Intro to agile - Heidi Araya

1. Introduction
to Agile
The world awaits
Agile Maine Day
May 5, 2017
@HeidiAraya

2. Heidi
“there’s got to be a better way”
Araya
MBA, PMP, CAL, CSP, CSM, CSPO, LSSBB,
CRCMP
• Agile & Lean enthusiast
• Process improvement aficionado
• Systems thinker
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Enabling happy
workplaces by making it
fun to work together to
deliver value for the
business.
@HeidiAraya

3. What will we discuss today?
• What is Agile (and what it is not)
• Dispel common myths about
Agile
• How it is changing the way we
work and live
• How to be Agile minded
3@HeidiAraya

4. What did we do “before Agile”?
4@HeidiAraya
Requirements
Deploy
Design/Analysis
Implement
Integration
Test
Project
start
Project
end
• All-or-nothing approach
• Partially done work
• Extra features
• Task switching
We thought …
• Customers knew what they
wanted
• Nothing would change after
planning
• If something went wrong, it
was because someone
didn’t plan right or enough
The result was:
• Handoffs
• Delays
• Defects
• Product no one used And it was called… “Waterfall”

5. Now we have Agile...
• Agile is a set of principles and values that offers a foundation for decision-
making…A “mindset”
• Agile uses iterations, frequent feedback, & close customer collaboration to
deliver the highest-priority items first
• Change is welcomed, and requirements and solutions evolve through the
collaborative effort of small, self-organizing, cross-functional teams
• Quality, inspection and adaptation are key principles
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Project
end
Project
start
@HeidiAraya

6. History of Agile * abbreviated
• 1930s -Walter Shewhart proposed a series of short “plan-do-study-act” (PDSA)
cycles to improve products & processes
• 1943 - Lockheed researched and delivered a fighter jet using key Agile practices
• 1950s -Toyota hired Deming, who developed theToyota Production System
(TPS), the beginning of “lean” thinking
• Late 1950s - NASA’s Mercury program used half-day iterations to produce working software
• 1961 - John Boyd’s ”OODA” Loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) which Scrum later borrows
• 1970s - US Navy developed helicopters using short cycles (iterations)
• 1986 - “the New New Product Development Game” byTakeuchi & Nonaka identified specific
conditions in successful product manufacturing companies and coined the term “Scrum”
• 1990s - Rick Dove’s book “Response Ability” discusses enterprise agility
• 1995 - Scrum for software was presented at a conference by Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber
• 2001 - “Agile Manifesto” specifically related to software development (signed by 17 software leaders)
@HeidiAraya

7. Agile is not …
• A methodology
• A framework or process
• A specific system
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Agile is …
• Upheld by a mindset
• Described by a set of 4 values
• Defined by 12 principles
• Supported by many practices,
processes and tools
Mindset
Values
Principles
Practices
Processes
&Tools
@HeidiAraya

8. Agile Manifesto- Describes 4 AgileValues
Individualsandinteractionsover processes and tools
Workingsoftwareover comprehensivedocumentation
Customercollaborationover contract negotiation
Respondingto changeover followinga plan
We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.
Created in 2001 by 17 software development leaders

9. 12 Agile Principles – acknowledged & addressed issues
encountered with traditional projects
1 Satisfy the customer through early and
continuous delivery of valuable software
2 Welcome changing requirements, even
late in development
3 Deliver working software frequently
4 Business people and developers work
together daily throughout the project
5 Build projects around motivated
individuals and trust them
6 Convey information face-to-face where
possible
7 Working software is the primary measure of progress
8 Agile processes promote sustainable development
9 Continuous attention to technical excellence and
good design enhances agility
10 Simplify: Maximize the amount of work not done
11 The best architectures, requirements, and designs
emerge from self-organizing teams
12 Team reflects, inspects and adapts to become
more effective
@HeidiAraya

10. Practices, Methods, Ideas, & Frameworks that support Agility
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Modern Agile
.. and more

11. Processes andTools
Many processes and tools support the Agile mindset & way of working
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Story
points
Retrospectives
Backlog
refinement
Definition
of Done
Visual
Boards
Small
teams
Acceptance
Criteria
Planning
Poker
Standups
Sprint
Review
Kickoffs
Pair
Programming

12. It’s easy to forget…
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…Without the right mindset, the practices will have little value
Doing Agile Practices Being Agile Mindset
~20% benefit
• Ability to manage
changing priorities
• Improved visibility
• Improved quality
• Reduced risk
~3x benefit
• Customer delight
• Joy at work
• Engagement
• Innovation, creativity
• Continuous learning
Most value comes from mindset & culture, not practices
@HeidiAraya
Mindset
Values
Principles
Practices
Processes
& Tools
≠

13. Why we needAgile
• Agile enables organizations to cope with continuous change
• Embracing Uncertainty: businesses must handle increasingly volatile,
uncertain, complex and ambiguous situations
• Competition: Businesses must become as
nimble as the rapidly changing world
• Sustainability:The only way to cope in
today’s marketplace is to embrace Agile
• Software is becoming central to most
businesses… Agile is becoming key
• Agile puts the customer first
• People love working this way
13https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2016/09/08/explaining-agile/#8e59428301b8

14. Agile is changing the way we work
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• Large projects lasted for a year or more
without interim check-ins
• People were given instructions by their
managers and expected to carry them
out independently
• No worker feedback was given for up to
a year in a written annual review
• Daily collaboration is normal; feedback almost
instantaneous
• Workers may know more about a topic than their manager
• Teams need to make independent decisions quickly
• Managers are now expected to enable an environment so
people can do their best work

15. The Org chart is turning upside down
• Workplaces are
evolving … often, entire
organizational
structure
needs to change
• Some organizations &
managers are
struggling to change
from giving top-down
orders to enabling self-
organizing teams
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16. Challenges of “Transforming” to Agile
• Difficult to start & transform a company
when it includes organizational design
changes (especially larger orgs)
• Many misunderstandings about Agile
• No one Agile recipe that fits all
companies or situations
• Not all teams likely can use the same
tools, processes or frameworks
• Management is used to seeing information presented in a certain way and
it’s difficult to train them to want new kinds of information
• Change is hard!
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17. Some Myths about Agile
• Agile is new
• Agile is only for software
• There is no planning in Agile
• Agile means no documentation
• There is no room for managers in Agile
• Agile will fix a troubled project immediately
• Agile delivers the same scope of work but much cheaper
• ImplementingAgile is easy; we don’t need help or training
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18. Advantages of Agile
1. Revenue – early to market fewer features
results in better ROI over time
2. Speed-to-market – deliver sooner and get
feedback
3. Ability to respond to change
4. Value-driven and goal-oriented
5. Quality is built in from the beginning
6. Visibility & transparency into actual progress
7. Risk management – early warning of problems
8. Customer needs are met through business & customer engagement
9. Cost Control – usually fixed, stable teams
10. Happier, more productive people
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19. How to be Agile-minded
1. Break things down into bite-size pieces
2. Focus on outcomes instead of output
3. Make your work visible and transparent
4. Track your progress
5. Inspect & adapt using feedback
6. Embrace change
7. Daily standup meetings
8. Look to limit “Work in Process” & work “Just inTime”
9. Continuous improvement & learning through education
10. Self-organize instead of expecting to be directed
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20. Being Agile-minded: getting started
1. Bite-sized pieces of work
2. Focus on outcomes instead
of output
3. Limit WIP
4. Work is visible/transparent
5. Track progress
6. View daily
7. Ask for feedback along the
way
8. Adjust to priority changes
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Digital boards can be created free atTrello.com

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Heidi Araya
Agile Leader @
Phone: 407-403-3361
Email: Heidi@brightlogicgroup.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/heidiaraya/
Twitter: @HeidiAraya
Questions?