Scrum Australia 2014 - Drive project success in only 1 week

Juliano walks through a lean agile approach to incepting a product, all within 1 week.

1. Drive project success in only 1 week Juliano Bersano www.pragmateam.com.au

2. Why ‘looking agile’ is very different from ‘being agile’

3. Have you ever been in a project that looks agile, but… People can't articulate a unified objective and vision No link between story priorities and business objectives No part of scope is negotiable without a change request Team members are told what and how to do it Plans are used as commitments IT and Business still work in silos Team members don’t discuss cost/benefit

4. Why does that happen? A sense of purpose and team hasn’t been created Clear business drivers are not used for prioritisation Team members don’t fully understand context No team ownership or empowerment People haven’t fully bought into the initiative The way you start a initiative shapes expectation , mindset and behaviour throughout

5. How Agile Inception drives project success (a.k.a. Initiation, Initiate, Discovery etc.) Setting a new way of working and expected behaviour Defining shared vision and business objectives Setting foundation for future scope discussions Setting example of how team will work together Setting expectation of collaboration and ownership Creating a solution together Creating a shared plan that people buy into Doing it all together as a team

6. Basic outputs of an Agile Inception Prioritised business drivers Prioritised list of user stories Release Plan

7. Outcomes of an Agile Inception By discussing it: Shared understanding among stakeholders and team By building it together: Sense of ownership of solution and plan

8. The basic flow of an Agile Inception

9. Setting it up for success Team members allocated and ready Product Owner assigned Key stakeholders available Dedicated room with lots of wall space booked Workshops booked and planned Lots of post-its, sharpies, butchers paper, whiteboard Core Inception team with facilitators ready

10. 1-week agenda for Agile Inception Sessions of 2-3 hours in the morning and afternoon Daily consolidation of output Core Inception team works before and after sessions

11. Background Why are we doing this? What do we expect to improve? What are the constraints? Outcome Understand motivation and context www.pragmateam.com.au

12. Outcome Business drivers (primary, secondary and tertiary) Business Drivers www.pragmateam.com.au

13. Business Drivers Brainstorm business drivers Discuss, group and discard Prioritise in: Primary Secondary Tertiary Outcome Business drivers (primary, secondary and tertiary) www.pragmateam.com.au

14. Ways of Working Discuss what it means to be Agile Discuss cadence and ceremonies: Daily stand up time Sprint start and finish Sprint Planning time Sprint Review/Demo time Retrospective time Discuss who is expected to attend Outcome Agreed cadence, ceremonies and attendance www.pragmateam.com.au

15. Outcome Sketched user flows User Flows www.pragmateam.com.au

16. User Flow Identify key users Sketch ‘happy path’ user flow Sketch alternative flows Sketch screen detail (if it helps understand user stories) Outcome Sketched user flows www.pragmateam.com.au

17. Outcome List of user stories User Stories www.pragmateam.com.au

18. Outcome List of user stories User Stories www.pragmateam.com.au

19. User Stories Identify user stories in each user flow Walk group through it Identify gaps Break down further where necessary Outcome List of user stories www.pragmateam.com.au

20. Outcome High-level solution options Technical Landscape www.pragmateam.com.au

21. Technical Landscape Whiteboard systems involved and architecture Discuss constraints, dependencies and risks Agree on high-level solution approach and options Outcome High-level solution options www.pragmateam.com.au

22. Outcome Prioritised user stories in (and out) of release Release Prioritisation www.pragmateam.com.au

23. Release Prioritisation Prioritise user stories, considering business drivers Agree minimum release scope to achieve business objectives Outcome Prioritised user stories in (and out) of release www.pragmateam.com.au

24. Outcome Estimated stories and velocity estimate Estimation www.pragmateam.com.au

25. Estimation Estimate relative size of user stories Estimate team velocity per sprint Outcome Estimated stories and velocity estimate www.pragmateam.com.au

26. Outcome Release Plan Release Planning www.pragmateam.com.au

27. Release Planning Define uncertainty buffer (%) with PO Discuss ramp up period Discuss stabilisation period If scope-bound: Add up total points for release + bufffer Determine total sprints needed to finish the release If time-bound : Determine total sprints and total capacity available Assign prioritised stories up to total capacity - buffer Outcome Release Plan www.pragmateam.com.au

28. Other activities that may be used Ice breaker/warm up Elevator pitch Product in a box Futurespective Cover story 6-8-5 Trade-off sliders Anchors & Engines User story mapping “As-is” process/ painpoints Risk matrix etc.

29. Characteristics of an Agile Inception workshop Well-prepared : it is set up for success and well-planned Intense : it is a lot of work and covers a lot of ground Focused : clear steps leading to an outcome Representative : key stakeholders and team members present Decisive : Product Owner deciding on the spot Hands-on : it is real work and not a presentation Collaborative : people build the solution and plan together Fun : people enjoy working together towards an objective Unifying: it brings people together as one team

30. Summary To work in an agile way, you must start in an agile way Kick it off with workshops (where we work on it) rather than presentations (where we are told about it) Agile Inception is part of taking people through a journey and forming a team Agile Inception requires less effort and less time than doing it the traditional way Sense of ownership is one of the most important outcomes of an Agile Inception

31. 31 Thank you! Juliano Bersano [email protected] www.pragmateam.com.au