Museums and the Web 2016 in Los Angeles.
Workshop by Gavin Mallory and Andy Cummins of Cogapp.
Part 1: Agile for Beginners and Thrillseekers (paper plane exercise)
Part 2: Pleasures and Pains of Agile (an overview of Agile process and roles, with lessons we have learnt about running Agile projects)
Agile is transformational for digital projects in museums.
Working in an Agile way emphasizes inclusivity and digital responsiveness. It helps to deliver on this year’s conference theme by helping museum professionals realise projects that will create, facilitate, deliver or participate in culture, science and heritage through networked technologies – wherever the network may reach.
In this half-day workshop we will introduce participants to Agile, specifically SCRUM, and the benefits it provides in terms of delivering projects that meet user and stakeholder needs.
Participants can expect to learn the basics of Agile and be armed with the knowledge to make a meaningful change in their respective organizations.
In the session we will run through some practical exercises to demonstrate how Agile works. These hands-on sessions will illustrate the high level principles and benefits of Agile. After the practical session we’ll look at the intricacies of the process in more detail.
There are no pre-requisites to the workshop and we will provide materials for participants to use during the workshop. These materials will also be a reference for when participants want to start implementing Agile in their own projects.
This session is aimed at Agile beginners from any discipline, it would benefit project managers, digital developers and program managers among others.
2. #MWXX
#Agile
@cogapp
This session
- Who we are
- Why we’re running this session
- Thrills!
- Break
- More detail
- Questions and discussion
- Carry on the conversation
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#Agile
@cogapp
Who we are
- Gavin Mallory - Head of Production @ Gavin_Mallory
- Andy Cummins - Head of Technical Production @qmins
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#Agile
@cogapp
Where we’re from
- Cogapp
- Digital innovation since 1985, Agile since 2010
- We work with organisations to help them realise their
most ambitious digital media initiatives
- cogapp.com @cogapp
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#Agile
@cogapp
Carry on the conversation
- Today at 12:30 (straight after this session)
- Sixth Street Tavern, 6th and Hope
- Ask us ANYTHING!
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#Agile
@cogapp
Exercise
- Gavin is a billionaire
- He wants to start his own airline - GavInTheSky.com
- You work for a company that makes planes and you’re
competing for the contract
- You’ll work in teams
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#Agile
@cogapp
Revised brief
- 6 windows down each side
- Door
- Cockpit
- Team initials on each wing
- Has to fly!
- Make as many planes as you can
- Pass QA
- If you run out paper come to Gavin (nominated person only)
- Production-line
- 2 minutes
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#Agile
@cogapp
- 6 windows down each side
- Door
- Cockpit
- Team initials on each wing
- Has to fly!
- Make as many planes as you can
- Pass QA
- If you run out paper come to Gavin (nominated person only)
- Anyone can do anything. Organise yourselves.
- Only rule is more than one person has to be involved in each plane
- 2 minutes
Newly revised brief
14. #MWXX
#Agile
@cogapp
Same brief
- 6 windows down each side
- Door
- Cockpit
- Team initials on each wing
- Has to fly!
- Pass QA
- Make as many planes as you can
- If you run out paper come to Gavin (nominated person only)
- Anyone can do anything. Organise yourselves.
- Only rule is more than one person has to be involved in each plane
- 2 minutes
16. #MWXX
#Agile
@cogapp
Same brief
- 6 windows down each side
- Door
- Cockpit
- Team initials on each wing
- Has to fly!
- Pass QA
- Make as many planes as you can
- If you run out paper come to Gavin (nominated person only)
- Anyone can do anything. Organise yourselves.
- Only rule is more than one person has to be involved in each plane
- 2 minutes
18. #MWXX
#Agile
@cogapp
Revised brief
- SEVEN windows down each side!!!!
- THREE Doors
- BIGGER Cockpit
- Team initials on each wing
- Has to fly!
- Pass QA
- Make as many planes as you can
- If you run out paper come to Gavin (nominated person only)
- Anyone can do anything. Organise yourselves.
- Only rule is more than one person has to be involved in each plane
- 2 minutes
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#Agile
@cogapp
The Pleasures
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
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#Agile
@cogapp
It’s a Mindset
- Culture of delivery, getting things done
- Team cohesion and trust
- Strong leadership and direction
- Must-have technical processes help support the above
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@cogapp
Pleasure: Culture
- Continuous delivery and improvement is the goal
- Everyone has to be on-board from leadership down the
chain
- Overall vision is more important than individual goals
- Engender an understanding that priority of work will be
in line with strategy
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#Agile
@cogapp
Pains: Culture
- Everyone isn’t on-board, personal goals become more
important than the overall strategy
- An aversion to delivering real world products to help
continuous improvement, AKA an aversion to MVP and
iteration
- That the process is seen as a ‘tech thing’ rather an
organisational priority
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#Agile
@cogapp
Roles: Product owner
- Project champion
- Represents the ‘Client’
- Understands requirements
- Communicates requirements to team
- Empowered to make decisions
- Prioritises the work to deliver the maximum
organsational value
- One person
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#Agile
@cogapp
Roles: Scrum master
- Runs the team
- Sometimes helps if they are technically adept
- Facilitator
- Enables developers to focus on work
- Responsible for meetings
- Works closely with Product Owner
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#Agile
@cogapp
Roles: Developers
- Usually 5 to 7 people
- Anyone who contributes to the team (includes UX and
design as well as coders)
- Cross-disciplinary and cross-train
- ‘We’ rather than ‘I’
- Commit to estimates
- Communicate
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#Agile
@cogapp
Pleasure: Leadership & Direction
- Overall vision needs to be in place
- Leadership needs to be fully engaged
- Leadership needs to be involved and make clear their
strategic aims
- Product Owner needs to translate strategy into work
for the Agile team
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#Agile
@cogapp
Pain: Leadership & Direction
- Strategy and vision isn’t made clear
- Leadership is unavailable
- Decisions are made slowly
- Product Owner is not full-time
- Product Owner isn’t empowered to make decisions
based on strategy
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#Agile
@cogapp
Process: Planning
- At the start of a Sprint with everyone
- Allow half a day (more when you start)
- Plan what we can deliver this Sprint
- Sprint goal
- Ask Product Owner questions
- Estimates
- Everyone commits
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#Agile
@cogapp
Process: Demo
- Show what you will deliver from the Sprint
- Meeting owned by Product Owner
- All team attend
- All stakeholders are invited
- Celebratory feel
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#Agile
@cogapp
Process: Retrospective
- Help the team understand what worked well, and what
didn't
- Take action based on what you discuss
- Review what we said last retrospective and check if
we’ve fixed it
- Not a finger-pointing exercise
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#Agile
@cogapp
Pleasure: Agile Process
- Should be as lightweight as you can make it (but no
lighter)
- Needs someone to manage the process and ensure
people adhere to it
- Needs engagement from all stakeholders
- Needs a strong tech lead that puts the needs of the
organisation ahead of personal technical preferences
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#Agile
@cogapp
Pain: Agile Process
- Lack of engagement from stakeholders
- Lack of understanding of the process
- Process gets in the way of development
- Technical infrastructure inadequate for working in an
Agile way
- Content production isn’t in sync with Agile
development
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#Agile
@cogapp
Key Points
- Team must understand the ethos, roles and lingo of the
Agile process
- Must have a strong tech lead
- Must be clear direction from leadership
- Product Owner should be available, empowered and
committed
- Nurture engagement from stakeholders
- It’s a mindset, not a set of rules
- Agile gets stuff done!
48. #MWXX
#Agile
@cogapp
Carry on the conversation
- Today at 12:30 (straight after this session)
- Sixth Street Tavern, 6th and Hope
- Ask us ANYTHING!