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Transitioning to Agile:
Overcoming Waterfallacies
and Agilephobias
Mike Cohn
May 15, 2007
1
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
1. Why transitioning to agile is hard
2. A framework for transitioning
3. Overcoming waterfallacies and
agilephobias
Topics today...
2
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Why Transitioning
to Agile
Is Hard
3
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Three reasons
1
Change is not top-down or
bottom-up; it’s both
3
The transition process must
be congruent with the
development process
2 We fall into the predictability
trap
4
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Top down or bottom up?
Two simplistic views of transitioning to agile:
Top down
Powerful leader shares a vision
Bottom-up
new approach
But, transitioning to agile is neither top-down
nor bottom-up
It’s everywhere, all together, all-at-once
1
5
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
How we traditionally view our organizations
Behavior is highly predictable
Once set in motion, will continue in motion
Predictable
An organization change strategy can be
mapped out:
And we’ll end up right where I predict
Dispense with predictability2
6
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
“This machine imagery [Newtonian view]
leads to the belief that studying the parts is
the key to understanding the whole.Things
are taken apart, dissected literally or
is that the more we know about the
workings of each piece, the more we will
learn about the whole.”
~Margaret Wheatley
in Leadership and the New Science
7
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
What we do on projects
On projects we learn we cannot precisely anticipate:
our users’ requirements
how long it will take to develop a feature or entire system
which design will be best
the set of tasks necessary to develop a feature
So we devise alternative approaches
Rather than ask for upfront specs, we deliver partial
solutions, solicit feedback, and repeat
Rather than design the whole system, we design
incrementally and adjust based on what we learn
We need to do the same for the transition effort
8
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Use a congruent approach3
Part of the move to
agile is a move to
self-organizing teams
Moving to self-
organization requires
self-organization
“You will self-organize!”
9
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
A Framework
for
Transitioning
10
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
An agile process
Cancel
Gift wrap
Return
Iteration
2-4 weeks
Return
Iteration goal
Iteration
backlog
Potentially shippable
product increment
Product
backlog
Gift wrap
Coupons
Cancel
Daily
...
...
...
Transition
backlog
...
Iteration
monthly
Weekly
Altered
organization
An agile transition process
11
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Activities
to support
the goals
Quarterly Monthly
3-4 goals
Decide how pervasive to go
with agile—development
only or full company
All
Identify which issues agile
can solve or help with.
DF
Transition
backlog
Weekly
Discuss
progress
Remove
impediments
Meet weekly to execute,
monthly to plan,
quarterly to strategize
12
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Treat the transition as a project
Establish an “Agile Transition Team” (“Agile
Adoption Team,” etc.)
Who?
Sponsor—senior person responsible for success
Area managers or leads who can make it happen
Meet weekly
Run monthly iterations managing work from a
Transition Backlog
Run a quarterly cycle like the release cycle on an agile
project
13
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Overcoming
Waterfallacies
14
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Waterfallacy
noun.
mistaken belief or idea about agile that
stems from prolonged exposure to
waterfall projects
15
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
and a commitment to what will
be in the product.
1
Is the answer just to under-
commit and then deliver more
than expected?
16
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Knowing the scope and date
It’s always been impossible to know both the scope
and the date of a project
The vast majority of waterfall projects get this wrong, too
so by either padding or lying
If we acknowledge the impossibility of guaranteeing
functionality and date
17
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Knowing the scope and date
It’s always been impossible to know both the
scope and the date of a project
The vast majority of waterfall projects get this
wrong, too
And then end up delivering too little of the wrong
functionality
both do so by either padding or lying
18
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
1. acknowledge the impossibility of guaranteeing
functionality and date
2.
risk management
If we...
And use the same principles on non-contracted
projects that have a similar need for a low risk of
dropped scope or schedule overrun
Then we...
19
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Fixed-date planning: an example
Desired
release date
30 June
Today’s Date 1 January
Number of
sprints
6 (monthly)
Low
velocity
15
High
velocity
20
6×15
6×20
Will have
Might have
Won’t have
20
Fixed-date contracting
6×15
6×20
Will have
Might have
Won’t have
You won’t likely win the contract
But you’ll probably make money
if you do
If you write a contract
for just the will haves:
You will likely win the contract
But probably not make money
on it
If you write a contract that
includes the might haves:
It’s a risk issue
Where do you want to be?
21
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Fixed-scope planning: an example
Total story points desired 120
Low velocity 15
High velocity 20
120÷20=
120÷15=
22
Fixed-scope contracting
You’ll likely win the contract
But may not make any money
If you write a contract
for the short duration:
You probably won’t win the
contract
But will make money if you
If you write a contract
for the long duration:
It’s a risk issue
Where do you want to be?
23
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
The value of customer feedback
projects harder
Because it acknowledges
the importance of customer feedback
and the existence of emergent requirements
Sequential processes treat these as changes of
scope
24
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Agile requires our testers to be
involved and testing right from
the start. But they’re tied up on
other projects.
2
We can’t move to agile because
we can’t move testers from
these other projects.
25
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Agile is not a silver bullet
Doesn’t solve a single problem you have, only
exposes the problems you do have
Hopefully exposes these problems to those
who can solve them
By repeatedly solving the problems you
identify, things improve
Agile is hard work
There will be days you wonder why you’re doing
this
26
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Digging out of this problem
do so
Perhaps just enough to move some small number of testers
(1?) to the new project
Have the new project run cross-functionally
Whole team does whatever it takes to pay off the testing
debt
Rule from day one: On new projects don’t allow any
new debt to build up
27
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Agile requires everyone to be
a generalist.
3
That isn’t cost-effective and
doesn’t make sense for my
project. Some of what we do
is highly specialized.
28
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Everyone must be a generalist
out
Why can’t we?
Not everyone needs to be a generalist
people;“generalizing specialists”
This happens naturally on most agile teams because
of their cross-functional composition
Some domains require specialists
bioinformatics, video game development, etc.
29
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
We work in distributed
environment, frequently with
some team members in India,
China, or the Ukraine. Self-
organization seems to clash
with some cultures.
4
How will agile development
work in these environments?
30
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Self-organization around the world
I suspect it’s true that that self-organizing teams in
the different countries will organize differently
organization
Self-organization relies on
Container (in which to organize)
Differences (among people)
Transforming Exchanges
Self-organization leads to more creativity, ownership,
productivity, engagement
31
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Agile relies primarily on face-
to-face communication. Our
projects are distributed across
many time zones.And many
people choose to work from
home.
5
How does this work with
agile?
32
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Multi-site agile
We rarely choose to highly distribute a project for
We do it for cost or because of mergers and similar
reasons
Working from home is detrimental to the short-
term progress of the project
But may be necessary for the long-term success (e.g.,
it’s a recruiting tool)
Experiment: Is it better to all be at home one day per
week or all on different days?
33
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Encourage face-to-face communication
Do whatever you can to have as much face-to-
face communication as possible
Videoconference > phone > email
Fly people together at the start of the project
Send three people from one to the other
Get people together for iteration planning
meetings and reviews
34
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
I’m afraid I’ll have nothing to do
I’m afraid I’l lose my job
I’m afraid people will see how little I actually do
I’m afraid I won't be able to keep up
I’m afraid I won’t be able to learn the new software
I’m afraid this will mean hard work
Agilephobia
noun.
strong fear or dislike of agile, usually due to
the uncertainty of change
35
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
More agilephobias
I’m afraid I won’t get raises or promotions anymore
Drat! There go my 3-hour lunches
Drat! This means I can’t mosey in at 10:30 anymore
Drat! This means I’ll have to actually think now
Drat! This means I’ll actually have to talk to people now
It’s just so much easier and safer when someone else tells me
exactly what to do
Its just so much easier and safer when I can tell them exactly
what I want them to do
36
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Overcoming agilephobias
Being aware of what people fear is half the
challenge
Acknowledge these agilephobias and over time
work to have solutions for them
Over time people will lose their fear of losing
their job
But will likely still need revised job descriptions in
an agile enterprise
37
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Mike Cohn contact info
mike@mountaingoatsoftware.com
www.mountaingoatsoftware.com
(303) 810-2190 (mobile)
38
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Agile puts a lot of emphasis
on unit testing. I’m not
working on a legacy
application (yet!) but we are
nine-months in and haven’t
made automated testing a
priority.
6
Can we still be agile?
39
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Agile without a lot of tests in place
Two most important principles of agile:
1. Inspect and Adapt
2. Iterate
Start where you are, do something, see
how you did
And then do it again until you get to
where you want to be
40
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
A three-step process
1
We end this iteration with less manual testing than
we started.
Go after the “low-hanging fruit” by automating
some easy-to-automate tests of great value.
2
All new features come with automated tests.
3
Everything (maybe, we hope) has an automated
test.
41
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
200
300
400
500
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Months (Iterations)
HoursofManualTesting
42
© Mountain Goat Software, LLC
Mike Cohn contact info
mike@mountaingoatsoftware.com
www.mountaingoatsoftware.com
(303) 810-2190 (mobile)
43

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Overcoming Waterfallacies & Agilephobias

  • 1. Transitioning to Agile: Overcoming Waterfallacies and Agilephobias Mike Cohn May 15, 2007 1
  • 2. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC 1. Why transitioning to agile is hard 2. A framework for transitioning 3. Overcoming waterfallacies and agilephobias Topics today... 2
  • 3. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Why Transitioning to Agile Is Hard 3
  • 4. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Three reasons 1 Change is not top-down or bottom-up; it’s both 3 The transition process must be congruent with the development process 2 We fall into the predictability trap 4
  • 5. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Top down or bottom up? Two simplistic views of transitioning to agile: Top down Powerful leader shares a vision Bottom-up new approach But, transitioning to agile is neither top-down nor bottom-up It’s everywhere, all together, all-at-once 1 5
  • 6. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC How we traditionally view our organizations Behavior is highly predictable Once set in motion, will continue in motion Predictable An organization change strategy can be mapped out: And we’ll end up right where I predict Dispense with predictability2 6
  • 7. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC “This machine imagery [Newtonian view] leads to the belief that studying the parts is the key to understanding the whole.Things are taken apart, dissected literally or is that the more we know about the workings of each piece, the more we will learn about the whole.” ~Margaret Wheatley in Leadership and the New Science 7
  • 8. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC What we do on projects On projects we learn we cannot precisely anticipate: our users’ requirements how long it will take to develop a feature or entire system which design will be best the set of tasks necessary to develop a feature So we devise alternative approaches Rather than ask for upfront specs, we deliver partial solutions, solicit feedback, and repeat Rather than design the whole system, we design incrementally and adjust based on what we learn We need to do the same for the transition effort 8
  • 9. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Use a congruent approach3 Part of the move to agile is a move to self-organizing teams Moving to self- organization requires self-organization “You will self-organize!” 9
  • 10. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC A Framework for Transitioning 10
  • 11. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC An agile process Cancel Gift wrap Return Iteration 2-4 weeks Return Iteration goal Iteration backlog Potentially shippable product increment Product backlog Gift wrap Coupons Cancel Daily ... ... ... Transition backlog ... Iteration monthly Weekly Altered organization An agile transition process 11
  • 12. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Activities to support the goals Quarterly Monthly 3-4 goals Decide how pervasive to go with agile—development only or full company All Identify which issues agile can solve or help with. DF Transition backlog Weekly Discuss progress Remove impediments Meet weekly to execute, monthly to plan, quarterly to strategize 12
  • 13. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Treat the transition as a project Establish an “Agile Transition Team” (“Agile Adoption Team,” etc.) Who? Sponsor—senior person responsible for success Area managers or leads who can make it happen Meet weekly Run monthly iterations managing work from a Transition Backlog Run a quarterly cycle like the release cycle on an agile project 13
  • 14. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Overcoming Waterfallacies 14
  • 15. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Waterfallacy noun. mistaken belief or idea about agile that stems from prolonged exposure to waterfall projects 15
  • 16. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC and a commitment to what will be in the product. 1 Is the answer just to under- commit and then deliver more than expected? 16
  • 17. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Knowing the scope and date It’s always been impossible to know both the scope and the date of a project The vast majority of waterfall projects get this wrong, too so by either padding or lying If we acknowledge the impossibility of guaranteeing functionality and date 17
  • 18. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Knowing the scope and date It’s always been impossible to know both the scope and the date of a project The vast majority of waterfall projects get this wrong, too And then end up delivering too little of the wrong functionality both do so by either padding or lying 18
  • 19. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC 1. acknowledge the impossibility of guaranteeing functionality and date 2. risk management If we... And use the same principles on non-contracted projects that have a similar need for a low risk of dropped scope or schedule overrun Then we... 19
  • 20. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Fixed-date planning: an example Desired release date 30 June Today’s Date 1 January Number of sprints 6 (monthly) Low velocity 15 High velocity 20 6×15 6×20 Will have Might have Won’t have 20
  • 21. Fixed-date contracting 6×15 6×20 Will have Might have Won’t have You won’t likely win the contract But you’ll probably make money if you do If you write a contract for just the will haves: You will likely win the contract But probably not make money on it If you write a contract that includes the might haves: It’s a risk issue Where do you want to be? 21
  • 22. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Fixed-scope planning: an example Total story points desired 120 Low velocity 15 High velocity 20 120÷20= 120÷15= 22
  • 23. Fixed-scope contracting You’ll likely win the contract But may not make any money If you write a contract for the short duration: You probably won’t win the contract But will make money if you If you write a contract for the long duration: It’s a risk issue Where do you want to be? 23
  • 24. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC The value of customer feedback projects harder Because it acknowledges the importance of customer feedback and the existence of emergent requirements Sequential processes treat these as changes of scope 24
  • 25. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Agile requires our testers to be involved and testing right from the start. But they’re tied up on other projects. 2 We can’t move to agile because we can’t move testers from these other projects. 25
  • 26. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Agile is not a silver bullet Doesn’t solve a single problem you have, only exposes the problems you do have Hopefully exposes these problems to those who can solve them By repeatedly solving the problems you identify, things improve Agile is hard work There will be days you wonder why you’re doing this 26
  • 27. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Digging out of this problem do so Perhaps just enough to move some small number of testers (1?) to the new project Have the new project run cross-functionally Whole team does whatever it takes to pay off the testing debt Rule from day one: On new projects don’t allow any new debt to build up 27
  • 28. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Agile requires everyone to be a generalist. 3 That isn’t cost-effective and doesn’t make sense for my project. Some of what we do is highly specialized. 28
  • 29. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Everyone must be a generalist out Why can’t we? Not everyone needs to be a generalist people;“generalizing specialists” This happens naturally on most agile teams because of their cross-functional composition Some domains require specialists bioinformatics, video game development, etc. 29
  • 30. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC We work in distributed environment, frequently with some team members in India, China, or the Ukraine. Self- organization seems to clash with some cultures. 4 How will agile development work in these environments? 30
  • 31. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Self-organization around the world I suspect it’s true that that self-organizing teams in the different countries will organize differently organization Self-organization relies on Container (in which to organize) Differences (among people) Transforming Exchanges Self-organization leads to more creativity, ownership, productivity, engagement 31
  • 32. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Agile relies primarily on face- to-face communication. Our projects are distributed across many time zones.And many people choose to work from home. 5 How does this work with agile? 32
  • 33. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Multi-site agile We rarely choose to highly distribute a project for We do it for cost or because of mergers and similar reasons Working from home is detrimental to the short- term progress of the project But may be necessary for the long-term success (e.g., it’s a recruiting tool) Experiment: Is it better to all be at home one day per week or all on different days? 33
  • 34. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Encourage face-to-face communication Do whatever you can to have as much face-to- face communication as possible Videoconference > phone > email Fly people together at the start of the project Send three people from one to the other Get people together for iteration planning meetings and reviews 34
  • 35. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC I’m afraid I’ll have nothing to do I’m afraid I’l lose my job I’m afraid people will see how little I actually do I’m afraid I won't be able to keep up I’m afraid I won’t be able to learn the new software I’m afraid this will mean hard work Agilephobia noun. strong fear or dislike of agile, usually due to the uncertainty of change 35
  • 36. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC More agilephobias I’m afraid I won’t get raises or promotions anymore Drat! There go my 3-hour lunches Drat! This means I can’t mosey in at 10:30 anymore Drat! This means I’ll have to actually think now Drat! This means I’ll actually have to talk to people now It’s just so much easier and safer when someone else tells me exactly what to do Its just so much easier and safer when I can tell them exactly what I want them to do 36
  • 37. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Overcoming agilephobias Being aware of what people fear is half the challenge Acknowledge these agilephobias and over time work to have solutions for them Over time people will lose their fear of losing their job But will likely still need revised job descriptions in an agile enterprise 37
  • 38. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Mike Cohn contact info mike@mountaingoatsoftware.com www.mountaingoatsoftware.com (303) 810-2190 (mobile) 38
  • 39. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Agile puts a lot of emphasis on unit testing. I’m not working on a legacy application (yet!) but we are nine-months in and haven’t made automated testing a priority. 6 Can we still be agile? 39
  • 40. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Agile without a lot of tests in place Two most important principles of agile: 1. Inspect and Adapt 2. Iterate Start where you are, do something, see how you did And then do it again until you get to where you want to be 40
  • 41. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC A three-step process 1 We end this iteration with less manual testing than we started. Go after the “low-hanging fruit” by automating some easy-to-automate tests of great value. 2 All new features come with automated tests. 3 Everything (maybe, we hope) has an automated test. 41
  • 42. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC 200 300 400 500 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Months (Iterations) HoursofManualTesting 42
  • 43. © Mountain Goat Software, LLC Mike Cohn contact info mike@mountaingoatsoftware.com www.mountaingoatsoftware.com (303) 810-2190 (mobile) 43