The Lessons Learned of a BA on an Agile Project Presented by - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

F O C U S Q U A L I T Y E X P E R I E N C E

Presented by Jacqueline Sanders, PMP, CBAP

The Lessons Learned of a BA on an Agile Project

• What Agile is NOT
• Key Components of Agile
• The Conversion to Agile
• The New Development Project using Agile
• The Maintenance Releases using Agile
• The Future of BA’s on Agile Projects

Outline

What Agile is NOT

• Big “A”: Formal Agile – a disciplined methodology

(i.e. stand up meetings, co-located, iterations)

• Little “a”: Informal agile – teams just trying to do

things quickly, haphazard and chaotic

Agile Manifesto

Agile Values:

Individuals and interactions

Over

Process and tools Working Software

Over

Comprehensive documentation Customer Collaboration

Over

Contract negotiation Responding to change

Over

Following a plan

Key Components of Agile

• Short Iterations
• Small Dedicated

Project Teams

• Co-located Teams
• Pairings
• Assigned SME
• Weekly Sprints
• Daily Standup

Meetings

• Design/Build/Test as

you go

• Highly Functioning and

Self-managed Team

• Task Board and Burn

down Chart

• Retrospectives

Converting to Agile

• Brought in Agile Coaches
• Gave Exit Packages to Non-Agile Resources
• Brought in New Agile-minded Resources
• Sent the Team to Agile Boot Camp
• Co-Located the Team
• Conducted Team Building Exercises
• Created a Fun Environment
• Made “Most” Resources 100% Dedicated

New Development Project using Agile

Iteration 0 Scoping of The Project Initial Backlog Decomposition Sprint Daily Scrum Team Meetings Semi Weekly Sprint Planning Meetings Weekly Stakeholder Demos Semi- Weekly Deploy & Retrospectives

The Project Parameters

• Government Regulation
• Hard Deadline
• Existing Application
• New Data Fields
• Significant Changes to Business Rules & Process
• Impact to 12 Different Departments
• Impact to Entire Customer Base
• Coincided with Media & Marketing Campaigns
• Two Executive Sponsors
• The #1 Priority for the 4th Quarter

The BA’s Project Initiation Tasks

• Iteration (0) Zero
• Sponsor Consensus on Approach
• Assist with High Level Technical Design
• Interviews and Facilitated Sessions
• 1 or more Iterations Ahead of Development
• Wiki Set Up
• Artifacts:
• User List
• User Stories

The User Story List

User Stories

The BA’s On-going Activities

• Daily Stand Up & Follow Up
• Spontaneous and As Needed
• Meetings with Stakeholders
• Monitor Development Work
• Respond to QA
• Multi-Tasking
• Working The Open Issues
• UAT Preparation
• Weekly Demo Prep
• Research User Stories for Next Iterations
• Maintain Project Wiki

The Backlog Story/Task Board

User Story Cards

Behind The Scenes Activities

• Manage Multiple Viewpoints
• Modeling and Diagrams during Design Discussions
• SME Intimidated by Developers
• Backend Process Requirements
• Rework was Necessary
• Document Needed During Implementation
• Compensated for Lack of BA Skills
• Focus on Exceptions and Alternatives
• Issue Log (In Scope and Out of Scope Negotiation)

New Development – Retrospect

What Worked Well

• Access to Software Designers/Architect
• Iteration Zero
• Having Agile Coaches
• Incorporating Lessons Learned Quickly
• Sponsor Accepted Risk

New Development – Retrospect

What We Could Do Differently

• Underestimating the Rework
• Underestimating Backend Processes
• Managing Unrealistic, Hard Deadlines
• Addressing People not embracing Agile
• Handling Process Development Differently
• Upfront Database schema changes

Maintenance Projects using Agile

Iteration 0 Not Applicable Initial Backlog Sprint Not Applicable Daily Scrum Team Meetings Semi Weekly Sprint Planning Meetings Weekly Stakeholder Demos Semi- Weekly Deploy & Retrospectives

The Maintenance Project Parameters

• Developer Initiative
• 2 Week Iterations
• As Needed Requirements or Just In Time
• Not Co-located
• Semi-Weekly Demos
• Semi-Weekly Planning Sessions
• Business was not Agile
• PM tolerated Agile but was not Agile
• No executive sponsor for Agile

The BA’s Activities

• 2 Week Iterations
• As-Needed / Just-In-Time Requirements
• Semi-Weekly Demos
• Semi-Weekly Planning Sessions
• Provided Documentation to the Business
• Facilitated Demos
• Unofficially attended stand ups
• Unofficially attended sprints

Maintenance Project - Retrospect

What Worked Well:

• Developers Fully Engaged
• User Involvement Early and Often
• Cohesive Team

Maintenance Project - Retrospect

What Could Have Been Done Different:

• Executive Sponsor Buy In
• Realistic Dates
• Appreciations of Burn down and Velocity
• Dysfunctional Organization
• Developers Input Respected

Conclusion