Using Flow approaches to effectively manage Agile Testing. The paper discusses how to reduce testing batch sizes and deal with common testing bottlenecks in complex agile environments. It proposes limiting work in progress, prioritizing work that requires less testing, increasing test automation, and using metrics to determine when to transition to stabilization. The goal is to improve predictability and reduce the cost and duration of testing and stabilization phases.
This document provides an overview of agile management principles and practices. It discusses how agile approaches aim to help organizations be more responsive to changes in their environment through principles like empowerment, measurement, collaboration and quick iteration. The document outlines three levels of uncertainty that organizations face and how their need for agility depends on factors like incomplete knowledge, variation in workflow, and the novelty of their work. It also discusses how agile approaches require both more control and empowerment compared to traditional management styles.
This document discusses different approaches to software development processes and analytics. It argues that one size does not fit all and that the development leader must choose methods that align with their organization's goals and mix of work. Different types of projects - with low, some, or high innovation - require different practices and analytics. For routine projects, lean practices and flow measures are appropriate. For highly innovative projects, probabilistic methods are needed to account for uncertainty. The right analytics ensure ongoing alignment between projects, programs and portfolios.
PROFES 2018, Wolfsburg: Talk by Tilman Seifert (Principal IT Consultant at QAware)
=== Please download slides if blurred! ===
Abstract: Processes cannot just be judged as ``good'' or ``efficient''---they must be appropriate for the type of project. As the type of a project changes over time,
the processes must adjust in order to stay efficient and appropriate.
We accompanied the transformation of a large and fast-growing project, using agile development methods and cloud-native technologies, from the very first steps of a prototype to the development of a customer-ready product.
This experience report shows patterns we found on the way.
It argues that systematic process evolution can be done without documentation overhead or relying on questionable process KPIs.
We only used information which is available anyway; this includes our archive of sprint retro boards which allows to create a clear picture of the project's evolution, regarding both the process and the product quality.
Self-Organization & Subtle Control: Friends or Enemies?Mike Cohn
This document discusses self-organizing teams and subtle control. It defines self-organizing teams as those that determine their own work processes in response to their environment, rather than having processes dictated by managers. Control in self-organizing systems is decentralized and emerges from the interactions of independent agents following simple rules. The document presents two models for subtle control: altering containers, differences, and exchanges between team members; and using Philip Anderson's seven levers of selecting the team's environment, defining performance, managing meaning, choosing team members, reconfiguring networks, evolving feedback systems, and energizing the team.
by Dave Bales
This presentation aims to raise awareness that default Product Ownership (that uses only ordering and prioritising PBI’s) is not enough to be successful. A higher level of consciousness is required to appreciate the challenges and dynamics of the work at hand. Devising evolutionary strategies to cater for the undercurrents, changing landscape and the opposing dynamics in the product and its backlog, may help to tip the balance in favour of being more successful.
Project dynamics can include:
Releasing a new insurance app to millenials on a smartphone platform. The challenge with this is that more customer testing and an exploratory approach of how milenials think will be required, hence each sprint goal may include working toward a customer testing objective;
A compliance risk project where compliance objectives are static. How those objectives are satisfied is variable, hence an evolving strategy to use an iterative approach is to be considered. The first iteration would be to neutralise the compliance risk, starting with a manual process. Successive iterations would then be run by automating and adding more value;
An integration risk project, where a central framework has to integrate with several other systems. An evolving strategy would focus on setting sprint goals to achieve integration, as well as regression testing objectives to neutralise the integration risk early
PPT from a presentation I give periodically around how to select agile practices within enterprise software delivery teams. Was developed with tons of help from my friend Peter Schuh
by Louis Taborda
This session describes a simple, self-organizing release management framework that addresses the integration and synchronization of interdependent user stories or the product components of multiple Scrum teams. Tracking these dependencies can be a problem especially when multiple teams contribute to an epic, There can be a temptation to revert to traditional, top-down release management, however this session describes how dependencies can be tracked bottom-up, using a shared construct we call the Collaboration Matrix, which helps multiple teams have visibility of their contribution to the epic allowing them to prioritize and coordinate their releases for optimal value.
We start by reviewing the horizontal vs vertical cake slicing analogy and use simple scenario to illustrate the challenges faced in delivering business epics that span multiple teams. Dependencies resulting from functional (horizontal) teams can make tracking progress across different sprints and releases a multi-dimensional problem – i.e. too difficult. Value delivery requires teams with different velocities and capacities to synch their component releases so the desired workable software/ solution is delivered. This challenge is evident in all Agile scaling efforts and simple, team-based prioritization and release management is shown to have limitations that can result in sub-optimal prioritization of team backlogs – or plain, old bottlenecks. The Collaboration Matrix is introduced as a configuration management pattern resulting from research into a generalized approach to coordinate the release and integration of multi-component solutions. Its use as a self-organizing tool results from the visibility provided to each component team of the dependencies and blockers to the readiness of an epic or solution release train. The matrix, with its visual (Kanban style) representation, can be used in conjunction with other scaling frameworks, including Scrum of Scrums, LeSS and SAFe, to improve value delivery even where value is obscured by dependencies.
Taking the right approach in project and programme management is often half the battle. Wise choices early on can set you on a course to success. However, an inappropriate choice can leave you wasting valuable time. In this white paper we use a recent project to explore the pros and cons of using agile and waterfall methodologies, and highlight the advantages that can be had from adopting an agile development approach, but supported within an overall PRINCE2 framework.
This document provides an overview of agile management principles and practices. It discusses how agile approaches aim to help organizations be more responsive to changes in their environment through principles like empowerment, measurement, collaboration and quick iteration. The document outlines three levels of uncertainty that organizations face and how their need for agility depends on factors like incomplete knowledge, variation in workflow, and the novelty of their work. It also discusses how agile approaches require both more control and empowerment compared to traditional management styles.
This document discusses different approaches to software development processes and analytics. It argues that one size does not fit all and that the development leader must choose methods that align with their organization's goals and mix of work. Different types of projects - with low, some, or high innovation - require different practices and analytics. For routine projects, lean practices and flow measures are appropriate. For highly innovative projects, probabilistic methods are needed to account for uncertainty. The right analytics ensure ongoing alignment between projects, programs and portfolios.
PROFES 2018, Wolfsburg: Talk by Tilman Seifert (Principal IT Consultant at QAware)
=== Please download slides if blurred! ===
Abstract: Processes cannot just be judged as ``good'' or ``efficient''---they must be appropriate for the type of project. As the type of a project changes over time,
the processes must adjust in order to stay efficient and appropriate.
We accompanied the transformation of a large and fast-growing project, using agile development methods and cloud-native technologies, from the very first steps of a prototype to the development of a customer-ready product.
This experience report shows patterns we found on the way.
It argues that systematic process evolution can be done without documentation overhead or relying on questionable process KPIs.
We only used information which is available anyway; this includes our archive of sprint retro boards which allows to create a clear picture of the project's evolution, regarding both the process and the product quality.
Self-Organization & Subtle Control: Friends or Enemies?Mike Cohn
This document discusses self-organizing teams and subtle control. It defines self-organizing teams as those that determine their own work processes in response to their environment, rather than having processes dictated by managers. Control in self-organizing systems is decentralized and emerges from the interactions of independent agents following simple rules. The document presents two models for subtle control: altering containers, differences, and exchanges between team members; and using Philip Anderson's seven levers of selecting the team's environment, defining performance, managing meaning, choosing team members, reconfiguring networks, evolving feedback systems, and energizing the team.
by Dave Bales
This presentation aims to raise awareness that default Product Ownership (that uses only ordering and prioritising PBI’s) is not enough to be successful. A higher level of consciousness is required to appreciate the challenges and dynamics of the work at hand. Devising evolutionary strategies to cater for the undercurrents, changing landscape and the opposing dynamics in the product and its backlog, may help to tip the balance in favour of being more successful.
Project dynamics can include:
Releasing a new insurance app to millenials on a smartphone platform. The challenge with this is that more customer testing and an exploratory approach of how milenials think will be required, hence each sprint goal may include working toward a customer testing objective;
A compliance risk project where compliance objectives are static. How those objectives are satisfied is variable, hence an evolving strategy to use an iterative approach is to be considered. The first iteration would be to neutralise the compliance risk, starting with a manual process. Successive iterations would then be run by automating and adding more value;
An integration risk project, where a central framework has to integrate with several other systems. An evolving strategy would focus on setting sprint goals to achieve integration, as well as regression testing objectives to neutralise the integration risk early
PPT from a presentation I give periodically around how to select agile practices within enterprise software delivery teams. Was developed with tons of help from my friend Peter Schuh
by Louis Taborda
This session describes a simple, self-organizing release management framework that addresses the integration and synchronization of interdependent user stories or the product components of multiple Scrum teams. Tracking these dependencies can be a problem especially when multiple teams contribute to an epic, There can be a temptation to revert to traditional, top-down release management, however this session describes how dependencies can be tracked bottom-up, using a shared construct we call the Collaboration Matrix, which helps multiple teams have visibility of their contribution to the epic allowing them to prioritize and coordinate their releases for optimal value.
We start by reviewing the horizontal vs vertical cake slicing analogy and use simple scenario to illustrate the challenges faced in delivering business epics that span multiple teams. Dependencies resulting from functional (horizontal) teams can make tracking progress across different sprints and releases a multi-dimensional problem – i.e. too difficult. Value delivery requires teams with different velocities and capacities to synch their component releases so the desired workable software/ solution is delivered. This challenge is evident in all Agile scaling efforts and simple, team-based prioritization and release management is shown to have limitations that can result in sub-optimal prioritization of team backlogs – or plain, old bottlenecks. The Collaboration Matrix is introduced as a configuration management pattern resulting from research into a generalized approach to coordinate the release and integration of multi-component solutions. Its use as a self-organizing tool results from the visibility provided to each component team of the dependencies and blockers to the readiness of an epic or solution release train. The matrix, with its visual (Kanban style) representation, can be used in conjunction with other scaling frameworks, including Scrum of Scrums, LeSS and SAFe, to improve value delivery even where value is obscured by dependencies.
Taking the right approach in project and programme management is often half the battle. Wise choices early on can set you on a course to success. However, an inappropriate choice can leave you wasting valuable time. In this white paper we use a recent project to explore the pros and cons of using agile and waterfall methodologies, and highlight the advantages that can be had from adopting an agile development approach, but supported within an overall PRINCE2 framework.
Balancing the tension between Lean and AgileJames Coplien
Many people equate Lean and agile or claim that one is a subset of the other. In fact, they have almost opposite emphases: thinking versus doing; teams versus individuals; planning versus reacting; and many more. This talk will help you clarify the distinction in a way that will help you focus soberly on how to improve your environment, team, product and process, by going beyond the buzzwords to the fundamental building blocks.
Managing Projects through Major Quality Changes-Casey Dusenbery, Ecolab marcus evans Network
Presentation by Casey Dusenbery, Vice President, RD&E, Ecolab, Speaker at the marcus evans Medical Device R&D Summit held in Pasadena California June 2017.
The document discusses troubleshooting systems and how organizations can improve them to reduce issue resolution times. It describes the key elements of an effective troubleshooting system as the system itself for coordinating problem solving, reactive and proactive troubleshooting processes, and reusable troubleshooting knowledge. An effective system logs issues, prioritizes them, allocates resources, tracks progress, conducts analyses, and provides recognition. With a good system, problems can be resolved quickly and often prevented from occurring in the first place.
Continuous development allows for smaller code deployments more frequently, which provides developers better opportunities to innovate and experiment. Working in smaller batches keeps the development process dynamic and fast by allowing features to be deployed before being fully complete. It also reduces errors and makes issue resolution quicker by providing more regular feedback compared to large, infrequent deployments where problems are found later in the integration process.
Lean Software Development Presentationsushant.1409
Lean software development aims to eliminate waste from the development process based on lean manufacturing principles from Toyota. The key principles of lean software development are to eliminate waste, increase feedback, delay commitment, deliver fast, build integrity in, empower teams, see the whole system, and pursue perfection through continuous improvement. Implementing these principles involves practices like integrating code daily, delivering features frequently based on customer priorities, keeping options open, empowering developers, and using metrics that consider the whole system rather than individual parts. The lean approach seeks to optimize value delivery to customers through rapid, reliable, and repeated responses to their needs.
The document describes Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE), which aims to accelerate business decision making and solution creation. The ASE brings together diverse stakeholders over 2-5 days to tackle problems faster than traditional methods, which can take 3-9 months. Key components include ensuring the right purpose, inputs, people, environment, facilitation and process. The ASE has been used in over 1,200 events across many industries.
This document discusses transitioning to an agile development process and overcoming challenges associated with previous waterfall methods. It provides a framework for transitioning that includes treating the transition as a project with its own backlog and iterations. Common "waterfallacies" and fears of change ("agilephobias") are addressed, such as the inability to accurately predict schedules and fixed requirements upfront. Distributed teams and integrating testing are also discussed. The transition process itself needs to be agile and adapt to challenges identified along the way.
The 3 Revolutions (Agile, Lean, Lean Startup)Claudio Perrone
This is the (long overdue) translation of my opening keynote at the Italian Agile Day. I just presented it for IASA Ireland (International Association Software Architects).
The a3thinker.com iphone/ipad app I mentioned (on Lean problem solving, 5 Whys, etc) went on sale on the Apple store on Mar 18. The A3 Thinker's Action Deck (physical cards) is going to be on sale shortly...and it is just awesome ;-)
This document summarizes and compares several agile software development methodologies, including Extreme Programming (XP), Adaptive Software Development (ASD), Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), and Scrum. It outlines the key principles and processes of each methodology, such as XP's emphasis on iterative development, testing, and refactoring. Charts and diagrams are provided to illustrate the methodologies' life cycles and processes.
Agile tour stuttgart 2013: Scrum and agility - Enjoy the journeyGunther Verheyen
Stuttgart, October 16 2013. 100 enthusiast people gathered to listen to presentations and share ideas on Agile.
I gave a closing note about Scrum, and how to look beyond Scrum and software development, to Enterprise Agility.
Core message said that both are about a journey, more than about a goal.
Adaptive Action is a change process that focuses on identifying patterns of behavior in organizations in order to decide which patterns to keep, change, or amplify. It uses three questions - What? So What? Now What? - to help organizations see their current patterns, understand the implications, and decide on actions. A global client used Adaptive Action to develop a three-year strategy by identifying key patterns, discussing their implications, and agreeing on actions like prioritizing a high-growth business unit and creating workforce plans. Adaptive Action enabled the group to make significant progress in developing their strategy in just two days by focusing on patterns rather than processes.
The document provides guidance on transitioning an organization to Agile practices. It discusses 12 things that must be done for a successful transition, including dispensing with predictability, treating the transition as a project, using a congruent approach, picking the right initial project, getting the right people involved, starting with a beachhead team, overcoming resistance, having customer involvement, engaging change agents, not trying to do everything at once, and following a guide. It also discusses specific techniques for establishing transition teams, developing transition backlogs, expanding teams, and overcoming resistance to change.
Software Development 2020 - Swimming upstream in the container revolutionBert Jan Schrijver
Bert Jan Schrijver presented on Malmberg's journey to continuous delivery using open source tools and cloud services. Malmberg is an educational publisher that builds e-learning applications using Java, Vert.x, AngularJS and MongoDB on Amazon cloud services. They faced issues with slow development and operations communication and difficult production problem analysis using a traditional model. To address this, Malmberg established an expert DevOps team, defined key principles like keeping the master branch releasable at all times and managing all processes through Jenkins, and overcame challenges like gaining developer skills and infrastructure limits in transitioning to a self-service continuous delivery model. This approach improved agility, availability, cost reduction and problem resolution for Mal
NextBuild 2015 - Swimming upstream in the container revolutionBert Jan Schrijver
Bert Jan Schrijver presented on Malmberg's journey to continuous delivery using open source tools and cloud services. Malmberg is an educational publisher that builds e-learning applications using Java, Vert.x, AngularJS and MongoDB on Amazon cloud services. They faced issues with slow development and operations communication and difficult production problem analysis using a traditional model. To address this, Malmberg established an expert DevOps team, defined key principles like keeping the master branch releasable at all times and managing all automation through Jenkins, and overcame challenges like gaining developer skills and hitting AWS limits to achieve benefits like increased agility, availability and cost reductions.
The document discusses Agile methodology, an iterative approach to software development that emphasizes continuous improvement and adaptation to change over rigidly following a plan. It outlines the core principles and processes of Agile development, including short sprints, daily stand-up meetings, prioritizing tasks based on product owner feedback, and evaluating progress at the end of each sprint through demonstrations and retrospectives. The document argues that Agile is better suited than traditional waterfall models for software projects where requirements are uncertain and likely to change during development.
This document provides an overview of the SCRUM agile methodology. SCRUM involves breaking work into short sprints of 2-4 weeks. It emphasizes accountability, transparency, and delivering working software frequently. Key aspects include roles like the product owner and scrum master, daily stand-up meetings, and tracking progress through burndown charts and velocity measurements. SCRUM allows requirements to evolve through frequent releases rather than assuming a fixed set at the start.
The document discusses the Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE), an innovative method for solving complex problems faster and achieving sustainable implementation. The ASE approach brings together relevant stakeholders in a creative environment to simultaneously develop solutions through an iterative process. This ensures high-quality decisions based on broad acceptance. The ASE can significantly accelerate implementation by engaging participants in active solution design and reducing potential resistance. The document outlines the ASE process, environment, team, and indications of when it is useful to employ the ASE method. Clients comment that the ASE delivers fast, realistic solutions with broad alignment and commitment to implementation.
Challenges with agile testing process and how to debug and troubleshoot these...Chandan Patary
The document discusses challenges with agile testing processes. It outlines an agenda covering measuring quality for agile distributed projects, testing skills, agile issues, automation, debugging using agile practices, and lean approaches. It then discusses how agile emphasizes testing and development running in parallel to fix bugs sooner. Challenges include rapid changes requiring testers to be part of the change process. The document advocates for collaboration, communication, co-location, and emphasizes quality as a journey rather than destination.
This document discusses adapting testing roles and processes to an agile development methodology. It notes that in agile, testers are full team members who participate in planning and requirements analysis from the start of each sprint. Testing activities occur throughout development rather than just at the end. Challenges in transitioning include changing traditional testing roles and resistance to change, while benefits include more transparent communication and continuous feedback between testers and developers. The document provides examples of agile testing practices and recommendations for improving testing efficiency such as increased test automation and planning.
Shirly Ronen - rapid release flow and agile testing-asAgileSparks
This document describes a rapid agile release flow with three types of releases:
1. CR or production change requests that upload user stories daily to production for testing without releasing to customers.
2. A business release that takes all CRs and makes them available internally but not yet to customers.
3. A station-customer release that releases a group of features to customers after preparations like documentation.
It discusses splitting production from customer releases, freezing user stories and code at different stages, and performing various tests during the process.
Balancing the tension between Lean and AgileJames Coplien
Many people equate Lean and agile or claim that one is a subset of the other. In fact, they have almost opposite emphases: thinking versus doing; teams versus individuals; planning versus reacting; and many more. This talk will help you clarify the distinction in a way that will help you focus soberly on how to improve your environment, team, product and process, by going beyond the buzzwords to the fundamental building blocks.
Managing Projects through Major Quality Changes-Casey Dusenbery, Ecolab marcus evans Network
Presentation by Casey Dusenbery, Vice President, RD&E, Ecolab, Speaker at the marcus evans Medical Device R&D Summit held in Pasadena California June 2017.
The document discusses troubleshooting systems and how organizations can improve them to reduce issue resolution times. It describes the key elements of an effective troubleshooting system as the system itself for coordinating problem solving, reactive and proactive troubleshooting processes, and reusable troubleshooting knowledge. An effective system logs issues, prioritizes them, allocates resources, tracks progress, conducts analyses, and provides recognition. With a good system, problems can be resolved quickly and often prevented from occurring in the first place.
Continuous development allows for smaller code deployments more frequently, which provides developers better opportunities to innovate and experiment. Working in smaller batches keeps the development process dynamic and fast by allowing features to be deployed before being fully complete. It also reduces errors and makes issue resolution quicker by providing more regular feedback compared to large, infrequent deployments where problems are found later in the integration process.
Lean Software Development Presentationsushant.1409
Lean software development aims to eliminate waste from the development process based on lean manufacturing principles from Toyota. The key principles of lean software development are to eliminate waste, increase feedback, delay commitment, deliver fast, build integrity in, empower teams, see the whole system, and pursue perfection through continuous improvement. Implementing these principles involves practices like integrating code daily, delivering features frequently based on customer priorities, keeping options open, empowering developers, and using metrics that consider the whole system rather than individual parts. The lean approach seeks to optimize value delivery to customers through rapid, reliable, and repeated responses to their needs.
The document describes Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE), which aims to accelerate business decision making and solution creation. The ASE brings together diverse stakeholders over 2-5 days to tackle problems faster than traditional methods, which can take 3-9 months. Key components include ensuring the right purpose, inputs, people, environment, facilitation and process. The ASE has been used in over 1,200 events across many industries.
This document discusses transitioning to an agile development process and overcoming challenges associated with previous waterfall methods. It provides a framework for transitioning that includes treating the transition as a project with its own backlog and iterations. Common "waterfallacies" and fears of change ("agilephobias") are addressed, such as the inability to accurately predict schedules and fixed requirements upfront. Distributed teams and integrating testing are also discussed. The transition process itself needs to be agile and adapt to challenges identified along the way.
The 3 Revolutions (Agile, Lean, Lean Startup)Claudio Perrone
This is the (long overdue) translation of my opening keynote at the Italian Agile Day. I just presented it for IASA Ireland (International Association Software Architects).
The a3thinker.com iphone/ipad app I mentioned (on Lean problem solving, 5 Whys, etc) went on sale on the Apple store on Mar 18. The A3 Thinker's Action Deck (physical cards) is going to be on sale shortly...and it is just awesome ;-)
This document summarizes and compares several agile software development methodologies, including Extreme Programming (XP), Adaptive Software Development (ASD), Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), and Scrum. It outlines the key principles and processes of each methodology, such as XP's emphasis on iterative development, testing, and refactoring. Charts and diagrams are provided to illustrate the methodologies' life cycles and processes.
Agile tour stuttgart 2013: Scrum and agility - Enjoy the journeyGunther Verheyen
Stuttgart, October 16 2013. 100 enthusiast people gathered to listen to presentations and share ideas on Agile.
I gave a closing note about Scrum, and how to look beyond Scrum and software development, to Enterprise Agility.
Core message said that both are about a journey, more than about a goal.
Adaptive Action is a change process that focuses on identifying patterns of behavior in organizations in order to decide which patterns to keep, change, or amplify. It uses three questions - What? So What? Now What? - to help organizations see their current patterns, understand the implications, and decide on actions. A global client used Adaptive Action to develop a three-year strategy by identifying key patterns, discussing their implications, and agreeing on actions like prioritizing a high-growth business unit and creating workforce plans. Adaptive Action enabled the group to make significant progress in developing their strategy in just two days by focusing on patterns rather than processes.
The document provides guidance on transitioning an organization to Agile practices. It discusses 12 things that must be done for a successful transition, including dispensing with predictability, treating the transition as a project, using a congruent approach, picking the right initial project, getting the right people involved, starting with a beachhead team, overcoming resistance, having customer involvement, engaging change agents, not trying to do everything at once, and following a guide. It also discusses specific techniques for establishing transition teams, developing transition backlogs, expanding teams, and overcoming resistance to change.
Software Development 2020 - Swimming upstream in the container revolutionBert Jan Schrijver
Bert Jan Schrijver presented on Malmberg's journey to continuous delivery using open source tools and cloud services. Malmberg is an educational publisher that builds e-learning applications using Java, Vert.x, AngularJS and MongoDB on Amazon cloud services. They faced issues with slow development and operations communication and difficult production problem analysis using a traditional model. To address this, Malmberg established an expert DevOps team, defined key principles like keeping the master branch releasable at all times and managing all processes through Jenkins, and overcame challenges like gaining developer skills and infrastructure limits in transitioning to a self-service continuous delivery model. This approach improved agility, availability, cost reduction and problem resolution for Mal
NextBuild 2015 - Swimming upstream in the container revolutionBert Jan Schrijver
Bert Jan Schrijver presented on Malmberg's journey to continuous delivery using open source tools and cloud services. Malmberg is an educational publisher that builds e-learning applications using Java, Vert.x, AngularJS and MongoDB on Amazon cloud services. They faced issues with slow development and operations communication and difficult production problem analysis using a traditional model. To address this, Malmberg established an expert DevOps team, defined key principles like keeping the master branch releasable at all times and managing all automation through Jenkins, and overcame challenges like gaining developer skills and hitting AWS limits to achieve benefits like increased agility, availability and cost reductions.
The document discusses Agile methodology, an iterative approach to software development that emphasizes continuous improvement and adaptation to change over rigidly following a plan. It outlines the core principles and processes of Agile development, including short sprints, daily stand-up meetings, prioritizing tasks based on product owner feedback, and evaluating progress at the end of each sprint through demonstrations and retrospectives. The document argues that Agile is better suited than traditional waterfall models for software projects where requirements are uncertain and likely to change during development.
This document provides an overview of the SCRUM agile methodology. SCRUM involves breaking work into short sprints of 2-4 weeks. It emphasizes accountability, transparency, and delivering working software frequently. Key aspects include roles like the product owner and scrum master, daily stand-up meetings, and tracking progress through burndown charts and velocity measurements. SCRUM allows requirements to evolve through frequent releases rather than assuming a fixed set at the start.
The document discusses the Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE), an innovative method for solving complex problems faster and achieving sustainable implementation. The ASE approach brings together relevant stakeholders in a creative environment to simultaneously develop solutions through an iterative process. This ensures high-quality decisions based on broad acceptance. The ASE can significantly accelerate implementation by engaging participants in active solution design and reducing potential resistance. The document outlines the ASE process, environment, team, and indications of when it is useful to employ the ASE method. Clients comment that the ASE delivers fast, realistic solutions with broad alignment and commitment to implementation.
Challenges with agile testing process and how to debug and troubleshoot these...Chandan Patary
The document discusses challenges with agile testing processes. It outlines an agenda covering measuring quality for agile distributed projects, testing skills, agile issues, automation, debugging using agile practices, and lean approaches. It then discusses how agile emphasizes testing and development running in parallel to fix bugs sooner. Challenges include rapid changes requiring testers to be part of the change process. The document advocates for collaboration, communication, co-location, and emphasizes quality as a journey rather than destination.
This document discusses adapting testing roles and processes to an agile development methodology. It notes that in agile, testers are full team members who participate in planning and requirements analysis from the start of each sprint. Testing activities occur throughout development rather than just at the end. Challenges in transitioning include changing traditional testing roles and resistance to change, while benefits include more transparent communication and continuous feedback between testers and developers. The document provides examples of agile testing practices and recommendations for improving testing efficiency such as increased test automation and planning.
Shirly Ronen - rapid release flow and agile testing-asAgileSparks
This document describes a rapid agile release flow with three types of releases:
1. CR or production change requests that upload user stories daily to production for testing without releasing to customers.
2. A business release that takes all CRs and makes them available internally but not yet to customers.
3. A station-customer release that releases a group of features to customers after preparations like documentation.
It discusses splitting production from customer releases, freezing user stories and code at different stages, and performing various tests during the process.
Shirly Ronen - Documenting an agile defectAgileSparks
This document discusses best practices for documenting defects in an agile environment. It recommends documenting defects at a "just enough" level based on the type of defect and stage in the process. More detailed documentation is needed the further removed the defect reporter is from the developer fixing it. Defects should be traced to user stories and functionality, not modules. The focus should be on functional quality and backlog progress over a big defects list. Short, just-in-time discussions replace big bug meetings.
Agile Testing - presentation for Agile User Groupsuwalki24.pl
The document discusses agile testing principles and processes. It compares agile testing to waterfall testing and outlines some key differences. It also addresses topics like continuous integration, test automation, managing test cases and issues, and transitioning from waterfall to agile. Pseudo-agile projects are described as those that claim to use agile but lack key elements like automation, continuous integration, or involvement of testers throughout the process.
Introduction to Agile software testing - The 5th seminar in public seminar series from KMS Technology which have been delivering from 2011 in every two months
The document outlines a test strategy for an agile software project. It discusses testing at each stage: release planning, sprints, a hardening sprint, and release. Key points include writing test cases during planning and sprints, different types of testing done during each phase including unit, integration, feature and system testing, retrospectives to improve, and using metrics like burn downs and defect tracking to enhance predictability. The overall strategy emphasizes testing early and often throughout development in short iterations.
This document discusses agile testing processes. It outlines that agile is an iterative development methodology where requirements evolve through collaboration. It also discusses that testers should be fully integrated team members who participate in planning and requirements analysis. When adopting agile, testing activities like planning, automation, and providing feedback remain the same but are done iteratively in sprints with the whole team responsible for quality.
Agile Testing Framework - The Art of Automated TestingDimitri Ponomareff
Once your organization has successfully implemented Agile methodologies, there are two major areas that will require improvements: Continuous Integration and Automated Testing.
This presentation illustrates why it's important to invest in an Automated Testing Framework (ATF) to reduce technical debt, increase quality and accelerate time to market.
Learn more at www.agiletestingframework.com.
The DevOps promise: IT delivery that’s hot-off-the-catwalk and made-to-lastPeter Shirley-Quirk
DevOps promises rapid delivery AND stable operations by integrating business, development, test, deployment and operations into a cohesive workflow with a rapid feedback cycle. So how is that possible?
This document discusses Scrum, an agile framework for managing product development. It begins by providing a brief history of Scrum, noting that it originated from rugby terminology and emphasizes self-organizing teams. The document then outlines key Scrum concepts like the product backlog, sprints, increments, and the roles of the product owner and development team. It discusses when Scrum is and isn't applicable, such as for interrupt-driven work where Kanban may be better. The document also introduces the Cynefin framework for determining what approach fits different domains like simple, complicated, complex, chaotic, and disorder. It concludes by noting that while Scrum empowers teams, its implementation can be difficult and make problems visible
The document discusses strategies for building test strategies in Agile and DevOps environments. It advocates taking an iterative approach to test strategies that can accommodate changing requirements. Documenting test strategies improves communication across teams and helps ensure quality. The document recommends using a "layered approach" to test strategy similar to building a house, with unit testing as the foundation and other testing types building on top of it. This approach facilitates collaboration and success.
This document contains an introduction to agile principles compared to traditional plan-driven development. It discusses key concepts of agile such as iterative development, rapid feedback loops, transparency, and adapting to change. The document emphasizes delivering customer value through working software over comprehensive documentation. It advocates for minimizing waste and focusing on eliminating bottlenecks rather than keeping all workers fully utilized.
This document describes a Deployment Excellence Framework (DEF) to effectively adopt high maturity processes. The framework includes 3 interlinked cycles: 1) Identification Cycle to target initial units and stakeholders, 2) Initial Deployment Cycle focusing on awareness and success indicators, and 3) Sustenance Cycle increasing adoption scope and self-reliance. It also includes a feedback adapter for course correction. The case study illustrates using DEF to standardize an organization's project estimation processes and templates by deploying new estimation models and tools over 6 quarters.
Best Practices When Moving To Agile Project ManagementRobert McGeachy
The document discusses best practices for moving to agile project management. It outlines the major challenges teams face including lack of discipline, changes in working styles and responsibilities, and testing challenges. It also provides tips for setting up an agile team through co-location, establishing a war room, and defining roles and responsibilities. Lastly, it discusses factors for organizational readiness for agile such as trust, empowerment, and a willingness to invest in training.
I recently did a talk on Agile and the importance of people over role/process obsessions. I didnt use this in the end, as I decided to adopt a more natural and example-based approach. Feel free to use however - the web is built on plagiarism after all ;)
Manoj Kolhe - Testing in Agile EnvironmentManoj Kolhe
This document discusses testing in an agile environment. It begins with an introduction to agile testing and continuous integration testing. It then discusses challenges with traditional waterfall models and the benefits of agile methodology. The document presents a case study of a company that implemented an automated continuous integration testing solution using tools like Jenkins to overcome challenges with separate web and mobile development teams. It concludes that a combination of agile and traditional methodologies can provide benefits to onsite-offshore software development.
This document discusses an approach to DevOps. It outlines some of the challenges faced in a pre-DevOps environment like SLA violations and burnout. It then discusses how adopting a DevOps mindset can enable faster delivery while maintaining quality. Key aspects of DevOps include treating other teams as customers, establishing feedback loops, and including time for improvement. Metrics like lead time, deployments, and customer satisfaction are important. The document provides examples of DevOps practices from Spotify and references for further information.
The document discusses common pitfalls organizations face when adopting agile processes. It notes that without discipline, agile approaches may fail due to lack of closure on work items and endless scope changes. It also highlights challenges with testing, changes in team roles and responsibilities, and difficulties adjusting working styles to more collaborative ways of working. Critical success factors include training, experience adopting agile, and support from experienced practitioners.
6 strategies for a 30% gain in productivityRichard Rahn
Properly implemented, Mixed Model Manufacturing can lead to 30% gains in productivity, shorter lead times, increased flexibility, and higher operator engagement.
Continuous Performance Testing: Myths and RealitiesAlexander Podelko
The document discusses continuous performance testing in the context of agile development. It notes that while continuous performance testing is becoming more common, it remains a challenge to fully integrate into continuous integration processes. Different approaches like record and playback automation, API scripting, and exploratory testing each have advantages and disadvantages depending on the system and development context. Fully automating all performance tests may not be realistic, so a tiered approach with some simple automated tests alongside more extensive manual testing is often needed. The key is finding the right balance and mix of approaches for each unique situation.
This document discusses building high-performance agile teams and outlines some of the key challenges and best practices. Some of the main points include:
- Building high-performance agile teams that consistently deliver results is challenging for many organizations. Challenges include erosion of trust within the team, lack of ownership, non-supportive organizational culture, and fear of conflict.
- Best practices for building high-performance teams focus on establishing strong team values like respect and openness, as well as operating principles like shared vision, trust, collaboration, and learning.
- The role of the agile coach is important to help remove impediments, ensure agile processes are followed, and facilitate meetings to help the team
Eoin Woods, CTO at Endava, provides insights into what we mean by agility and explores why successful Agile Transformation initiatives go beyond the development teams, in a whitepaper that discusses the six aspects of an organisation that need to evolve to achieve true agility.
Scrum is an agile process that focuses on delivering business value in the shortest time. It delivers working software in short iterations called sprints. The key aspects of scrum include user stories to define requirements, a product backlog to track and prioritize work, sprint planning and daily standups to coordinate work within a sprint, and sprint reviews and retrospectives after each sprint to inspect progress and improve processes. The scrum team consists of a product owner, development team, and scrum master. The product owner manages the product backlog. The development team does the work. And the scrum master facilitates scrum processes and removes impediments.
The document provides information about an assignment for a software engineering course. It includes 6 questions ranging from 3 to 10 marks each. The questions cover topics like product life cycles, agile principles, eXtreme Programming practices, and Dynamic Systems Development Method principles.
In many web or cloud applications, performance testing is critical part of application testing since it affects
business revenue, credibility, and customer satisfaction. Conventional software development models are known
to pushing the performance testing to the very end of project, with the expectations that, only minor tweaks
and tune up are required to meet the performance requirements from the business, however any major
performance bottlenecks found during this phase were major factors for delay in Go to Market. With more and
more companies are adapting the agile software development process which believes in performance testing
should never be an afterthought but it should tightly integrate from initial planning to production analysis of
software development lifecycle. This white paper explains how any company can integrate performance testing
into agile process, and key barriers for agile performance testing when team decides to adopt agile performance
testing.
The document discusses agile testing and the role of the agile tester. It begins by contrasting traditional QA with agile testing, noting that agile testing is more continuous and involves the whole team. It then outlines new skills required of the agile tester, including being a team member, using exploratory testing, and automating tests. Next, it walks through how a tester contributes at different stages of a story, such as exploration, estimation, planning, progression and acceptance. Finally, it concludes that agile testing requires a new paradigm where testers work with developers as team players.
Similar to Flow for agile testing - lssc11 proceedings (20)
Using the Scrum Spirit to Unlock Empiricism and Agility in OKRs - Agile Bosto...Yuval Yeret
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are considered a “Modern operating system” by many companies and investors. But the typical implementation doesn’t deal well with the uncertainty and complexity involved in achieving the typical strategic objective whether it requires building a product, innovating a business model, or creating a new cross-functional company capability. In this talk, we will look at common anti-patterns involved in the typical OKR implementation and how the Scrum spirit can help OKR practitioners bring empiricism, empowerment, and continuous improvement to their OKR operating system. This talk is especially relevant to Scrum and Agile practitioners who are looking for creative ways to bring Scrum’s goodness we are so grateful for to the wider organization.
Fixing Your OKRs With Agility – Agile HartfordYuval Yeret
Presentation by Yuval Yeret, 'OKRs & Agile Sitting in a Tree' at the Agile Hartford Meetup Group - September 2023
Struggling to create a healthy synergy between OKRs and Agile/Scrum/SAFe? You're not alone. In this session, we provide a high-level overview of OKRs, identify some common OKR usage issues/anti-patterns, and suggest improvements leveraging Lean/Agile principles and practices. You will learn how to organize around value through an OKR lens. We will understand the connection between OKRs, KPIs, Products / Value Streams, and what that means for leveraging OKRs in the different Scrum/SAFe elements. We will discuss how Evidence-based Management (EBM) can amp up OKR empiricism. By the end of this session, you will understand the relationship between OKRs, Agile, Scrum, SAFe, and EBM and have concrete ideas for how to help your organization leverage them in synergy.
Who should attend? Agile Leaders, Coaches, Scrum Masters, team members, and anyone else who cares about sharing Agile mindset and practices to improve the way their organization works.
Fixing Your OKRs With Agility – Agile Indy 2023Yuval Yeret
This document provides an overview of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), which are a goal-setting methodology used for organizational alignment. It discusses common challenges with implementing OKRs, such as having too many OKRs, output-focused rather than outcome-focused OKRs, and top-down command-and-control approaches. The document suggests leveraging Agile and Scrum principles to address these challenges, such as organizing teams around OKRs, using OKRs to guide product backlog refinement and sprint planning, and emphasizing autonomy and bottom-up goal-setting. Examples are provided of how OKRs can be integrated into frameworks like SAFe.
What's new in the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 6.0 - Agile Indy May 10th MeetupYuval Yeret
SAFe 6.0, a significant version of the Scaled Agile Framework, was released earlier this Spring. Join us for a deep dive into the newly released SAFe 6.0, where we'll explore the latest updates and improvements to the framework.
In this session, we'll cover the following topics:
Strengthening the Foundation for Business Agility -
Foundational changes in SAFe
Empowering Teams and Clarifying Responsibilities
Accelerating Value Flow
Enhancing Business Agility with SAFe across the business
Delivering Better Outcomes with Measure and Grow and OKRs
This session will provide valuable insights into the latest release and how it can help you and your organization improve business agility and deliver value to customers faster. Join us for an informative and engaging session with our expert speaker, SAFe Fellow/SPCT, and Scrum.org PST Yuval Yeret, who has extensive experience in implementing SAFe at scale. Yuval loves to answer questions, so review the “What’s new in SAFe 6.0” article and come up with concrete questions you want him to answer.
OKRs and Agile Sitting on a Tree - Agile Austin.pdfYuval Yeret
Struggling to create a healthy synergy between OKRs and Agile/Scrum/SAFe? You're not alone. In this session, we provide a high-level overview of OKRs, identify some common OKR usage issues/anti-patterns, and suggest improvements leveraging Lean/Agile principles and practices. You will learn how to organize around value through an OKR lens. We will understand the connection between OKRs, KPIs, Products / Value Streams, and what that means for leveraging OKRs in the different Scrum/SAFe elements. We will discuss how Evidence-based Management (EBM) can amp up OKR empiricism. By the end of this session, you will understand the relationship between OKRs, Agile, Scrum, SAFe, and EBM and have concrete ideas for how to help your organization leverage them in synergy.
OKRs and Scrum - SMs of the Universe Webinar.pdfYuval Yeret
Struggling to create a healthy synergy between OKRs and Agile/Scrum? You're not alone. In this session, we provide a high-level overview of OKRs, identify some common OKR usage issues/anti-patterns, and suggest some improvements leveraging Lean/Agile principles and practices.
You will learn how to organize around value through an OKR lens. We will understand the connection between OKRs, KPIs, Products / Value Streams, and what that means for leveraging OKRs in the different Scrum elements. We will discuss how Evidence-based Management (EBM) can amp up OKR empiricism.
By the end of this session, you will understand the relationship between OKRs, Agile, Scrum, and EBM and have concrete ideas for how to help your organization leverage them in synergy.
Using OKRs in the SAFe Enterprise - Align and Focus on outcomes and enable bu...Yuval Yeret
Struggling to create a healthy synergy between OKRs and Agile/SAFe? You're not alone. In this session, we will identify some OKR anti-patterns and suggest alternative approaches more aligned with SAFe Lean/Agile principles. You will learn how to organize around value through an OKR lens as well as how to improve portfolio focus through economic prioritization and flow management of OKRs. We will understand the connection between OKRs, KPIs, Operational and Development Value Streams, and what that means for leveraging OKRs in the different SAFe elements. By the end of this session, you will have an understanding of the relationship between OKRs and SAFe and concrete ideas for how to help your organization leverage them in synergy.
OKRs for SAFe Summit 2022 - 20220705.pdfYuval Yeret
Struggling to create a healthy synergy between OKRs and Agile/SAFe? You're not alone. In this session, we will identify some OKR anti-patterns and suggest alternative approaches that are more aligned with SAFe Lean/Agile principles. You will learn how to organize around value through an OKR lens as well as how to improve portfolio focus through economic prioritization and flow management of OKRs. We will understand the connection between OKRs, KPIs, Operational and Development Value Streams, and what that means for leveraging OKRs in the different SAFe elements. By the end of this session, you will have an understanding of the relationship between OKRs and SAFe and concrete ideas for how to help your organization leverage them in synergy.
In this session, you will learn to:
Understand the relationship between OVS/DVS through KPIs and OKRs and using it to reorganize around value through the OKR lens
Focusing at the strategic level by combining OKRs, Epics, WSJF and the Portfolio Kanban
Using SAFe's PIP PI Objectives approach to set more aligned and realistic OKRs. Using OKRs thinking in PIP to move from output to outcomes on the DVS/ART
Are you a leader in an organization that’s leveraging Scrum? In this webinar, Professional Scrum Trainer Yuval Yeret, co-author of the Scrum Guide Companion for Leaders, looks at the different elements of Scrum and reflects on an effective way for leaders to engage with them. Throughout the session, Yuval explores topics in this new guide, shares stories from the trenches and discusses:
-What Scrum means for you as a leader
-How to create the conditions in which Scrum can thrive
-How leaders can support the Scrum accountabilities, artifacts and events
-How leaders can leverage Scrum to help them lead their teams
The Best A Man Can Get - Improving Agility in the World’s Shaving Headquarter...Yuval Yeret
In this session, I shared how Gillette is using Scrum applied at Scale to improve agility in a CPG non-software context. We had to make some bold choices that might make classic agile practitioners cringe but we believe are appropriate and support the Scrum spirit. We will talk about our experience using Scaled Scrum inspired by Nexus to design technical and commercial Increments of the Gillette Labs Exfoliating Razor and how it helped us achieve value creation goals in an aggressive timeline. We will share how we use Scrum principles and practices to accelerate innovation and team empowerment in the non-agile-native CPG world.
Validating Delivered Business Value – Going Beyond “Actual Business Value”Yuval Yeret
Actual is a relative term when it comes to business value delivered by a SAFe PI Objective. In this talk we will explore techniques for validating the actual value delivered by SAFe Teams and ARTs based on real-world outcomes that can be evaluated post-release. RTEs, Product Management and Lean/Agile Leaders will be able to assess their current ability to validate value and learn specific practices they could add to their artifacts and events. Finally, we will take a deeper look at optionality and hypothesis-driven thinking in SAFe and challenge the comfort zone on how to properly use some of SAFe’s essential elements in this context.
Learning Objectives:
Assess their competency level of their ART/Program when it comes to ability to validate value
Evolve their Inspect and Adapt events to enable validation value based on real outcomes
Extend their Program and Portfolio Kanbans to help manage the flow of learning and validation.
Modern Professional Scrum using Flow and Kanban - Agile and Beyond Detroit 2019Yuval Yeret
Should you use Scrum or Kanban? You don’t have to choose: Scrum teams improve when they look at flows inside and outside their sprints from a Lean/Kanban perspective. In this session we will talk about Kanban-related myths prevalent in the Scrum world and identify common ground between them. We will look at ways to bring Kanban flow into your Scrum: the Kanban-based Sprint/product backlog, flow-based daily Scrum, visualizing aging work, and flow-based Sprint planning .We will describe ways to wrap Scrum with a Kanban flow system, and how DevOps fits into this picture.
You’ll leave with a better understanding of how Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps relate to each other and with ideas for experiments to try when back at work.
Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) in the TrenchesYuval Yeret
This document proposes an "invitation-based" approach to implementing SAFe that aligns with Lean-Agile principles of respect, decentralization, and flow. Rather than mandating change, it suggests using workshops to invite organizations to consider SAFe and gain alignment. Leaders would be invited to spread SAFe through their areas. Agile Release Train launches would involve an invitation process. The goal is to evolve SAFe's implementation approach by "walking the talk" of its Lean-Agile principles through decentralized decision making and respecting people and culture.
SAFe for Marketing – Extending Towards Real Business Agility - Global SAFe Su...Yuval Yeret
SAFe’s home turf is product/systems/applications development. Let’s talk about challenging this comfort zone by applying it in one of the core business functions – Marketing. Why? Because the marketing operating system is being disrupted and the larger the marketing organization the more it struggles to maintain relevancy and impact. More and more marketing organizations are seeing the impact of Agile and want to benefit as well. How should an organization using SAFe in R&D/IT look at Agile in Marketing? Is SAFe the right choice? Does it work “as is”? Are there any changes needed to support this new context? What are some lessons learned from trying this in the field?
Learning Objectives and Key Takeaways:
At some point in your enterprise transformation you should consider applying SAFe outside of Product Development/IT. Marketing is a great candidate for a next Value Stream to implement SAFe in.
Agile Marketing is possible not just for small nimble companies but also for large organizations with hundreds of marketers and several legacy silos. SAFe provides a blueprint for how to achieve this.
Understand the differences in applying SAFe outside of Product Development/IT and how to adjust the Big Picture / Implementation Roadmap to accommodate these differences.
The ideal “Business Agility” state is actually to bring together Marketing, Product Management/Development, Sales into one Value Stream.
This talk was delivered in the global SAFe Summit in DC in October 2018
Building Quality In in SAFe – The Testing Organization’s Perspective Yuval Yeret
SAFe emphasizes Building Quality In. We will take a deep dive into how this looks from a testing organization’s perspective and what does a SAFe implementation mean for Testing/QA professionals. We will map SAFe’s approach to best practices in the “”Agile Testing”” world. We will look at examples from the real world of how traditional testing organizations shift left and evolve towards continuous testing.
Learning Objectives and Key Takeaways:
Understand how best practices from the “”Agile Testing”” world map to SAFe’s context
Learn ideas and patterns for evolving Testing/QA’s role during a SAFe implementation
Understand how Test-Driven looks like and how techniques like Acceptance-Test-Driven-Design/Behavior-Driven
Development can empower testers as well as improve the flow on SAFe agile teams.
See how SAFe’s principles can be used to guide the evolution towards a lean/agile testing organization
Scrum, Kanban and DevOps Sitting in a tree... Dave West and Yuval Yeret at Ag...Yuval Yeret
Should you use Scrum, Kanban, or DevOps? You don’t have to choose: Scrum teams improve when they look at flows inside and outside their sprints from a Lean/Kanban perspective. In this session we will talk about Kanban-related myths prevalent in the Scrum world and identify common ground between them. We will look at ways to bring Kanban flow into your Scrum: the Kanban-based Sprint/product backlog, flow-based daily Scrum, visualizing aging work, and flow-based Sprint planning .We will describe ways to wrap Scrum with a Kanban flow system, and at the higher-level picture of a DevOps culture and process.
You’ll leave with a better understanding of how Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps relate to each other and with ideas for experiments to try when back at work.
Abstract:
More and more organizations are realizing that in order to achieve business agility they need to go beyond implementing agile in specific teams/projects. Real agility requires scaling agile to the program/portfolio/enterprise level. In this session we will explore the options organizations have when looking to scale agile, with an emphasis on SAFe(tm) - the Scaled Agile Framework - one of the most popular options these days.
Learning Objectives:
• When does it make sense to Scale Agile
• What are the leading scaling approaches
• An introduction to SAFe's Big Picture and implementation configurations
• How to implement SAFe - The Implementation Roadmap
• Typical Results of implementing SAFe
• Key risks/red flags to be aware of when implementing SAFe
Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps Sitting in a Tree… - Big Apple Scrum Day 2018Yuval Yeret
Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps Sitting on a Tree... (Learn how to leverage Kanban & Scrum together and how to fit DevOps into the picture)Should we use Scrum? Should we use Kanban? Where does DevOps fit into the picture? The best agile teams already know they don’t need to choose. Scrum teams improve when they start to look at flow inside and outside their sprints. Kanban teams improve when they have a disciplined cadence, and effective Product Ownership and Scrum Mastership. DevOps really is mainly about doing Agile the right way. In this session, we will look at a core definition of Scrum, Kanban & DevOps, do some myth-busting as well as identify the quite significant common ground between Scrum, Kanban and DevOps. We will then look at practical ways like the Kanban-based Sprint Backlog, Flow-based Daily Scrum, Visualizing aging work, Flow-based Sprint Planning - which bring some Kanban flow into your Scrum. We will look at how to bring Scrum roles/events/artifacts into your Kanban. We will look at ways to wrap Scrum with a Kanban Flow system that looks upstream/downstream and at the higher level picture of a DevOps Culture/Process. You’ll leave with a better understanding of how Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps relate to each other and with some ideas for experiments to try when back at work.
10 Essential SAFe(tm) patterns you should focus on when scaling AgileYuval Yeret
This document discusses the Essential SAFe framework for scaling agile. It introduces the 10 essential SAFe patterns that should be focused on, which are: Lean-Agile Principles, Real Agile Teams and Trains, Cadence and Synchronization, PI Planning, DevOps and Releasability, System Demo, IP Iteration, Architectural Runway, Lean-Agile Leadership, and Inspect & Adapt. Each element is then explained in more detail over several slides. The document concludes by providing ways Essential SAFe can be used and asking if there are any questions.
Scrum 4 marketing - Give Thanks to Scrum 2017Yuval Yeret
Scrum in Marketing
What does Scrum in Marketing look like? Why are more and more marketers using Scrum? How is it different than Scrum in software development? What are some challenges that marketers are facing when using Scrum – Are those Scrum deficiencies? Does Scrum mean giving up on the marketer artsy creative spirit? Where/how to start? This talk is based on Yuval’s work with real-world marketing teams/organizations.
Understanding User Needs and Satisfying ThemAggregage
https://www.productmanagementtoday.com/frs/26903918/understanding-user-needs-and-satisfying-them
We know we want to create products which our customers find to be valuable. Whether we label it as customer-centric or product-led depends on how long we've been doing product management. There are three challenges we face when doing this. The obvious challenge is figuring out what our users need; the non-obvious challenges are in creating a shared understanding of those needs and in sensing if what we're doing is meeting those needs.
In this webinar, we won't focus on the research methods for discovering user-needs. We will focus on synthesis of the needs we discover, communication and alignment tools, and how we operationalize addressing those needs.
Industry expert Scott Sehlhorst will:
• Introduce a taxonomy for user goals with real world examples
• Present the Onion Diagram, a tool for contextualizing task-level goals
• Illustrate how customer journey maps capture activity-level and task-level goals
• Demonstrate the best approach to selection and prioritization of user-goals to address
• Highlight the crucial benchmarks, observable changes, in ensuring fulfillment of customer needs
Unveiling the Dynamic Personalities, Key Dates, and Horoscope Insights: Gemin...my Pandit
Explore the fascinating world of the Gemini Zodiac Sign. Discover the unique personality traits, key dates, and horoscope insights of Gemini individuals. Learn how their sociable, communicative nature and boundless curiosity make them the dynamic explorers of the zodiac. Dive into the duality of the Gemini sign and understand their intellectual and adventurous spirit.
Industrial Tech SW: Category Renewal and CreationChristian Dahlen
Every industrial revolution has created a new set of categories and a new set of players.
Multiple new technologies have emerged, but Samsara and C3.ai are only two companies which have gone public so far.
Manufacturing startups constitute the largest pipeline share of unicorns and IPO candidates in the SF Bay Area, and software startups dominate in Germany.
Implicitly or explicitly all competing businesses employ a strategy to select a mix
of marketing resources. Formulating such competitive strategies fundamentally
involves recognizing relationships between elements of the marketing mix (e.g.,
price and product quality), as well as assessing competitive and market conditions
(i.e., industry structure in the language of economics).
LA HUG - Video Testimonials with Chynna Morgan - June 2024Lital Barkan
Have you ever heard that user-generated content or video testimonials can take your brand to the next level? We will explore how you can effectively use video testimonials to leverage and boost your sales, content strategy, and increase your CRM data.🤯
We will dig deeper into:
1. How to capture video testimonials that convert from your audience 🎥
2. How to leverage your testimonials to boost your sales 💲
3. How you can capture more CRM data to understand your audience better through video testimonials. 📊
Anny Serafina Love - Letter of Recommendation by Kellen Harkins, MS.AnnySerafinaLove
This letter, written by Kellen Harkins, Course Director at Full Sail University, commends Anny Love's exemplary performance in the Video Sharing Platforms class. It highlights her dedication, willingness to challenge herself, and exceptional skills in production, editing, and marketing across various video platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
Recruiting in the Digital Age: A Social Media MasterclassLuanWise
In this masterclass, presented at the Global HR Summit on 5th June 2024, Luan Wise explored the essential features of social media platforms that support talent acquisition, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok.
Company Valuation webinar series - Tuesday, 4 June 2024FelixPerez547899
This session provided an update as to the latest valuation data in the UK and then delved into a discussion on the upcoming election and the impacts on valuation. We finished, as always with a Q&A
SATTA MATKA SATTA FAST RESULT KALYAN TOP MATKA RESULT KALYAN SATTA MATKA FAST RESULT MILAN RATAN RAJDHANI MAIN BAZAR MATKA FAST TIPS RESULT MATKA CHART JODI CHART PANEL CHART FREE FIX GAME SATTAMATKA ! MATKA MOBI SATTA 143 spboss.in TOP NO1 RESULT FULL RATE MATKA ONLINE GAME PLAY BY APP SPBOSS
Taurus Zodiac Sign: Unveiling the Traits, Dates, and Horoscope Insights of th...my Pandit
Dive into the steadfast world of the Taurus Zodiac Sign. Discover the grounded, stable, and logical nature of Taurus individuals, and explore their key personality traits, important dates, and horoscope insights. Learn how the determination and patience of the Taurus sign make them the rock-steady achievers and anchors of the zodiac.
Top mailing list providers in the USA.pptxJeremyPeirce1
Discover the top mailing list providers in the USA, offering targeted lists, segmentation, and analytics to optimize your marketing campaigns and drive engagement.
The 10 Most Influential Leaders Guiding Corporate Evolution, 2024.pdfthesiliconleaders
In the recent edition, The 10 Most Influential Leaders Guiding Corporate Evolution, 2024, The Silicon Leaders magazine gladly features Dejan Štancer, President of the Global Chamber of Business Leaders (GCBL), along with other leaders.
Structural Design Process: Step-by-Step Guide for BuildingsChandresh Chudasama
The structural design process is explained: Follow our step-by-step guide to understand building design intricacies and ensure structural integrity. Learn how to build wonderful buildings with the help of our detailed information. Learn how to create structures with durability and reliability and also gain insights on ways of managing structures.
Structural Design Process: Step-by-Step Guide for Buildings
Flow for agile testing - lssc11 proceedings
1. Using Flow approaches to effectively manage Agile Testing
by
Yuval Yeret
Yuval@AgileSparks.com
ABSTRACT
This paper will focus on improving agility in complex environments, where it is
not realistic to finish all required work, and especially testing work, within one sprint,
so classic agile iterations fall short. This paper will introduce a more generic flow-
based recipe for these environments. I will outline techniques for visualizing and
reducing testing batch sizes within sprints/releases using Cumulative Flow Diagrams,
discuss how to deal with the testing bottleneck that is so common in product
development organizations, and discuss how to deal with policies rooted in the
current big batch approach to product development.
2. 2
INTRODUCTION
A rapidly increasing amount of organizations want to become more agile these
days. Several field case studies show that when an enterprise-level organization
undertakes this endeavor, it ends up having a significant stabilization/hardening
phase, usually in the order of 30% of the effort and schedule of the whole release.
This is a result of the high transaction costs associated with running testing cycles,
aiming to locally optimize the testing efficiency by reducing the number of cycles and
the pursuit of scale economy. The lean/kanban practitioner will be worried by this
point, and will not be surprised to learn that a lot of waste, ineffective handoffs, and
mountains of rework usually ensue. The result is typically low predictability as to
whether this stabilization phase ends on time and whether the end result will be in
release-level quality. This is the culmination of the big batch thinking that is inherent
to traditional software development approaches. It also drives a destructivecycle of
longer and longer stabilization phases when we see we cannot deliver quality on time.
We set a policy of longer stabilization feature freeze. We have less time to actually
develop so we run aneven faster and more reckless development cycle.
Testing is deemed more and more expensive, so we try to make it more
efficient by running less and less cycles. Integration is deemed expensive and
problematic, so we set a policy of integration just after the parts are complete and in
high quality, while forgetting that the real quality challenges of the day are the
integration aspects, which should be dealt with as early as possible.
GOING AGILE ALL THE WAY
When such an organization starts the move to agile, several scenarios can
materialize. The ideal alternative is for agile teams to take on all of the stabilization
work as part of their definition of done and deliver working, tested software that is
release ready within each increment/iteration/sprint. Furthermore, accompanied
with massive test automation, this minimizes the regression/stabilization cycle effort,
and the stabilization phase can be expected to shrink dramatically.
AGILE IN COMPLEX ENVIRONMENTS
Another scenario happens in more complex environments. When moving to full-
scale agile teams, the regression effort and the scope of testing coverage required are
still extremely high, making it an impossible endeavor for the agile team to solve the
problem as easily as before. First, it is not always feasible to complete all the
required testing work on a story within a sprint. Second, even if it is possible,
ensuring no regression impact due to those stories is a transaction cost that is either
not feasible or not economically reasonable. Third, sometimes the work required to
3. 3
take a story to release-level quality is again more than a sprint can contain. Aspects
like Enterprise-Readiness, Performance, and Security, applied to a big legacy system,
require specialized approaches, special skills, labs, and time. Typically the agile team
runs at a certain pace, delivering a certain level of working and tested software. Then
there is a process outside the team of taking that software and making it release
quality. The focus of this work is to assist organizations in managing this complex
process, applying lean/agile principles of product development flow in order to
reduce the overall price of quality and improve the overall predictability.
Figure 1. Testing Gaps in Complex Agile Environments
A MORE EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO AGILITY
Another scenario is the organizations that want to improve their development
processes using a more evolutionary approach (Anderson2010). In this context, the
concept of an agile team doesn’t even necessarily exist, so the level of “doneness” of
work is even lower at the outset.
LOOKING FOR A SPECIFIC SOLUTION TO ESCALATING RELEASE COSTS
Lastly, we see several organizations that are looking specifically for a solution
to this problem. They are not looking to become more agile per se but they are
focused on reducing the cost of releasing and improving their due date performance.
Yes, they see that it will allow shorter releases and better maneuverability, but it is a
secondary side benefit for them.
IMPROVING STABILIZATION IN COMPLEX SCENARIOS
This paper will present a recipe that can be applied to these scenarios in order
to reduce the cost of stabilization while improving its predictability by applying the
4. 4
principles of agility and flow without assuming full team-level agility and engineering
practices.
I want to emphasize the last point. The typical agile practitioner will claim that
all of this headache can be resolved by going on the agile diet,that extreme
programming accompanied by a strict pure Scrum process will resolve all of the
problems. I tend to agree. But not all organizations want to (or can) go on this
extreme "diet." Not all of them can afford the change on a short time frame, and even
worse, at the higher levels of complexity and enterprise scale, agile would certainly
help but it would not be enough to resolve the problem completely. As the reader will
see later on, the recipe includes certain key practices from the agile diet, albeit in a
form that can be adopted as part of an evolutionary process.
IDENTIFYING A GOOD SOLUTION
How will we know we have a good solution for our problem? We will have to
improve in two key aspects. The first is to achieve a major reduction in the length of
the stabilization/hardening phase. The second is to dramatically improve the
predictability of the release due date while still meeting the release criteria.
WHAT CAUSES THE PROBLEM
Let us start our journey towards a solution by understanding what the root
causes of the problem are. Figure1 shows a current reality tree (Dettmer 1998) that
helps us understand the cause and effect relationships.
Why is stabilization cost so high? Mainly because we get late feedback on our
decisions, and we know that late quality is more expensive quality. Why do we get
late feedback? Because we prefer to work in big batches due to high costs of every
stabilization cycle and since we believe it is the efficient and right way to do things.
We believe we cannot really achieve good coverage and certainty about the quality of
the release without running a big batch once everything is ready. In addition,
sometimes features aren’t ready for feedback until late in the cycle. Why?
Sometimesit is because they are big features. Another reason is that we are not
focusing on just a few features, we are working on many features in parallel (feature
per engineer sometimes) which means they will take a lot of calendar time due to
excessive multi-tasking at the organization level. Note that even if each
engineer/team is single-tasking, if we are multiplexing stories/work from various
features, then at the organization/release level we are still multi-tasking. (Why, by
the way, do we typically see many features in progress? We tend tobelieve it is more
efficient, minimizes coordination overhead, gives more ownership to the Feature
Owner, and many engineers prefer to run solo.)
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Figure 1d Current Reality of Stabilization Costs
All this means quality is “added” after the fact. As documented in Capers Jones
Cost of Quality (1980), the later we find and deal with defects the more expensive it
becomes.Late quality is expensive.
With this dynamic in place, we have two options: protect the quality and
compromise on due date performance orprotect the due date and compromise on
quality, whether explicit or implicit. The team is driven hard, way beyond sustainable
pace, and they find the ways to "make ends meet." Bugs are ignored, quick and dirty
local fixes are applied, etc. This increases the lack of predictability of how this saga
will end and when.
WORKING TOWARDS A SOLUTION
So what do we do about the problem? One option we discussed before is to go
agile all the way.We will not outline the details of this solution here to maintain
brevity. Note though that even in some agile team scenarios leftovers of untested
unfinished work will accumulate after each sprint. Beyond high stabilization costs,
sometimes the gap grows to such an extent that there is no option but to throw away
features that were already developed once it is understood there is no way to test
them in the release. When this happens, the morale of the team sinks. We usually see
it happening around the time the developers are asked to go help the testers deal
with the remaining features that are not trashed.
In addition, there is typically a drive towards developing functionality as fast as
possible and leaving defects for later. This policy makes sense when a feature freeze
6. 6
phase is mandated. The main thing the developers can do during this period is fix
defects. If you fix defects earlier, you deliver less functionality until feature freeze. If
you CAN defer defect fixing to after the feature freeze cutoff date, this is what you
will do. This problem exists even in some agile teams.
DONE IS DONE
The first step towards a solution is to consider a feature as "Done" only if it is
completely finished and can pass its release-grade criteria. This means it has passed
all of its test coverage, and all the defects that need to be fixed and verified to pass
release grade criteria have been dealt with. (For project management purposes we
will track which features are done, and which are still in progress.) The important
point to note is that even if stories or aspects of this feature have been completed in
an agile team, the feature itself will be considered just work in progress.
LIMITING FEATURES IN PROGRESS
Next, limit the amount of features that can be in progress. Allow the starting
of a new feature only if a previous one is really finished and release ready and the
amount of open defects is below a certain low threshold.This limit synchronizes the
project.However, it doesn’t require the extreme synchronization that happens inside
an agile team.
DEALING WITH THE TESTING BOTTLENECK AT THE TACTICAL LEVEL
Developers will be asked to optimize features reaching Done rather than
features reaching Coded. This might mean investing more in quality at the coder
level (automated unit tests come to mind), reducing the number of defects delivered
with the code by doing code reviews or pair programming, etc. Readers familiar with
the Theory of Constraints will recognize this as exploiting the testing constraint –
exploit being one of the 5 5 focusing steps–[The goal Cox, Jeff; Goldratt, Eliyahu M.
[1986]
7. 7
Figure 2. What developers can do during an active testing bottleneck
AVOIDING THE DANGERS OF BOTTLENECKS
In many cases, even after increasing quality of Coded features a testing gap
will still be apparent.Are we really asking developers to slow down and avoid coding
new features? This might lead to lost capacity in the release and to lower capabilities
over time if the developers “forget how to run fast” (Anderson 2004 ). We want to
avoid this. Instead, let’s identify work types that don’t need to go through the
bottleneck or that require less capacity from it. Choose work that is not testing-
heavy, or items that can be tested without the involvement of the testing
bottleneck.This introduces an internal operations factor into the priority filter, but
clearly this optimizes for overall business value outcome.
INVESTING TO ELEVATE BOTTLENECKS
To elevate a testing bottleneck, create a backlog of engineering investments
that will improve testing capacity, usually by reducing the amount of work needed
per feature.The best example is, of course, test automation that can conveniently
also be developed by developers. This backlog solves the slowdown problem. It also is
a more sensitive solution than “Have slack in the system” to the slack created by
sprint commitment and Limited WIP. Involve your teams in building the Engineering
Investment backlogs to increase their commitment to this approach. Experience
aloshows that higher commitment exists when working to elevate rather than locally
deal with a problem.
THE TEST AUTOMATION PYRAMID HELPS ELEVATING BOTTLENECKS
In the context of testing, leverage the recommendation of the “Test
Automation Pyramid” (Crispin and Gregory, 2009) to achieve a win-win: Reduce the
cost of test automation by doing more of it in layers that are cheaper to maintain,like
8. 8
unit testing and service/api-level testing rather than at the UI level, and benefit
from the fact that these layers are closer to the comfort zone of the developers.
Extend the “Pyramid” to all of the testing aspects required to get a feature to
release-ready. Considering this work as part of the flow/bottleneck optimization
picture is key to achieving lower stabilization costs and better release flows.Consider
this a form of “Continuous Stabilization” or “Continuous Hardening”.
Figure 3. What developers can do to elevate a testing bottleneck
9. 9
SAFELY TRANSITIONING TO A SHORTER STABILIZATION PERIOD
Finally, choose when to go into stabilization (and stop developing new
features) based on metrics presented earlier. If the number of open defects is low,
and there is a low amount of feature work in progress, it might be safe to proceed
further with new features. If defects are mounting, and lots of features are in
progress, risk is high, and it is best to aim for stabilization as quickly as possible, or at
least to stop the line, reduce the work in progress, and then reconsider.
Figure 4. Dynamic decision to go into hardening phase
10. 10
CONCLUSION
To summarize, in many product development scenarios, whether agile or not,
escalating stabilization costs are a painful problem in need of a solution. Lean/agile
approaches can help reduce the problem. We outlined a solution relying on an end-to-
end pragmatic approach that doesn’t require a revolution in the way the product is
developed, instead driving an evolutionary focused improvement by tying all the parts
together and aiming at global optimization. This solution can be applied in the field as
part of agile implementation projects, on a standalone basis, or as a preamble that
will drive the understanding that a more agile approach needs to be adopted as a way
to improve on the bottlenecks identified by this method.
11. 11
REFERENCES
Anderson, David (2010). Kanban, Blue Hole Press, Sequim, Washington
Dettmer, H. W., (1998) Breaking the constraints to world class performance. ASQ
Quality Press, Milwaukee, WI.,pp 69-102.
Jones, Capers (3rd edition 2008) Applied Software Measurement, McGraw Hill, New York,
NY, USA
Goldratt, Eliyahu M. &Coxx, Jeff(1986). The goal: a process of ongoing improvement,
North River Press, Great Barrington, MA
Anderson, David (2004) Four Roles of Agile ManagementCutter IT Journal.
Retrieved 10 March 2011 from
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Crispin Lisa & Gregory Janet (2009) Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Testers and
Agile Teams, Addison-Wesley Professional, Reading, MA
Reinertsen, Don (2009). The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second
Generation Lean Product Development, Celeritas Publishing, Redondo
Beach, CA