Agile development

1. Agile development By Sam Chamberlain

2. First a bit of history..

3. Waterfall development and the V model

4. Waterfall the V model • In the beginning there was no process • Then waterfall is / was a very heavily used software development lifecycle (SDLC) • V model is an enhancement on the waterfall method with corresponding testing materials being prepared at each stage • Traditional project management is similar. For example PRINCE 2, MS Project, Gant charts etc.

5. V model characteristics • Try and decide requirements at the beginning • Budget and time also fixed • Lots of detailed, up-front specification and modelling (UML for example) • What usually happens is requirements change somewhat and then time and budgets slip as well • Disconnect between business and development • Testing and quality often an afterthought

6. Introducing Agile • Iterative and incremental • Fixed, time-boxing but then changing, prioritised requirements • Customer focussed • The Agile manifesto • Individuals and interactions over processes and tools • Working software over comprehensive documentation • Customer collaboration over contract negotiation • Responding to change over following a plan

7. More from the Agile Manifesto • Customer satisfaction by rapid delivery of useful software • Welcome changing requirements, even late in development • Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months) • Working software is the principal measure of progress • Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace • Close, daily co-operation between business people and developers • Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location) • Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted • Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design • Simplicity- The art of maximizing the amount of work not done - is essential • Self-organizing teams • Regular adaptation to changing circumstances

8. Agile and Agile Scrum • Scrum is a popular Agile methodology • Different to XP - eXtreme Programming or Unified Process, Lean etc. • But methodologies can be mixed • Characteristics of scrum • Sprints • Product and sprint backlog • Stand-up • User stories

9. Agile scrum - lifecycle

10. Scrum roles • Product owner • Responsible for Product Backlog • Interface with business, stakeholders and customers • Removes product obstructions • Scrum master • Facilitator for the scrum team • Enforces rules • Removes team obstructions • Development team • Programmers • Testers

11. Scrum lifecycle • Daily stand-up / scrum – “what have I done, what am I doing next, are there obstructions” • Backlog grooming with Product Owner • Sprint planning and “planning poker ”mainly with Development team • Development and testing • No new stories in the sprint • “Done, done” • Product release – working software  and communication with stakeholders • Sprint retrospective

12. Agile – board

13. Sample – burn-down chart

14. User stories and their use • "As a <user type> I want to <do some action> so that <desired result>“ • Small piece of functionality needed by a user • Stack rank – i.e. priority • Story points – important: measure of complexity only • Associated tasks – with time estimates • Includes detailed “acceptance criteria” • Should be at least one test for each acceptance criteria item • “Done, done” means a story has been closed – i.e. all tests passed successfully

15. Agile bugs • Bugs found in the iteration should be fixed in the iteration, otherwise the relevant story should be removed from the iteration. Planning needs to make time for this • Other bugs or customer bugs are placed in the backlog and put into iterations during planning • Bugs need to be reproducible and fully analysed before they are added to the backlog • Continuous integration and automated testing as well as experienced scrum will mean less bugs. A well working scrum often has no open bugs

16. Successful Agile • Constant improvement of process • Deliver around the same amount of story points each iteration • Even burn-down rate • Contents of iteration planning match what is released at the end of each iteration • Confident stakeholders – “if we don’t get it this iteration, we’ll get it in two weeks” • Constant refactoring • No or very few open bugs • Regular “cool-down” and refactoring iterations

17. Other aspects of Agile • Product roadmap and vision • Release notes and other documentation • Self organising teams • No managers, aside from line-managers • Scrum Master tries to enforce rules, remove impediments • Product Owner manages the product backlog and priorities, but has no control over what the scrum actually does • Pair programming – used allot in XP • Scrum / Agile works very well with SAAS

18. Continuous integration • Technical: Scrum / developer responsibility • Code repository and daily builds • Constant check-ins • Tests run frequently • Automated testing – build up a regression test suit (code) that can be run any time, quickly • Separate Dev, testing, staging and live systems • Can help to have a tool to manage everything from the scrum, to the code and check-ins, to the test suit, to reporting – for example MS TFS

19. Implementing Agile for a Company • Asses suitability of Agile and appropriate parts • Form team and define roles • Good to have experienced Scrum Master • Need dedicated tester(s) • Need Product Owner • Decide on tool(s) • Product Road map • Define and start to prioritise and groom user stories • Start scrum cycles • Move towards continuous integration and automated testing

20. Sam Chamberlain – relevant skills • Plan and implement high level Agile processes • Guidance on Agile and Agile principles • Product ownership • Product road map and product release • Business and systems analysis • Extensive technical knowledge • Testing and training • Supplier shortlisting, selection and management • Recruitment

21. Questions?

22. Thank you