Professional Documents
Culture Documents
July 2017
Contents
Create value for your organisation
with Agile Project Delivery 1
Contacts 12
Create value for your organisation
with Agile Project Delivery
The case to transition When Agile becomes an organisation’s perceived value to the users1. The MVP
standard project delivery methodology, it also allows them to continuously
to Agile changes the way organisations manage incorporate feedback into each future
To be competitive in today’s marketplace – and control projects. Each organisation iteration as more information about
in any industry – organisations must deliver adopting Agile must consider that this is the product becomes available, and
an exceptional customer experience. not just a software delivery method – added to the minimum features required
Agile requires a significant shift in (by the users).
Speed, quality, prioritisation, discipline behaviours that directly affect
and adaptability are all key qualities that A significant percentage of companies are
governance, human resources, risk
will engage customers and other now using Agile Project Delivery as their
management, internal controls and
stakeholders to use products or services approach to meet market demands.
benefits management.
and build lasting relationships. Although Agile projects are 28% more
successful than traditional, they still have
Traditional project management Agile: providing value a level of risk that can be addressed by
methodologies, especially in today’s Agile Project Delivery promises to provide having the right controls in place to help
fast-paced digital world, are no longer as value to organisations because it has realise business value, reduce the risk of
effective in being responsive to a customer’s controls that ensure the product is driven building the wrong product, and increase
changing needs. To succeed in an by the business, reducing the risk of overall development success2.
environment with shifting demands, building the wrong product.
If you are adopting an Agile Project Delivery
a business needs to be adaptive and
One common adage in the IT industry is approach, this paper can help. It explores
receptive to change.
that 80 percent of all end users generally how to create the best value for your
In response, many organisations are use only 20 percent of a software organisation by building the right
adopting various Agile Project Delivery application’s features. Agile addresses this capabilities, unleashing your potential and
methods, suitable for their organisation. by focusing on creating the minimum gaining confidence to deliver the best
Agile Project Delivery is a value-driven viable product (MVP) by delivering the product to market, while minimising risks
approach that can give organisations the minimum set of features that will deliver and implementing controls early and often.
capacity to deliver high-priority, high-
quality work and create lasting
meaningful relationships with their
stakeholders and customers. It ensures the
delivery of products through disciplined,
proven practices and allows for
adjustments based on continuous
stakeholder and customer feedback,
thereby increasing speed to market.
1.Rooney, Paul (2012, Oct 3). Microsoft’s CEO: 80-20 Rule Applies To Bugs, Not Just Features. http://www.crn.com/news/security/18821726/microsofts-ceo-80-20-rule-applies-to-bugs-
not-just-features.htm
2.Sweeney, Michael. (2014, Dec 4). Agile vs Traditional: Which Method is More Successful?. http://clearcode.cc/2014/12/Agile-vs-traditional-method
3. Guarini, Matthew, Leaver, Sharyn, Matzke Pascal. Forrester Research. (2016, Oct 31). Predictions 2017: CIOs Push For Speed Amid Volatility. http://www.zdnet.com/article/forrester-
predictions-cios-push–for-speed-amid-volatility/
These four values originate from the Agile product owner, Agile projects will suffer
Manifesto, written in February 2001 by 17 from delays in the decision making
independent-minded software process, something more common in a
practitioners. They set the tone for a traditional hierarchical structure.
successful project, especially at an
• Teams are 100% dedicated to the
organisational level.
project, thereby reducing multi-tasking
Embedded into every facet of Agile Project and creating a high level of focus.
Delivery, these values start with the Additionally, team co-location is
organisation’s overall cultural mindset – recommended as it creates efficiencies
the most significant distinction between in communication, knowledge transfer
Agile and traditional project delivery. and team building. If we consider the
best teams in the world – be it a sports
Other key distinctions between traditional
team or a software team – people who
and Agile Project Delivery are:
work together build trust and perform
• A dedicated product owner is better than rotating teams.
responsible for making all decisions on
any software features that should be There are many other distinctions,
developed. These features are chosen including iterative and incremental
based on the value they deliver in development, short feedback loops and
meeting established Key Project continuous engineering practices, all of
Indicators. Each team is assigned an which are designed specifically to increase
individual who comes from the delivery value and satisfy stakeholders.
business – someone with the authority,
time and trust to be effective in
enabling change. Without a dedicated
4. Leonard-Barton, Dorothy (1992). Core Capabilities and Core Rigidities: A Paradox in Managing New Product Development [PDF Document]. Retrieved from the Strategic Management
Journal, Vol. 13: https://business.illinois.edu/josephm/BA545_Fall%202011/S12/Leonard-Barton%20(1992).pdf
Do
set of product features to release
sprint, where the product owner and
(comprised of multiple iterations)
the team prioritise the backlog items
• Iteration planning – Starting each and adjust accordingly
iteration where the team commits to a
goal and identifies the requirements,
helping them reach that goal within
Act
the iteration
Check
• Daily stand-ups – A 15-minute
meeting held each day in an iteration,
where the development team discuss
Plan – Establish objectives relevant for
what they completed the day before, managing risk
what they will complete on the current
Do – Implement controls to manage risk
day, any dependencies, and anything
Check – A ssess and measure
standing in their way to complete a task
performance against controls
Act – Take corrective action and apply
to the next iteration/release
This table describes the types of controls across the project lifecycle:
Points to consider on your Evaluate your Agile maturity Prepare for Development
Operations (DevOps)
path to Agile Project Delivery If you’ve already begun to move towards
Agile, it is key to understand where the DevOps provide a framework to accelerate
Determine organisational readiness and transformation may be exposing your delivery of completed solution components
culture organisation to risk. Objectively assessing to production. Understanding DevOps
and understanding Agile team maturity is principles, tools and embedded controls is
Is your organisation ready to embrace an
a critical point to identify and resolve helpful as your organisation seeks to
Agile transformation? Does the leadership
gaps, accelerate process improvements, mature and automate more development,
style support it? Are the delivery team and
and evaluate control gaps and deficiencies. code migration, and testing activities to
Internal Audit ready to embrace Agile?
meet changing business needs.
Agile is about preparing your organisation Identify Agile controls
Successfully adopting and optimising
for cross-team collaboration. Having an Poorly designed or non-existent controls Agile delivery frameworks often includes
understanding of its readiness is an pose significant risk. A clear definition a transition to DevOps. DevOps
important first step. and application of controls to Agile accelerates deployment by removing the
development processes are needed to traditional barrier between the
Engage Internal Audit, Risk and preserve business integrity, promote development and operations activities and
Compliance and Technology teams quality control and comply with tools. This presents a continuous
Agile has the capacity to fail, just like any regulatory and organisational statutes integration environment, where all code is
other technology transformation. This is and requirements. continuously integrated and synchronised.
most likely to happen at the beginning due In many cases, it also automates
to Internal Audit and Risk and Compliance Evaluate tools and technology development builds, migrations and
not being engaged at the outset. Although Agile is not about technology, testing activities.
Are you sure these teams understand what understanding how technology needs to Successfully integrating Agile with
the shift from traditional to Agile means? be modified or implemented to support DevOps practices and tools is essential to
Have your technology delivery teams Agile and control effectiveness must be getting a product to market quickly and
reviewed and assessed the need to embed considered. Existing technology should be facilitating Internal Audit’s review of
controls within Agile processes? Do both identified and assessed to help in Agile projects.
sets of teams understand the value of understanding how they support Agile
collaborating to drive controlled Agile principles and controls.
Delivery? If not, your transformation may Additionally, new technologies should be
be challenged from the start. acknowledged so that Internal Audit and
Risk and Compliance teams can begin to
Assess existing controls understand how their review and
Not all current defined controls are evaluation of Agile (from a control and
applicable and relevant to Agile compliance lens) need to change.
development. Evaluating the relevance,
applicability and maturity of current
controls is important in understanding how
they need to be redefined or implemented to
drive value from the transformation.
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Contact your local Risk Assurance team to find out how we can help you achieve success
with Agile Project Delivery
www.pwc.com/riskassurance
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