Agile Tour 2013 Chennai was conducted on 14th December 2013 at The Park, Chennai. Sivaram Athmakuri spoke on Thinking & Customizing Agile. We should understand the purpose of Agile Manifesto and Principles to implement them in an organization. When participant attends any of the sessions, they get convinced on principles. Real Challenge is ensuring the Organization, Customer and Supporting groups aligned as per Agile principles. This session covered 5 Hands on Exercises which will help the participants start thinking in Agile/Scrum. Participants can use them to convince others. This session covered 2-3 scenarios of Customizing Agile (to Organization needs) particularly in Distributed Agile & Scaling Agile

1. Thinking & Customizing
Agile
by
Sivaram Athmakuri
(Business First Agile Professional)
PMP, ACP, CSM, CSP, CSPO, Agile PM Practitioner
Assistant Vice President

2. Thinking & Customizing Agile
Agenda
• Welcome
• Thinking Agile
– Changing Mindset
– Agile Benefits
• #1 Challenge
• Customizing
– Product Owner (Onsite), Team (Offshore)
– Proxy Product Owner
• Results
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Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

3. Welcome
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Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

4. Which one have you used ?
Water fall (SDLC) Agile
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Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

5. 5
Thinking Agile
Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

6. Illustration – Examination (Model)
Annual examination (ONLY)
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Semester Exam
vs
Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

7. Illustration – Mobile Features
• How many features are available?
• How many you use?
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Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

8. Illustration - Shopping
• Do you prepare a list before shopping?
• Do you follow it?
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9. Illustration – Buying Rice
• First time buying …
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10. Agile benefits
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• Minimize risk
• Respond to dynamics
• Involves Users/Customers
• Deepens Ownership/relation ship
Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

11. 11
• How many projects have a Dedicated Product
Owner ?
Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

12. 12
• How many projects have a Dedicated Product
Owner ?
– Only 24% of Agile projects have dedicated PO
Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

13. #1 Challenge
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• How to win Product Owner (PO) and influence
them better
Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

14. 14
Product owner at onsite,
team at Offshore
Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

15. Product owner at onsite, team at
Offshore
• Product Owner available for limited time
– Slows response time
– Introduces errors from both directions
Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

16. 16
Proxy Product Owner
Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

17. Proxy acting as Product Owner
– Proxy PO and PO having different visions
– Proxy PO not taking decisions (or not given
authority to take decisions)
– Decisions taken by Proxy PO are over-ruled
– Product Owner acting as Guest
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Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

18. Possible Solutions
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Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

19. Product owner at onsite, team at
Offshore
• Increase Participation/Involvement by
– User Stories (Requirements in Business Language)
– Sprint Planning(PO defines Priority for
functionality)
– Informal Demo after User Story is done -don’t
wait till Sprint review (PO provides continuous
feedback)
Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

20. Proxy acting as Product Owner
• Find the Best fit from client’s side (to be
Proxy)
– Department Head (ZM-Sales if CRM is developed)
– End Users (focus groups)
– Domain Experts/Business Analysts from our side
(last choice)
Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com

21. Results
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22. 22
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Sivaram Athmakuri siva_athma@yahoo.com