Findings from a 10-year retrospective of Agile held by the BCS Agile Methods SG on 24 Jan 2012 on London(UK) with 100 attendees and over 500 years of Agile experience

1. agile.bcs.org
10-Year Retrospective of Agile
What have we learned from the last 10 years?
What can we expect over the next 10 years?
#BCSagile

2. agile.bcs.org
Craig Cockburn
• Chartered Fellow of the British Computer Society
• B.Sc. Hons, Computer Science Edinburgh University
• M.Sc. (Medal, Distinction) Large Software Systems Development, Edinburgh
Napier University
• Freelance Agile Consultant, Project and Programme Manager, Agile Facilitator
and ScrumMaster
• Qualified and experienced in both Scrum and DSDM, including DWP £2Bn
Agile programme
• Member of BCS Agile Specialist Group Committee
• No relation to Alistair Cockburn of the Agile Manifesto (however in both cases it
is pronounced 'Coburn')
Full contact details, biography, papers, awards: http://www.CraigCockburn.com [LinkedIn]

3. agile.bcs.org
Brief History of BCS
• 1957 - Formed from the London Computer Group
• 1966 - Obtains charitable status
• 1984 - Granted a Royal Charter
• 2004 - Creation of Chartered IT Professional
• 2009 - Rebrand as Chartered Institute for IT
BCS Today
• 70,000+ members worldwide
• Over 100 regional, international and Special Interest Groups
• BCS Certifications (previously known as ISEB)
• BCS Policy Hub
• BCS SFIA+ (Skills Framework for the Information Age)

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BCS Mission
Enable the information society.
Promote wider social and economic progress through the advancement of
information technology science and practice.
• Bring together industry, academics, practitioners and government to share
knowledge
• Promote new thinking
• Influence the development of computing education
• Shape public policy and inform the public.
Further Information: http://www.bcs.org/category/11280

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BCS & the Public Sector
Strategic Objective:
Informing public policy on how IT can contribute to
society
• Contribute to government policy consultations
• Conduct research on IT-related topics
• Publish guidance on topics with wide public interest
Further Information: www.bcs.org/category/11281

6. agile.bcs.org
BCS Agile Methods Specialist Group
Formed 24 January 2012
Focuses on the implementation and promotion of Agile methods covering all the
disciplines in the lifecycle of a project.
The Agile Methods SG is method-agnostic and promotes the values and
principles captured in the Agile Manifesto.
17 members in the committee with over 100 years combined Agile experience
Further Information: http://agile.bcs.org

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10 Years of Agile
Strengths & Weaknesses of the Past
Opportunities & Threats in the Future
#BCSagile

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10 Years, 10 areas to analyse
AREAS RETROSPECTIVE PARTICIPANTS
1. Agile Manifesto & Principles • 100 attendees
2. Agile Frameworks • >500 years of Agile expertise available
3. Agile Implementation
4. Enterprise Agile AGILE METHODS EXPERTISE
5. Business / Corporate Agile • 94% Scrum
6. Agile and People • 69% XP
7. Agile in the Public Sector • 55% Kanban / Lean
8. Agile in Regulated Environments • 50% DSDM / Agile PM
9. Agile Tooling • 45% Behaviour Driven Development (BDD)
10. Agile & the BCS • 12% Feature Driven Development (FDD)
& Lean StartUp
ROLES PRESENT
Further Information: Senior Managers, Transformation Consultants,
http://bit.ly/BCSAgileRetroPhotos Coaches, ScrumMasters, Project Managers,
Developers, Testers, Business Analysts, etc.

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The Agile Manifesto
VALUES PRINCIPLES
Individuals and interactions 1. Satisfy the customer through valuable delivery
over processes and tools 2. Welcome changing requirements
Working software 3. Deliver working software frequently
over comprehensive documentation 4. Business people and developers must work
together daily
Customer collaboration
over contract negotiation 5. Build projects around motivated individuals
Responding to change 6. Face-to-face communications
over following a plan 7. Working software is the primary measure of
progress
8. Promote sustainable pace
Over != No
9. Technical excellence and good design
10. Simplicity is essential
11. Self-organizing teams
Further Information: www.agilemanifesto.org
12. Inspect and Adapt

10. agile.bcs.org
Agile Manifesto & Principles
Does this still reflect the agile community? Should it be changed?
• Provides simple and strong messages around • Applying the Agile mindset to organisations
values and principles
• Emergence of Organisational Agility
OPPORTUNITIES
• Recognises the value of teams and humanity
• Focus on the principles in the manifesto
STRENGTHS
• Re-focused minds into better ways of working
• Overlap with the principles in Lean
• Acknowledge the need for an empirical process
in complex IT enviroments
• Unchanged for 10+ years. Risk of failing to • Method-wars making us forget about the spirit of
Inspect and Adapt the Manifesto
WEAKNESSES
• Simplicity leads people to believe they are Agile • Mainstream adoption creating rigid practices
THREATS
when they are not • Losing focus on the principles, mindset & ways
• Software-centric hindering its adoption in the of working
business domain • Commercialisation of Agile into a silver bullet
solution

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Agile Frameworks
Is there any one ‘single answer’? Do the frameworks integrate?
• Adherence to the Agile Manifesto principles • Framework maturity and evolution
• Very simple popular frameworks such as Scrum • Emergence of scalable Hybrid Corporate Agile
OPPORTUNITIES
Solutions
• Large robust frameworks such as DSDM
STRENGTHS
• Agile penetrating the Programme and Project
• Flexibilty to deploy scalable hybrid solutions (eg.
Management layers
AgilePM + Scrum + XP)
• Partial adoption of the frameworks • Frameworks sold as a silver bullet solution
• Each framework using different terms for the • Scrumdamentalism - Near-religious rigid thinking
WEAKNESSES
same practice and implementation of frameworks
THREATS
• Emergence of rigid use of the frameworks • Client / Supplied interactions still not fully
addressed
• Use of "Ghetto-language" may be a barrier to
business buy-in - e.g. pigs and chickens

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Agile Implementations
Have the implementations within organisations been agile or ‘fragile’?
• Large body of successfully implemented projects • The Agile Journey. Actively coached small steps
towards the right mindset.
• Incremental delivery of working products
OPPORTUNITIES
• Pragmatic Agile with solid foundations moving
• Permission to fail (fast) and learn for mistakes
STRENGTHS
Agile outside of the software space
• Emergence of robust and reputable Agile training
and qualifications
• Successful delivery will increase trust
• Poor training leading to expectation of immediate • Lack of understanding of the values and
results principles of Agile
WEAKNESSES
• Mainstream adoption is "Fragile". Large projects • Lack of training and certifications. Anyone can
THREATS
failing claim to be Agile
• Agile Delivery in Waterfall Organisations (Water- • Rigid implementations of Agile (eg. No PMO in
Scrum-Fall) producing cultural and language Scrum)
clashes

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Enterprise Agile
Have we seen implementations across portfolio, programme and
project management?
• Changing Organisational mindset • Agile HR - Enterprises rewarding teams and
successful delivery
• Managers becoming leaders of people
OPPORTUNITIES
• Whole company adoption of Agile (e.g. Yahoo!) -
• Delivering quality at the core of the enterprise
STRENGTHS
Use of Agile at all levels
• Quick delivery, less waste and frequent reviews
• Introducing Enterprise Agility Audits /
Assessments
• Resistance to change at management levels • Are the Agile Experts really Agile?
• Information silos - Openness and transparency • Lack of objective measures to claims of Agility
WEAKNESSES
seen as a weakness
• Agile is a threat to existing processes, roles and
THREATS
• Multi-site implementations make collaboration mindsets (vested interests will resist change)
difficult
• Company policies and mindset reward Agile anti-
patterns

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Business / Corporate Agile
Has Agile penetrated the non-IT space? Is it likely to?
• Lean (since 1940s) • A framework that could be adopted to bring
collaboration to business problems
• Quick way for business to establish competence
OPPORTUNITIES
of IT developers • Talk about it in "pace setter" words
STRENGTHS
• "IT Bods" should also focus on the business
change aspects of their agile developments
• Agile will penetrate the non-IT space in the future
• Can a business measure value rather than cost?
• Speed of delivery may not allow business • Annual budget cycles encourages short-termism
change aspects to keep up - Training & org
• Agile should be introduced more to the business
structure
WEAKNESSES
THREATS
• Now aware of this happening
• Agile is an "IT thing"
• Agile has been marketed as an "IT thing"
• Agile is designed for Software development and
not for the business
• Needs a framework. Needs examples

15. agile.bcs.org
Agile & People
Is enough emphasis placed on the human aspects of Agile?
• Agile ties into human motivation factors (skills, • Create Leaders not Managers
autonomy, recognition, etc)
• Change the conversations: People are the core
OPPORTUNITIES
• Agile has already demonstrated its own benefit assets of any business
STRENGTHS
• Proud capable professionals can become better • Organisational Agile can realign HR departments
every day to reward teams
• The journey is as important as the destination • Skilled & motivated people bring significant
business benefit
• More focus on the methods than on people • Fear of change
• Emerging elitism and zealots amongst Agile • Management hostility to collective responsibility
WEAKNESSES
teams and decisions
THREATS
• Agile people seeing non-Agile colleagues as "the • Differences in team skills, culture and location
enemy”

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Agile in the Public Sector
Has Agile in the Public Sector happened previously? Will it succed?
• Agile becoming mainstream across government • Great opportunity for Agile to really prove itself in
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/ a more regulated setting
government-ict-strategy-strategic-
OPPORTUNITIES
• Huge opportunity for Agile to scale to projects
STRENGTHS
implementation-plan much larger than previously (e.g. £2Bn Universal
• Agile techniques to be used in 50% of major Credit programme)
ICT-enabled programmes by April 2013 • APM Group promoting AgilePM certification
• It is now Government Policy that all application
development projects must be split up into 4
month chunks of work
(Liam Maxwell, Deputy government CIO)
• DSDM not widely seen as the closest Agile • Procurement and legal processes
equivalent to PRINCE2
• Adverse press comments
WEAKNESSES
• Much less experience with Agile than PRINCE2,
• May be seen as risky or lightweight
THREATS
may take a while to embed cultural change
• Change programme needed and training as part
• Fewer in-house experts of any initial rollout - may take a while before
• No clear audit strategy or gate equivalent people become fully effective
• Not clear where Agile fits in with MSP • 3rd parties may be physically remote,
• Security issues around some collaboration tools
and technology issues for cloud tools (IE6)

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Agile in Regulated Environments
Agile & fixed price contracts. Agile where things must be legally
implemented
• Agile embraces change and helps cope when • Introduce "Fixed Monthly Rate" contracts that
regulations change share interests, risks, costs and benefits
between partner organisations
OPPORTUNITIES
• FDA guidelines explicitly allow iterative/
STRENGTHS
incremental life cycles • Publish "Agile Adoption Patterns" guide
organisations to adopt Agile
• Success in medical software and local
government • Work with Regulatory Authorities to meet
regulations while working in Agile
• Some charities using Agile internally
• Regulatory environments perceived not to offer • Poorly implemented Agile could create a bad
flexibility in scope reputation
WEAKNESSES
• Agile needs significant investment of time from • Existing providers make money from change
THREATS
the business control & resist robust Agile
• Current Regulation requires documented • Legal teams need time to do a detailed analysis
waterfall step threat
• Auditing of Agile is not well defined • Current ways of working have rigid processes in
place

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Agile Tooling
Do we have a good portfolio of Agile planning & delivery tools?
• Low-Tech for new teams • Evolving tools to mimic the visibility and
customisation of low-tech alternatives
• Great tools for mature teams
OPPORTUNITIES
• Tablet-based applications for mobile teams
• Tools demonstrate control and instill pride
STRENGTHS
• Tools that fully scale to corporate environments
with many products and teams
• Formal high level management reporting
• Teams start using tools before they are • Tool vendors creating the need for tools
comfortable using Agile
• Tools linked to specific methods and not
WEAKNESSES
• Companies can be fixated on the tool and not on supporting hybrid models
THREATS
what Agile means • Lack of a scalable tool may block agile adoption
• Most tools do not scale well in very big companies
• Tools can become information black holes

19. agile.bcs.org
Agile and BCS
Has BCS done any work on Agile before? What should we do next?
• BCS Software Practice Advancement group • Provide a method-neutral expert voice in the
(Development), SIGIST (Testing) and PROMS-G Agile market
(Project) SGs already shown interest in Agile
OPPORTUNITIES
• Establish BCS (Generic) Agile Certifications and
STRENGTHS
• BCS Agile Methods SG focuses on method Agile Implementation Audits
neutral Agile values and principles • BCS backing can help influence non-IT functions
• BCS has strong reputation and connections as a (e.g. HR, Finance)
professional body • Draw on wide experience and be a single point
• Leading Agile professionals already members of of reference for government
BCS
• BCS lags behind other Agile groups • Agile will become institutionalised and lose its
power to challenge and adapt
• No specific focus on Agile until now
WEAKNESSES
• Become too focused on specific methods or
• No BCS Certification (ISEB) on Agile
THREATS
products (sales pitches not practice)
• Agile falls out of favour

20. agile.bcs.org
Actions from the Retrospective
COMPLETED STORIES
• Upload the raw retrospective materials online
• Present the main retrospective findings back to the Agile community
WORK IN PROGRESS
• Publish article(s) based on the retrospective findings
• Organise event on "Scaling Scrum" (event with Craig Larman on 22 May)
BACKLOG STORIES
• Other follow-up events on specific retrospective areas
• Establish partnerships with reputable training partners
• Introduce BCS Agile Certifications
OUR COMMUNITY. ADD YOUR STORIES!

21. agile.bcs.org
Keep in Touch
CRAIG COCKBURN NEXT EVENTS
Web www.craigcockburn.com Software Craftmanship (sold out)
Email craig@siliconglen.com 23 April 2012, London
Twitter @siliconglen
Large-Scale Scrum with Craig Larman
22 May 2012, London
BCS AGILE METHODS SG
Next Generation Testing Conference
Web agile.bcs.org 23 May 2012, London
Email agile.sg@bcs.org
Twitter @BCS_Agile Complexity, Governance and the Agile Team
7 June 2012, London
LinkedIn BCS Agile Methods SG
Kanban the hard way with Mike Burrows
13 June 2012, Manchester