In this presentation, we will use a fast-paced, methodical approach to provide a full picture of what Agile is, how it works, who is using it and how you can use it. We’ll cover a lot of information, but will introduce, compare, and contrast concepts which encourage an objective picture based on your experience. Agile is not a panacea or a prescriptive methodology. At its foundation, it is a mentality and a way of working and managing work that permeates everything you do. We will discuss how that is and what that means in practical terms.

1. GAJAH ANNUAL REPORT 2015 | 1
Agile Primer – a 360
Degree Introduction
Today’s presenter: Chris Knotts –
ASPE Technology Innovation
Curriculum Director
In partnership with

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•What is our Challenge
•What is Expected Now
•Agile Basics
•Agile Benefits, investment / revenue perspective
•Agile Mindset, moving away from “best practices”
•Agile Practices
•Value and Overview
•Risks
Today we’ll discuss:

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Source: DevOps Days, 2014
Defining our
challenge
• Our development teams are building something that doesn’t exist.
• The customer is attempting to describe what they imagine this non-
existent product should be.
• Our developers then try to imagine what the customer is describing
and the build the product they believe they heard the customer
describe.
• And finally, the first opportunity anyone has to truly see if the product
built is one that the customer needs and wants is after development
is complete.

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Plan-driven
project behavior
Successfully developing software is
more than simply
creating a plan and then
attempting to follow it.
Old methodologies
treated software development
like traversing the country on a train.
Once the tracks were laid (plans), it was as
simple as following them to the prescribed destination.

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New project
dynamics New Project Law: 
Your Project
Schedule: Scope: Budget:
‣ Project delivered within the
timeframe originally identified
‣ No date slips
‣ Every milestone achieved
‣ Everything originally
requested is delivered
‣ Everything delivered works
perfectly as the customer
requested, no bugs
‣ Did not spend a single cent
more than originally estimated
to spend
‣ Did not need any additional
resources, hardware, etc.
throughout entire project
=/
+ + =/

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Defining our
challenge

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Agile Basics
Historically…
We have learned that the traditional waterfall
methodology fits well for complicated,
sequential projects based on actual material
and physical inputs.
Waterfall is a plan-driven method of
developing software.

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Agile Basics
Software development can be complicated but is also
complex…
Agile is an approach tailored for the complexity of most software development which requires an
empirical process to succeed.
Agile is an adaptive method of
developing software.

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Agile Basics
Important Observation
VS.Plan-driven Development Adaptive Development

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Agile Basics What is Agile Software Development?

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Agile Basics Agile comes in different “flavors”

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Scrum

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Agile Basics
Agile/Iterative can be more successful…
Standish Group, Chaos Manifesto, 2012

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Agile Basics
Benefits of an Agile Approach to Managing Projects
Unisys – IT Leadership in the Age of the Continuous Roll Out

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Agile Basics
Benefits of an Agile Approach to Managing Projects
Unisys – IT Leadership in the Age of the Continuous Roll Out

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Agile Basics Frequent Delivery & Demonstration
Stevens, Dennis – Deciding What to Build
What is meant by “Trimming the Tail”?
ValueKnowledge Growing
(risk reduction)
Cost Value
Trim the tail
$$$

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Agile
Mindset Agile Mindset
Agile is really a mindset… a different way to think about the work.
DSDM.org, 1994

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Agile Basics
Agile Manifesto
Agilemanifesto.org, 2001
We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping
others do it. Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.

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Agile Basics The Agile Path: Shu Ha Ri
• Learn
• Detach
• Transcend
“Shu Ha Ri in classical interpretation is a linear
sequence which leads the student with minimal
deviations down a path of learning. The student
progresses from imitation, to reasoning to
creating. When applied to the instructor-less
student, Shu Ha Ri becomes a four stage cycle of
imitate, reason, create, and test, cycling back to
imitation again.”

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Agile Basics Traditional Models Agile Model
Punish Problems Problems are Treasures
Best Practices Shu-Ha-Ri (Continuous Improvement)
BDUF (Big Definition Up Front) JEDI (Just Enough Definition Initially)
Silo’s and Specialization Blur the lines – We’re all team members
Command and Control Self-organizing teams, Servant Leadership - Empowerment
Work the Plan The Plan will Evolve
Individual Performance Team Performance
Check Quality Out Build Quality In
Death March is a Tool Maintain a Constant Pace
Shoot for the stars and hit the moon Only commit to a realistic amount of work
PM is One-Throat-to-Choke Team Accountability
A Project Manager Assigns the Work Team Volunteers for the Work
Choose the familiar way to communicate Choose the most effective and efficient way to communicate
Focus on getting tasks done Team has full ownership of the Goal
Sequential Development Iterative and Incremental
Some Mental Model
“adjustments”
associated with
Agile

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Agile Basics
Five Levels of Agile Planning
Where is value created – at the point of
planning or the point of delivery?

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Agile Basics Five Levels of Agile Planning
Strategic
Tactical
H. Smits, 2006

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Agile Basics
Release 1 Release 2 Release 3 Release 4
Inventory
Database
Payment
Systems
Security
Fulfillment
Systems
Product Tracking Customer Loyalty
Advertising
Product Roadmap
Product Vision1
2
3
4
5
Agile Overview – A Recap

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Agile Basics The Mechanics of Scrum
Product
Backlog
2-4 Weeks
Daily
Sprint
Backlog Product
Increment
Product Vision /
Roadmap
Product
Release
Retrospective
Process Overview

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Agile Basics Demos
• Showcase working software
• Welcome feedback
• Great forum for gathering new user stories (requirements)
• Not a presentation format

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Agile Basics Retrospective
• Most powerful tool available to an Agile team
• Must be a safe environment
• Inspect and adapt forum for the team
• What worked well?
• What did not work well?
• What will we improve?

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Agile Basics Forming the Agile Team
The Customer Unit
• Customer
• Product Manager
• Marketing
• Executives
• Stakeholders
• More…
The Development Unit
• Developer
• Business Analyst
• QA
• Project Manager (Scrum Master)
• Creative
• Tech Writer
• More…
What How

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Agile Basics Self-Directed/Self-
Organized Teams

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Agile Basics Estimating
• If we know that estimates
drive expectations, what do we
do with our estimates?
• This leads to “estimate bloat”
in highly dependent,
traditional project plans
Or we INFLATE them!
We pad our
ESTIMATES

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Agile Basics

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Agile Basics Relative Estimating
• Not time based
(days, hours, weeks...)
• Size
• Complexity
• Skills
• Triangulate with other known factors

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Agile Basics Story Points
• “Unitless” measure of…
• Size
• Complexity
• We know that 8 is four times the
size of 2
• Based on Fibonacci’s sequence
8
2

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Agile Basics User Stories
•Agile term for a requirement
•Brief statement of a need or value
•Resides on a prioritized list called the Product Backlog
•Sized in Story Points (relative unit of size)
•Progressively elaborated Just-In-Time before being
implemented.

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Agile Basics Agile Overview: a Recap
Customer Team Development Team
TIME
Create Product Vision
Create Product Roadmap
Write User Stories
Size User Stories
Prioritize Product Backlog
Identify Baseline Velocity
Create Release Plan

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Agile Basics Benefits of an Agile Approach to Managing Projects
In the project space, constant adjustment
and refinement are necessary.
Agile Management provides unique
benefits to teams, and stakeholders in
learning how to be adaptive to what they
discover as they execute their projects

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Agile Basics Agile Risk Points
1. Workers don’t have the skills to self-organize
2. No change management plan in place, specifically around communicating the
whys and hows
3. Fast outputs of software or features overwhelm, do not get deployed quickly, or
cause change management or breakage issues (you need DevOps!)
4. Weak business unit engagement leading to no Product owner
5. Product Owner or ScrumMaster designate has no authority or wrong ratio of
authority
6. Iteration cycles pushing way past the maximum 4 week length
7. Teams fixates on perfecting each build, get mired in mud of rework
8. Team never properly learns story point estimating
9. Team doesn’t learn how to change from role to work based planning

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• DevOps Implementation Boot Camp (3 days)
• Hands-On Agile Engineering (3 days)
• Continuous Integration Workshop (3 days)
• Continuous Delivery Workshop (3 days)
• Agile-Driven DevOps (2 days)
• Agile Coaching Workshop (3 days)
• Test Automation Boot Camp (3 days)
• Docker Containerization Boot Camp (3 days)
• Ansible Configuration Management Boot Camp (2 days)
• Agile Boot Camp (3 days)
• Full specialty curriculum of Agile training and coaching
Learning solutions for Agile, DevOps, and
Modernized Technology & Software Management
From Fast Lane & ASPE Training

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THANK YOU
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