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rainingAbout Agile Methodology What "s Agile# !he Agile mo$ement proposes alternati$es to traditional pro%ect management. Agile approaches are typically used in soft are de$elopment to help businesses respond to unpredictability. What is Scrum# !he Scrum &eference Card Scrum is the most popular ay of introducing Agility due to its simplicity and fle'ibility. (ecause of this popularity) many organi*ations claim to be doing Scrum but arent doing anything close to Scrums actual definition. Scrum emphasi*es empirical feedback) team self management) and stri$ing to build properly tested product increments ithin short iterations. +oing Scrum as its actually definedusually comes into conflict ith e'isting habits at established non,Agile organi*ations. Scrum has only three roles: -roduct . ner) !eam) and Scrum Master. !hese are described in detail by the Scrum !raining Series. !he responsibilities of the traditional pro%ect manager role are split up among these three Scrum roles. Scrum has fi$e meetings: (acklog /rooming 0aka (acklog &efinement1) Sprint -lanning) +aily Scrum 0aka 23,minute standup1) the Sprint &e$ie Meeting) and the Sprint &etrospecti$e Meeting. Many books and classes are a$ailable from a $ariety of competing sources of $arying accuracy and 4uality. .ne place to start ould be the Scrum !raining Series) hich uses an entertaining approach to co$er the most popular ay of introducing Agile to teams. 5ou can also do nload the 6,page illustrated Scrum &eference Card. Where +id Agile Come 7rom# "n 289:) +r. Winston &oyce presented a paper entitled Managing the +e$elopment of ;arge Soft are Systems) hich critici*ed se4uential de$elopment. He asserted that soft are should not be de$eloped like an automobile on an assembly line) in hich each piece is added in se4uential phases. "n such se4uential phases) e$ery phase of the pro%ect must be completed before the ne't phase can begin. +r. &oyce recommended against the phase based approach in hich de$elopers first gather all of a pro%ect s re4uirements) then complete all of its architecture and design) then rite all of the code) and so on. &oyce specifically ob%ected to this approach due to the lack of communication bet een the speciali*ed groups that complete each phase of ork.

"ts easy to see ho the aterfall methodology is far from optimi*ed compared to agile methodology. 7irst of all) it assumes that e$ery re4uirement of the pro%ect can be identified before any design or coding occurs. -ut another ay) do you think you could tell a team of de$elopers e$erything that needed to be in a piece of soft are before it as up and running# .r ould it be easier to describe your $ision to the team if you could react to functional soft are# Many soft are de$elopers ha$e learned the ans er to that 4uestion the hard ay: At the end of a pro%ect) a team might ha$e built the soft are it as asked to build) but) in the time it took to create) business realities ha$e changed so dramatically that the product is irrele$ant. "n that scenario) a company has spent time and money to create soft are that no one ants. Couldn t it ha$e been possible to ensure the end product ould still be rele$ant before it as actually finished# Why Agile# Agile de$elopment methodology pro$ides opportunities to assess the direction of a pro%ect throughout the de$elopment lifecycle. !his is achie$ed through regular cadences of ork) kno n as sprints or iterations) at the end of hich teams must present a potentially shippable product increment. (y focusing on the repetition of abbre$iated ork cycles as ell as the functional product they yield) agile methodology is described as iterati$e and incremental. "n aterfall) de$elopment teams only ha$e one chance to get each aspect of a pro%ect right. "n an agile paradigm) e$ery aspect of de$elopment re4uirements) design) etc. is continually re$isited throughout the lifecycle. When a team stops and re,e$aluates the direction of a pro%ect e$ery t o eeks) theres al ays time to steer it in another direction. !he results of this inspect,and,adapt approach to de$elopment greatly reduce both de$elopment costs and time to market. (ecause teams can de$elop soft are at the same time theyre gathering re4uirements) the phenomenon kno n as analysis paralysis is less likely to impede a team from making progress. And because a team s ork cycle is limited to t o eeks) it gi$es stakeholders recurring opportunities to calibrate releases for success in the real orld. Agile de$elopment methodology helps companies build the right product. "nstead of committing to market a piece of soft are that hasn t e$en been ritten yet) agile empo ers teams to continuously replan their release to optimi*e its $alue throughout de$elopment) allo ing them to be as competiti$e as possible in the marketplace. +e$elopment using an agile methodology preser$es a products critical market rele$ance and ensures a team s ork doesnt ind up on a shelf) ne$er released. "ntroduction to Scrum $ideo

<: thoughts on Agile MethodologyAmandeep.ctober =<) =::> at 6::: pm "t helps me a lot to understand agile methodlogy)but you sould use more e'amples and diagrams to make it more clear

!hanks (hu?o$ember =3) =::> at 9::2 pm Agile is good on papers but hen it comes to actual implementation) changing re4uirement at each sprint is the real problem in a product. Ho to deal ith testing as the test case needs to be re$amped at each and e$ery sprint. "n most cases) many a times the test case becomes in$alid. Any suggestions relating to test design is greatly elome# Adithya Chandrashekar?o$ember <:) =::> at 22::> am " shall be thankful if i can get the process 0@uality Assurance aspect1for this methodology ChanHan Hy+ecember 3) =::> at A:2< am "ts $ery useful) "t helps me a lot to understand agile methodlogy. !hanks) Wissam Bhater+ecember 2:) =::> at 2:=< am "t ould be perfect if i can get the details of the methodology in terms of diagram) testing scripts and other deli$erables admin-ost author+ecember 28) =::> at 22:=< am Hi) Amandeep. As " add more posts) " ll keep your suggestion in mind and try to add more e'amples and graphical content. !hanks for readingC admin-ost author+ecember 28) =::> at 22:=< am Hi) (hu. " think youre right) to some degree: Agile looks great on paper. .nly hen organi*ations are in the midst of a transformation do they begin to reali*e ho difficult it is to reorient the ay its teams ork. Ad%usting to the changes that agile demands re4uires effort from the entire organi*ation and often takes se$eral months before indi$iduals begin to feel comfortable again. Updating re4uirements each sprint is %ust one part of that. !he thrash of re4uirements is a problem that plagues e$ery soft are pro%ect) but you must admit that a frame ork that gi$es the de$elopment team more opportunities to re$isit and refine ork is better than one that assumes all re4uirements can be identified at the outset. Ha$ing to assess progress) interface ith the customer) and re$ise re4uirements each sprint might seem like it s creating headaches) but consider the alternati$e. "f you completed a pro%ect based on initial re4uirements,gathering) your customer might tell you to scrap your ork and start o$er) hich is a $ery e'pensi$e and time,

consuming catastrophe. As for your second comment) "ll try to post something on test cases in the near future. admin-ost author+ecember 28) =::> at 22:=A am Hi) Adithya. !hanks for your comment. " ll try to assurance soon. rite a post on ho agile handles 4uality

7or other readers: "f you ha$e topics you d like to see discussed here) feel free to re4uest a post on a particular sub%ect in the comments section. !hanksC Dignesh+ecember =<) =::> at >:39 pm Can you gi$e case studies relating to agile methodologies # AaronEanuary 2<) =::8 at >:=A am Are there any case studies of using Agile methods for changing business processes# .ur pro%ects may re4uire "! change) ne build or purchase of <rd party applications. Some are business process only changes. Currently) e approach most business process pro%ects using the aterfall method hile applying pro%ect management and continuous impro$ement. Currently) my role is (usiness -ro%ect Manager in the finance industry. My background is both business and "!. " started learning/using Agile until " mo$ed to the business side. !hank you. ;okeshEanuary 2A) =::8 at 3:A3 am i appreciate the positi$es of this method) but is there a ay to reduce the o$er ork that a @A team and +e$eloper team do. ;ike many times it is felt that agile method of orking may come up ith a re4uirement hich re4uires you to rethink of the frame ork you are using as a solution.. .r it only tackled ith your negotiable talent ith the clients. i am %ust ondering.. can you please through in some light on this as ell.. admin-ost authorEanuary 2A) =::8 at <:A< pm Hi) Dignesh and Aaron. " dont ha$e any case studies that "$e authored personally) but +anube has some great ones up at the customers section of its eb site:http://danube.com/customers. !heyre 4uick reads that break do n the problems companies ere facing before turning to agile pro%ect management) ho they made the transformations) and) of course) the results. " $e definitely gotten some good ideas for my team from reading about ho other companies ha$e handled similar challenges. Aaron: "f your company is implementing agile) there are t o great hite papers on the site that address the challenges of that transformation. -art one is

here:http://danube.com/system/files/W-FGnterpriseFStrategyF2.pdf. Hope this helpsC Agile MethodEuly <:) =::8 at 2=:A8 am /ood o$er$ie hat about the broader application of agile methods in business i.e. not %ust in soft are de$elopment# gtucEanuary =9) =:22 at 8:=> am Agile process orks if you ha$e the right team ith the right skills sets. " lost my %ob because " as not Agile enough. " could not meet my sprint re4uirements) because " did not ha$e the skills set. !hings that " kne ) " had no problems ith. !hings " did not kno ) " failed miserably at them. So o$erall) its a process " deli$erables so other ay. ont be using in business $enture going for ard. " can meet my

+eenanath +inkarApril =9) =:22 at >:A9 am " am agree ith admin that agile gi$es us fle'ibility to re$isit the re4uirement based on customer un anted or additional demand. Also if e can ha$e some use cases and diagram presentation then that ould be great help. Henrik ;arssonApril <) =:2= at 2::=: am ?ice o$er$ie and introduction to agile approach. !here are still many poeople out there ha$e ne$er heard about agile ay of orking. ho

" ha$e been in the agile orld for se$eral years no ) but sometimes forget to talk to beginners in a ay they understand. Beep up the good orkC AngieAugust 2>) =:2= at 9:<8 pm Agile Methodologies are usually recommended for small pro%ects that re4uire immediate resolution for teams of = and ith direct user in$ol$ement. Massi$e or secured pro%ects are mostly ser$ed best ith the traditional specification detailed approach to pro%ect or system de$elopments. a$inash shitole?o$ember 2>) =:2= at 8:3A pm Short and simple "nspect H adapt one need to read further to get into this methodology

A$inash +a$id (altimore?o$ember 28) =:2< at >:<> am " am seeing this methodology implemented in many corporate en$ironments. Ho do you deal ith feature creep as sales and marketing ill al ays continue to add more bells and histles. Also if you dont plan your ork and ork your plan you end up ith people anting to mo$e load baring alls and tear out ma%or portions of code to go in another direction. !here is al ays $ersion =C Santosh?o$ember =>) =:2< at 6:=2 pm What is your suggestion for the managers ho are going to manage pro%ect in Agile method #. Any specific se4uence of steps to follo #. Any pitfalls to a$oid #. Ho to build confidence in client since the manager is managing the pro%ect for the first time in Agile ay #. Susanta?o$ember =8) =:2< at <:32 am " dont understand agile sa$es de$elopment effort. 7rom @A point of $ie test case that designed earlier needs to be changed again and again. Beren&+ecember <) =:2< at <:26 am /reat e;earning courses. helped me a lot. a$inash+ecember >) =:2< at 9:33 am !hanks) this as really helpful C admin-ost author+ecember 22) =:2< at 22:A9 am Susanta) "f e could get the re4uirements perfectly the first time) e ouldn t need Scrum. (ut as far as " kno ) all ne products re4uire iterations before they are useful to anyone. Scrum attempts to speed up these iterations so e learn faster hat the customer really needed. +aniel Grasmus+ecember 2A) =:2< at A:A8 am "f you cannot get sign off on the business re4uirements prior to design ho do you calculate hat

the pro%ect ill cost# Mahesh+ecember =<) =:2< at 9:=A am "nspect H adapt !ime H cost sa$er to market ith analysis paralysis More fle'ible H error reducible 0due to re,e$aluation at specific regular tiem inter$al1 (est option for client H there business Can go ith the current trend H re4uirements in ne as ell as e'isting application. Competati$e ith current market place. A bit hectic for de$elopers)testers)managers. 0but think ho one single application/module/process de$elopement1 -eter (%orkmanEanuary 9) =:2A at 8:A< am " am still curious about the types of pro%ects A-M best lends itself too. All e'amples " see relate to soft are de$elopment. "s that all# BathleenMarch <) =:2A at 2:33 pm "f companies are looking for a -ro%ect Manager and they do Agile/Scrum) are they really looking for a product o ner since there is no pro%ect manager# admin-ost authorMarch A) =:2A at 2:::3 am Bathleen) yes) companies that say they do Agile/Scrum but ad$ertise pro%ect manager positions are probably actually doing some kind of traditional/Agile hybrid and don t really kno hat they ant. !he benefits of Scrum ill be pretty limited in such en$ironments) though an effecti$e Scrum Master might be able to nudge them one ay or the other. admin-ost authorMarch A) =:2A at 2::26 am -eter) Agile is partially inspired by lean manufacturing ideas e'tracted from the!oyota -roduction System. Agile techni4ues are gaining popularity in soft are de$elopment because e$e learned ho to reduce the slope of the cost of change cur$e for soft are more than e ha$e for physical ob%ects like bridges and houses. (ut e re starting to see e'amples in other fields. ;ea$e a &eply 5our email address ill not be published. &e4uired fields are marked I ?ame I much scope of ne learning in %ust

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&GCG?! -.S!S Want !o (e Agile# Stop +oing -ro%ects.Gffort Gstimation and Story -oints +emystifiedScrum &eference Card no a$ailable in Gnglish and Spanish-laying it SA7e) Can a ;arge .rgani*ation (ecome Agile Without Changing Anything#Community +e$elopment A coding communityDideo "ntroduction to ScrumAgile and --M @HAScrumMaster Checklist and Scrum &eference CardScrum Coaching for Agile Success&elease -lanning Using Agile &GCG?! C.MMG?!Sadmin on Agile Methodologyadmin on Agile MethodologyBathleen on Agile Methodology-eter (%orkman on Agile MethodologyMahesh on Agile Methodology Search for: -roudly po ered by Word-ress -odcast po ered by pod-ress $>.>.2:.29