This talk will address the flawed way in which we marry the Agile and traditional ways of doing things when trying to deliver in a timely fashion, particularly to deadlines. It will suggest an alternative approach which puts a greater emphasis on Agile and Lean principles. Ironically, by using genuine time constraints as a factor in the prioritisation of work rather than as a focus for its execution, the odds of meeting those "deadlines" are actually improved. This talk will show you how to do that. And then truly glean the benefits of Agile. Executives of software product and service companies always want stuff delivered faster, cheaper and better. Agile principles and methods are believed to be a way to achieve this. Unfortunately, the typical approach taken by software organisations is to use Agile as a local optimisation for development teams, creating a paradox where things actually take way longer than they need to, and are of a quality way lower than they should be. The "deadlines" emerging from the customer-facing parts of the business are consistently not met, causing conflict and confusion in why things never get done "on time", and why the quality of the software isn't better. In short, the continued paradigm of deadline-driven development is killing the benefits that Agile Software Development can bring.

2. “Deadlines”
are
Killing Agile
Neil Killick
@neil_killick neilkillick.com

3. Deadlines vs “Deadlines”
Prioritisation vs Execution

5. Bliss, I’ve got 6 months til
the deadline!
http://static.deathandtaxesmag.com/uploads/2013/09/Screen-Shot-2013-08-30-at-4.35.04-PM.png

6. http://planyourmeetings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/urgent-1.jpg

7. Execs: We need to
be more efficient!
Get it all done!
“Deadlines”
derived from schedule so
that all “important” work
will get done
Managers push all
scheduled work (and
“Deadlines”)
on their “agile” teams
Too much work in flight,
leading to slow delivery
and poor quality
Managers lock schedule to
“increase efficiency” of
teams with asynchronous
dependencies
“Deadlines”
missed, stakeholders
pissed off, “Agile is
chaos!”
Cycle of
doom

8. Replace schedule tension
with value tension

9. http://www.recycle2cloud.com/images/agile_02.png
“Why didn’t we
deliver what we
planned?”
“How could we
have delivered
more value?”

10. Use date as a
prioritisation
parameter
Not an
execution one
http://i0.wp.com/availagility.co.
uk/wp-
content/uploads/2012/01/scotland
_karl_11.png

11. http://i2.wp.com/blackswanfarming.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/CD3-cost-of-delay-divided-by-duration.png

12. http://image.slidesharecdn.com/nomorepetprojects-151116171642-lva1-app6891/95/no-more-pet-
projects-31-638.jpg?cb=1447694403

13. ❏ Avoid big batch, “DEADLINES”-driven
Cycle of doom!
❏ Short iterations (value tension) > “DEADLINES”
❏ Invest in infrastructure and culture to allow small,
frequent releases - PROPER AGILE!
❏ Prioritise by value - If you have Deadlines, consider
time criticality
Don’t let “DEADLINES” kill your Agile