Date post: | 06-May-2015 |
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EVAN LEYBOURN
AUTOPSY OF A FAILED AGILE PROJECT
Evan LeybournLean / Agile Business Leader and AuthorMelbourne, Australia@eleybournhttp://theagiledirector.com
Project 1: Business Intelligence
Primary Cause of Failure: Customer Engagement
SYMPTOM #1:
POOR ENGAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATION
SYMPTOM #2:
NO TRUST BETWEEN BUSINESS &TEAM
SYMPTOM #3:
LACK OF SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS
POORLY MANAGED EXPECTATIONSSYMPTOM #4:
MISUNDERSTANDING BUSINESS VALUESYMPTOM #5:
‘A manufacturer is not through with his customer when a sale is completed. He has then only started with his customer.’
- Henry Ford, 1922
PREVENTION #1:
DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT PRODUCT OWNER?
PREVENTION #2:
HAVE YOU TRAINED THE CUSTOMER & PRODUCT OWNER?
PREVENTION #3:
ARE THERE CLEAR AND AGREED EXPECTATIONS?
Project 2: Telecommunications
Primary Cause of Failure: Poor Planning
SYMPTOM #6:
CONFLICT BETWEEN CUSTOMER AND STRATEGIC WORK
SYMPTOM #7:
POORLY DEFINED PROJECT GOALS
POORLY DEFINED SUCCESS CRITERIASYMPTOM #8:
‘It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.’
- Winston Churchill, ~1960
PREVENTION #4:
IS THE SYSTEM FRAMEWORK AVAILABLE?
PREVENTION #5:
ARE THE GOALS AND END STATE CLEARLY DEFINED?
PREVENTION #6:
HAVE YOU PLANNED THE INITIAL ITERATIONS?
Project 3: Government
Primary Cause of Failure: The Team
SYMPTOM #9:
POOR AWARENESS OF THE WHY’S BEHIND AGILE
SYMPTOM #10:
CHRONICALLY UNDERSTAFFED
SYMPTOM #11:
MISSING REQUIRED SKILLS
COMPETING PRIORITIESSYMPTOM #12:
SYMPTOM #13:
LOW TEAM MORALE, TRUST OR RESPECT
SYMPTOM #14:
POOR SUPPORT FROM EXTERNAL TEAMS (e.g. DBA)
SYMPTOM #15:
NOT DELIVERING VALUE IN EACH ITERATION
‘Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley.’
- Sun Tzu, ~6th Century BCE
PREVENTION #7:
ARE YOU RECRUITING FOR AN AGILE TEAM?
HAVE YOU FOCUSED ON DEVELOPING TEAM CAPABILITY?PREVENTION #8:
PREVENTION #9:
CAN YOU POSTPONE STORIES NEEDING MISSING SKILLS?
IS YOUR TEAM TRAINED IN AGILE?PREVENTION #10:
Project 4: Information Management
Primary Cause of Failure: Infrastructure
UNDER-DEVELOPED ARCHITECTURESYMPTOM #16:
SYMPTOM #17:
MISSING SUPPORT DOCUMENTATION
SYMPTOM #18:
UNSTABLE UPSTREAM SYSTEMS & DATA
SYMPTOM #19:
POOR TEST TOOLS AND DATA
‘Beautiful objects are wrought by study through effort, but ugly things are reaped automatically without toil.’
- Democritus, ~4th Century BCE
HAVE YOU BUILT THE BASELINE INFRASTRUCTURE?
PREVENTION #11:
PREVENTION #12:
DOES YOUR INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORT ITERATIVE WORK?
PREVENTION #13:
DO TEAMS MANAGE THE DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT?
HAVE YOU INVESTED IN AUTOMATED TEST TOOLS?PREVENTION #14:
TO LEARN MORE, CHECK OUT
DIRECTING THE AGILE ORGANISATIONBY EVAN LEYBOURN
AVAILABLE AT AMAZON AND ALL GOOD BOOK STORES
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