Top 5 Reasons Why Agile Fails (and how to avoid them!) March 2017

Transcription

1 Top 5 Reasons Why Agile Fails (and how to avoid them!) March 2017

2 Ten10 will be presenting on some of the common reasons we see why Agile fails, and how these can be avoided. Name: Steven Osman Role: Ten10 UK Consultancy Lead Name: Ahsan Mussa Role: Ten10 Lead Consultant

3 What is Agile? Agile is an iterative approach to software delivery Old methods, such as the waterfall methodology, do not deliver solutions as quickly and efficiently, often taking many months, or even years for a viable solution to be delivered With a need for more flexibility, greater feedback and speed to market, the Agile methodology is becoming the new norm for many projects and most of our clients Major Roles Within Agile 1) The Product Owner 2) The Scrum Master 3) The Development Team 4) The End Users Key Meetings 1) Backlog Planning 2) Sprint Planning 3) Daily Stand-Ups 4) Show & Tell 5) Retrospective 3

4 Top Reasons Why Agile Fails Has your project recently moved away from waterfall? Are you running sprints and having daily stand ups but are not seeing the benefits you expect? We hear this time and time again from clients, and following reviews of client practices, we see the same pitfalls or challenges being experienced Team and Company Culture Reporting and Governance ScrumSlave not ScrumMaster Coverage Concerns Complex Requirements 4

5 Top Reasons Why Agile Fails Has your project recently moved away from waterfall? Are you running sprints and having daily stand ups but are not seeing the benefits you expect? We hear this time and time again from clients, and following reviews of client practices, we see the same pitfalls or challenges being experienced Team and Company Culture Reporting and Governance ScrumSlave not ScrumMaster Coverage Concerns Complex Requirements 5

6 1. Team structure and Company culture Adopting Agile practices requires a significant shift in culture. Sometimes management, especially when they have a more traditional SDL background may not provide full support and have unwillingness of team to follow Agile Large enterprises often include big teams that may consist of remote members. A key element to agile is for close communication and collaboration. However remote workers, or functions often do not receive adequate communications, and are therefore unable to communicate effectively Tips to avoid Pitfalls Management buy in is key, and Leadership must be educated and brought into the agile way of working before starting Stand-ups and Retrospectives must be run to forge a culture of communication, this is especially important for remote teams Select an Agile project management tool that provides clarity and collaboration for the whole team Ideally development team and business users should be sat together 6

7 Top Reasons Why Agile Fails Has your project recently moved away from waterfall? Are you running sprints and having daily stand ups but are not seeing the benefits you expect? We hear this time and time again from clients, and following reviews of client practices, we see the same pitfalls or challenges being experienced Team and Company Culture Reporting and Governance ScrumSlave not ScrumMaster Coverage Concerns Complex Requirements 7

8 2. Reporting and Governance Due to the flexible nature of Agile software delivery there is often miscommunication and confusion of development progress and what is being delivered, especially by senior management Hence, it s important to be transparent with appropriate levels of reporting and governance in place. That means providing timely and accurate information as well as committing to reasonable deadlines and delivering. Everyone should feel that they are working together towards a common goal. Tips to avoid Pitfalls Agree the reporting framework and governance process with all the team members within the Agile project from the on-set during sprint planning Ensure a Done criteria is agreed and used as benchmark to assess completeness Ensure Show & Tells are run at the end of every sprint. This will allow opportunity to validate requirements and assumptions Ensure all team members are included in Retrospectives 8

9 Top Reasons Why Agile Fails Has your project recently moved away from waterfall? Are you running sprints and having daily stand ups but are not seeing the benefits you expect? We hear this time and time again from clients, and following reviews of client practices, we see the same pitfalls or challenges being experienced Team and Company Culture Reporting and Governance ScrumSlave not ScrumMaster Coverage Concerns Complex Requirements 9

10 3. Scrumslave rather than a Scum Master The ScrumMaster needs to serve the team. This involves removing impediments, coaching the team and other stakeholders, and sheltering the development team In some projects, ScrumMasters micro-manage all activities. This kind of leadership, damages team morale, shows a lack of trust and can prevent the team from achieving their goals There is also the opposite scenario, where the ScrumMaster is dis-engaged, does not attend and run required meetings and leaves the team unaware of their objectives Tips to avoid Pitfalls Ensure your ScrumMaster has the correct training and personality Trust and empower your ScrumMaster to allow them to perform their role in line with agile methodology 10

11 Top Reasons Why Agile Fails Has your project recently moved away from waterfall? Are you running sprints and having daily stand ups but are not seeing the benefits you expect? We hear this time and time again from clients, and following reviews of client practices, we see the same pitfalls or challenges being experienced Team and Company Culture Reporting and Governance ScrumSlave not ScrumMaster Coverage Concerns Complex Requirements 11

12 4. Concerns about sufficient test coverage In Agile delivering functionality in short bursts can often lead to questions on test coverage. The role of the tester changes and so the required skills to fulfil this role, equally changes Testing needs to be done iteratively over features that are not fully completed Constant iterative change also gives increased chance of regression issues meaning more focus on regression testing is needed to continually assure that already built features keep working. Tips to avoid Pitfalls Divide work based on user stories, with detailed acceptance criteria in a consistent format. Adopt a risk based test coverage strategy to prioritise the most important elements first as defined by the users or sponsors, where greater risk implies more and better testing Ensure regression tests are maintained and ideally an automation framework to deliver this is put in place. This allows testers to focus on high value new functionality 12

13 Top Reasons Why Agile Fails Has your project recently moved away from waterfall? Are you running sprints and having daily stand ups but are not seeing the benefits you expect? We hear this time and time again from clients, and following reviews of client practices, we see the same pitfalls or challenges being experienced Team and Company Culture Reporting and Governance ScrumSlave not ScrumMaster Coverage Concerns Complex Requirements 13

14 5. Requirements are very Complex The more complex a project, the longer it takes and the more issues arise When dealing with complex requirements, it is important for the development team along with the ScrumMaster to plan and design the solution as best as possible. That means breaking up complex requirement into smaller stories and iterating over time. Sometimes developers change big features late within the project. And while the developers may understand the implications of this change, the impact to the product or end user experience may be high, especially if the change is unexpected Tips to avoid Pitfalls If the team sees any functional blocks the ScrumMaster must escalate and get an agreed solution with the Product Owner before progressing Ensure complex requirements are broken down into deliverable chunks. This still allows for a shippable product to be demo d at the end of each sprint 14

15 Key Take Away s Training Collaborate Empower Process Communicate 15

16 Thank You