An Introduction to Agile Project Management

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AN INTRODUCTION TO

AGILEPROJECT

MANAGEMENT

Marcello Brivio | www.marcellobrivio.com

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AGENDA

1. What’s Agile PM?

2. Key Values

3. Agile Principles

4. Agile Tools

5. How Agile PM affects the business

6. Priority management: MoSCoW

7. Time management: Timeboxing


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WHAT’S AGILE PM? 1/3

Agile methodology responds to the“need for an alternative todocumentation driven, heavyweightsoftware development processes”

The Agile Manifesto


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“We want to restore a balance. We embrace modeling, but not in order to file some diagram in a dusty corporate repository. We embrace documentation, but not hundreds of pages of never-maintained and rarely-used tomes.”

The Agile Manifesto


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“We plan, but recognizethe limits of planning

in a turbulent environment.”

The Agile Manifesto


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KEY VALUES 1/4

“Individuals and interactionsover processes and tools”

Self-organization, co-location and motivationare very important in an Agile environment.


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KEY VALUES 2/4

“Working softwareover comprehensive documentation”

Provide a neat, working softwareis much more important and welcome

than presenting documents to clients in meetings.You should spend your time according to this.


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KEY VALUES 3/4

“Customer collaborationover contract negotiation”

Continuous customer (or internal stakeholders) involvement is welcome and encouraged,

since requirments can rarely be fully collectedat the beginning of the project lifecycle.


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KEY VALUES 4/4

“Responding to changeover following a plan”

The team must be ready in every moment to change priorities and internal organization

in order to achieve the final goal.


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AGILE PRINCIPLES

1. Customer satisfaction by rapid delivery of useful software

2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development

3. Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)

4. Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers

5. Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted

6. Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location)

7. Working software is the principal measure of progress

8. Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace

9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design

10. Simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of work not done – is essential

11. Self-organizing teams

12. Regular adaptation to changing circumstances


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AGILE TOOLS

http://trello.com

http://asana.com

http://basecamp.com


PRIORITY MANAGEMENT:MOSCOW

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Agile PM defines 4 priority levels for every feature, task or requirement in a project:

MUST: This requirement must be satisfied for the project to be considered a success.

SHOULD: This is a high-priority item that should be included in the solution if it is possible.

COULD: This requirement is considered desirable but not necessary. This will be included if allowed by time and resources.

WON’T: This requirement will not be implemented in a given release, but may be considered for the future.

IMPORTANT: priority levels are assigned by project stakeholders, not software developers!


TIME MANAGEMENT:TIMEBOXING 1/2

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Traditional approach: projects usually work to a fixed scope. When some deliverables cannot be completed, either the deadline slips (to allow more time) or more resources are involved (to do more in the same time).

Agile Timeboxing: the project is divided in small fixed deadlines (days, weeks) focused on specific deliverables and following MoSCoW priority levels.


TIME MANAGEMENT:TIMEBOXING 2/2

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WHAT’S IN A TIMEBOX?

KIC

K-O

FF

CL

OS

E O

UT

Investig

ation

(10-2

0%)

Consolidatio

n

(10-2

0%)

Refinem

ent

(60-8

0%)

Kick-off: team meeting to define timebox’s goals.

Investigation: definition of timebox’s deliverables and acceptance criteria.

Refinement: time dedicated to actual development, testing and (only if really needed) writing documentation.

Consolidation: a complete review of the produced deliverables to verify if acceptance criteria are met.

Close out: formal validation of deliverables; timebox evaluation (what worked, what didn’t); replanning of not-met requirements and goals.


HOW AGILE PMAFFECTS THE BUSINESS

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TRADITIONAL APPROACH

Time

Cas

hflo

w

Deploy

Break-even Point

AGILE APPROACH

Time

Cas

hflo

w Final Deploy

Break-even Point

First Deploy20% of the featuresbringing 80% of the revenues


An Introduction to Agile Project Management

Leadership & Management

Transcript of An Introduction to Agile Project Management