The Agile Manifesto was initially conceived by a group of leading-edge developers. From a developer's standpoint, it expresses what is fundamentally important in good software development. Cohesion's Enterprise Agile captures the best components from the mainstream agile approaches to develop a consistent, repeatable, holistic framework to software development. We also include our learnings based on 10 years of tactical experience delivering agile projects. Together, the Cohesion Enterprise Agile framework tailors a proven approach for delivering projects to new products, legacy products, and more. Come join us to understand more about Cohesion's Enterprise Agile. We will review a project through the lifecycle to understand the process, roles, and techniques that help deliver agile projects successfully. Come listen for answers such as . - Scrum doesn't include a project manager. Does that really lead to successful projects? - Does the iteration really begin & end so crisply as Scrum promises? - Is agile just cowboy development or is there some discipline? - How can I reduce the cost of an 8-hour iteration planning meeting involving the whole team?

1. Enterprise Agile
Proven Approach
January 2012

2. Introducing Troy
Professional Odds n Ends
• Owns development and delivery of • Taught project mgmt at the graduate
level
Cohesion's Agile Services
• Trainer for 2 years for PMI
• More than 17 years of IT experience accreditations (Program Mgmt, Risk
spanning several industries and roles Certifications)
• Over 4 years of experience focused on • 2012 Director of PMI Southwest PMI-
ACP certification
agile/iterative project delivery where
"one size doesn't fit all” • Lives in Northern Ky with his wife Kelly,
son Micah, and daughter Makenna
• Notable success involves introducing
agile at Fidelity Investments Midwest, Favorite business book
resulting in improved customer
• “What Got You Here, Won’t Get You
satisfaction, cost avoidance, higher There” by Marshall Goldsmith
employee satisfaction, and establishing
a true team culture • Some of the behaviors that enable
people to become successful can inhibit
their ultimate rise to the top
– Winning too much
– Adding too much value
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3. Proven Approach - Overview
Define Deliver Deploy
Iteration 0 Iteration 1-n Iteration
Process
•Project initiation •User story creation •Code migration
•Project scoping •Solution development •Review cumulative solution
•User story creation •Solution testing •Prepare user community
•Architecture setup •Prod deployment
Agile Coach Product Owner Iteration Manager Analyst
•Drives process •Accountable for ROI •Servant leader •Creates user stories
•Promotes transparency •Owns backlog •Facilitator •Collects new stories &
•Defines “Done” •Removes impediments feedback
•Produces status & metrics
Using
Tech Lead Developers QA Business SME
•Drives technical vision •Develop solution •Validates solution •Validates solution
•Mentoring •Automates until test •Identifies defects •Ensures Ops Readiness
•Addresses feedback
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4. Proven Approach – Process Flow
Define Deliver Deploy
Iteration 0 Iteration 1-n Iteration
Iteration Manager
Release
Backlog Iteration / Release Management
Planning
Analyst
Process Backlog
Backlog User Stories Final Review Release Prep
Flow Grooming
Technical Lead / Team
Promote
Validation
Arch Environmental / Migrate to Revisions
Develop to
Doc Project Setup Staging & Defects Production
Quality Assurance
Automation Testing
Manual Testing
Stakeholder
Subject Matter Expert (SME)
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5. Proven Approach
Define Deliver Deploy
•Existing process •List of desired After the project is approved, the Define iteration builds on the
•System features
project planning and visioning activities to provide a foundation for
integration points •Relative priority
•User interaction •Sizing
success. This iteration 0 serves to kicked off the project. The team
points •Assumptions is established who understands the process flows and decomposes
the first set of stories from the backlog.
Process Flow Backlog
Architecture planning provides the solution guide to meet governance
and compliance standards. This planning and understanding the
backlog will help prepare the environment, tools, and training
•Backlog •Backlog for needed.
•Continuous flow requirements
•Identify next •Design
iteration scope & •Process flow The cadence framework is also established. This allows for
decompose •Assumptions continuous flow through the activities.
Release Requirements and design are also collected for Automated testing,
User Stories
Planning
providing the if/then/else structure for unit and integration level testing
•Infrastructure •Environment
Pre-requisites Post-requisites
constraints setup
•System •Establish team • Approved project • Established team
integration points •Tool setup • Goals & objectives • Completed initial project
•Technical vision
• Success criteria setups
Architecture Project • Initial backlog • Decomposed backlog for next
Document Setup 1-2 iterations (horizon)
Contract consideration for formal client acceptance
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6. Proven Approach
Define Deliver Deploy
The Deliver phase is the iterative •Drive cadence •Provide solution Backlog grooming will use project
•Measures & Metrics against user stories & learnings to collect and revise
phase where the solution is built and •Issue Mgmt architecture doc
stories. Story content, priorities, and
•Change Mgmt •Unit & integration
validated. tests estimates could be adjusted.
•Status Reporting
•Blocker Removal
Development works on the stories The team continues to decompose
tagged for this iteration, taking into Iteration stories for the iteration horizon until
Development
Mgmt there is a launch decision.
consideration dependencies,
priorities, and risk. Code is checked- A single Deliver iteration produces
in nightly to support quality process. deployable, production ready code.
•Collect new stories •Scenario definition The launch decision can occur
•Adjust existing stories •Development/
•Re-prioritize Configuration after just a single iteration.
Development with BA, Business, •Execute regularly
•Re-size
and QA confirm direction, options,
and clarifications. Pre-requisites
Backlog Automated • Completed initial project
Automated test scripts and tools Grooming Testing
setups
are used to constantly review quality
• Decomposed backlog for
through continuous integration.
•Scenario definition
current iteration
•Test case creation &
Development delivers and migrates execution Post-requisites
the solution to the test environment •Exploratory testing
for validation. The Business will • Validated solution to
validate the story intent and the evaluate “is this enough to
straight-forward pieces. QA Manual launch” – launch-ready
Testing • Decomposed backlog for next
validation will focus on integration,
supportability, and robustness. 1-2 iterations
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7. Proven Approach
Define Deliver Deploy
•Final review of •Coordinate prod
The Deploy iteration recognizes a decision that the release is cumulative install
launch-ready. This iteration focuses on the final validation and solution
planning activities to support a production implementation.
The solution is moved to the final validation environment, which is Final Release
usually the most production-like. The team has the opportunity for a Review Prep
final review of the cumulative solution.
Technical implementation prep activities will include acquiring an •Install code base •Collect feedback
prod outage window, building implementation schedule, planning •Review •Collect defects
validation, and obtaining install day resources. This will also include portability •Address both
education and hand-off to the production support team. •Review install
notes
Ultimately this leads to a GO decision for implementation. Validation Revisions
Migrate
was successful. Planning and preparation was satisfactory. The team & Defects
performs the production implementation and validation.
Pre-requisites Post-requisites
• Launch-ready decision • Solution implemented into
production
• With funding, continue with
next set of prioritized stories
• Prepare user community
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8. Iteration Cadence
The cadence must be structured, repeatable and communicated so everyone understands
what's expected of them and when.
Cohesion recommends the following cadence for a project with a two week iteration cycle.
For a new Agile team, these are easier to inspect, review and realign. As a team matures
and they find their rhythm, it might make sense to expand OR constrict the length of the
Iterations. In short, a team can’t go to far off the rails in two weeks.
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Week 1 Stand-up Stand-up Stand-up Stand-up Stand-up
Iteration Planning Metrics Review Backlog Grooming User Story Review
Commitment
Week 2 Stand-up Stand-up Stand-up Stand-up Stand-up
Commitment Metrics Review Backlog Grooming User Story Review User Review
Dry Run for Review Retrospective
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9. Flow of an Iteration
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Week 1 Stand-up Stand-up Stand-up Stand-up Stand-up
Iteration Planning Metrics Review Backlog Grooming User Story Review
Commitment
Week 2 Stand-up Stand-up Stand-up Stand-up Stand-up
Commitment Metrics Review Backlog Grooming User Story Review User Review
Dry Run for Review Retrospective
Stand-up: Daily 15 minute information sharing meeting User Story Review: BA reviews user story with SME, Tech
where each team member shares activities for yesterday, Lead, and QA Lead. User story is a collection of related
today, and any roadblocks. Not a status meeting or task stories outlining how the system will respond to user
check-off meeting activities
Iteration Planning: Team determines the user stories for Dry Run for User Review: Team review of solution before
this iteration that will be shown at next user review. Takes SMEs. Allows for adjustments before user review
into account allocations, estimates, and risk User Review: Team with the Business review the delivered
Commitment: Team commits to a set of stories to deliver solution. Defects and new stories are collected. Serves as
that week a catalyst for continued user testing outside of the meeting
Metrics Review: Review metrics and the implications to Retrospective: Continuous improvement approach to collect
meeting commitments process feedback (good & bad) with a short list of
Backlog Grooming: Review and prioritize new & adjusted actionable items for next iteration
backlog stories. Usually feedback from user review
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10. Test Your Knowledge
Match the meeting to its timing
Daily Early Mid Late
Stand-up
Iteration
Planning
Commitment Why is backlog
User Review grooming mid
week?
Retrospective
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Week 1
Week 2
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11. Breaking Down the Work
Project
Release Release Release
Iteration Iteration Iteration …
A project is broken down into releases. A release is broken down into iterations. Iterations
contain stories which are decomposed into tasks. Ultimately, this all supports delivering a
business need.
An Iteration is a stand alone project. In Cohesion's Enterprise Agile approach an Iteration is 2
to 3 weeks long. By breaking working in Iterations it’s easier to inspect, solicit feedback, and
make course corrections.
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12. Flow of a Release
Define Deliver
Iteration 0 Iteration 1
Deliver
A Release is a collection of
iterations towards delivering Iteration 2
the solution to production. It
provides a container for Deliver
forecasting , budgeting, and
trending. Iteration 3
The decision to deploy can Deliver
be made after any iteration.
A release deploys at least Iteration 4
every 3 months to maintain
the proper balance of “enough
features to launch”, time to
Deliver
Deploy
market, and implementation Iteration n
costs.
1-3 weeks 2-3 weeks each 1-3 weeks
Release
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13. Flow of a Project
Define Deliver Deploy
Define Deliver Deploy
Release 1
Define Deliver Deploy
Release 2
Define Deliver
Release 3
Release …
Project
A Project is a collection of releases to meet a desired objective or goal. It serves as a master
container for forecasting and budgeting.
When one release deploys, the next release can be defined in parallel – providing continuous flow
from release to release. Not 100% of the staff will be needed for deployment activities. Deploy stage is
heavy allocation for QA but less for Iteration Manager, BA, and Development.
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14. Releases
A Release contains a predetermined number of Iterations. It begins with the development of
the first Iteration and concludes with finalized code being successfully deployed to
production. It is not uncommon for Releases to overlap.
THE MULTIPLE RELEASE:
RELEASE RELEASE RELEASE
1 2 3
1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3
1 1 1 1 1 1/2 2 2 2 2 2/3 3 3 3 3
1 1 1 1 1 FZ 2 2 2 2 FZ 3 3 3 3 FZ
Freeze
Project Approval Development Analysts should always be at least an Iteration ahead of
Manual Development and QA never more than one Iteration behind
Scope Definition
Quality Assurance
Analyst Why
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15. Proven Approach – Life of a Feature
Feature
Brainstorm Decompose
Deliver
Approved features
solution
Business into stories
Case
Product Planning &
Vision & Balance Collect
Roadmap Visioning breadth & feedback &
depth defects
Features are large rocks to be broken down into
manageable pieces. Before any coding, the directional
solution can be validated using process flows understanding
system and user interactions and wireframes/screen mock- Attributes of a Story:
ups to review visual components. These elements help derive U nderstandable
user stories following U-INVEST structure. I ndependent
N egotiable
There will be additional stories and feedback. Need to balance V aluable
addressing these(depth) while continuing to make progress on E stimatable
all features (breadth) against one resource pool S mall
T estable
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16. Proven Approach – Status & Metrics
Iteration and Release Plan (IRP) - The IRP is the decomposed Backlog with
priorities, estimates, status, and other metric tracking elements
Value Wheel – A graphical
depiction of where project
effort, and dollars, are being
spent
New
24%
Burndown – A graphical representation of how a Defects
project has progressed from week to week 7%
Original
69%
300.00
250.00 Complete
200.00
Dev Complete
150.00
100.00 In Progress
50.00 Remaining
Status reporting for a feature is tracked by four
0.00 Targeted Velocity
8/28 9/18 10/9 10/30 11/20
“Done” milestones – Requirements Done,
Prototype Done (first user-facing solution), QA
Done, and User Done. True or False. No %
complete.
Status is supported by several metrics and tools with
the major tools shown here.
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17. Project Metrics : An Example of Things Going Well
Why this is Good:
• Velocity and deliver
trends are consistent
• Project scope never
exceeded team
forecasted velocity
• Rework was below
20% threshold
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18. Project Metrics : An Example of Things Going Bad
Why?
Why this is Bad:
• Project never achieves
predictable velocity.
• Refactoring and planning
is inconsistent.
• More scope then
available
velocity, business is slow
to respond
• $.31 on every dollar in
this Release went to fix
an avoidable defect
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19. Troy Bitter
tbitter@cohesion.com
513.407.9996
Cohesion.com
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