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A tasty concoction of Kanban
| Here's a great inforgraphic provided by toolsforagile.com outlining the ingredients required to make your Kanban implementation delightfully tasty:
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Posted on: June 30, 2013 11:53 PM
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Comments (1)
Is Agile going postal on us?
| Apparently so, as this article from FCW titled “USPS goes all-in on agile development” indicates that the US Post Office has “one of the largest and most complex in the world, and its growing preference for agile software development methods over its old-school waterfall methodology is having a positive effect on both the agency's bottom line and the mailing industry as a whole.” Started in 2010, they launched Agile as the replacement model for their existing waterfall methodology in four major distribution centers. One of the major pilot projects was the Mail Transport Equipment Online Ordering System (MTEOR) that “allows mailers to order and track mail transport equipment (MTE) online, such as the sacks, trays, pallets and wheel containers that contain mail in transit between facilities.” Looks like by adopting Agile, they were able to achieve some significant results such as a 90% reduction in phone calls to their support center and cost reductions. Due to this, the USPS has now set a policy to do Agile for all IT development projects: Agile software development methodologies and best practices – Scrum, Scrumban, software engineering best practices and the like – are now applied to most every project within USPS' IT shop, Edgar said. In fact, USPS IT has delivered more than 50 projects through agile development methodologies, and 25 projects are currently active. Design teams work with customers "almost daily," and communication between parties is integral to a project's success. So many project successes just three years into USPS' five-year agile adoption strategy roadmap helped spur the agency in March to declare that the agile development methodology will be the standard methodology for all projects unless an exception request is approved. So in a sense, the USPS is going Agile to avoid “going postal” with launching software development projects and I would think that would be a good thing. |
Posted on: June 15, 2013 08:57 PM
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When Agile fails on a massive scale publicly
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So here’s this report on the British government’s impending failure of a system called “Universal Credit” which is a way to manage welfare payments in real-time and through a unified entitlement program to lower costs and streamline the distribution process.
Unfortunately, signs are that it is a troubled project even despite the fact that they used “Agile” methods:
In fairness to Agile, it looks as though the method was adopted more in “sprit” and as a ruse, to get the public to think that they were going to use a modern project management method know to deliver software projects efficiently. As the author states, Agile “has been treated as a silver bullet – not as what it really is – just another design methodology – while much of what is supposed to happen with an agile software development project – especially regular and repeated testing of prototypes - has been conspicuously absent.” So of course their decision is to go back to a more traditional approach for the back-end and to use Agile for the front-end, customer facing portions of the system:
Though this will be perceived as an Agile project that failed on a massive scale, one could also view Agile as a method that allowed the failure to be noticed quicker than if they had used a more traditional approach.
Sadly, I’m not so sure if this will build confidence in the public’s overall perception of the government’s ability to deliver projects though.
So here’s this report on the British government’s impending failure of a system called “Universal Credit” which is a way to manage welfare payments in real-time and through a unified entitlement program to lower costs and streamline the distribution process.
Unfortunately, signs are that it is a troubled project even despite the fact that they used “Agile” methods:
Universal Credit is also the world’s biggest ever “agile development” software project and a massive financial and social (and hence political) risk for the government. Unless delivered on time and on budget then the consequences are grave – some of the most vulnerable people in society could be left literally destitute, with all that entails for their personal welfare and social order.
Yesterday the government – at least part of it – finally admitted in public what the rest of us have known for a long time: that the project is in deep trouble.
Universal Credit is also the world’s biggest ever “agile development” software project and a massive financial and social (and hence political) risk for the government. Unless delivered on time and on budget then the consequences are grave – some of the most vulnerable people in society could be left literally destitute, with all that entails for their personal welfare and social order.
Yesterday the government – at least part of it – finally admitted in public what the rest of us have known for a long time: that the project is in deep trouble.
In fairness to Agile, it looks as though the method was adopted more in “sprit” and as a ruse, to get the public to think that they were going to use a modern project management method know to deliver software projects efficiently. As the author states, Agile “has been treated as a silver bullet – not as what it really is – just another design methodology – while much of what is supposed to happen with an agile software development project – especially regular and repeated testing of prototypes - has been conspicuously absent.”
So of course their decision is to go back to a more traditional approach for the back-end and to use Agile for the front-end, customer facing portions of the system:
Some steps have been taken to try to rescue the project. The back end – the benefits calculation – has reportedly been shifted to a “waterfall” development process – which offers some assurances that the government at least takes its fiduciary duties seriously as it should mean no code will be deployed that has not been finished. The front end – the bit used by humans – is still meant to be “agile” – which makes some sense, but where is the testing? Agile is supposed to be about openness between developer and client and we – the taxpayers – are the clients: why can’t we see what our money is paying for?
Though this will be perceived as an Agile project that failed on a massive scale, one could also view Agile as a method that allowed the failure to be noticed quicker than if they had used a more traditional approach.
Sadly, I’m not so sure if this will build confidence in the public’s overall perception of the government’s ability to deliver projects though.
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Posted on: June 09, 2013 10:44 AM
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Comments (3)
Kicking Scrum to the curb with Kanban
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ThisThis article on the Scrum Alliance site has an interesting take on putting aside Scrum when your requirements change so much that you need Kanban to stabilize your release:
This article on the Scrum Alliance site has an interesting take on putting aside Scrum when your requirements change so much that you need Kanban to stabilize your release:
It’s a good point to keep in mind that in a situation where requirements keep changing that you need a method that limits work rather than one who’s focus is on releasing the plan.
As is always the case with any method or framework, you use what’s the most appropriate and optimal for your project and not because you have a pet method or framework you want to advocate or evangel
This article on the Scrum Alliance site has an interesting take on putting aside Scrum when your requirements change so much that you need Kanban to stabilize your release. As the author states:
From my experience here (and yours will no doubt be different), Kanban is useful when requirements and priorities change quickly and often. If we truly value the principles of the Agile manifesto, then we should welcome changing requirements, even late in development; but in my opinion, Scrum is only good at this when we can handle changing requirements every one to two weeks (I avoid saying four weeks!).
This is why Kanban is the unofficial preferred framework for maintenance staff, as it is more concerned with limiting work in progress than it is fulfilling a release plan/backlog.
It’s a good point to keep in mind that in a situation where requirements keep changing that you need a method that limits work rather than one who’s focus is on releasing the plan.
As is always the case with any method or framework, you use what’s the most appropriate and optimal for your project and not because you have a pet method or framework you want to advocate or evangelize.
As is always the case with any method or framework, you use what’s the most appropriate and optimal for your project and not because you have a pet method or framework you want to advocate or evangelize. articleThis article on the Scrum Alliance site has an interesting take on putting aside Scrum when your requirements change so much that you need Kanban to stabilize your release:
It’s a good point to keep in mind that in a situation where requirements keep changing that you need a method that limits work rather than one who’s focus is on releasing the plan.
As is always the case with any method or framework, you use what’s the most appropriate and optimal for your project and not because you have a pet method or framework you want to advocate or evangelize. on the Scrum Alliance site has an interesting take on putting aside Scrum when your requirements change so much that you need Kanban to stabilize your release:
It’s a good point to keep in mind that in a situation where requirements keep changing that you need a method that limits work rather than one who’s focus is on releasing the plan.
As is always the case with any method or framework, you use what’s the most appropriate and optimal for your project and not because you have a pet method or framework you want to advocate or evangelize.
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Posted on: June 02, 2013 10:44 PM
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Comments (5)
Scaling Agile with Scrum and Kanban
| Here's a good recorded webinar on how to scale Agile with Scrum and Kanban:
This topic is usually discussed from the perspective of typical small, co-located Agile team, but this webinar looks at it from how to scale it using Scrum and Kanban. Check it out! |
Posted on: May 19, 2013 07:49 AM
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Comments (1)