Localization is often considered an "after-thought" to development, i.e. planning for localization, if it happens at all, takes place at the very end or after the development cycle. This presentation is a case study how Agile helped localization to become part of a SAP development Project. The presentation was given as part of the Localization Institute's PM Certification Workshop in Berlin, June 2015 Matthias Caesar, iLocIT

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“How Agile helps Localization
with an old Dilemma!”
Matthias Caesar, iLocIT!

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Outline - The Project
 Localization of SAP Applications
at a German DAX30 company
 Past
 Present
 Future
 … and why Agile?

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Many HEADs, No owner
ad-hoc, ‘after-thought’,
no planning, no awareness
Past

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Main reasons for looking at
“Agile”
a) The time-to-market for a Change or a Fix is
~200 days due to functional as well as
technical system landscape complexity
b) There is a back-log of ~200 tickets.
Business grows weary of this
c) Ping-pong between DEV and QAS systems
causes too much disturbances

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Put the project (back) on track!
But which
track,
actually?

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Agile and Localization
Oh no, this means more frequent and much
smaller handoffs, so much more overhead!
….

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The “Agile Manifesto” – the basics
“Agile” methodologies value:
Individuals and interaction over Processes and tools
Working software over Comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over Contract negotiation
Responding to change over Following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, the items on the left are valued more.

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“Agile” methods compared to
Waterfall
Key characteristics of ‘Waterfall’
• Plan-Ceremony driven
• Command and control management
• Single pass waterfall (Sequential model)
• Success = compliancy predictive plan
• Progress = ‘deliverables’
– Specs/design/code/reviews/signatures
• Resisting/blocking ‘change’
Key characteristics of ‘Agile’
• End-user representative working in one
multidisciplinary team with developers
and tester(s); preferably co-located
• Servant-leadership Subtle control
• Iterative-incremental process, MoSCoW,
continuous integration, prototyping
• Success = business value
• Progress = working software
• Progressed understanding is factored in
immediatelyanalyze
design
build
test
A
D
C
T
A
D
C
T
A
D
C
T
A
D
C
T
Iterations
or‘Sprints’

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“Agile” methods compared to
Waterfall
Key characteristics of ‘Waterfall’
• Plan-Ceremony driven
• Command and control management
• Single pass waterfall (Sequential model)
• Success = compliancy predictive plan
• Progress = ‘deliverables’
– Specs/design/code/reviews/signatures
• Resisting/blocking ‘change’
Key characteristics of ‘Agile’
• End-user representative working in one
multidisciplinary team with developers
and tester(s); preferably co-located
• Servant-leadership Subtle control
• Iterative-incremental process, MoSCoW,
continuous integration, prototyping
• Success = business value
• Progress = working software
• Progressed understanding is factored in
immediatelyanalyze
design
build
test
A
D
C
T
A
D
C
T
A
D
C
T
A
D
C
T
Iterations
or‘Sprints’

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“Agile” terminology, mechanics
and principles
The core mechanics
• Roles Agile Team
– Scrum Master
– Product Owner
– Agile Core Team 3-9 people
• Events
– Sprint Planning
– Daily Scrum
– Sprint Review (Demo + Retrospective)
• Artefacts
– Product Backlog
– Sprint Backlog
– Progress Trends
The core principles
• Shared Visual workspace
– Remove all physical barriers
– Transparency & Visual Management
– Face-to-face communication
• Self-organizing
– Empowered cross-functional Teams
– Incremental design and architecture
– Inspect & adapt
• Empiricism
– Closed-loop process control
– Knowledge from experience
– Detect & eliminate variances

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“Agile” terminology, mechanics
and principles
The core mechanics
• Roles Agile Team
– Scrum Master
– Product Owner
– Agile Core Team 3-9 people
• Events
– Sprint Planning
– Daily Scrum
– Sprint Review (Demo + Retrospective)
• Artefacts
– Product Backlog
– Sprint Backlog
– Progress Trends
The core principles
• Shared Visual workspace
– Remove all physical barriers
– Transparency & Visual Management
– Face-to-face communication
• Self-organizing
– Empowered cross-functional Teams
– Incremental design and architecture
– Inspect & adapt
• Empiricism (Pragmatism)
– Closed-loop process control
– Knowledge from experience
– Detect & eliminate variances

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Facts on “Agile” methodologies
 Gartner (2010): ‘Agile is now a mainstream, mature and proven set of
development methods.
 SAP AG adopted Agile methodologies internally back in 2009
 Gartner (2012): ‘Traditional projects need to look past the development
process to find valuable practices in Agile’
 SAP (2012) says amongst others: “With an Agile approach you gain buy-in
and build confidence through early review cycles: receive early and frequent
confirmation on requirements”
 SAP AG (2012) claims Agile has been used successfully in projects of various
sizes / scope

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Agile SAP Ways of Working

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What does a Sprint look like?

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What roles are impacted by
“Agile” Ways of Working?
Most Impacted
• Business user / ‘Product owner’
• System Architect
• ‘SCRUM Master’
• Template Development team
member
• Testers
• Functional Enhancement Project
Manager
Impacted
• Change Manager
• Project manager
• Trainers
• Application Support
• Application Operations
• Translators
• Documenters
• Security team
• Master Data team
• Business analysts
Synergies

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almost ONE owner
Scheduled
Present

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Agile! – what change(d)?
 Localization became part of the planning
 Localization starts with the project (not after)
 Localization is needed to meet the goal
 Localization workflow (semi-)automated (future)
Agile

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ONE, and only one,
OWNER
Synchronized
Future

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Good Luck!
and…
Thank you8 June, 2015
iLocIT
Im Papenkamp 20
D-44267 Dortmund
p +49.231.9159631
f +49.231.9159694
e info@iLocIT.de
@iLocIT
@MattKeyzer