Sample Agile Assessment Report for XYZ Company Presented by ……….. For Agile Outlook Please contact Agile Outlook at agileoutlook@gmail.com for customized presentations, templates, reports and assessments for Agile Projects

Scope of Agile Readiness Assessments Agile Outlook performed an initial assessment of XYZ Company’s Software development process to identify how Agile development practices could improve meeting business demand and throughput for the company

Observations and Findings XYZ Agile Readiness Observations and Findings 1. Agile Practices XYZ started its first Agile project with Marketing Applications team two years ago Scrum is the Agile Framework that is in use in Marketing Rest of the Business Units are still using Waterfall approach to Software Development 2. Project Prioritization Our assessment identified that following four projects are suitable candidates for Agile projects at XYZ Mobile Customer Web Portal HR and Payroll Systems Accounting and Finance Workflows

Observations and Findings XYZ Agile Readiness Observations and Findings 3. Distributed Organization Challenges arise from having portions of the development effort and people being geographically distributed. Cycle time for getting questions answered will be lengthened, and communications and cultural differences also affect the work. 4. Culture There is a fear of the unknown. Under Agile, status quo of people will be challenged. Much of the authority and decision making will shift as teams become more self-organizing and cross-functional. Product Owners will need to have the authority to manage and order their respective product backlog to support delivery of working and valuable software

Observations and Findings XYZ Agile Readiness Observations and Findings 5. Roles and Responsibilities/Staffing 70-80 % of software development work is outsourced to contractors. It is unclear what current roles of FTEs will map into roles under Agile development approaches. XYZ is a publicly traded company; therefore, a stronger business case will be required to justify changes in roles and responsibilities with HR and Finance. The organization might see resistance to change from FTEs when going agile. Since turnover rate of contractors is high, this may also create problems with building self-organizing, cross-functional and matured Agile teams. 6. Project Budgeting How projects are funded can be problematic; billing processes can be different, and the need for balancing projects by type can cause project prioritization to be reordered. There could be concern expressed around how process budgeting would be done in an Agile organization.

Observations and Findings XYZ Agile Readiness Observations and Findings 7. Training There is a need for training across the organization in a move to a more agile model of software delivery. It was noted that it is important for management to be trained as part of the mix, and that all distributed and offshore teams would need appropriate training and coaching as well. XYZ LMS has limited resources for people to go and gain hands on knowledge on Agile 8. Tools and Process Considerations Assessment sensed a bit of challenges in tools and process. For example there are tools and process already in place in the current SDLC methodology and it will need to be worked out how these will be used in Agile-based methodologies such as Scrum and Kanban

Recommendations Pursue Agile Methodology for Software Development This is an obvious recommendation, but is included so as to set context for the rest of the recommendations to follow In pursing a path to organizational agility, changes in corporate culture will naturally occur as our methods for collaboratively delivering software align with our goals and objectives. Agile values individuals and interactions over processes and tool, working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and responding to change over following a plan. We expect to see these values becoming infused across the organization Apply a Lean Governance model based on Agile principles that also meets the needs resulting from compliance with regulatory and auditing requirements Based on the scope of Software Development Projects, two Agile frameworks suits better for XYX Kanban: For routine Maintenance and IT Infrastructure support Scrum: For API led Development and new Non-API led development

Recommendations 2. Projects ordered by value, with value metrics determined in an objective manner Consideration should be given to ordering the project list according to objective value factors. Over time, as Agile-based methodologies are used, it is likely that projects will become more focused on delivering only the needed highest-value features and become more manageable as a result. Regardless of Waterfall SDLC in use, ordering projects on an agreed upon set of value factors should help reduce uncertainty and project churn, while adding predictability. Agile approach expects work to be prioritized – so an ordered project list with a Product Portfolio Owner is recommended.

Recommendations 3. Create a pilot Scrum project The best measure of success in software delivery is working, valuable software. Agile is based on an empirical approach – learning from doing, and continuously improving. A pilot project based on delivery of software by a Scrum team is the best way to learn how to adapt Agile values and approaches in the organizations. The formation and guidance for the pilot project will be conducted by the Agile Path Team. Select a candidate project Form Scrum team - designate roles and responsibilities Given the matrix nature of roles and responsibilities in XYZ, this could be challenging  Deliver training Determine tools to be use Identify metrics and reports Develop communications plan Determine what facilities are needed (e.g., where standups and other meetings are held) Consider what is needed for offshore: training, coaching, communication enablement

Recommendations 4. Training and Coaching Determine training plan and deliver training and coaching to the Pilot team according to roles. Training can take the form of multi-day workshops all the way to informal sessions to cover particular topics with individuals or groups.

Recommendations 5. Execute pilot Scrum Project Team executes – form product backlog, do planning, groom epics/stories, develop software in sprint cadence, and everything needed to deliver completed and valuable software. Coaching and guidance is provided throughout the pilot. The pilot will teach us how to add additional teams and continue in the transformation.

Recommendations 6. Development Quality Assurance Environment Agile expects all tasks needed to deliver valuable, working software to be done by the Scrum or Kanban team. This means that QA would be doing work daily in a Scrum sprint, for example, and therefore would need to have access to developed code and environment for testing Research with the enterprise technology teams is required to determine approach and cost.

Recommendations 7. Take a Step-by-Step approach to Scaling Up Agile Transformation Foundation Pilot a Team Scale to Several Teams Enterprise wide Agile Adoption Frameworks Roadmaps Agile Toolkit Educate Sponsors Training Modules Identify Pilot Team Initial PBIs Train pilot teams Agile Coaching (Backlog, Release, Velocity and Tracking) Prove Success, Measure Outcomes Technical Assessments Gain buy-in for Scaling Stand up several teams by Program/ Business Units Launch Tech. Transformation Establish Agile COP Educate on Lean Governance Demonstrate success with teams and gain buy-in for enterprise level transformation from leadership team Scale-up Agile Revise HR/Finance processes

Recommendations 8. Achieve an ideal Agile Enterprise status