I have been working on different kind of software projects implementation using the water fall methodology. now some of my clients want to shift to agile methodology. what do I need to take into consideration for such a change and what steps needed to start follow up with the new methodology though some client will remain working with using the waterfall way but some clients are insisting on the agile way. Saving Changes...
Craeg StrongCTO| Savant Financial Technologies IncNew York, Ny, United States
Kanban coach here. Allow me to offer a (somewhat) dissenting opinion. Kanban espouses an evolutionary rather than revolutionary approach. No reorgs. No sending 400 people through expensive training up front. One great way to get started is to simply visualize the existing waterfall process. Not what you THINK you are doing on paper, but what is ACTUALLY happening. In my experience, once we have a good visualization and start using it, some super easy improvements are pretty much immediately obvious. I coached multiple teams at an energy company and we cut average cycle time in half (i.e., doubled speed) in 6 months just by addressing low hanging fruit. Then you keep on making continual improvements. (not throwing shade on Scrum-- it works for many teams very well. In fact a very common approach is Scrum at the team level and Kanban at value stream and strategy levels.) Saving Changes...
Timothy MillerProgram Management Leader| TelligenEast Coast / Mid-Atlantic Region, United States
Typically when a company is looking to make the change to “agile” there is some business force or driver compelling that shift e.g., demanding customers, faster market penetration or capture, product development launch by x date. What they usually mean is “we need to get stuff completed faster”. Elaboration and iteration practices take a while to scale and optimize. I recommend a hybrid adaptive approach for the first couple of years blending waterfall and agile / iterative frameworks until that is honed. For example quarterly to monthly to bi-weekly sprints. Customers usually are not ready to adopt 2 week increments coming out of linear delivery model like waterfall. Saving Changes...
Mehdi AlibakhshiPM Specialist and Instructor| PHSABritish Columbia, Canada
Nour
The transition from one approach to another can be challenging, but here are some tips you can take to make it smoother.
Understand the Agile Approach: Start by educating yourself and your team about the Agile Approach, its principles, and practices. Read books, attend workshops, and take courses to learn more about Agile.
Analyze Your Current Processes: Evaluate your current project management processes and identify which ones need to be updated or replaced to align with the Agile approach.
Identify Agile Roles and Responsibilities: In Agile, roles and responsibilities are different from waterfall project management.
Create a Plan: Create a plan for transitioning to Agile. Identify the timeline, budget, and resources needed. Define how you will train your team, and how you will handle any resistance to change.
Start Small: Start by implementing Agile on a small project or with a small team. This allows you to learn and refine the Agile approach before rolling it out to the entire organization.
Monitor and Adapt: Agile is all about continuous improvement, so regularly monitor and adapt your processes to ensure they align with the Agile principles.
Celebrate Success: Celebrate the successes and wins of your Agile implementation. This encourages your team to continue to embrace the new approach.
Remember, transitioning to Agile is not a one-time event. It is a continuous journey that requires ongoing learning, adaptation, and improvement.
I highly recommend reading this article by John P. Kotter and Leonard A. Schlesinger. It gives you a holistic perspective on any change in an organization.
https://hbr.org/2008/07/choosing-strategies-for-change Saving Changes...
Kevin BastOwner/Operator| Train & Lead TX - an authorized licensee of Crestcom InternationalKeller, Tx, United States
Feb 14, 2023 4:31 AM
Replying to Sergio Luis Conte
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First thing to do is to understand that waterfall is a like cycle and agile is an approach that can be used with any life cycle including waterfall. Second, is to understand what agile is. If you are talking about creating software products then the Manifiesto for Agile Software Development is the checklist to use BUT do not forget reading "About the Manifesto" inside the website. The key thing is do not forget that agile is an approach then it will impact the organization as a whole because it is based on systemic theory where organizations are considered open and adaptable systems. A good point to start is DAD but my recommendation is going to what Scott and Mark did in the begining with DA. Other way to have a big picture is taking a look to SAFe. I am not saying that you use SAFe just you can take a big picture about how value streams are impacted. In this case, a good reference is all the work created by Al Shaloway.
Hi Sergio - can you elaborate on how you see how Agile can apply a waterfall lifecycle? What's your view or perspective on how you can incorporate the two - or are you considering it "hybrid"? Thanks for your input.
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1 reply by Sergio Luis Conte
Mar 31, 2023 1:48 PM
Sergio Luis Conte
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The key is to understand that agile is an approach, not to use a method of framework. Like Lean. In fact, Agile is totally different to Lean because Agile was born in 1990 in manufacturing trying to find an alternative to Lean after making a prospective of the future world. Then, Agile is totally independent to the life cycle you use. Waterfall is a life cycle mostly confused to Sequential life cycle for lost of people and what is worst, in my humble opinion, for lost of organizations. Agile was born in manufacturing and then was taken by software (or in parallel). I was part of both movements. So, I can write a lot to answer your question (in fact, the PMI published an article I wrote on the matter in the PM Network in 2016) but I think the best is to go to the basement and search for the original papers. By the way, myself and lot of other people are working with this type of things in the field from 1995 (my case) up to date. People that talks about "hybrid" is because they are referring to a life cycle which combines sequential with iterative with has no sense. Again, Agile is not a matter of life cycle or method or framework. It is a matter of enterprise architecture. Like Lean or lot of other approaches.
Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Mar 31, 2023 12:19 PM
Replying to Kevin Bast
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Hi Sergio - can you elaborate on how you see how Agile can apply a waterfall lifecycle? What's your view or perspective on how you can incorporate the two - or are you considering it "hybrid"? Thanks for your input.
The key is to understand that agile is an approach, not to use a method of framework. Like Lean. In fact, Agile is totally different to Lean because Agile was born in 1990 in manufacturing trying to find an alternative to Lean after making a prospective of the future world. Then, Agile is totally independent to the life cycle you use. Waterfall is a life cycle mostly confused to Sequential life cycle for lost of people and what is worst, in my humble opinion, for lost of organizations. Agile was born in manufacturing and then was taken by software (or in parallel). I was part of both movements. So, I can write a lot to answer your question (in fact, the PMI published an article I wrote on the matter in the PM Network in 2016) but I think the best is to go to the basement and search for the original papers. By the way, myself and lot of other people are working with this type of things in the field from 1995 (my case) up to date. People that talks about "hybrid" is because they are referring to a life cycle which combines sequential with iterative with has no sense. Again, Agile is not a matter of life cycle or method or framework. It is a matter of enterprise architecture. Like Lean or lot of other approaches. Saving Changes...
Latha Thamma reddiSr Product and Portfolio Management (Automation Innovation)| DXC TechnologyMckinney, Tx, United States
Thanks for sharing. Saving Changes...
Ruth Marina Lopez PerezResponsable TI| INSTITUTO DE PREVISION SOCIAL MILITAR - NICARAGUAMasaya, Los Madrigales, Nindirí, Nicaragua
I'm agree with Thiet Nguyen Tat. The organization must be know the trouble and it solutions and benefits, furthermore of the value that Agile will bring to the organization. You don't be change without before understand you customer. Saving Changes...
