4. eXo Platform
Company Facts
− Started as university project in 2002
− Department of Defense was the first customer
− HQ in Paris in 2003, Ukraine and Vietnam in 2005, Tunisia in 2008
− 110 Employees, 15+ Teams
− Portal Technology merge with Red Hat / Jboss in 2009 :
GateIn
• Distinctive Competence
− Fully integrated offering - a true OSS alternative to Sharepoint
− Broad support of technology platforms
− Compliant with leading standards (JCR, Portlets, CMIS)
− Focus on usability, ergonomic, design
5. eXo Platform
Portal platform with rich user-oriented interface
Modular applications on top
Baked in Java and standards-based technologies, OSS
6. eXo Platform
The context in 2008
− 90+ Developers in 15+ teams in 4 Countries
− 4 Products beeing developed, 2 new (KS, WCM)
− Flat Hierachy : Office Manager, TeamLead, Developer
− Product Managers are in France and drive the Dev Teams from Home
− No transversal IT
The Tooling
− Teams = Jira, Svn, Hudson, Maven, JUnit, Eclipse, …
− Agility = Daily Meetings, ...
9. 2008 Retrospective
What was good ?
− Motivated Teams and Office Management
− Strong Innovation and Product Management
Needed improvements ?
− Team Focus and Knowledge sharing
− Product delivery to the clients
− Better Support
Decisions for 2009
− Employ a Cross Team Engineer
− Go for Scrum next year
− Improve Development Processes and Tooling
11. Agile Coach
Dimitri BAELI
– 10 years of Java UI, Frameworks development
– Passion for Usability, Agility, Software Factory, OpenSource
– Scrum Master Certified in 2006
Usability Manager at eXo Platform in 2008
– Improve Software Factory & Practices (Agile?)
– Improve Deliverables Usability
– Improve Products Usability
Will be the Agile Coach !!!
12. Agile Coach
Coach Concerns
− Lean in mind
− Minimal Rule Set + Facilitator
− Don't Decide but Convince
Give the teams a freedom, let them take over
− Review team practices and expectations
Productivity
− Can be Exhausting
− Threat for innovation
− Fight Complexity, Waste
Communicate
− New Comer's Guide
− Absolute Minimal Rules to know
14. 2009 Sprint : The Basics
Scrum Basic Implementation (3 months)
Start by the Product Development Teams
− A Scrum Lead is trained in each country
− Common training material (Visual, Oral, Hands-on)
− Start on team after the other in each country
− Scrum Lead is the Scrum Master in each team at start
Start by the classical Scrum only
− Explained as an planning strategy
− Focus, rhythm and improvments
− Not too much personalized, No complementary tooling
16. 2009 Sprint : Improve
Scrum Improvments by the time (3 months)
– A Dashboard and Retrospective Document at start
– Burndown after 2-4 Sprints
– Velocity presented after 4-6 Sprints (no success)
Improved communication
– Office & Product Lead Meetings
– Per team wiki, Mailing lists, Skype chats
Key Points for the Coach
− No hurry !!!
− Coach does not decide
− Implement Scrum with Lean principles in mind
− Let the team take over
19. 2009 Retrospective
Main Impediments
Remote Product Managers
– Thinking about Local Product Owner
– PM are a Team in France which is good
Testers in or out the DevTeams
– We prefer out, but Devs prefer in !
– Dev should do their best then test begins
Language and culture
– No english native speakers !
– Cultural habits to care
20. 2009 Retrospective
What's good ?
− Overall Release Process is defined and verified !
− All teams are powered by Scrum
− Confidence on core rules and practices
− Focused teams
To be improved ?
− Information overflow
− Sustainable rhythm
− Client Support
Next Actions ?
− Product Dev Team dashboard : Better Overview
− Improve Coding Practices (TDD, Code Reviews, Code Analysis & Metrics)
− Focus on Done-Done
21. eXo Platform in 2009
100+ Developers in 15+ teams in 4 Countries
7 Products beeing developed, 2 with Red Hat / Jboss
Release Team takes care of the productization
Support Team takes care of the clients
UI Team takes care of the graphical designs
The Tooling
− Teams = Jira, Svn, Hudson, Maven, JUnit, Eclipse, Nexus, Sonar
− Agility = Scrum for all teams
− Quality = Test Campaigns, Test Day, Usability Review
22. Questions ?
"You need roughly 10,000 hours to become an
expert in a given field", Malcolm Gladwell
"La perfection est atteinte, non pas lorsqu'il n'y a
plus rien à ajouter, mais lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à
retirer." Saint Exupéry
