Scrum at a waterfall organization

Copyright 2010 Code71 Inc. All rights reserved.http://www.code71.com http://www.scrumpad.com

A Large State Agency

Applying SCRUM on a Government Project in a Waterfall Organization

Syed Rayhan

Co-founder, Code71, Inc.Contact: [email protected]: http://blog.syedrayhan.comCompany: http://www.code71.comProduct: http://www.scrumpad.com


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My Background

Expertise

Career

Iterative incremental development

Technology planning and architecture

On-shore/Off-shore software development using Agile/Scrum

Interests

Co-founder, Code71, Inc. 15+ years of total experience Co-author of “Enterprise Java with UML”

Cultural aspect of self-organizing team Scrum for small projects delivered remotely Agile engineering practices


3

Agenda

Recap

Approach to Scrum adoption

Section 2

Section 4

Section 3

Retrospection

Project summary

Section 5

IntroductionSection 1

Q&ASection 6


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What to Expect

Focus

Context

How we are incrementally adopting Scrum

How we are continuing to bridge the two worlds-- Scrum and Waterfall

Candid look at what is working, what is not working, and how we have adjusted to succeed

Key Takeaways

How to run an Scrum project in a Waterfall organization

How to overcome organizational resistance to adopting Scrum

What Scrum practices to customize and why

IT culture at the agencies is deeply rooted in the traditional waterfall

Team is green in terms of working in an iterative incremental

software development


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Agenda

Recap


Section 2

Section 4

Section 3

Retrospection

Project summary

Section 5


Q&ASection 6


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Project Context • VA Department of Motor Vehicle (custodian agency)

• VA Department of Transportation

• State and local law enforcement agencies

ProjectJustification

Clients

Political Landscape

• Ensure public safety on roads

• Reduce traffic collisions

• Inter agency tension

• Intra agency politics

• Federal funding


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Project Context (cont.)

• Contractors and consultants

• Core team has 12 members with cross-functional

• Located on-site

Funding

Staffing

Timeline

• Federal grant

• $4.5 M

• 2006 through 2009

• Phased release

• 60 sprints completed to-date


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Project Organization

Program Mgr AuditTeam

Tester

BusinessAnalyst

Developer

TransportationOversight

CommitteeExecutive Steering

Committee

IT Project ManagerLead ArchitectScrum Coach

Developer

Working Leadership Committee

BusinessAnalyst

Developer

TARB

Agency Resources

DeveloperDeveloper


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Project Initiation

• Program and project managers joined in the 3rd qrt. of 2005• High level scoping• Feasibility study

• Architect and Analyst joined in the 3rd qrt. of 2006• Use case development• Solution architecture definition• Products and tools selection• Software development methodology definition

• The team was hired by 2nd qrt. 2007• Development environment procured and setup• Bullpen setup for the project team • Day-long intro to Scrum• Day-long team assimilation

Program Scoping

Solution Exploration

Project Initiation


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Agenda

Recap


Section 2

Section 4

Section 3

Retrospection

Project summary

Section 5


Q&ASection 6


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Why Scrum?

• Requirements are well understood

• Technology/tools are already in place

• Project is confined to single organization

• For maintenance and enhancement type project

• Small projects

• Requirements are evolving

• Technology/tools are new

• Project spans multiple organizations

• For new application

• Mid to large projects

• Functionality and technology are evolving

• Touches multiple organizations

• New technology

• Dependency on other projects that are in-flight (eg RNS, STARS)

• Large project

Waterfall Iterative TREDS

The focus was internal, not external The scope of Scrum was the project, not the organization


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Approach to Scrum Adoption

Phase#1

Tactical / Sprint focus

Implement basic elements of

Scrum

Self-organization

Basic rituals

Basic tracking

Mind-shift/ behavioral adaptation

Team formation

Organizational

acceptance/approval

Phase#2

Strategic / Release focus

Implement advanced elements of

Scrum Release planning

Product backlog

Prioritization

Advanced tracking

Metric (velocity)

Engineering practices


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Phase#1 of Scrum Adoption

• Self-organization• Inspect and adapt• Establishing three core roles• Accountability and ownership

• Daily Scrum• Sprint planning• Burndown chart• Sprint review• Managing progress /commitment and impediment board• Retrospect

• Team assimilation (I vs. we)• Defining Core values• Ground rules for team dynamics • Building trust relationship• Getting to know each other

Behavioral

Basic Rituals

Team Formation


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Phase#2 of Scrum Adoption

• Backlog management• Story-based requirements • Release burndown• Velocity• Product burndown

• Unit testing• Continuous integration• Agile QA• Test driven development

• Team maturation• Re-enforcement of Core values• Cross training• On-boarding

Release Management

Engineering Practices

Team Formation


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Agenda

Recap


Section 2

Section 4

Section 3

Retrospection

Project summary

Section 5


Q&ASection 6


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How to assimilate a new team?

A team assembled with people working together for the first time

No experience with iterative development

Use “retrospect” effectively

Nudge the team to “storming” stage

Problem

Strategy

Lessons Learned

Be ready to make the difficult decision of “letting go”

Make sure the conflict do not permeate outside the team

Result

Had to let go two people who could not fit in

Took three months for the team to start storming


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How to create a “self-organizing” team?

A team habituated in command and control environment

A team expects to get detailed direction

Ensure team ownership of Sprint planning

Use “Progress/Commitment and Impediment board” effectively

Use “Daily Scrum” and “Burndown Chart” effectively

Problem

Strategy

Watch for unintended silos that may result

Nudge the team to think in terms “We vs. I”

Result

Still an on-going learning for the team

Silos by technology/functionality resulted

Lessons Learned


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How to create a sense of urgency?

Laid-back environment

Financial incentives are not designed for performance

No clear product ownership

Invite clients to sprint reviews (demo)

Problem

Strategy

The team may start to take short-cuts to have perfect demo

Result

Motivated the team to forge ahead at a constant pace

Created a sense of excitement in the minds of clients

Helped accelerate procurement and setup of environments

Lessons Learned


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How to leverage organizational politics?

Agencies have historical tensions between each other

Individuals have personal agendas

Decisions seem to get stuck in a “black hole”

Use TARB (Technology Architecture Review Board)

Use rules of engagement for decision making

Identify team spokesperson for each area of interests

Problem

Strategy

Scrum Master should be extra vigilant about protecting the team from organization politics

Result After formation of TARB, the team was able to make technical decisions quickly

Lessons Learned


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What is an appropriate length of a Sprint?

The environment was slow paced

Find a pace to keep the team motivated

Balancing act between being complacent and stressed

Target a pace that keeps the team moving steadily and that client can keep up with

Problem

Strategy

3-week probably would give us the sustainable pace

Result

Considered 6-week, started with 4-week

Switched to 2-week sprints that gave us a better pace in phase#1

Lessons Learned


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Could the team negotiate the Sprint scope, really?

The team is apprehensive about whether Sprint scope is truly negotiable

Scrum Master is apprehensive of the team slacking off

Balancing act between control and trust

Start with trust, apply “carrot and stick” as needed

Problem

Strategy

Beware of pendulum swing in either direction

Result

Still have lingering issue with last minute de-scoping

Challenges remain with being able to see the forest vs. tree

Challenges remain with time management

Lessons Learned


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How to plan around waterfall elements in a Sprint?

Procurement is handled by an external agency

Project is dependent on external people who are transient

Get resource commitments prior to start of a sprint

Problem

Strategy

Determine the lead time required to get resource commitment

Look for workarounds

Result50% stories dependent on waterfall resources got de-scoped

Used a proxy to represent waterfall resources in daily Scrum

Lessons Learned


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Bridging the two worlds using documentation

• Sprint Backlog• Sprint Estimates• Release Backlog• Release Estimates

• Sprint Burndown• Progress Board• Impediment List• Release Burndown

• Anticipated impediment list

Project Plan

Tracking

Risk Management

• MS Project

• MS Project• Issues List

• Architecture document• Business requirements• Use-case document• QA test plan• Run book

Others

• Risk list

• Class/Sequence diagrams

Scrum Waterfall


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Audit (IV&V) feedback from Dec. 2007

“Indications are that this approach has worked well and will enable an on-time delivery of the functionality proposed for release early in 2008.”

“The current schedule identifies approximately 15 phases of distinct project activity. The schedule has not been baselined and does not show both target and actual dates. The absence of a baselined schedule with target and actual dates makes it more difficult to gauge project progress. The IV&V team did find evidence that the schedule is being maintained, and that milestone dates are being met.”

“In a project that involves three separate agencies and stakeholders, communications within the dedicated project team and extended project teams is critical. The IV&V team found that project communication receives a high degree of attention, and that overall communications within the project team and to the sponsor level at DMV is excellent.”

Done Well

ImprovementOpportunity


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Was Scrum helpful?

Costs

Planned Actual %Diff.

$1.66M $1.7M 2.5%

Timeline Jan 15, 2008 February 28, 2008 6 weeks

Issues surfaced early to help avoid impact on project schedule

Allowed scope change as late as a month before the release

Allowed us to do partial release

Flexibility

Risk

Result of the 1st Release


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Agenda

Recap


Section 2

Section 4

Section 3

Retrospection

Project summary

Section 5


Q&ASection 6


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Recap lessons learned

Scrum can be successfully used on Government projects that are

staffed with contractors and consultants

Accommodate waterfall world by mapping key Scrum artifacts to

traditional artifacts

Be ready to “let go” those who does not fit in the Scrum environment

Invite appropriate business stakeholders to Sprint reviews to

generate excitement

Use “stick and carrot” to strike a balance between “self-

organization” and “command and control”


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Recap lessons learned contd.

Determine the lead time required to be able to plan around Waterfall

elements of the project

Choose appropriate length for the sprint- 2/3 weeks

Use central decision making committee with engagement rules

Identify team spokesperson for each area of interests (i.e.,

architecture, project management, business requirements, etc.)

Hire the right people- 50% for technical ability, 50% for ability to self-

organize, and make sure to give a tour of the working environment

(Bullpen)…


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Q&A

“Retrospect session”

That’s me Agile Coach


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Contact

Please contact for on-site

training/coaching or Webinar:

Contact: [email protected]: http://blog.syedrayhan.comCompany: http://www.code71.comProduct: http://www.scrumpad.com

Date post:	06-May-2015
Category:	Technology
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