Case study of teams moving from waterfall to agile.

1. COMMON ISSUES WITH TEAMS MOVING FROM
WATERFALL TO AGILE.
05/22/2017, Sudhanva Ramesh

2. AGILE MANIFESTO
The Manifesto for Agile Software Development is based on twelve principles:
1. Customer satisfaction by early and continuous delivery of valuable software
2. Welcome changing requirements, even in late development
3. Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)
4. Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers
5. Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted
6. Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location)
7. Working software is the principal measure of progress
8. Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
10. Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential
11. Best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams
12. Regularly, the team reflects on how to become more effective, and adjusts accordingly

3. CHALLENGES OF WATERFALL 
AGILE
Problems Impact Possible Solution
Scrum masters are interacting with
multiple Product Owners
Coming from a Waterfall background,
a Scrum Master also referred to as
Servant leader , who finds it difficult to
be continuously involved with the
team in every aspect.
Numerous points of interaction
reducing quality and speed expected
with Agile
Re-organize teams by a portfolio and
drive for product owners over a
logical portfolio versus picking them
as the team is stood up
Backlog Grooming, Sprint Planning,
Retrospective and Demo’s aren’t
followed
Co-located/Virtually located teams
find it increasingly difficult for regular
meetings
Agile works on the in-person discussion
methodology. If processes aren’t
followed as per the agreement, the
risk increases.
Train teams on importance of working
agreements and if possible establish
governance/ hold teams
accountable for incorrect processes
Story Writing and Acceptable Criteria
(AC)
Training teams on how to
accommodate various teams, various
testing methodologies, tightly
controlled processes is a challenge
Missed requirements Hold workshops on Story writing and
AC. Stop teams from using external
sources for BRD’s
Sprint Backlog changes even after
Sprint has started
Waterfall teams are equipped to
handle changes compared to Agile
teams as the projects run for a longer
period.
Effort Duplication Define criteria of when a backlog can
change. To be defined in the Working
Agreement and approved by the
PMO

4. CHALLENGES OF WATERFALL 
AGILE
Problems Impact Possible Solution
DOR Maintenance
Non-DOR stories moved to
sprint backlog;
DOR marked before
backlog grooming
Metrics Define Criteria on DOR and DOD in the
working agreement as per PMO Standards.
Multiple Tracking
mechanisms
Tracking in various tools
like ALM, One Note, Excel
Duplication of effort and Data
Redundancy
Interface with Tools / Follow one tracking
mechanism as defined by PMO
Team Size
Waterfall teams do not
have restrictions on the
team size. (Normally
ranges from 10-50)
Against Agile Manifesto Govern and restrict the team size as per PMO
norms.
Role responsibilities need to be monitored
and governed.
Metrics Reporting
Data derived graphs vs.
Burn down charts.
Data Redundancy Need consistent tracking/reports across
teams and governed by the PMO
Working with multiple
Vendors
Against Agile Manifesto Governance need to be established by the
PMO on the process (PO/SM)