MGMT 4066 – AGILE PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
CLASS 2 – AGILE OVERVIEW &
AGILE PROJECT INITIATION
Saifur Rahman (Saif)
[email protected]
TODAY’S AGENDA:
• The PDCA Cycle and Iteration
• Agile Project Roles
• Agile Project Phases
• The Corporate Challenge
• The Product Owner in a Corporate Setting
• The Agile Project Charter
• The Role of Senior Leaders
• Organizational Decomposition
2
TODAY’S LESSON EXPECTATIONS
• Understand the concept of iteration and its origins.
• Understand the Scrum roles and their function on an Agile project.
• Learn the various phases of an Agile project using Scrum and their
characteristics.
• Understand the challenges Agile frameworks can face when being used in
corporate environments
• Describe corporate roles and how they can fulfil the product owner
function.
• Describe the value of the Agile project charter.
• Describe and define the concept of organizational decomposition.
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AGILE FOUNDATION
• Chapter 2: Agile Overview
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AGILE HIERARCHY
Chapter 2, Figure 2: Agile Values and Principles’ Contribution to Roles, Events, and Artifacts (pg. 18)
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THE AGILE MANIFESTO: VALUES
• There are better ways of developing software and products by doing it and
helping other do it. Through this work we have come to value:
Image Source: https://kissflow.com/project/agile/values-and-principles-of-agile-manifesto/ 6
12 AGILE PRINCIPLES
• There are 12 principles to the Agile methodology. These support the iteration process.
• Customer satisfaction by early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
• Welcome changing requirements, even in late development.
• Deliver working software frequently (weeks rather than months).
• Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers.
• Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted.
• Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location).
• Working software is the primary measure of progress.
• Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace.
• Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design.
• Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential.
• Best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
• Regularly, the team reflects on how to become more effective and adjusts accordingly.
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AGILE = ITERATION
• Iterative methodologies are characterized by a series of short cycles
that incrementally progress toward achieving a goal.
• In Agile, an iteration is a short cycle where work is performed. At the
end of the cycle, a clearly demonstrable outcome should be completed.
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PDCA AND AGILE
• PDCAs are intended to be self-contained projects that can be
executed quickly.
• Agile takes the PDCA and spreads it across a project as a sequence.
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AGILE VS. WATERFALL (WHAT ARE THE MAIN DIFFERENCES?)
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CASE 2.1
• Discuss in pairs and
identify 2 key points from
this case. (5 minutes)
11
AGILE AND WORKLOAD
• Unlike waterfall, Agile does not view
change as disruptive. Because sprints
are short cycles, stakeholders can
incorporate change into the next cycle.
• Agile strives to achieve a consistent
level of work during sprints.
• This is consistent with Agile and Lean
principles of a consistent flow of work.
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WATERFALL LACK OF RESILIENCY TO CHANGE
• When changes occur, or phases expand due to variance between
estimates vs. actual performance, subsequent phases are often pressured
or condensed as teams seek to maintain their original schedule.
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WATERFALL LACK OF RESILIENCY TO CHANGE
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https://youtu.be/H0_yKBitO8M?si=zkyRF5RqeZ_DTTKu
THE MARSHMALLOW CHALLENGE
• Watch the Marshmallow Challenge video.
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CLASS EXERCISE
• How Do the Previous Slides Resemble the Marshmallow Challenge?
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AGILE – SCRUM OVERVIEW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TycLR0TqFA 17
OVERVIEW: SCRUM ROLES
Product Owner
Scrum Master
Development Team
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SCRUM ROLES
• Like any team effort, people can play different roles to help achieve the same objective.
• Think of your favourite team sports:
• Basketball
• Hockey
• Football
• Soccer
• Badminton
• Rugby
• Cricket
• Etc.
• How do the above sports reflect an Agile approach to work?
• How do designated roles help sports teams respond in real time?
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SCRUM ROLES – PRODUCT OWNER
• The product owner/PO is responsible for defining user stories and
prioritizing the team backlog to streamline the execution of the program
priorities while maintaining the conceptual and technical integrity of
features/components for the project.
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SCRUM – PRODUCT OWNER INVOLVEMENT VS.
TRADITIONAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT
• How does the Product Owner role differ from the traditional project
management equivalent?
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SCRUM ROLES – SCRUM MASTER
• The scrum master/SM is the facilitator of the Agile methodology.
• Scrum allows a team to self-organize. They do not directly perform or
manage the work.
• They ensure that Agile principles are followed and coach and mentor
the team to work in an Agile way.
• The SM is also responsible for removing obstacles that are preventing
the team from completing their work.
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SCRUM ROLES – SCRUM MASTER VS. TRADITIONAL
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
• What role is most similar to the SM in traditional project management?
• What does “the SM does not manage the work but facilitates the Agile
Methodology” mean, and how is this compatible with traditional project
management ?
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SCRUM ROLES – DEVELOPMENT TEAM
• The developer/ DT role is broad and can include the following tasks:
• Estimation and Planning
• Execution/Delivery
• Management and Status Reporting
• Collaboration
• A developer role is not limited to software development, although this is where the
role was originally derived.
• The developer role is considered an expert in their discipline and is the best able to
provide estimation and interpretation of a stated need and completion of the work.
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SCRUM ROLES – DEVELOPERS VS. TRADITIONAL
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
• What role would be equivalent to the developer in traditional project management?
Is it only one or many?
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OVERVIEW: PHASES OF SCRUM METHODOLOGY
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SCRUM PHASES: USER STORIES
• The product owner is responsible for generating user stories.
• User stories are meant to describe desired functionality.
• They are not prescriptive like functional specifications or requirements.
• They are typically a sentence or two to help drive conversations about the desired
outcome.
• They can be often expressed as “persona + need + purpose.”
• As a < type of stakeholder >, I want < some goal > so that < some reason >.
• As a Student, I want a good learning environment, so that I can maximize my learning
• As a Student, I need to access D2L portal, so that I can download the learning materials.
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SCRUM PHASES: BACKLOG CREATION
• Input: user stories → Output: backlog
• The backlog is a prioritized list of new features/user stories.
• It enables teams to self-organize and take ownership.
• It eliminates up-front documentation cycles prior to development occurring.
• It is in essence a large product-based to-do list.
• The backlog enables the development team to select user stories and begin work on
them.
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SCRUM PHASES: SPRINT PLANNING
• Inputs: duration of sprint, backlog → Outputs: sprint schedule and expected
deliverables during the cycle
• A sprint is a defined period of time where work will be completed. Best practice is 1–
2 weeks, no more than 4 weeks.
• There will usually be multiple sprints planned in an Agile project.
• Sprints are done in collaboration with the whole scrum team.
• Agendas and focus are set by PO and SM in advance.
• Must answer the following: what, how, who, inputs, and outputs.
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SPRINT PLANNING PROCESS
• Inputs: backlog and previous work performance is used
to understand sprint capacity.
• What: PO describes the sprint goal and what backlog
Inputs
items contribute to that goal.
• Who: PO defines the goal based on desired value. DT
needs to understand the goal. Without these two roles, Outputs The What
sprints cannot be planned.
• How: DT plans the work required to deliver the goal.
Negotiation between DT and PO occurs.
• Output: backlog items in sprint provide a collective
understanding of the goal of the sprint. Tools can be
The How The Who
used, such as Kanban, to capture the sprint
commitments.
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SCRUM PHASES: SPRINT EXECUTION/ SCRUM
• Inputs: sprint planning, backlog → Outputs: deliverables, tracking tool updates
• The sprint is when the majority of the work is completed.
• During the sprint, the team meets regularly. This can be done in a variety of formats:
• Daily stand-ups
• Team huddles
• Scrum
• During the meetings, progress is discussed and tools are updated (meeting process and
tools will be covered next class).
• Sessions are facilitated by the SM to ensure Agile methods are followed.
• During sprints, changes/clarifications can be made.
• It is recommended that DT consists of a variety of skill sets: business analyst, tester,
trainer, support, and developer to ensure key outputs are delivered in parallel.
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SCRUM PHASES: SPRINT EXECUTION/ SCRUM
• Daily Scrum meeting/ session questions asked by the SM:
• What did you do yesterday?
• What will you do today?
• Are there any impediments/ obstacles in your way?
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SCRUM PHASES: SPRINT REVIEW
• Inputs: backlog, sprint deliverables → Output: approved/validated work, new
requirements, change
• Facilitated by the PO
• Team shares work completed with stakeholders
• Solicits approval of work done to date, suggests improvements, and/or identifies
potential changes.
• PO provides overview of future sprints as well as upcoming features
• A user story is considered complete when it meets the definition of done criteria-
• Developed
• Inspected
• Documented
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SPRINT RETROSPECTIVE
• Inputs: backlog, sprint deliverables → Output: improved approach, knowledge transfer
• Facilitated by the SM.
• Team reflects on the completed sprint and determines what changes could make the
next sprint more productive.
• Can occur at a number of points in the project:
• End of sprint or when the team reaches any other milestone
• After a release/delivery of product
• When more than a few weeks have passed since last retrospective
• When team appears to be stuck
• The goal of retrospective is continuous improvement—never blame.
• What went well during the sprint?
• What would we like to change?
• How can we implement that change?
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SCRUM PHASES VS. TRADITIONAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT
• What are the traditional project management
equivalents to Scrum phases?
• How does Scrum differ from traditional
project management?
• What elements of the Agile Manifesto and 12
principles contributes to each phase?
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CLASS DISCUSSION 1
Project Name: e-Commerce Website Development
• Scenario: A small startup wants to develop an e-commerce website.
• Possible development approaches:
• Waterfall Approach: Complete requirement collection, design, then development,
then testing.
• Agile Approach: Build a basic version first, take feedback, and iterate.
• Discuss:
• Which approach ensures faster time-to-market?
• How can feedback shape the end product in the Agile approach?
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CLASS DISCUSSION 2
Project Name: Mobile Game Development
• Scenario: A game development company wants to launch a new mobile game.
• Possible development approaches:
• Waterfall Approach: Design all levels, develop, then test.
• Agile Approach: Develop a few levels, release, gather feedback, and then develop
more.
• Discuss:
• How can the Agile approach better capture user preferences?
• How might the budget differ between the two approaches?
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AGILE PROJECT
INITIATION
• Chapter 3: Understanding
Corporate Environments
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THE CORPORATE CHALLENGE
• Agile frameworks were established to enable small and focused teams to deliver
software more effectively.
• Scrum best practices suggest that the ideal team has six team members, plus or minus
three. When teams become too large, they lose agility.
• Scrum teams are relatively flat. A flat organization has few or no levels of management
between staff. Teams are autonomous and can make decisions for the organization,
without first seeking approval from various levels.
• Corporations have large teams and are typically organized in a hierarchical structure.
39
THE HIERARCHICAL ORGANIZATION
• Most corporations are not flat. They are hierarchical.
• Often large and complex organizations have divisions, departments, units, and
functions.
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PRODUCT OWNER ROLES IN CORPORATIONS
• Corporations may not have a role consistent with the product owner.
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CORPORATE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
• Service owner—Responsible for the vision and mission of a project; agrees with the
project success criteria; reviews and approves completed work
• Service manager—Supports the creation of the vision and mission; facilitates the
creation of measurable success criteria of a project; reviews and approves completed
work
• Functional manager—Supports the creation of the measurable success criteria of a
project; supplies resources and subject matter experts to support the project; reviews
and approves completed work
• Process owner—Responsible for defining the measurable success criteria of a project;
participates in user story creation; reviews and approves completed work
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PRODUCT OWNER ROLES IN CORPORATIONS
https://youtu.be/JhNuOIORIaM 43
AGILE PROJECT CHARTER
• Corporate environments often require documentation to authorize use of resources,
human or capital.
• Like a traditional waterfall project charter, the Agile project charter authorizes the
project work. However, an Agile project charter only provides high-level guidance to a
project team. It helps focus the work and provides a shared purpose for the Agile
project team.
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AGILE PROJECT CHARTER OVERVIEW
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ORGANIZATIONAL DECOMPOSITION
• Organizational decomposition is the process of breaking down an organization into
discrete functions and processes.
• Once a functional representation of the organization is discovered, a process view of the
organization can be facilitated. Organizational decomposition supports the Lean
principle genchi genbutsu, a Japanese term for “go and see (or confirm).”
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ORGANIZATIONAL DECOMPOSITION IN ACTION
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THE STAKEHOLDER LOG
• By completing an organizational decomposition exercise, project leads are able to build
a comprehensive organizational stakeholder log that includes roles and functions.
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TAKE HOME ASSIGNMENT
• Case Study Review: 3.1 and 3.2 from the text.
• Prepare a reflection note of 250-300 words describing what you learned from these 2 cases –
• How does the 2 cases relate to what you learned in today’s class
• what are your key take aways, and
• what impediments you faced while reading these cases (that need to be discussed further in class)
• Submit the reflection paper in Blackboard by Sunday midnight (September 18th.)
49
NEXT WEEK
• Business Analysis and Requirement Gathering
• Group formation
• Introduction to Assignment 1 (Individual assignment - due week 4)
• Process Mapping
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NEXT WEEK – BUSINESS ANALYSIS
AND REQUIREMENT GATHERING
Saif
[email protected]
