This document summarizes a case study of a failed software release for a government funding administration application. The initial beta release failed due to an unfamiliar Java ESB technology not being a good fit for the .NET development team. After inspection, the root causes were identified as the team's lack of experience with the ESB and difficulties deploying the Java-based technology on their Microsoft stack. The release was re-planned with a new ESB and additional training, and subsequent releases were successful in meeting business goals and milestones. Lessons learned included the importance of technology selection and ensuring developer skills match the chosen stack.

1. Agile Cambridge 2015, John Shaw
CASE STUDY
Failing Fast - An Autopsy of a Failed Release

2. Background

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Background
Government Organisation
Funding Administration Application

4. Start of Beta

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Timeline – Start of Beta Phase
2013 2014 2015
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

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Technologies
(IaaS v PaaS)
(private v IaaS v SaaS)

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Delivery Team
Programme and
Project
Management
Architecture
• Lead Architect
• 2 x Architects
Product Team
• Product Owner
• 3 x Product Specialists
• 3 x Business Analysts
• 1 x UX Specialist
Development
• Delivery Manager
• 2 x Scrum Masters
• 1 x .NET Build Engineer
• 3 x CRM Developers
• 12 x C#/.NET Developers

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Release Planning
Self-organised three teams
Four two-week sprints

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Sprint 1
Goal: product selection

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Sprint 1

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Sprint 1
Outcome: partial success

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Sprint 2
Goal: ESB integration

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Sprint 2

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Sprint 2
Outcome: partial success

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Sprint 3
Goal: ESB deployment

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Sprint 3

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Sprint 3
Outcome: failure

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Failure!
Immediate Action:
Inspect the Velocity

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Sprint 4
Goal 1: evaluate .NET ESB
Goal 2: ESB deployment

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Sprint 4

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Sprint 4
Outcome: partial success

22. Causes

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Root Cause Analysis – Velocity
ESB technology poor fit for the dev team
WHY? Dev team unfamiliar with Java technologies
 WHY? Developers mix of CRM and C#/.NET
 WHY? That’s what was requested for procurement
 WHY? The organisation have an established Microsoft capability

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Root Cause Analysis – Deployment
Difficulty deploying Java technology
WHY? Build pipeline was based on Microsoft technologies
 WHY? Specialist build engineer was Microsoft stack only
 WHY? Java build pipeline would never get the attention
 WHY? Based on Microsoft TFS
 WHY? Based on Microsoft Powershell
 WHY? Based on Microsoft Azure
 WHY? Restricted to IaaS (no PaaS tooling)

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Mixed Stack of Technologies
(IaaS v PaaS)

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Timeline – Alpha Phase
2013 2014 2015
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

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Why?
Procurement decision during alpha
Package selection during alpha

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Package Selection
Jboss Fuse
selected for good operational reasons
Excellent operational dashboard
Configuration over code

29. Re-planning

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Timeline – Re-launch of Beta
2013 2014 2015
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

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Options to Proceed
Replace some or all of the dev team

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Options to Proceed
Train the existing team

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Options to Proceed
Change the ESB technology

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Decision to Proceed
Backing from the board

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Decision to Proceed
Increase in Velocity?

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Decision to Proceed
Business Risk

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Timeline – Re-launch of Beta
2013 2014 2015
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

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Sprint 1

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Re-launch
Impact on Estimation

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Re-launch
Product Backlog

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Re-launch
Operational Considerations

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Sprint 4

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Timeline – Go-live (1st Release)
2013 2014 2015
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

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1st Release
Delivered!
Business milestone met!

45. Continuous
Improvement?

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Continuous Improvement?
Pressure to Deliver

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Continuous Improvement?
Tactical Choices

48. Success!

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1st Release - Success
“We are delighted that the first Release of [the system] was used ...
[to process] about 50,000 individual field updates in 56 minutes - an
enormous improvement when compared to the 3 days it would
normally take to import through [the previous system]. All the reports
that we’ve had from [the business] say that they are impressed with
the system.”

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Timeline – Go-live (2nd Release)
2013 2014 2015
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

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2nd Release - Success
“It paid 503 [recipients] with 1,579 transactions a total of £217
million.”

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Timeline – Go-live (3rd Release)
2013 2014 2015
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

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3rd Release - Success
“The payment files were successfully processed from [the
service] to [the finance system].”

54. Reflections

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Reflections

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Reflections
Technical Debt

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Reflections
Empirical Process

58. www.capgemini.com
The information contained in this presentation is proprietary.
© 2015 Capgemini. All rights reserved. Rightshore® is a trademark belonging to Capgemini.
About Capgemini
With almost 145,000 people in over 40 countries, Capgemini is
one of the world's foremost providers of consulting, technology
and outsourcing services. The Group reported 2014 global
revenues of EUR 10.573 billion.
Together with its clients, Capgemini creates and delivers
business and technology solutions that fit their needs and drive
the results they want. A deeply multicultural organization,
Capgemini has developed its own way of working, the
Collaborative Business ExperienceTM, and draws on Rightshore ®,
its worldwide delivery model.
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John.Shaw@capgemini.com
@johnfcshaw