Applying both Agile and Waterfall in one project

Applying both

Agile and Waterfall
in one project
Maksym Dovgopolyi, PMP, CSM

Geneva, SoftShake
2013

Maksym DOVGOPOLYI, Applying Both Agile & Waterfall in One Project, Geneva, 2013

What We Will Cover Today:
● Why apply Agile in Waterfall Project
● How and when to apply Agile
● Model of mixed project
● Factors of successfully applied Agile
● Growing of Agile mindset
● Why applying Agile may fail


Agile in Cisco Systems
2009.
● Cisco produces switches and routers using mainly Waterfall;
● New projects in software development;
● Needs to deliver fast and acquire visibility and credibility.

Problems to face
●
●
●
●

Cisco was mainly using Waterfall;
Need to gain credibility;
ISO and TL 9000 certifications;
Perception: “Agile if for dirty and quick work”.


Agile in Cisco Systems
Decisions
●
●
●
●
●
●
●

Work directly with the business units (customers) to figure out what they
need;
Regular demonstration of products to the project stakeholders;
Welcome changes and quick respond to the customer during the release;
Use scrum;
Bet on testing and prototyping;
Adapt and improve internal processes;
Interaction with Waterfall/

Results
●
●
●
●

Delivered working software quickly and gained Agile approach credibility
within the company;
Agile team grown from 6 to 26 people in 2 years;
Cisco passed an ISO-9000 audit;
Cisco now officially supports both Agile and Waterfall and has processes
for both methodologies.


When to Use Agile and Waterfall
Waterfall

Agile

● Requirements are very well
known;
● Product definition is stable;
● Technology is understood;
● New version of an existing
product;
● Integration an existing product
to the new platform;
● Project is large, expensive,
complicated.

● Business objectives are well
defined;
● Functionality of the system is
clearly visible;
● End-users are involved;
● Team is stable and skilled;
● Input data for the project
already exists (JIT);
● Tech requirements are
reasonable and well within the
capabilities of the technology
being used;
● System can be modularized.


Why apply Agile in Waterfall Project?
Avoid weaknesses of Waterfall approach and bring
strength of Agile approach:
●
●
●
●
●
●

Better control of budget and schedule;
Improve quality of the delivered product;
Better Risk Management;
Speed-up;
Provide more opportunities for customers;
Quick responding to changes.

Also, Agile is best suited to projects where the problem
is complex and may not be fully understood at the
beginning of the project.

The main challenges in applying
Agile in Waterfall project are to define
where exactly in the project to do
that and how deep.
And Make it timely.


Bad Tetris

Your project has to be holistic structure where all processes, tools
and resources are at the right place.

Even The most “Agile project” refers to the traditional project
management principles
and
The most ster “Waterfall project” could be Agile

How to implement Agile?
What is Important for Your Project?
● Scope?
● Schedule?
● Budget?

If Schedule or Budget:
● You need to set up clear limits on the amount of project
budget and project schedule;
● You need to communicate clear and often about all
updates and changes.


If Scope:
Be clear with management what is in the project backlog versus
what is in the product backlog

Product Backlog

Feature
Journey

Project Backlog
Release Backlog

Release Backlog

Iteration
Backlog

Iteration
Backlog

Iteration
Backlog

Iteration
Backlog


Do You Need Agile?
Criteria to Determine the Best Approach for Your
Project
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●

Requirements (how rigid and well defined);
Duration (how long is the planned duration);
Interfacing systems (numbers & complexity);
Project interdependencies (resources overlaps?);
Sponsor buy-in (right level of sponsorship);
Training for Agile (team/organization; coach availability)
Project resources;
Team size (how big? can it be broken down to 5-9);
Technology/Business domain knowledge;
Co-location;
Testing Automation.

Where You Need Agile?
Product

1

2

3

4

1.1

2.1

3.1

4.1

1.2

2.2

3.2

4.2

1.3

2.3

3.3

1.4

3.4


Define what could be done by Agile methodology
Product

1

2

3

4

1.1

2.1

3.1

4.1

1.2

2.2

3.2

1.3

2.3

3.3

1.4

Agile
4.2

3.4


Define Sprint Backlogs
Product

3

4

3.1

4.1

3.1

3.2

3.2

4.2

4.1

4.2

3.3

3.4

3.3

Release 1

Release 2

3.4

The Model of The Mixed Project
Sprint
Backlog

Sprint
Backlog

Start

End

1.3

1.1

1.4

1.2

2.3

2.1

2.2


The Model of The Mixed Project
Sprint
Backlog

Sprint
Backlog

●
●
●
●

Start

Joint iteration planning
Scrum-of-scrum
Joint sprint demos
Joint retrospectives

1.3

1.1

End

1.4

1.2

2.3

2.1

2.2


Agile Project management Techniques
User stories VS Requirements
Fixed Sprint Duration VS Fixed Scope
Self-organizing Team VS PM Lead Team
Low-tech communications VS Formal Communications
Documents
Stand-Up Meetings VS Traditional Project status
Meetings


How to understand that Agile works?
7 Factors for Successfully Adopting Agile
1. Full-time Product Owner
2. Dedicate a full-time Delivery Team
3. Just-in-Time requirement
4. Time-boxing the iterations
5. Having the right people in the right roles
6. A collaborative environment
7. Applying the necessary discipline


7 Factors for Successfully Adopting
Agile
1.

Full-time Product Owner

2.

Dedicate a full-time Delivery Team

3.

Time-boxing the iterations

5.

Having the right people in the right

●

Just-in-Time requirement

4.

Nokia Test

roles

●
●
●
●
●

6.

A collaborative environment

7.

Applying the necessary discipline

●
●

Sprints must be timeboxed to 4
weeks or less;
Features are tested and working by
the end the Sprint;
The Sprint starts with an Agile spec;
You know who the product owner is;
There is a product backlog
prioritized by business value;
The product backlog has estimates
created by the team;
The team generates burndown
charts and knows their velocity;
There are no project managers (or
anyone else) disrupting the work of
the team;


Agile in NASA
In 2008 NASA decided to revise the processes for R&D and engineers who are
involved in it. For NASA it means to combine traditional approach with creativity,
flexibility and adaptivity.
●

●

NASA revised requirements for new hiring engineers:
○ proactivity
○ communication skills
○ problem solving skills
○ leadership
New training programme to develop necessary skills

New rules for engineering teams to develop creativity and open
climate:
1. Status means nothing in taking decisions;
2. Certainty is a main argument in taking decisions
3. Autonomy for engineering teams. From outside come just functional
requirements, budget and time.
4. Relatedness is important in relationship between team-mates.
5. Fairness is important in judgments and taking decisions.

Lean Project Management
Evaluate the flow of work to identify opportunities for
improvement:
● Reduce “Non-Value Add” activities and increase
“Customer Value Add” activities
● Improve Project by agile techniques


Failure in Applying Agile
Agile, like any other framework or process is not bad, only people who
made decision to apply and didn't learned carefully the project
environment.

●
●
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●
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The Signed "Waterfall" Contract;
Wrong people in the right roles;
Cultural clash;
Team doesn't support changes;
Product owner wasn’t defined or not available;
Project environment doesn't support Agile approach;
Weak understanding of Agile principles and tools;
Unexperienced Project manager and team;
and etc.

B

“Be water, my friend”
Bruce Lee

Maksym DOVGOPOLYI, Applying both Agile & waterfall in one project, Geneva, 2013

Applying both Agile and Waterfall in one project

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