balancing agility and discipline chapter 2 : contrasts and home grounds presented by: shawn mulkey

Balancing Agility and Discipline

Chapter 2 :Contrasts and Home Grounds

Presented By: Shawn Mulkey

Copyright 2004 Shawn Mulkey

Chapter Contents

• Evaluation Criteria

• Project Characteristics– Application– Management– Technical– Personnel

• Evidence– Empirical & Anecdotal


Application Characteristics• Goals

• Size– People– Complexity

• Environment


Agile Application Characteristics• Goals

– Rapid Value and Responsiveness– Organic Objectives– Avoids False Assumptions– Can Create Shortsightedness– Customer Involvement Vital

• Size– Small To Medium Teams

• 10 – 20 Members

– Defines Many Other Characteristics


Agile Application Characteristics• Environment

– Turbulent, “High-Change”– Emergent Requirements– Danger of Inadequate Testing– Focus on Current Project

• May Ignore Standards• Difficult to Integrate

– Target System Must Be Flexible


Plan-Driven Application Characteristics

• Goals– Predictability, Stability and High Assurance

• Enforced Through Standardization, Measurement & Control

– Breaks Down With High Rate of Change– Provides Standards Compliance

• Size– Scales Well to Large Projects– Knowledge and Communication Explicit


Plan-Driven Application Characteristics

• Environment– Covers Broad Range of Activities– Uses Architecture and Extensible Designs– Quantitative Process Improvement


Management Characteristics• Customer Relations

• Planning and Control

• Project Communications– Internal– External


Agile Management Characteristics• Customer Relations

– Dedicated, Collocated Representative– Connect to Consumer and Development– Customer Must Remain

• Focused• Informed• Unbiased

– Initial Trust Difficult To Build• Only With Early Deliveries• Best when Internal


Agile Management Characteristics• Planning and Control

– Means To An End– Operates on Implicit Knowledge

• Creates Agility• XP Techniques Support

– Kent Beck: “Planning Driven” over “Plan Driven”

• Project Communication– Tacit Interpersonal Contact– Knowledge Pooling (Retrospection)– Little One-Way Communication– Tolerance and Scalability Limit


Plan-Driven Management Characteristics

• Customer Relations– More Formal– Defined by Contract

• Implicit or Explicit• Can Become Stress Point

– Stable Relationship Base• Engineers Develop• Stakeholders Monitor

– Trust Imparted by Process Maturity• Can Be Misleading


Plan-Driven Management Characteristics

• Planning and Control– Plans Anchor Process– Provide Broad Communication– Leverages Historical Data

• Past Plans

– Rapid Change Elevates Costs

• Project Communication– Explicit, Documented Knowledge– Generally One-Way– Not Always Properly Scaled

• Greatest Common Denominator


Technical Characteristics• Requirements

• Development

• Testing


Agile Technical Characteristics• Requirements

– Adjustable Stories• More Informal than Use Cases

– Heavy Use of Iteration & Prioritization– Every Delivery Negotiated

• Strongest Need• Feasible Inclusion

– Some Requirements Difficult to Capture• Non-Functional• Quality

– Risk Evaluation Useful Technique


Agile Technical Characteristics• Development

– Fundamental Differences– Simple Design vs. Architecture

• BDUF vs. YAGNI

– Several Assumptions• Amortizes Rework• Future Capabilities Never Used

– Assumptions Problematic• Experts Contain Rework Effort• Low Rework Doesn’t Scale• Foreseeable Additions Need Architecture


Agile Technical Characteristics• Testing

– Test Driven Development– Pair Programming Reviews– Avoids Documentation– Addresses Tests Early– Provides Explicit Application Knowledge– Rapid Change Costly– Coverage May Be Inadequate

• Lack of Expertise


Plan-Driven Technical Characteristics

• Requirements– Complete– Consistent– Traceable– Testable– Traditionally Performed Externally– CMMI Has Introduced New Concepts

• Evolutionary Requirements• Integrated Teaming

– Requirements Risk Analysis Valuable



• Development– Planning & Architecture

• BDUF

– High Re-Use Potential– Overkill in Small Projects– Can Employ Rapid Techniques

• Incremental• Pair Programming



• Testing– Suffers Late Discovery Problem

• Too Much Work Done First• Requirements & Design Checking Helps

– Test Plan• Allows End-to-End Testing• Document Upkeep Expensive

– Testing Usually External• Can Create Adversarial Relationship


Personnel Characteristics• Customers

• Developers

• Organizational Culture


Agile Personnel Characteristics• Customers

– Central Concept– Representative Must Be CRACK

• Collaborative• Representative• Authorized• Committed• Knowledgeable

Not On Crack


Agile Personnel Characteristics• Developers

– Requires “Critical Mass” of Premium People• Amicability• Talent• Skill• Communication

– Without Process Breaks Down

• Culture– Empowered By “Many Degrees Of Freedom”– Bottom-Up Revolutionary Flavor– Early CMM Had Similar Feel


Plan-Driven Personnel Characteristics

• Customers– Also Need CRACK Reps– Planning Allows Part-Time Presence– Guided By Contract

• Can Become Burdon

• Developers– Can Utilize Expertise Early

• Concentrate Talent• Utilize Other Resources

– 49.999% Developers Below Median


The (Adapted) Cockburn Scale

Levels of Software Method Understanding and Use

Level Characteristics

3 Able to revise in unprecedented situation

2 Able to tailor a method to fit new situation

1A With training can perform discretionary steps, can train to level 2

1B With training can perform basic procedural steps

-1 May have technical skills but unable or unwilling to collaborate


Plan-Driven Personnel Characteristics

• Culture– Clear Policies & Procedures– Defines Role– Clarifies Expectations & Constraints– Clear Integration Boundaries– Agile Techniques Recognized– Bureaucracy Can Hinder


Home Ground Summary

Characteristics Agile Plan-Driven

Primary Goals Rapid value, Responding to change

Predictability, Stability

Size Smaller teams and projects

Larger teams & project

Environment Turbulent; high change; project-focus

Stable; low-change; project/organization focused

Application


Home Ground Summary


Customer Relations

Dedicated on-site customers

As-needed customer interactions

Planning & Control

Internalized plans; qualitative control

Documented plans; qualititative control

Communication Tacit interpersonal knowledge

Explicit documented knowledgeM

anagement


Home Ground Summary


Requirements Prioritized informal stories and test cases

Formalized project, capability

Development Simple design; refactoring assumed inexpensive

Extensive design; refactoring assumed expensive

Testing Executable test cases define requirements

Documented test plans and procedures

Technical


Home Ground Summary


Customers Dedicated, collocated, capable performers

Capable performers, not always collocated

Developers At least 30% full-time level 2 and 3 experts; avoid 1Bs

50% level 3s early;10% throughout; 1Bs workable

Culture Empowered with degrees of freedom

Empowered by framework of policies and procedures

Personnel


Decision StarPersonnel

% Level 1B % Level 2 & 3

CriticalityLoss due to impact of defects Dynamism

% Requirements-change/month

SizeNumber of personnel

Culture% Thriving on chaos vs. order

10

90

70

50

30300

3

100

1030

Essential Funds

Losable Funds

ComfortSingle Life

Multiple Lives

0

10

20

30

40

30

25

20

15

35

50

510

30

1

Agile

Plan - Driven


Question & Answer

?


Fin

Shawn Mulkey

[email protected]

balancing agility and discipline chapter 2 : contrasts and home grounds presented by: shawn mulkey

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