Successful implementation of Agile

Where and when to use Agile

Best practices around tools, metrics and governance of Agile engagements,
Common challenges and Mitigation

May 2021
Engagement Assessment Services
Recommended Practice

© 2021 CGI Inc. Internal

Agenda

Successful implementation of Agile – Our Approach

Drive business agility and apply CGIs Agile Must Do’s

Consult & Partner - Evaluate Agile Fitment & Readiness

Collaborate & Align - Agile Maturity Assessment

Measure & Improve - Metrics and Governance

Challenges & Mitigation

© 2021 CGI Inc. Internal

Successful implementation of Agile – Our Approach

CONSULT MEASURE CHALLENGES

COLLABORATE &
& &
& IMPROVE
PARTNER MITIGATION
ALIGN

› Fitment analysis to drive › Self Managed teams › Metrics and Governance › Common challenges &
business agility and apply › Build culture of ‘one team’ Mitigation
CGIs Agile Must Do’s › Co-located, Distributed
› Where and when to use teams
Agile / DevOps › Best practices around
Process & Tools

“Trust comes from actions not words. It starts with your words, but is backed up by your actions” – Jeff Bezos

© 2021 CGI Inc. Internal 3

 CGI Agile Must Do’s

Implementation

This is a tool to assess the progress of the Agile team in

improving the delivery of value through adoption of Agile.

Start implementing the Agile Must Dos right from the

Pursuit stage and at execution stages – Sprints.

During retrospective ceremonies, discuss and agree

upon the prioritized improvement action.

© 2021 CGI Inc. Internal 4

Agile Must Do’s

1 Assess client’s level of Agile readiness 5 Implement effective governance (with

before commitment Client, other projects, and internally); follow
the CPMF
2 Adapt contractual model to align with
Agile (avoid fixed price terms, changes
to scope mean more sprints - each sprint 6 Strong & disciplined Project Management
leveraging CPMF principles is required
has a cost)

3 Assign Co-located / distributed Agile 7 Validate key assumptions with client after
experienced, capable, and motivated first 2-5 Sprints (plan longer sprints for
team members with good Government and Large Commercial clients)
communication and versatile skills
8 Establish robust and versatile development
and testing environments
4 Hold client kick-off workshop to re-
confirm alignment with Agile approach &
Client role
Clients need to be totally engaged on these topics
© 2021 CGI Inc. Internal 5

Agile Must Do’s – putting into practice (1 of 3)
Agile Must Do’s
Rating
Assess client’s level of Agile readiness before
commitment
• Determine client understanding and experience with
Agile methods; a crucial element for success
• Ensure that client will invest in upfront training and
orientation for all their participating members
(management & operations)
Adapt contractual model to align with Agile
• Avoid fixed price terms if using agile methods; this
frequently leads to scope creep, delays, and cost
overruns
• Use flexible pricing approaches that allow for schedule,
scope, and pricing to be recalibrated (initially and
periodically) based on velocity and productivity
demonstrated in sprints
Assign Agile experienced, capable, and motivated team
members with good communication skills
• Determine agile experience of key team members prior
to engagement start
• Adjust risk profile and schedule if key members do not
have in-depth experience with Agile
© 2021 CGI Inc.
Sample
Risk Explanation
• Client team is aligned on Agile methods
and they are investing on upfront training
and orientation.
• Stakeholder support is good. Client PM,
Product owner and IT director are fully
aligned.
• Client has good experience on a smaller
project with delivery success, however this
is the first time on a large integration type
project where PM is new to the approach.
It will take a few sprints in the first 3
months for the client to be fully ready.
• A fixed price for the entire project is
acceptable only with a confirmed baseline
scope for the entire release.
• The scope creep items (Ex – Design
decisions resulting in changes in original
scope as well as new requirements outside
of base scope) will need to go through
proper change control.
• Team is new to SAFe, however team is
very familiar with technical platform, tools
and have tried agile in XLOB 2019 project
to an extent.
Tool Kit
Agile Must Dos
Mitigation
• Our plan is to reassess/re-baseline the backlogs
upon completion of every sprint until the team is
fully comfortable with the approach.
Mandate will include the following clauses:
• Viability of the Agile delivery approach will be
revalidated upon completion of the first Program
Increment or the first 5 sprints
• Bell is responsible to run the portfolio release
trains managing the overall work including CGI,
IBM, Amdocs, and other external vendors to
ensure that Bell's project structure, cadence and
integration rules are reflected during project
execution
• SAFe training planned for teams on both
shores in early May 2019
• Bell and CGI both have engaged an
experienced agile coach to ensure successful
implementation of the approach
Internal 6
 Agile Must Do’s – putting into practice (2 of 3)
Sample
Agile Must Do’s Risk Explanation Mitigation
Ratin
g
Hold client kick-off workshop to (re-)confirm alignment with • Strong & committed client partnership • Workshop with client is targeted for
Agile approach & Client role model with regards to agile uptake has every 6 weeks.
• Build partnership and confidence, re-confirm continuous been confirmed. • There will be co-product owner
collaboration approach and availability through joint • Decision makers within the program have assigned onshore and offshore to
planning been identified. work closely with the Bell Product
• Verify management commitments; confirm the client Product • Product owner with adequate authority Owner
Owners’ authority, maturity, and willingness to make from the client side as well as Cross
decisions program co- ordination model (scrum of
scrums or SAFe) are required
Implement effective governance (with Client, other projects, • Need to set expectation on governance • Setup bi-weekly VP/Director
and internally); follow the CPMF effectiveness between the Bell and CGI reviews to discuss
• Define H-Diagram for project; involve client/CGI senior senior leadership teams issues/successes with adoption of
management new approach/tool/technology,
• Implement progress indicators early & refine including KPI such as delivery
continuously (both team-based & value-based) velocity and waste
• Establish formal integration points with other projects,
especially if they are not following Agile
Strong & disciplined Project Management leveraging CPMF • Agile project management principles have
principles is required been identified.
• Conduct rigorous planning, budgeting, and tracking with clear • Key success indication will be apparent after
roadmap, sprints, and release plans the first Program Increment or the first 5
• Define scope and requirements (e.g. features, user stories) sprints
and map to the sprints and release plan
• Establish test and exit criteria for all requirements (i.e.
Agile ”Definition of Done”)
• Prioritize risky or cross-cutting scope for early delivery
© 2021 CGI Inc. Internal 7
Agile Must Do’s – putting into practice (3 of 3)
Agile Must Do’s
Rating
Validate key assumptions with client after first
2-5 Sprints
• Establish a review point with client to modify
delivery model, processes, tools, and
schedule after initial Sprints
• Establish measurement and monitoring that
provide clear metrics to monitor performance,
compliance, and provide basis for
rebalancing scope, effort, and workload
Establish robust and versatile development
and testing environments
• Prepare for numerous small releases of the
system, requiring the code to undergo
simultaneous development and test
• Ensure software tools and processes
support the methodologies being used, and
that team members are trained in their use
© 2021 CGI Inc.
Sample
Risk Explanation Mitigation
• Sprint retrospective meetings are planned
after each sprint.
• Key assumption validation review meeting
will be held after initial set of
iterations/sprints.
• Need to take the process of Product
demo into consideration during planning
to prevent distraction and unexpected
preparation effort of teams
• Require high discipline and commitment
from each team member to deliver the
exact scope in the exact timeline for every
sprint
• Dev and test environments are in place
and automated processes are in place
for deployments.
Internal 8
 Evaluate Agile Fitment
Agile Feasibility Assessment Tool

Before you embark on your Agile journey, it is

important to understand the organizational
priorities, climate and the aspirations of teams. In
assessing the need for agile in their project and
determining the feasibility to follow agile (if
CONSULT prerequisites are satisfied). The selection of the
& right methodology plays a key role in the
PARTNER realization of project benefits.

Demonstration of tool, which will help to determine

whether your function is ready for agile project
implementation.
© 2021 CGI Inc. Internal 9
Consult & Partner – Evaluate Agile Fitment Tool Kit
Agile Fitment

Work with OPL / SME for evaluating Agile

fitment – Client inputs are mandatory and get
them involved
Pr
o
po ject
sit ’s
ion

The output from this assessment will be a

recommended approach for different teams

Assess Client’s level of Agile readiness before commitment

© 2021 CGI Inc. Internal 10
 Evaluate Readiness

Agile Readiness Assessment Tool

This assessment tool provides insight into whether

your organization is ready to proceed with a user-
centered, iterative agile approach for the
domain/application in question.

A finding of “no" or “not sure” in the assessment

area may signal lack of readiness, however, should
not be a barrier to moving forward.

Demonstration of tool, which will help to determine

CGI and Client readiness.

© 2021 CGI Inc. Internal 11

 Tool Kit
Consult & Partner – Agile Readiness Agile Readiness
check

Agile Readiness Score Organization Culture Readiness:

Is the leadership and delivery team committed, ready and
empowered to apply the agile practices?

Environment and Technology:

Does the team have the necessary tools to collaborate,
coordinate and communicate as one team?

Organization Flexibility:
Is the leadership and team flexible enough to
accommodate and manage the requirements as per agile
practices?

Training and Assistance:

Is the leadership and team trained on Agile principles and
practices as appropriate?

Planning & mitigation strategies should be defined for areas where additional organizational readiness work may be appropriate
© 2021 CGI Inc. Internal 12
 Collaborate &
Align

• Self Managed teams

• Build culture of ‘one team’
• Co-located, Distributed teams
• Best practices around Process & Tools

© 20XX CGI Inc.

© 2021 CGI Inc. Internal 13

Collaborate & Align – Agile Maturity Assessment Tool Kit
Agile Maturity
Assessment
 To provide a structure for assessing your Agile teams or organizational / Enterprise capabilities
 To provide an approach for planning and executing improvements to existing Agile practices
Key Competencies Measured
Level – 5
Dimension Area
Consistently › Being Agile, Morale
Accelerating Performed
Team Dynamics › Team Working agreement
Level – 4 › Sustainable pace
y
rit

› Dedicated team
u

Flying
at

Practicing Agile, Team Environment › Cross Functional

sM

Sharing of › Self Organization

es

Level – 3 Best Practices

oc

› Shippability
Pr

› Product Management Strategy

Running Product
-
---

Practicing Agile › Product Vision, DOR, DOD, Backlog

---

Level – 2 grooming
› Stand-ups
Walking Agile Process Mechanics › Retrospective
Practicing Agile but still learning &
need support › Estimation
Level – 1
› Architecture
Crawling Practices unrepeatable, Non-existent › Code Reviews
Agile Engineering Practices 14
› Test Automation

Every Client has its own business needs and therefore an own target maturity level, overall or detailed per
› Refactoring
category. The maturity model is to be used to define where you are, and can be used as inspiration for the place to
be.
© 2021 CGI Inc. Confidential Internal 14
Measure &
Improve

Metrics and Governance

© 20XX CGI Inc.

© 2021 CGI Inc. Internal 15

Measure & Improve : Agile Metrics Tool Kit Agile Metrics
Collection Template

Agile Metric Expected Result Metrics Suggested

Categorization

Productivity Reduced average cycle time • Cycle Time variance

• Test case Automation Velocity

Agility Continuous Improvement in the • Iteration scope completion

teams and program • % of time allocated to non IP work vs IP work
• Shippable Increment Quotient

Quality Reduced Defect Counts • Post Release Bugs

• Repeated Post integration Defects
• Added Technical Debt in Sprint / PI
• Severity 1 and Severity 2 Defects in Production

Value to Improved Value to Business • Value provided to Product Owner on the value that PO assigns
Business during PI planning

© 2021 CGI Inc. Internal 16

 Measure & Improve : Moving to outcome based solution model
3 to 4 Sprints

Baseline Assumptions
• Create product backlog • Increment measurement
• Setup tooling criteria
• Scrum team organizes • Begin CPI’s • CGI owns full scrum
• • Review sprint metrics teams
Team access • Periodic reviews of
• Set up review process for metrics
engagement • Outcomes delivery • Proxy Product owner(s)
• Repeatable approach defined onsite with client
& refined
• Amendment to SOW
• Contract amended at end
Delivering of 6 sprints to reflect
Organize
Outcomes selected KPIs & CPIs

• At risk alignment
1 to 2 Sprints

Established SLA’s
• Cycle Time Variance • Iteration scope Change • Post Release Bugs • Value provided to PO

Business
Productivity

Quality

Value to
Agility

• Test Case Automation • % of time allocated to non • Repeated Post integration based on the value that
Velocity IP work vs IP work Defects PO assigns during PI
• Shippable Increment • Added Technical Debt in planning
Quotient Sprint/PI

© 2021 CGI Inc. Internal 17

Measure & Improve : Governance

Time Box : 15 Minutes

Time Box : 2- 4 Hrs
Sprint Demo
Sprint Execution

Time Box : 30- 60 Minutes

CGI Weekly
Touch
Sprint Retrospective Sprint Backlog
& Ma Stra
Point
meetings

Client Go na teg
ve gem ic Milestone sign off
reviews (Product
Time Box : 2-4 Hrs rn en Demos)
an t
Sprint Planning Meeting ce
Demand and Prioritize
Prioritization UAT Deployment
Product Backlog

Tactical / Operational Management

Governance
Be part of Iteration and Retrospective reviews; Get yourself Trained First!
© 2021 CGI Inc. Confidential Internal 18
Measure & Improve : ASOP – Workbench
Agile Toolset – Speaking common Language

© 2021 CGI Inc. Confidential Internal 19

Challenges &
Mitigation

© 20XX CGI Inc.

© 2021 CGI Inc. Internal 20

 Challenges : Understanding Roles
Challenges
• Volatile requirements and Unclear roles and
responsibilities leading two roles to do the same
work
• Who makes the decisions? Who needs to be
informed?
• No visibility on the sequence of the work and
artifacts
• Delay in decision making by Product Owner
• Delay in backlog readiness
© 2021 CGI Inc.
Mitigations
• Product Owner : shall create, defines User Stories &
Acceptance Criteria; Accepts Stories; Works with
stakeholders to plan Releases; Clarifies functional
queries of the team; Conduct Backlog Refinement
session with team & stakeholders
 Scrum Master : Removes impediments, Runs team
meetings, coaches Agile mindset and practices
 Team : Refines user stories and acceptance criteria;
Develops and commits to Sprint Objectives and Sprint
plans
Confidential Internal 21
Challenges : Communication & Collaboration…
Coaching sometimes requires a shift from old behaviors to new ones.
Move away from...
Coordinating individual contributions
Acting as a subject matter expert
Driving toward specific outcomes
Knowing the answer
Directing
Talking about deadlines and technical options
Driving ‘the right’ (your) decisions
Fixing problems rather than helping others fix
them
© 2021 CGI Inc.
Move toward...
Coaching the whole team to collaborate
Being a facilitator
Being invested in the team’s overall performance
Letting the team find their own way
Guiding
Focusing on business value delivery
Doing the right thing for the business right now
Facilitating team problem-solving
Confidential Internal 22
 Challenges : Expectation Management

Challenges Mitigations

• Manage expectations - Be realistic

• Over commitment to work
where to commit. It is really ok to say
• Cultural differencies clearly ”No”
• Lack of common understanding • Involve Agile Coach to train members
what we are trying to achieve User Story estimation using Story Points
(scope) or no understanding of
• Create a trustful atmosphere to get
the complexities
visibility to the difficult topic
• No understanding of the
• Knowledge sharing meet-ups and
dependencies or sequence of the
alignment meetings to sync with member
work
and build trust
• DoR is not ready on time
• Visualize the information using Jira Tool

© 2021 CGI Inc. Confidential Internal 23

 Transformation Journey : Challenges & Mitigations
Transitional Challenges
• Culture
• User Stories Clarity
• Delay in decision making
• DoR (Definition of Ready) not ready
• Lack of knowledge – Systems and Estimation
Focus on
Collaboration
& Coaching
Transitional
•
Actions
Frequent interaction with counter parts
• Coaching the members on Agile ceremonies
to achieve Sprint goals
• Product Owner involvement in User Story
elaboration and Backlog grooming
• Coaching Product Owner in quick decision
making
• Frequent technical and functional KT with
SMEs
© 2021 CGI Inc.
Practioner Challenges Maturity Level Challenges
• No time for clients to participate in Sprint planning
• Regression Suite/ Test automation
• Delay in User Story readiness
• Delay in Product Backlog readiness
• Dev / Test Environment challenges
Not having right Measures
• Third party collaboration – Non-Agile
• Test cases are not fully automated
Focus on Focus on
Improvements Alignment
Practioner Actions Maturity Level Actions
• Baseline the Velocity with reference Story
• Clients awareness on the representation from point
Product Owner in ceremonies
• Measure Commitment Slippage, Average
• Effective backlog review meeting Effort per Story Point, Percentage Test
• Separate environments are created for Automation, Customer Induced Volatility and
development and system testing Defect Correction Efficiency
• Involvement of third party members in Sprint Baselining the automation for regression suite
• planning Product Owner continues to work with Business
Automation is part of user story DoD owners to get upcoming User Stories ready
Confidential Internal 24
Our commitment:
Insights you can
act on

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