beginning of each release cycle More tools: – wiki, videoconference, instant messaging, Agile software lifecycle tools More documentation: – High level design notes on each functional area (onshore) – stories with detailed acceptance criteria and test scipts (offshore) More controls from onshore: – stories reviews and sign-offs, code reviews, distributed design sessions More support: – dedicated proxy BA, Tech Lead, QA onshore duplicating offshore role More travels: – in both directions, at regular intervals, for short/long trips © 2006 Equal Experts Ltd Ltd 2008 UK www.equalexperts.com 9

Slide 10: Shape the culture offshore Flat structure instead of pyramid structure – Middle management stifles creativity and introduce overhead in the process – Replace it with self-discipline (require a core team to lead by example) – Require alternative career paths than management Reduce individuality and competitiveness – Replace with team ownership and accountability – Require management to reward individuals differently Encourage pro-activeness and timely decision making – “It is OK to make mistakes !” – Replace blaming individuals for their mistakes with team retrospective to analyse what could have been done differently © 2006 Equal Experts Ltd Ltd 2008 UK www.equalexperts.com 10

Slide 11: Deterministic Approach Adaptive Distributed Waterfall Distributed Agile Agile Waterfall The question isn’t whether Agile can be applied to Distributed projects or not It’s more: can Distributed projects afford not to apply Agile practices? This way you can actually address the problems created by the distance instead of making them worse © 2006 Equal Experts Ltd Ltd 2008 UK www.equalexperts.com 11

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