Agile Working Group Agile Method Critical Success Factors

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods2 Working Group Goals Determine Critical Success Factors for Implementing practices that support the Agile philosophy Obtaining organizational, projects and individual benefits from said practices

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods3 Participants Donald Reifer, USC-RCI (Moderator) Mohammed Al-Said, USC (Scribe) Barry Boehm, USC* Alistair Cōckburn, Humans and Technology Nancy Eickelmann, Motorola Michael Falat, DOD/DISA Bill Harenburg, Information Technology Management George Huling, Consultant Tony Jordano, SAIC Charles Leinbach, Freshwater Partners Michael Salone, US Army* Walker Royce, Rational * Roaming

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods4 Agenda Understand working group scope What is Agile? Questions and worries related to Agile Critical Success Factors Research opportunities Validation

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods5 The Agile Manifesto - Value on Maneuverability 1. Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools 2. Working software over Comprehensive documentation 3. Customer collaboration over Contract negotiation 4. Responding to change over Following a plan

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods6 Questions and Worries How do we explain what agile methods are, so potential adopters truly understand them? Worry – People will honestly fake it and continue to do business as usual. Worry – A loss of accountability Worry – Agility during development damages maintainability

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods7 Questions and Worries (2) Mapping between business model and methodology to evaluate the appropriateness How do we unify the industry and reduce polarization Domain of applicability? Adopters will misinterpret the philosophy which will lead to practices that don’t achieve desired objectives.

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods8 Questions and Worries (3) Can we invent ways to be maneuverable in both long – and short-term? Worry - Agile methods will fall out of favor. Worry – Lack of body of knowledge that supports agile methods. Worry - Hackers like to claim to be agile to avoid applying discipline.

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods9 Questions and Worries (4) Worry – Agile is not maneuver (in specific business models). Can I use it and get some benefit from it?

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods10 Critical Success Factors Using PPP&T People Right people with the right skills available when needed Teamwork Leadership Process Disciplined process Product Stable requirements and architecture Building codes CM QA Interface management Technology Didn’t work, we couldn’t find CSFs that are truly unique to Agile

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods11 The Agile Manifesto - Value on Maneuverability 1. Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools 2. Working software over Comprehensive documentation 3. Customer collaboration over Contract negotiation 4. Responding to change over Following a plan

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods12 CSFs: Individuals and Interations Over Processes and Tools Reward demonstrable results Encourage trying new ideas as appropriate Project individuals and interactions are guided by supportive processes and practices Number of practices used is way smaller than traditional sets All stakeholders buy-in People are disciplined by a few key practices (anchors)

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods13 CSFs: Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation Frequent demos of product software as it evolves More frequent than documents Demos in place of reviews. Doesn’t mean “no” documentation. Documentation focused on users and structure, not design.

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods14 CSFs: Customer Collaboration Over Contract Negotiations Customers/users are full-time team participants Open communications Adds value Trusting cultured Incremental contracting based on incremental results “what” vs. “how”

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods15 CSFs: Responding to Change Over Following a Plan Frequently evolve and reprioritize requirements (stories) Open to replanning project when and as needed don’t overplan appropriate level of detail Start the project with the mindset that you’ll be responsive to responsible change Responsible means balanced consideration between value, solution and resources

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods16 Research Topics 1. How much documentation and what kind is enough? What downstream documentation is useful? 2. What agile practices are being used, when and within what domains and how successful are they? 3. How do we do agile in an acquisition environment? Contracting, progress measurement, RFP,/SOW, progress monitoring, oversight, V&V, milestone payment 4. How do you do tech transfer with rogue programmers? 5. As compared to “traditional” projects, do agile projects: Increase quality Improve productivity Meet performance expectations Cut costs

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods17 Research Topics (2) 6. What are the next set of emerging agile best practices? Items 14, 15, … 7. What is the core set of practices amongst the agile practices? 8. The role of metrics in agile and how can they reenforce maneuverability New and existing metrics 9. What’s different about managing an agile project vs. a traditional project? 10. How does agile fit in with different business models? (web, military, etc.)

March 13, 2002USC-CSE Annual Research Review - Working Group on CSFs for Agile Methods18 Thanks to all the participants Questions?