The document discusses kicking off an agile project. It covers identifying elements of agile chartering such as product vision, project mission, core team formation and working agreements. Essential agile practices like backlogs, user stories, sprints, daily stand-ups and retrospectives are introduced. Retrospectives are highlighted as a critical practice for teams to continuously inspect and adapt their processes to uncover better ways of working. The goal of retrospectives is to reflect on what can be improved to become a more effective team.

1. Kicking Off Your First Agile Project
Salah Elleithy & Ken Horton
@PMIWDC

2. “A journey of a thousand
miles begins with a single
step.” –Lao Tzu
@PMIWDC@selleithy

3. Topics we will uncover…
1. Identify the elements of Agile chartering
2. Apply essential Agile practices as a starting
point
3. Learn one critical practice to help your team
inspect and adapt
@PMIWDC@selleithy

4. What does “Agile” mean to you?
We are
4 Values 12 Principles
agilemanifesto.org
@PMIWDC@selleithy
modernagile.org
uncovering better ways
of developing software by doing
it and helping others do it.

5. What is Agile chartering?
Agile chartering is a facilitated
meeting, includes the various
players who will direct, guide,
support, implement, and
evaluate the project.
@PMIWDC@selleithy
Source: Liftoff by Diana Larsen and Ainsley Niess

6. - Product Vision
- Project mission
- Mission tests
- Shared values and
principles
- Core team forming
and cohesion
- Working agreements
Elements of Agile chartering
Purpose
Provides
inspiration and
conveys the
meaning of the
project
Alignment
Help the project
team create an
alliance to
achieve the
mission
Context
helps the core
team and project
community know
how they fit into
the larger
organization
- Boundaries
- Project community
interactions
- Resources committed to
the project
- Checking assumptions
Source: Liftoff by Diana Larsen and Ainsley Niess
@PMIWDC@selleithy
Start with WHY!
–Simon Sinek

7. Chartering Questions
1. What’s our product vision?
2. What are our success criteria?
3. How do we know when we are done?
4. Who is on the project? And how dedicated
are they to the project?
5. What are the roles and responsibilities?
6. What do we value as a team?
7. What agreements do we want to have in
place? (Team agreements)
@PMIWDC@selleithy

8. Create your Agile soup!!
Backlog
User story
Sprint
Daily Standup
Sprint Planning
Retrospective
Backlog refinement
Sprint Review
Story Mapping
BDD
TDD
Definition of Done
Definition of Ready Ready in 5 minutes
@PMIWDC@selleithy
Acceptance Criteria

9. More ingredients (or practices…)
@PMIWDC@selleithy
Source: Agile Alliance

10. Essential practices “ingredients”
Backlog
User
story
Sprint
Daily Standup
Sprint Planning
Retrospective
Backlog refinement
Sprint Review
Story Mapping
BDD
TDD
Definition of Done
Definition of Ready
Acceptance Criteria

11. One critical practice…
“We are uncovering better
ways…” – Agile Manifesto
So, what’s one critical
practice that helps us find
better ways?
enACT
STUDY
REFLECT
or
CYCLE
To keep uncovering better
ways, we need to be
constantly looking for
better ways.

12. Retrospectives
• “At regular intervals, the team reflects on how
to become more effective, then tunes and
adjusts its behavior accordingly.” – Agile
Principle #12
• Deming cycle “forgotten step” : Check or
Study (or Reflect)

13. Retrospective Prime Directive
“Regardless of what we discover, we understand and
truly believe that everyone did the best job they
could, given what they knew at the time, their
skills and abilities, the resources available, and the
situation at hand.”
-Norm Kerth, Project Retrospective: A Handbook for Team Review

14. Retrospective
Goal: To uncover better ways of working
together.
• What are we seeing, noticing or
observing?
• What patterns/themes are emerging?
• Where do we want to go from here? What
do we want to try?
• What are the next steps or take aways?
And who wants to sign up?

15. 5 Retrospective Ideas
1. Worked well? Could be
Better?
2. Appreciation game
3. Sailboat (Winds, Anchors)
4. Start, Stop, Continue
5. Wow, How about?