1. The role of Finance in Agile Application Development
The role of Finance in Agile Application Development
CFIT December 2015

2. Agile and it’s history Set of software development methods
Iterative methods trace back to the 50’s, however “Agile Methodology” is a concept founded in the late 80’s/90’s
Evolved in reaction to the perceived heavyweight waterfall methods that were called regulated, regimented and micro-managed
Agile Manifesto published in 2001 by 17 software developers that met up in Utah
IDC estimates that the market for Agile tools to be $1B+ by 2017 2

3. WORKING CUSTOMER SOFTWARE TO CHANGE INDIVIDUALS RESPONDING
The Agile Manifesto
CUSTOMER
INDIVIDUALS 1
COLLABORATION 3
AND INTERACTIONS
over contract negotiation
over processes and tools
RESPONDING
WORKING
TO CHANGE 2 4
SOFTWARE
over following a plan
over full documentation
Individuals and interactions: self-organization and motivation are important, as are interactions like co-location and pair programming.
Working software: working software is more useful and welcome than just presenting documents to clients in meetings.
Customer collaboration: requirements cannot be fully collected at the beginning of the software development cycle, therefore continuous customer or stakeholder involvement is very important.
Responding to change: agile methods are focused on quick responses to change and continuous development. 3

4. So what does that mean? Time Time
“Waterfall” is a sequential development approach
Agile teams do a little of everything all of the time
Requirements
Design
Time
Build
Test 4

5. So what does that mean? Time
“Waterfall” is a sequential development approach
Agile teams do a little of everything all of the time
Agile breaks the project down into slices of product
Finished product is released iteratively, and the output of each iteration feeds future requirements and design (adaptive)
Requirements
Design
Build
Test 4

6. Who uses Agile? And what is Agile used for:
Commercial software
In-house and contract development
Financial applications
ISO 9001-certified applications
Video game development
FDA-approved, life-critical systems
Satellite control software
Mobile phone
Some of the largest applications in use
In the 2014 State of Agile survey (3,925 organizations):
Number of organizations using Agile 94%
Majority of the teams are applying Agile 45%
Organizations with >5,000 people 35%
Organizations practicing Agile >5 years 24%
2014 State of Agile survey by VersionOne 5

7. Is Agile more ‘successful’?
Waterfall
32%
12%
56%
Agile 9%
39%
52%
2015 Chaos Report by Standish Group 6

8. 44% 37% 42% 38% Why do Agile projects fail? Agile projects still fail
Lack of experience with Agile methods
37%
Pressure to follow waterfall processes
42%
Company culture at odds with core Agile values
38%
Lack of management support
Agile projects still fail
Surveys indicate that the primary reasons for failure are linked to two primary issues:
Organizational culture or general resistance to change
Not having the right skill set
2014 State of Agile survey by VersionOne 7

9. Agile and Finance – topics for thought
Applicability of existing internal control framework and evidence of testing
Capitalization of software development costs
Finance needs to be tightly integrated with IT
Impact on budgeting and planning – Agile is not about prescriptive planning
Project management, reporting and tracking 8

10. Agile – Role of Finance
A critical role in Agile projects (Scrum) is the concept of a Product Owner, who should be from the business (vs. IT)
Work with IT to understand Agile, where Agile is being used, and how company policies may need to be adapted to embrace Agile principles while meeting Finance needs
Embrace training and invest in the ‘spirit’ of Agile vs. the mechanics and marketing spin. Avoid being a waterfall shop with Agile mechanics
Work with Financial Control and Internal Audit groups to understand and train them on the impact of Agile to control frameworks, especially where Agile is being used on key finance (SOX) applications
Define Finance reporting needs and work with the software development process to get the reports and information you need 8

11. Q&A