Software development is hard

software development ha rd is A primer on why agile and lean can help.http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/bobjagendorf/2219031438/ 1

Me• Involved in development of digital applications and platforms since 1997• Australia and the UK• Floppy disks, CD-ROMs!• Then Intranet sites, websites, web applications.• Now. Lean and agile coach & trainer• Organiser of LAST Conference• projectslittlehelper.com 2

Me• Involved in development of digital applications and platforms since 1997• Australia and the UK• Floppy disks, CD-ROMs!• Then Intranet sites, websites, web applications.• Now. Lean and agile coach & trainer• Organiser of LAST Conference• projectslittlehelper.com• Super Power - Sleeping 2

Does any of this sound familiar? 4

Does any of this sound familiar? “We need to add all these essential features...but it still has to come out on the same date.” 5

Does any of this sound familiar? “Sorry, we forgot to tell you that we wanted these changes” 6

Does any of this sound familiar? “I know I said I wanted that functionality…but now that I see it…” 7

Does any of this sound familiar? “Did you read the documentation?” “Of course I did… …well some of it. …actually only the intro.” 8

It can start to feel a bit…Dilbert http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/smallbox/174532376/ 9

A classic approach... Some call it… Big Design Up Front 10

A classic approach... Detailed planning using up-front documentation. 11

A classic approach...Detailed estimates of every step inthe development. 12

A classic approach... Eventually... Build the software 13

A classic approach... Handover to QA Sign off 14

A classic approach... Maybe a “Lessons Learned” meeting. AKA Post Implementation Review. 15

A classic approach...Strict change controls To make sure what was speciﬁed is what is built. 16

Strengths? 17

Strengths? Appears logical, at ﬁrst. 17

Strengths? Appears logical, at ﬁrst. Can be good for stable projects, with low technical risk 17

Strengths? Appears logical, at ﬁrst. Can be good for stable projects, with low technical risk …ones that don’t change much 17

Strengths? Appears logical, at ﬁrst. Can be good for stable projects, with low technical risk …ones that don’t change much …or ones where you predict 100% of tasks up front 17

Problematic? 18

Problematic? Weighted towards good ideas coming at the start 18

Problematic? Weighted towards good ideas coming at the start Writing things down…can equal “Throwing it over the wall” 18

Problematic? Weighted towards good ideas coming at the start Writing things down…can equal “Throwing it over the wall” Many features end up not being used. 18

Problematic? Weighted towards good ideas coming at the start Writing things down…can equal “Throwing it over the wall” Many features end up not being used. A prescribed process cannot always ﬁt every project 18

Change is a problem, not an opportunity 19

Change is a problem, not an opportunity The thing is… 19

The thing is…Change is inevitable 20

What can we doabout it?? 21

Weapons to add to our armoury User driven product design Prioritise functionality Close & frequent collaboration with representatives of customer value 22

Weapons to add to our armoury Constantly ask “Is this what the user values?” Continuous integration, automated testing and other engineering practices. Regularly inspect process and adjust accordingly 23

Beneﬁts 24

Beneﬁts Sustainable pace 24

Beneﬁts Sustainable pace Self organising teams 24

Beneﬁts Sustainable pace Self organising teams Ability to embrace change 24

Beneﬁts Sustainable pace Self organising teams Ability to embrace change= happier teams 24

Beneﬁts Sustainable pace Self organising teams Ability to embrace change= happier teams The product is what the user wants (it makes money/ creates value) 24

Beneﬁts All the kittens are happy 25 http://www.flickr.com/photos/masochismtango/514736937

Agile and Lean These are techniques to help make kittens happy Perhaps different to things that you might be have done before… …but you may have been doing a lot of this already! 26

“You are not alone” Suncorp Nokia The Economist The Financial Times Google REA Telstra Yahoo! Seek and a whole lot more 27

Where to start? Retrospectives Automated testingExtreme Programming Daily standup Unit testing Card walls ScrumBurndown Charts Sprints IterationsValue Stream Mapping Story points DSDM UX Kanban VelocityContinuous integration User Stories 28

Where to start? Retrospectives Automated testingExtreme Programming Daily standup Unit testing Card walls Scrum Confused?Burndown Charts Sprints IterationsValue Stream Mapping Story points DSDM UX Kanban VelocityContinuous integration User Stories 28

A bit of readingThe Scrum Primer:http://www.scrumprimer.com/InfoQhttp://www.infoq.com/Jim Highsmith“Agile Project Management”PMI, PRINCE 2 Foundation, IIBALeading Answershttp://leadinganswers.typepad.com/ 29

Group therapyMelbourne Agile and Scrum User GroupMelbourne Limited WIP Society (Leanand Kanban)Agile Business Analystshttp://meetup.com 30

http://www.flickr.com/photos/avardwoolaver/7137096221/http://projectslittlehelper.comed@projectslittlehelper.com @littlehelperCreative Commons photos fromFlickr.Hand drawn icons:http://handdrawing.olawolska.com 31This presentation can be reused under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA licence.

Software development is hard

by Ed Wong on Aug 16, 2012

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