Presentation from NJ PMI International Project Management Day - November 1, 2012

1. Managing an Agile Mobile App
Development Project with asana
Anthony Monticchio CSM/PMP
uReach Technologies Holmdel, NJ
NJ IPM Day November 1, 2012

2.  Convince a reluctant software development
team to try a new work process called Agile
Development
 Minimal budget available to try something
new
 Resistance to give-up prior work style
 Unwillingness from team members to ‘trust’
the Agile Process and the Scrum Master
Challenge
uReach Technologies 2

3.  Prior Methodology wasn’t working
 Missed Delivery Dates
 Low Team Morale
 Poor Communication
 Dissension amongst team members
 High degree of Software Rework
PM Methodology
uReach Technologies 3

4.  How Agile helped solve the issues
 Missed Delivery Dates
 Time-boxed Sprints resulted in increased productivity
 Low Team Morale
 Team members naturally prefer self-organizing teams
 Poor Communication
 Agile tool creates a transparent information repository
 High degree of Software Rework
 Agile ‘locks-in’ Time and Cost and actively manages
scope via Product Backlog ‘grooming’ by the Owner
PM Methodology
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5.  Why Agile was selected for the ‘BusinessCall’ Mobile
App development project
 Desire to try something new from CTO
 Liked the ‘idea’ of a ‘learning organization’
 Senior leadership risk tolerance was sufficient to get
started
 Intuitively understood the Benefits of a Cross-
Organizational team
 Quickly grasped the power behind the simple Agile
Process
 3 Roles – Product Owner, Scrum Development Team, Scrum
Master
 5 Meeting Types
 5 Process Artifacts
PM Methodology
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6.  Several Tools were reviewed/considered
 ScrumWorks Pro from CollabNet
 BaseCamp from 37signals
 Rational Team Concert from IBM
 asana
Tool Selection
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Product Price Features Technology
Scrum Works Pro $$$ *** ***
Base Camp $$ * **
RTC IBM $$$$$ **** ***
asana $ * ****

7.  Decision to try asana
 Price was right
 asana is sufficiently flexible to adapt to managing an
Agile Project
 asana has been built with the latest technologies
making adoption somewhat easier from the
development community
 For small teams a ‘light-weight’ tool that focuses on
collaboration vs performance measurement is
sufficient
 Cloud-based offering allowed for quick startup and
low maintenance overhead
Tool Selection
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8.  After a brief/streamlined Agile Training course
for the team we quickly moved to establishing
our joint Team Practices
 Meetings will start on-time
 Fine for late comers
 Agreement on Product Ownership
 Defined notation for PBI, User Story, Tasks, Defects
 Meeting frequency
 Show-n-Tell Format for Scrums
 7 person cross-functional team
 3 week Sprints
uReach Agile Practice (UAP)
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9. asana
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10. asana
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11. asana
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12. asana
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13. asana
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14.  BusinessCall Mobile v1.0 was finished in a 7
month timeframe
 Prior project required 12 months to complete with
fewer User Stories
 Shifting requirements were managed with
minimal software rework
 Product Owner was able to have a ‘demo’ version
available for an industry trade show deadline
(Sprint 3)
 BusinessCall Mobile v1.0 (android) Launched
into Google Play market October 2012
Results
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15.  Scrum training required for all roles
 Scrum Master
 Product Owner
 Scrum Development Team
 Resist changing the process
 Agile will uncover problems not solve them
 Product Owner needs be actively involved,
reviewing Sprint results and grooming the PB
Recommendations
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16. BusinessCall Mobile v1.0
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17. Thank you
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NJ IPM Day November 1, 2012