Agile: Don't Underestimate the Squishy Stuff presentation by Stacey O'Connor from Self Conference 2014 at Cobo Center in Detroit, MI

1. Agile: Don’t Underestimate
the Squishy Stuff
Stacey O’Connor, Agile Coach
Research Into Internet Systems (RIIS)

2. What is your favorite project team that
you’ve worked on?
Why?

3. Scrum Process

4. How it started…..
• Engaged to create an android tablet application for
a client
• Three month project with the first milestone being a
demo 5 weeks from the start
• Requirements weren’t well defined or understood at
the start
• Delivery team had no history working together and one
team member was completely new to the organization
• Initiated a Sprint 0 to set the right expectations

5. What we did…..
• Created user story workshops fixed on the calendar to
ensure stories were ready for development
– Stories weren’t ready at the start of the sprint
• Created a definition of ready to start a story, which reduced
conflict that resulted from roadblocks mid-sprint
– Encountered roadblocks with assets not being provided at the start
of the sprint
• Implemented a walk through prior to the demo
– Initial demo had numerous issues with acceptance criteria not
being met
• Made changes to the team
– Team member struggled to complete work and created rework for
the other team members

6. Where we ended up….
• Team self-organized to make up for the lost team
member (and velocity increased)
• Team began to have the confidence to recommend
process improvements
• Team trusted one another, laughed often, and genuinely
enjoyed working together
• Client admired the visibility and predictability of
the team so much he wanted it in his organization
– Our team was asked to move to the client site for another
phase of the project

7. How it started…..
• Release and project plans were not clear
• Priority wasn’t well understood for project and other
work
• Coordination with other teams wasn’t clear and caused
delays , roadblocks, and frustrations
• Team was not co-located
• No clear process was being followed
• Overall lack of predictability in throughput
• Frustration within the team over when something was
ready for development or what constituted a defect
• Some members of the team challenged agility and
whether it would work

8. What we did….
• Went through an official Sprint 0 to set expectations
• Prioritized and sized the backlog to create a realistic release
plan
• Team members became co-located and were paired with
their counterparts (Scrum Masters, Analysts, Developers, and
Quality Assurance)
• Documented the process and workflow for understanding
• Communicated and enforced the success or failure as
a team – One team, one dream!!
• Used retrospectives to foster honesty and conflict resolution
– Team began embracing challenges and using them to make
improvements

9. Where we ended up….
• Delivery date was moved up suddenly and team self-
organized
• Project and executive teams were impressed by what they
had accomplished
• Velocity grew to the point that not all stories could be
demonstrated in the review
• Team was collaborating, laughing, and having fun
• Team was having more positive interactions stories were
clear and left less room for interpretation
• Retrospectives were full of constructive conflict
and self-management
• Began rolling the process out to other project teams

10. Why does this team stand out
as one of my favorites?

11. Questions?

13. Contact Info
Stacey O’Connor, CSM, CSP, PMP
Research Into Internet Systems (RIIS)
Email: soconnor@riis.com
Twitter: @riisllc_stacey