distributed agile development

Distributed Agile

Development

Case studies of different setups and

techniques used

By István Margetin

2011 © EPAM Systems

2010 © EPAM Systems 2

Introduction

Istvan Margetin

Senior project manager

- Joined EPAM in 2002

- Specialized in agile accounts since 2007

- Member of the Agile Enthusiasts EPAM community

- Stakeholder of #9


Summary5

Case study: Hotels.com4

Case study: Fitch Ratings3

Case study: Screwfix2

The challenge1

Agenda


The Challenge

Manifesto for Agile Software Development

We are uncovering better ways of developing

software by doing it and helping others do it.

Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on

the right, we value the items on the left more.

http://agilemanifesto.org/

http://agilemanifesto.org/


Summary5




The challenge1

Agenda


Screwfix The customer

Screwfix Direct

Screwfix Direct is the fastest growing company in Kingfisher plc, a FTSE 100 Global “Home Improvement” retailing group (B&Q, BricoDepot, Castorama, Hornbach, Screwfix) with $18bn annual sales.

Screwfix sell online (100K parcels dispatched weekly) and through over 140 retail trade counters. They sell tools, fixtures and fittings to the home and trade markets.


Screwfix Project Vision

Project vision

Screwfix was looking to change both its development approach and step change its existing legacy systems into a platform that is robust and scalable for the future.

The existing architecture couldn’t keep up with the business growth in processing capacity. Demands for new functionality required process changes to increase the speed of delivery.


Screwfix Locations involved

Now

Yeovil – Management, Business stakeholders,

Reduced BA & TA team, 1 development triplet

Kiev – Scrum masters, Development team

2007-2010

Yeovil – Management, Business stakeholders, BA

& TA team, development team

Budapest – development team

Kiev – development team


Screwfix Agile rollout 1/2

• An Agile coaching programme was applied across the single (Screwfix & EPAM) team. The coaching and education investment was made in all team members (regardless of organisation).

• Screwfix implemented a staged approach to the Agile and XP roll-out to ensure both developers and the business completed the journey.

• Commited to the vision of ‘one development community, regardless of employer’

• Started with very heavy EPAM onsite presence (30+), whichgradually decreased and got replaced by frequent visits inboth directions


Screwfix Agile rollout 2/2

Agile & XP JourneyTest Driven

Development

Compulsory Pair Programming

Daily Stand Up Meetings

Show and Tells

Retrospectives

Iteration ZeroAutomated Acceptance

Testing

Continuous Integration

Comparative Estimation

Voluntary Pair Programming

Constant Retrospection, Process refining and PlanningXP Programming Contest

June 2007 Dec 2007 June 2008 Dec 2008 June 2009 Dec 2009 June 2010

Planning meetings

Pomodoro


Screwfix Development model

Screwfix Project Manager

Off Shore Project Co-ordinator

Dev QA

Dev

Dev QA

Dev

On Site Project Co-ordinator

Dev QA

Dev

Screwfix Programme Manager

Dev QA

DevDev QA

Dev

Informal Communication

as necessary


Dev

QA

Dev


Dev

QA

Dev

Dev

QA

Dev


Dev

QA

DevD

ev

QA

Dev

Dev

QA

Dev

Informal Communication as necessary


Dev

QA

Dev


Dev

QA

Dev

Dev

QA

Dev


Dev

QA

DevD

ev

QA

Dev

Dev

QA

Dev

Informal Communication as necessary

•Resources are planned in “Triplets” – 2 x Developer + 1 x Tester•On shore co-ordinators can be Screwfix or EPAM resources•Each co-ordinator has 2-4 triplets depending on project.•Offshore triplets are entirely EPAM•Proportions of Offshore and Onshore Triplets change with projects.


Screwfix Tools

• Our Strategy – To open as many communication channels as possible, build and encourage relationships and let the teams decide how they prefer to communicate.

Dedicated fixed

VPN between

Screwfix and EPAM

IP Phone Systems

Linked

Chat Rooms

Enabled


Screwfix The results


Summary5




The challenge1

Agenda


Fitch Ratings The customer

Fitch Ratings

Dual-headquartered in New York and London with 50 offices worldwide, Fitch Ratings is a global rating agency providing rating, credit opinions, research and data. Fitch Ratings’ global expertise draws on local market knowledge and spans across the fixed-income universe.

Fitch Solutions

Since 2008, Fitch Solutions has offered a range of comprehensive data, analytical tools and risk services to fixed-income investors and other market participants. The firm also distributes Fitch Ratings' credit ratings, research and data through a variety of platforms. Product offerings cover research services, risk and performance analytics, structured finance solutions, pricing and valuation services, quantitative analytics and training.

Fitch Ratings and Fitch Solutions are part of the Fitch Group, a majority-owned subsidiary of Fimalac, S.A., headquartered in Paris, France.

http://www.fimalac.com/


Fitch Ratings Project vision

The Vision

Fitch Ratings was looking to develop and roll-out a common platform for their local websites, and in time port the global website over as well. Their existing systems lacked centralization and didn’t support report distribution and translation, neither single sign-on for customers of both local and the global sites.

The Japanese site was selected as a candidate to pilot the project, built on top of the Tridion SDL content management system. Existing reports were to be automatically imported from the global website, offered for translation based on a complex workflow. Also customer accounts were shared between the global website and the Tridion platform.


Fitch Ratings Locations involved

Chicago – Development team

New York – Fitch Management

London – Fitch Management

Budapest – Epam Management

Lviv – BA & TA team, Development team

Tokyo – Business stakeholders


Fitch Ratings Agile processes

Fitch Solutions already had an established agile process, that we

tailored to the project’s needs based on Epam’s experience and the

geological constraints

2 week iterations

Planning games

Sprint reviews

Daily Stand-ups

Retrospectives


Fitch Ratings Tools

Dedicated fixed

VPN between Fitch

Ratings and EPAM


Fitch Ratings The results


Summary5




The challenge1

Agenda


Hotels.com The customer

Hotels.com

As a member of the Expedia Inc. family of companies, Hotels.com is one of the largest retailers of travel on the Internet.

http://www.expediainc.com/


Hotels.com Project vision

Project vision

Epam took the project over from a previous provider in July, 2007. After half a year, the team started working on delivering brand new features. We are working on continuously improving the website, delivering internal tools for administration and maintenance activities and recently started implementing Hotels.com’s mobile strategy, the results of which are a mobile optimised website, an iPhone and an android native application so far.


Hotels.com Locations involved

London – Management, Business stakeholders,

BA & TA team

Budapest – BA & TA team, Development team

Szeged – Development team


Hotels.com Agile processes 1/2

• Started as a waterfall project with a resource pool forming new projects on demand

• Time to market with new features was a challenge• Shorter development and release cycle was required,

• Without comprimising quality

• Scrum was piloted on 2 teams, and rolled out in January 2010

• Moved to a full scrum environment by now with 10 established scrum teams and 5 supporting teams, each having dedicated Scrum Masters and Product Owners, separate backlogs and clear ownership of functional areas


Hotels.com Agile processes 2/2

Continuous integration environment has been established with high

automated test coverage both on the unit test and on the end-to

end test level to support quality (“fail fast”)


Hotels.com Tools

Dedicated fixed

VPN between

Hotels.com and EPAM

Frequent travels


Hotels.com The results


Summary5




The challenge1

Agenda


Summary Key items to make distributed agile a

success 1/2

Technology – Set the teams up for success

• The teams on all locations should have access to the same resources

• Shared calendars


Summary Key items to make distributed agile a

success 2/2

Communication – Trust & Respect

• Building trust between the teams, especially between customer and offshore partner is essential. Once built, trust also needs to be maintained!

• Schedule frequent travels, to both directions

• Each location should have an equal voice

Thanks

for Your Attention

EPAM Systems — Distributed Agile Development

By

István Margetin

Senior Project Manager

Budapest office, Budapest, Hungary

EPAM Systems

41 University Drive, Suite 202 | Newtown, PA 18940

p: +1 267 759 9000 | f: +1 +1 267 759 8989 | e: [email protected] | w: www.epam.com

http://www.epam.com/

distributed agile development

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