Minimum Viable Process

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1 Minimum Viable Process Supporting a team s journey to high-function without a restart Nick Smith Southern Fried Agile

2 Introduction Team Start-Up When a new team forms Opportunity to: - Level-set on the team s process - Review the agile framework to be used by the team - Establish team norms - Build relationships with teammates - Create a shared vision for the product 2

3 Agenda 1. Permission and encouragement to experiment with these techniques! Lean Coffee Scenario-driven development Standardized work Visualizing WIP 2. Have fun! 3

4 Background - Issues Functional Silos; Handoffs within team Knowledge Silos Secret work; Work not tracked consistently Lack of ownership/commitment; Stories carried over Cross-team dependencies Enduring waterfall habits 4

5 Background Team Context We re too unique! Large team split into 2 sub-teams Legacy codebase; high degree of complexity 2 types of work: maintenance and new functionality Dependencies on outside teams 5

6 Seem Familiar? 6

7 Lean Coffee Lean Coffee is a structured, agenda-less meeting. Participants gather, build an agenda, and begin talking. Conversations are directed and productive because the agenda for the meeting was democratically generated. (Benson & Lightsmith, 2009; leancoffee.org) 1 hour; 4x week, right after standup Feel free to step out briefly for any reason Feel free to step out entirely if you have something more urgent to work on, or if the meeting topics aren t relevant to you 7

8 Lean Coffee Purpose of this meeting: - Improve communication and collaboration; reduce the need for meetings after 11AM - Ensure everyone on the team is hydrated Agenda: - To be decided at the beginning of the meeting. Topics will be timeboxed and could include: Design/code/architecture review; Story refinement; Release preparation - Final topic / Wrap up: Was this a good use of time? Raise your hand if you re done with meetings for the day! 8

9 Lean Coffee Why does this matter? - The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. (Beck, et al. 2001) - The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from selforganizing teams. How could you measure success? - Fewer meetings (or, % of meeting-free afternoons) - Reduced story carryover - Improved sense of ownership - Increased opportunities to present to the team - Working software sooner! 9

10 Lean Coffee Outcomes: - Better team alignment and cross-training - Increased ownership ( Bring your stories to Lean Coffee! ) - Dedicated time for focused working - Team leads have greater opportunity to support the team Surprises: - How long it took to gain traction with this meeting - Difficult to avoid other meetings entirely 10

11 Seem Familiar? 11

12 Go Slow to Go Fast Apply A3 thinking to each story - What s the problem to be solved? - What does our next attempt look like? - Are we all aligned on the approach? Scenario-Driven Development ( *DD ) - How will we validate the changes? - What does success look like? 12

13 Go Slow to Go Fast Why does this matter? - Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage. - Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale. How could you measure success? - Reduced rate of defect escape (re-work, Production issues) - Improved touch time / story duration - Increased stakeholder engagement and satisfaction - Working software sooner! 13

14 Go Slow to Go Fast Outcomes: - Less need for re-work; less time spent waiting for clarification - Improved collaboration throughout the life of a story, within the team and with partners & stakeholders - Crisper Acceptance Criteria - Reduced risk of carry-over; reduced finger-pointing ( it didn t get completed because no tester picked it up! ) Surprises: - Viewed as a chore at first; each team member had to have their own A-Ha moment - Test-Driven Development has a very specific definition! 14

15 Seem Familiar? 15

16 Standardized Approach Story template, with sections e.g. for Business Context, Strategic Theme, Release Notes, Open Questions INVEST Principle Team Guiding Principles - Be a good teammate - Focus on the highest-priority items - Follow best practices 16

17 Standardized Approach Why does this matter? - Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done. - Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility. How could you measure success? - Group refinement sessions become more efficient - Reduced rate of re-work, as a result of including testing notes with each story - Better team engagement and awareness of business outcomes - Working software sooner! 17

18 Standardized Approach Outcomes: - Standard template simplifies adding notes during refinement sessions - Standard template supports adding important information, leading to better understanding, leading to greater engagement and commitment Surprises: - Greater awareness and visibility of cross-team dependencies not always viewed as a positive development 18

19 Seem Familiar? 19

20 Visualizing WIP Visualize your WIP - No more Secret Work! - Who s teaming up? Who s available? Consider staying away from explicit WIP limits 20

21 Visualizing WIP Visualize your WIP - No more Secret Work! - Who s teaming up? Who s available? Consider staying away from explicit WIP limits 21

22 Visualizing WIP Why does this matter? - Simplicity the art of maximizing the amount of work not done is essential. How could you measure success? - Fewer stories in progress at a time - Improved touch time / time to completion - Enhanced accountability to top-priority work - Better alignment; more opportunities for cross-training - Working software sooner! 22

23 Visualizing WIP Outcomes: - WIP is limited, naturally, by driving individual accountability for work - Better awareness means more opportunities to push back, more opportunities for cross-functional alignment, and more opportunities for intra-team cross-training - Helps drive Jira is the source of truth as a team norm - Encourages just-in-time planning and analysis Surprises: - Team pushback against WIP limit 23

24 Surprises: Muscle Memory can take a while to form new habits 24

25 Thank you 25

26 Disclosure Fidelity Charitable is the brand name for Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, an independent public charity with a donor-advised fund program. Various Fidelity companies provide services to Fidelity Charitable. The Fidelity Charitable name and logo, and Fidelity are registered service marks, of FMR LLC, used by Fidelity Charitable under license. 26

Software Development Methodologies

Software Development Methodologies Lecturer: Raman Ramsin Lecture 7 Agile Methodologies: Scrum 1 Agile Methodologies: Brief History First appeared in 1995. The once-common perception that agile methodologies