Managing Global Projects using SCRUM Patrick Nicolas www.pnexpert.com October 2006

The purpose of this presentation is to describe the SCRUM methodology applied to the management of projects and teams geographically distributed. It is assumed that the audience is already familiar with the basics of SCRUM agile process Managing Global Projects using SCRUM: Abstract

A project or engineering manager has to face Miscommunication of product requirements Different standards in quality assurance and reviews Inconsistent project management practices Lack of centralized key performance metrics “ Blame game” Creating software products using engineering teams distributed around the world brings some significant challenges. Managing Global Projects using SCRUM: Challenges of Distributed Teams

A project or engineering manager has to face

Miscommunication of product requirements

Different standards in quality assurance and reviews

Inconsistent project management practices

Lack of centralized key performance metrics

“ Blame game”

This approach allows organizations to React quickly to change in requirements Reduce risks by delivery incremental functionality Simplify the chain of command Streamline project management Involve customers in product definition & evaluation SCRUM is an empirical and iterative methodology that treats product development as a self-organizing process, especially suitable for managing global engineering teams. Managing Global Projects using SCRUM: Overview

This approach allows organizations to

React quickly to change in requirements

Reduce risks by delivery incremental functionality

Simplify the chain of command

Streamline project management

Involve customers in product definition & evaluation

Roles : Product owner, SCRUM master, Engineering teams & Management. Process : Product backlog, Estimate, Sprint, Daily Scrums, Post-mortem meetings Metrics : KPI, Earned Value, User stories Managemen t: Managing by Objectives The SCRUM methodology can be broken down into 4 key components: Managing Global Projects using SCRUM: SCRUM Key Components

Product Owner represents the interest of the customer and defines ROI for each function. Drives the product backlog and post-mortem meetings. ScrumMaster coordinates the interaction between management, product owner and the team. Conducts the daily sprint meeting and insulates the project from unnecessary interferences Engineering team manages actively the project during the sprint (2 to 4 weeks) and relies on the ScrumMaster for involving the project’s stakeholders. Managemen t monitors progress through key performance metrics and provides required resources. The key roles in SCRUM methodology are: Managing Global Projects using SCRUM: Roles

Managing Global Projects using SCRUM: Process – Planning 1 2 3 1. The product owner reviews and prioritize the product backlog 2 Management allocated resources, reviews estimate, assign ScrumMaster and teams members 3 Management commits to provide the team leeway and necessary resources

Managing Global Projects using SCRUM: Process – Sprint 4 5 6 4. The sprint phase lasts between 2 to 4 weeks and managed by the engineering team with support from the ScrumMaster 5 Short daily Scrum meetings keeps the project stakeholders informed through 3 basic questions 6 Management monitor the progress and risk through key performance metrics collected through metrics associated with development and testing tools. What have we done since the last Scrum? What are we doing until the next Scrum? What are our impediments?

Managing Global Projects using SCRUM: Process – Post-mortem 7 8 9 7 A demo and results are presented by the team to management and potentially customers 8 Lessons from the sprint and discussed in the review meetings are added as best practices in the knowledge base 9 Unfinished tasks are added to the product backlog for subsequent sprints

Products metrics such as user story points or elemental use cases Project monitoring statistics that include measuring project burn-down using user stories, earned value or uninterrupted days Quality metrics related to percentage of failed builds, deployment, acceptance tests, code coverage, defect fix turnaround. The key performance indicators available to the ScrumMaster and executive management: Managing Global Projects using SCRUM: Key Performance Indicators

User story points: Use stories are simple description of an interaction of the user with the product. It includes the description of the interaction, the context and possible pitfalls in term of vocabulary and semantics. The product owner may also include the problem statement which represents the original issue or hindrance with the product. Elemental use cases: Use cases describe the user’s interaction with the product or some its components by defining an Actor, System, pre and post conditions, main successful sequence and exceptions. Complex use cases are commonly broken down in smaller, elemental use cases. Scrum measures the size of development projects using user story points or use cases Managing Global Projects using SCRUM: Product metrics

During the spring phase, progress is monitored by estimating either the burn-down (number of user stories or use case left to implement) or more traditional earned-value. Managing Global Projects using SCRUM: Project Monitoring Monitoring project burn-down with user story points Monitoring project using earned-value (actual vs. planned) User story points Cost Scrum Sprints Development weeks

Collaborative Daily Scrum Meeting: The ScrumMaster uses a combination of tweets, instant message and skype conference is used to conduct the daily scrum. Check & Balance : Creating dependencies across teams partitioned by cleanly defined interfaces ensure effective communication. Scrum methodology has to be modified to allow remote teams to actively manage the project with a single ScrumMaster. Managing Global Projects using SCRUM: Integration of Distributed Teams

In a fast pace 24/7 global software development environment, every problem occurring during the development cycle needs to be anticipated. The pace of the development is such that any delay in resolving an issue causes a significant ripple effect. Managing Global Projects using SCRUM: 24x7 Software Factory

The key recommendations to manage actively the sprint backlog in a 24x7 development scheme are Managing Global Projects using SCRUM: Real time update sprint backlog Use a collaboration portal to support interactive scrum meetings. Set up overlap time between the different teams Conduct a partial scrum at the each shift to update sprint backlog

Use a collaboration portal to support interactive scrum meetings.

Set up overlap time between the different teams

Conduct a partial scrum at the each shift to update sprint backlog

The team should have at least a couple of independent thinkers as software engineers. The project should have well defined metrics regarding risk, burn-down and quality, otherwise management will discover that the project is drifting, late in the sprint phase, making any remedial action irrelevant. The first couple of SCRUM projects have usually higher profile within the company, exposing the team to potential disappointment. It is critical for executive management to set realistic goals. The known limitations of SCRUM methodology are accentuated for global projects. Managing Global Projects using SCRUM: Lessons learned End

The team should have at least a couple of independent thinkers as software engineers.

The project should have well defined metrics regarding risk, burn-down and quality, otherwise management will discover that the project is drifting, late in the sprint phase, making any remedial action irrelevant.

The first couple of SCRUM projects have usually higher profile within the company, exposing the team to potential disappointment. It is critical for executive management to set realistic goals.