The document discusses the principles behind the Agile Manifesto and provides examples of patterns and anti-patterns related to adopting Agile practices. It begins by listing the 12 principles from the Agile Manifesto, including delivering working software frequently and valuing customer collaboration over contract negotiation. The document then analyzes scenarios to determine whether team decisions align with or contradict Agile principles, and suggests more aligned approaches when needed.

1. Agile Patterns and
Anti-Patterns
Are we being Agile?
June 12, 2015

2. • Agile trainer and coach
• Member of PMI, Scrum Alliance,
Agile Alliance, Agile Leadership
Network
• CST, CSM, CSPO, CSP, PMI-ACP,
PMP
• Founder & executive committee
member of Agile Delivery for
Agencies, Programs, and Teams
(ADAPT)
• Experience in Federal and
commercial Agile transformations
Richard Cheng
richard.cheng@excella.com
@RichardKCheng

3. What is Agile?

5. 1. "Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable
software.”
2. "Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for
the customer's competitive advantage.”
3. "Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a
preference to the shorter timescale.”
4. "Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.”
5. "Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need,
and trust them to get the job done.”
6. "The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team
is face-to-face conversation.”
7. "Working software is the primary measure of progress.”
8. "Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should
be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.”
9. "Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.”
10. "Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.”
11. "The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.”
12. "At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its
behavior accordingly."
Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto:

6. Agile Methodologies
Agile
Scrum
XP
Kanban
SAFe
DSDMLean

7. Patterns and
Anti-Patterns

8. 1. For each scenario, identify if:
– The team is making decisions guided by Agile
principles or
– The team is making decisions counter to Agile
principles
2. If the team is making decisions guided by Agile
principles, identify which principles
3. If the team is making decisions counter to Agile
principles, identify which principles conflict with the
decisions
Instructions

9. 1. Before each release, the team always
seems to find themselves behind on their
work. To account for this, the team puts in
many extra hours in the weeks leading up to
the release.
2. The distributed team (some people in US,
some people overseas) has setup video
skype accounts so everyone can use video
skype for phone calls and virtual video
conference calls.
Scenarios

10. 1. Before each release, the team always
seems to find themselves behind on their
work. To account for this, the team puts in
many extra hours in the weeks leading up to
the release.
2. The distributed team (some people in US,
some people overseas) has setup video
skype accounts so everyone can use video
skype for phone calls and virtual video
conference calls.
Scenarios

11. Burndown / Burnup Charts

12. • Outcomes of Fixed Date / Fixed Scope projects:
– Waterfall
1. Delivered _____ and working ________
2. “Delivered” _____ … with ______
3. Cannot deliver on time, ______
– Scrum
1. Delivered _____ and working ________
2. The _____ items are _______ by the requested date and
working _______
• Be cautious of sacrificing quality to meet dates
Fixed Date / Fixed Scope

13. 0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1/1/2011
2/1/2011
3/1/2011
4/1/2011
5/1/2011
6/1/2011
7/1/2011
8/1/2011
9/1/2011
10/1/2011
11/1/2011
12/1/2011
1/1/2012
Work Remaining
Work Remaining
Deadline Missed?
Project Due Date

14. 1. Before each release, the team always
seems to find themselves behind on their
work. To account for this, the team puts in
many extra hours in the weeks leading up to
the release.
2. The distributed team (some people in US,
some people overseas) has setup video
skype accounts so everyone can use video
skype for phone calls and virtual video
conference calls.
Scenarios

15. • In Person
– Quarterly – Release Planning, Roadmapping
• Video
– Sprint Planning, Review, Retro (EVERY TWO
WEEKS)
• Phone
– Day to Day, Daily Scrum/Standup
• IM
– Day to day
• Email
– Information exchange

16. Scrum Overview
Product Vision
Roadmap
Day
Sprint…
…
…
Plan
Day
Day
Daily Scrum
Review
Retro
Sprint
Plan
Review
Retro
Idea
Initiation Release
Plan
Release Release
Plan
Plan
Time

17. 1. For each scenario, identify if:
– The team is making decisions guided by Agile principles
or
– The team is making decisions counter to Agile principles
2. If the team is making decisions guided by Agile principles,
identify which principles
3. If the team is making decisions counter to Agile principles,
identify which principles conflict with the decisions
4. Additionally, if the team is making decisions counter to Agile
principles, discuss a solution that is more aligned with Agile
principles.
Instructions

18. 3. The team is not completing all the work they
thought they would complete each iteration. The
team has decided to get more work done, they
will go from 2 week iterations to 4 week
iterations.
4. The Product Owner has a high value change that
she wants to make weeks prior to the release.
The team has decided that though it’s breaking
the agreed scope of the release, they will work
with the Product Owner to identify options for
getting this change into the release.
Scenarios

19. 3. The team is not completing all the work they
thought they would complete each iteration. The
team has decided to get more work done, they
will go from 2 week iterations to 4 week
iterations.
4. The Product Owner has a high value change that
she wants to make weeks prior to the release.
The team has decided that though it’s breaking
the agreed scope of the release, they will work
with the Product Owner to identify options for
getting this change into the release.
Scenarios

20. Product Backlog Refinement
PBI
PBI
PBI
PBI
Add
Split
Reorder
Remove
High priority
for
next Sprint
Granularity
Fine
Coarse
Product Backlog
Reorder

21. Definition of Done
Definition of Done for the PBI
Security
Testing
Browser
Tested
Stress
Testing
Acceptance
Criteria
Definition of Done for the Sprint
Definition of Done for the
Release
Unit Tested
Stakeholder
Review

22. Definition of Done
Definition of Done for the PBI
Definition of Done for the Sprint
Definition of Done for the Release
Security
Testing
Browser
Tested
Stress
Testing
Acceptance
Criteria
Unit Tested
Stakeholder
Review

23. 3. The team is not completing all the work they
thought they would complete each iteration. The
team has decided to get more work done, they
will go from 2 week iterations to 4 week
iterations.
4. The Product Owner has a high value change that
she wants to make weeks prior to the release.
The team has decided that though it’s breaking
the agreed scope of the release, they will work
with the Product Owner to identify options for
getting this change into the release.
Scenarios

24. 5. The developer has decided that instead
taking extra time to make his code reusable
when he first writes it, he decides to make
the code meet the immediate functional
needs. If the code is re-used later, then
someone can update it to be re-usable.
6. Business people are busy with their work
and have decided to only meet with their
development team once every other week to
review the work.
Scenarios

25. 5. The developer has decided that instead
taking extra time to make his code reusable
when he first writes it, he decides to make
the code meet the immediate functional
needs. If the code is re-used later, then
someone can update it to be re-usable.
6. Business people are busy with their work
and have decided to only meet with their
development team once every other week to
review the work.
Scenarios

26. 5. The developer has decided that instead
taking extra tome to make his code reusable
when he first writes it, he decides to make
the code meet the immediate functional
needs. If the code is re-used later, then
someone can update it to be re-usable.
6. Business people are busy with their work
and have decided to only meet with their
development team once every other week to
review the work.
Scenarios

27. 7. The Program Manager has decided that rather
than disappoint the customer with incomplete
software demos, the Program Manager wants to
wait until final delivery to show the product to the
customers.
8. A small startup company is starting their software
workflow process. They have decided to use
enterprise architects to create all of the
structures, a data modeler to create all of the
data models, a senior software manager to
create all of the code designs, and the team to
write the coding details.
Scenarios

28. 7. The Program Manager has decided that rather
than disappoint the customer with incomplete
software demos, the Program Manager wants to
wait until final delivery to show the product to the
customers.
8. A small startup company is starting their software
workflow process. They have decided to use
enterprise architects to create all of the
structures, a data modeler to create all of the
data models, a senior software manager to
create all of the code designs, and the team to
write the coding details.
Scenarios

29. 7. The Program Manager has decided that rather
than disappoint the customer with incomplete
software demos, the Program Manager wants to
wait until final delivery to show the product to the
customers.
8. A small startup company is starting their software
workflow process. They have decided to use
enterprise architects to create all of the
structures, a data modeler to create all of the
data models, a senior software manager to
create all of the code designs, and the team to
write the coding details.
Scenarios

30. What is Agile?

32. 1. "Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable
software.”
2. "Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for
the customer's competitive advantage.”
3. "Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a
preference to the shorter timescale.”
4. "Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.”
5. "Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need,
and trust them to get the job done.”
6. "The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team
is face-to-face conversation.”
7. "Working software is the primary measure of progress.”
8. "Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should
be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.”
9. "Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.”
10. "Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.”
11. "The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.”
12. "At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its
behavior accordingly."
Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto:

33. Agile Methodologies
Agile
Scrum
XP
Kanban
SAFe
DSDMLean

34. Excella Consulting
Experience and Expertise in Agile Solutions
– Coaching
– Training
– Assessments
– Agile Adoption
– Agile Development Teams
– Agile PMO
Training Courses
– Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)
– Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO): The Agile Business Analyst
– Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
– Certified Scrum Developer (CSD)
– Agile Testing
– Agile Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing
– Automated Acceptance Testing – Great for Analysts and Testers!!
See http://www.excella.com/training for more information

35. Contact Information
Richard K Cheng
richard.cheng@excella.com
703-967-8620
http://www.excella.com
Twitter: @RichardKCheng