10 tips to
work in more
agile ways
Tip # 1
Invest in
high growth
opportunities
“You can pull resources from slower declining
businesses and put them against faster growing
or more promising opportunities.”
Source
https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Strategic_Thinking/Strategy_through_turbulence_An_interview_with_Don_Sull_2491
Tip # 2
Interact with
end users
One of the objectives of agile principles is
removing bureaucracy from the development
life cycle.
The ideal is to focus on providing value
through interactions with the end users.
Source:
Larson, Deanne: BI Principles for Agile Development: Keeping Focused.
Business Intelligence Journal, Volume 14, No. 4
Tip # 3
Make development
periods short
“Agile methods are a reaction to the bureaucracy and
inflexibility of the waterfall approach.
Large projects are chopped into a series of smaller
iterations.”
Source
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a988cd86-9759-11dc-9e08-0000779fd2ac.html
Create a flow of value to customers by “chunking”
feature delivery into small increments.
Source
http://agile200x.com/2007/agile2007/downloads/handouts/Augustine_474.pdf
Tip # 4
Set people free
Agile methods encourage team members to
voluntarily sign up for tasks and share
ownership instead of assigning task from
the top down.
Source
Xu, Peng: Coordination In Large Agile Projects.
The Review of Business Information Systems; Fourth Quarter 2009.
Tasks are chosen, not assigned
The Web is an opt-in economy. Whether contributing to
a blog, working on an open source project, or sharing
advice in a forum, people choose to work on the things
that interest them. Everyone is an independent
contractor, and everyone scratches their own itch.
Source
Hamel, Gary: The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500
http://blogs.wsj.com/management/2009/03/24/the-facebook-generation-vs-the-fortune-500/
“Recognizing individual team members as intelligent,
skilled professional agents, and placing a value on
their autonomy is fundamental to all other practices.”
Source
http://www.propernet.com/extranet/mcgill/CLASS%203/3.1%20-%20AgileProjectManagement.pdf
Tip # 5
Communicate
openly and quickly
For an agile team to be able to adapt,
information must be open and free flowing.
Source
http://www.propernet.com/extranet/mcgill/CLASS%203/3.1%20-%20AgileProjectManagement.pdf
Rapid feedback to all stakeholders.
Source
Fernandez, Daniel J. & Fernandez, John D.:
Agile Project Management – Agilism versus Traditional Approaches.
Journal of Computer Information Systems, Winter 2008-2009.
Source:
http://www.managementexchange.com/content/commiterate-solve-dilemmas
Tip # 6
Make the customer
a partner
“In agile development, the customer becomes
part of the development team. Plans are less
documented. Communication in general
becomes more personal and less documented.”
Source
http://kuperpresents.com/nycspin/Resources/RayBohem%20-%20AgileProjMgmt.pdf
Customers control the development resources
and have the flexibility to refine and change
the business direction.
Source
Jim Hill, Larissa T. Moss, Chris Sorenson, and Wyatt Weeks. BI Experts’ perspective: Agile Development.
Business Intelligence Journal, Volume 14, Nr. 2.
Tip # 7
Keep things
simple
The idea of agile processes is born out of lean
manufacturing processes. One principle is
“simplicity over complexity”. Another is
“clarity over certainty”.
Source
Smith, Jeff: “An agile approach brings success.” Training and development in Australia, October, 2009.
Keep things as simple as possible as long as possible.
Source: http://www.extremeprogramming.org/rules/simple.html
Tip # 8
Make
documentation
that enables
communication
If documentation is too cumbersome and paper-
based and impedes communication, then let’s make
it flexible, accessible and electronic to enable
communication.
Source
Jones, Sara & Maiden, Neil: Agile Requirements. IEEE Software, May/June, 2010.
Tip # 9
Work in
parallel steps
25 years ago, projects were seen as being
implemented like a waterfall – step 1 is completed,
then step 2 and so on.
In contrast, we don’t assume that each phase is
independent and will be complete before the next
phase commences. Things happen in parallel,
and they affect each other.
Source
Smith, Jeff: “An agile approach brings success.” Training and development in Australia, October, 2009.
Waterfall approach Agile approach
Step 1 Step 1
Step 2 Step 2
Step 3 Step 3
Time Time
Waterfall approach Agile approach
Linear process Parallel process
Planning. Work simultaneously
Analysis. on planning, analysis,
Development. development, and
Implementation. implementation.
”Today’s hypercompetitive environment and the
rapidly changing business landscape create a
situation where the once-a-year strategic
planning process is simple not sufficient.”
Source:
Buhler, Patricia M.: managing in the new millenium. SuperVision, November 2008.
Tip # 10
Test
continuously
In the waterfall life cycle, testing occurs after
development and assumes the responsibility of
delivering quality.
This approach never works because it occurs
too late in the life cycle to correct major defects,
and little to no collaboration has occurred.
Source:
Larson, Deanne: BI Principles for Agile Development: Keeping Focused.
Business Intelligence Journal, Volume 14, No. 4
With an agile approach, testing occurs constantly
through the interactions of stakeholders. Results are
reviewed and verified; changes are made during the
life cycle to produce higher quality results.
Source:
Larson, Deanne: BI Principles for Agile Development: Keeping Focused.
Business Intelligence Journal, Volume 14, No. 4