Transition to Scrum Midway through a AAA Development Cycle: Lessons Learned Asbjoern Malte Soendergaard Development Manager Crytek GmbH

Taking advantage of agile in a non-agile environment

Agenda Why agile this late Our Process Next steps (for us)

Agile worked for us Shiped Crysis 12 months after implementing Scrum 80 developers (7-12 Scrum teams) 2/3 of the game was redeveloped Meta Critic Score of 91

Why agile this late in the production? Feature creep Unable to measure progress We needed to reduce scope Vision blurred by a huge project schedule

Minimize Waste Crysis strategy Cross disciplinary teams when possible Teams should always sit together Always solve tasks sequeltially, not simultanously Two things can ever be equally important – force creative priorities Progress only counts if it works in the build

Initial Product Backlog Figure out what features need to be done A feature means something you need at least two different skillsets to complete Make one big list in excel and try to group these in related areas Prioritize list Start with the featuregroup which is most important

Setting up the first Scrum Team Take the people you need out of the waterfall production team Seat them together away from the rest of the team Focus on getting this ONE team sprinting

Don't panic ! You have just started chaos People in the matrix structure will be frustrated Shelter your sprint team 80/20 Support Rule

Repeat the process Figure out what is the second most important feature group on your backlog Create a team based on who is left in the waterfall project plan Iterate these simple steps until everybody is sprinting Make sure leads are not Scrum Masters First team is the hardest

Scrum Structure at Crysis Product Owner Customer (Lead) Scrum Master Team Members

Product Backlog Managing expectations NOT schedules Creating Product Backlog Items is a process of negotiating with the team what you expect You define what you want, they go do it Tell people what is expected not how to achieve it

Product Backlog - First Iteration

Product Backlog Grooming – Second iteration

Product Backlog This is what we would like to improve Estimation process Valuation process Need a process to encourage people to prioritize

Current Product Backlog..\..\Desktop\GDC-Presentation.jpg

Current Product Backlog

Final thougths Common sense works, you just need a framework to scale it The product backlog helps you manage expectations and guide the team Dont be affraid to go down the agile path, but dont think you are agile just because you call it a sprint plan Always fall back to lean principles and continue to identify areas you can reduce waste

Questions? Asbjoern Malte Soendergaard