Karoliina Luoto, Codento. J. Boye Web and intranet conference 2013 presentation on how problems in agility are often fixed by going back to basics and taking the humble lesson.

1. How Agile Are You, Really?
J. Boye Web & Intranet Conference
Århus
Karoliina Luoto · 6 November 2013

2. Karoliina Luoto + Codento
Consultant for
Agile project management
Business and use case oriented
digital service concepting
Before: product owner, collaboration
strategist, communications specialist
Consultancy company for
not only superhero coding

3. Even agile projects
are not always easy

4. Sometimes, in search of fixes,
It’s good to look at the basics
Photo: Buzz Hoffman, Flickr

5. How many of your
organizations have used
agile development
for projects?

6. Really?
One possible set of agility criteria:
1.
End users are a constant part of the development process
2.
The development team has power to make decisions
3.
Requirements strech, the schedule/budget doesn't
4.
The requirements are described on top level, lightly and visually
5.
6.
The development work is done in small increments that can be
developed further
Focus on regular delivery of working product parts
7.
Finishing each requirement before moving to next one
8.
80/20 rule: focus on search of 20 % solutions that can fulfill 80 % of the need
9. Testing throughout the project – test early, test often
10. Collaborative approach from _all_ players in the project
Criteria credits: Allaboutagile.com

7. Agile Principles
Behind
Scrum, Kanban…

8. Photo: California Bakery, Flickr
Early and continuous delivery…
(every couple of weeks)

9. Photo: CBGB_Hoser, Flickr
…of valuable software

10. Welcome changing
requirements
Even late in the process
Photo: justmakeit, Flickr

11. Photo: massdistraction, Flickr
Business people and develope
work together daily

12. Find motivated individuals
And support and trust them
Photo: Diamond Geyser, Flick

13. Photo: sean dreilinger, Flickr
Most efficient method of
communication is
face-to-face conversation

14. Photo: Victory of the People, Flickr
Primary measure of progress i
working software

15. Photo:
DanieVDM,
Flickr
Continuous attention to
technical excellence and
good design

16. Simplicity – The art of
maximizing the work not done
Photo: by me

17. Photo: Gwenael Piaser, Flick
Team reflects on how to becom
more effective and
adjusts its behaviour

18. Solutions for pain points are simple
Projects that struggle with their agility can be made better by:
Waking up the Product Owner
Proritize, bridge development team with users and
stakeholders
Trusting the developers
Build the team’s technology vision ownership
Getting method help
Retros led by a pro scrum master, agile coaching for key
roles
Freshening up the Definiton of Done
The quality code needs to be agreed on and revisited
Deploying more often
If it’s hard, do it more
Adding artefact transparency for the Scrum team
Vision documents, release plans, budgets...

19. Afterword: Before starting a new
project, make sure agile is the way to
1. How known is the concrete project outcome?
go.
a) Blurry b) A bit unstructured c) Quite clear
2.
How code-oriented is the project?
a) It's all about new code
b) We are using a product/framework but customizing it
c) We are taking an out-of-package product and making it work for us, content
is the king
3.
Can the project be resourced with a full-time product owner?
a) No probs, we want to invest in this one
b) It will be a bit painful c) No way
4.
Are we ready to prioritize between requirements?
a) Of course b) Not so sure about everybody c) Come again?

20. The results for the agility test
3 points for each a-answer, 2 points for a
b, 1 points for each c
• 10-12 points: Clearly there is a case for an agile project. Still, remember to
plan and resource it well and ensure that main stakeholders share the agile
ideas.
• 7-9 points: Twilight zone. Do you have enough resources and buy-in for
agile? If you go for it, how about coaching or courses?
• 4-6 points: No question, your case is a clear one. Just take the vendor's
process as it is, launch the project and stay sharp.
Original test credits: Perttu Tolvanen

21. Thank you.
www.codento.com
karoliina.luoto@condento.com · @totoroki · +358 40 765
Photo: By me