Change driven environment is tough to manage but Scrum and Agile development methodologies are here to help - know the basics and common pitfalls before starting off and we are good to go Agile!

1. Agile Best Practices
Akhil Munjal

2. The Concept of Agile
Definition & Sample Sprint
• Agile helps teams respond
to the unpredictability of
building software by using
iterative and incremental
development. Typically,
requirements and solutions
evolve through
collaboration between
cross functional teams and
clients
• Agile promotes adaptive
planning, evolutionary
development and delivery, a
time-boxed iterative
approach, and encourages
rapid and flexible response
to change.
2
Project
Initiation
Sprint 0
Sprint 1
Sprint 2 Release Sprint 1
Integration
Test Sprint 0
 High-level project
planning
 Initial Stakeholder
engagement
 Define ways of working
Project Initiation
 High level requirement
gathering
 Commit to sprint
lengths, team capacity
 Delivery team roll-on
Sprint 0
 Reprioritise backlog
with client
 Commit to and deliver
stories
 Shippable product at
the end of each sprint
Sprints 1+
Product
Backlog
Sprint
Backlog
Sprint
Backlog Product
Fig: Sample Sprint Cycle

3. Agile Terminology
Overview of Agile Approach
Product Owner – ‘Voice of the
Customer’
• Ensures end product delivers
value to the business or
customer
• Sets and adjusts priorities and
product backlog
• Accepts or rejects work via
showcases and pilots (review)
Scrum Master
• Accountable for delivering
Sprint goals
• Removes obstacles for team and
keeps momentum
• Coaches and provides
motivation
Team Members
• Develop and deliver product on
a daily basis
• Self directed and self organizing
• Cross functional (change,
process, design, test)
Design,
Build Test
Inception
Prioritise
Retros
pective
Plan
Showcase
& Deploy
Iterative deployment
• User Stories
• Product Backlog
• Sprint Backlog
• Burndown Chart
• Potentially shippable Product
increments
Roles Products Events
• Product Owner
• Scrum Master
• Team
• Sprint Planning
• Daily Scrum (Daily
Standup Meeting)
• Sprint Review
• Sprint Retrospective
• Backlog Refinement

4. Agile Implementation
Key Activities
Advisory and Strategy Team
• Understand the client drivers and
motivation for Agile
• Help the leadership and C-suite
understand Agile Impact
• Work along business divisional
leads in rolling out Agile
Program Manager
• Establish and launch Governance
Structure & Processes
• Integrate project work plans and
clearly capture milestones and
dependencies
• Confirm delivery processes each
project should use
Agile Coach
• Co-ordinates with Agile Strategy
Team to understand vision &
roadmap
• Work with Project Team to define
Agile Delivery Model and Setup
Agile Practices
• Participates in all Key initiatives
and fine tuning it

5. Agile Best Practices
What works well
Conduct early and regular Showcases
• Provide early mock ups of the product / change deliverables to put theory into immediate practice
• Pilot the product (including surveys, training or communications) prior to full deployment
Involve the client/customer and stakeholders in continuous dialogue
• Run Agile basics and refreshers at the commencement of the project
• The review process should be streamlined: present only the executive summary
Be flexible with hybrid Waterfall/Agile approaches
• Agree in sprint 0 the Agile methods and ways of working with the client/customer
• Agile projects commonly incorporate waterfall practices (such as code freezes and CRP), and change must
adapt their models accordingly
Plan differently
• Change planning should feature only critical path change activities
• Change planning should be flexible and adaptive to changes, while keeping aligned to the overall journey
Change team in a silo and not immersed in scrum activity
• Change team members must attend daily scrums and showcases
• Change team members should adopt a major and minor role in the team
Change team not focused on critical path activities
• Change activities must always focus on business value and not become ‘top heavy’
• Change activities must be targeted on each sprint release date
Change team not adapting rapidly to changes in product development
• Change team should respond to changes in priorities with flexible planning
• Change team should maintain and communicate a clear view of the impact of ongoing changes
Change team too focused on delivery and not fostering engagement
• Change team have a vital role to play in team well-being and recognition
• Change team should ‘step back’ each sprint to take an active and driving role in retrospectives
Change team not aligning sprints to the overall journey
• Each sprint should align with the journey and business case as expressed in epic user stories
• Agile is not an ‘excuse for poor planning’ – a change plan is required to set expectations
What Can
go Wrong
in Agile
What
Works
Well

6. Agile Best Practices
Success Factors & Metrics
Sponsorship
• Actively engaged senior management sponsors to
communication change, strategy and direction
• A sponsorship strategy that builds and sustains
support throughout phases
Sponsorship
• Measurable linkage to business objectives with
cross-organizational focus
• Accelerated implementation approach to quickly
address known challenges
Balance
• Leverage of leading practices from the industry and
our expertise
• Focus on adopting leading practices while keeping
in mind our clients’ realities, priorities, and
constraints
Team Compensation
• The right resources at the right time, with pilot
projects to insert ‘player-coaches’ on the ground
• Effective knowledge transfer throughout the project
Metrics and Measurement
Burndown Chart for tracking Sprint progress
• Automatically generated visual chart when electronic tooling
is used
• Represents development complete by stage or completed
user stories
• Includes Work in Progress
Velocity
• Estimate of rate at which team can do work (no. of points
needed for each story x no. of stories estmated per sprint)