This document summarizes an Agile Methods presentation by John Goodpasture. It discusses how Agile focuses on delivering value to customers through frequent incremental deliveries, working in small self-managed teams, and establishing a backlog to guide and prioritize work. It emphasizes that requirements will evolve over time and success relies on embracing change rather than fighting it. Value is realized when customers pay or benefit from the project outcomes, with the overall goal of transforming investments into customer value.

1. Agile Methods for
Business Analysts
© 2009 – 2010 SQUARE PEG CONSULTING, LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

2. Today’s speaker
John Goodpasture, PMP
Program manager, system engineer,
author, and coach
Managing Principal
Square Peg Consulting, LLC
www.sqpegconsulting.com
www.johngoodpasture.com

3. John’s new book
• Agile in the enterprise
• Multiple methodologies
thoroughly explained
• From business case
to benefit capture
PUBLISHED BY J. ROSS PUBLISHING

4. Production assistance for today’s
presentation from
Todd W. Ruopp
A speaker, facilitator and coach
who promotes understanding
and integrated teamwork
Co-founder & President of
Unleashing Performance, Inc.™
Todd empowers professionals
to develop the knowledge & ability
to drive personal, professional
and organizational growth.
www.unleashingperformance.com

5. It’s not about productivity
Dilbert
We need 3 more programmers.
Boss
Use agile programming methods.
Dilbert
Agile programming does not mean
doing more work with less people.
Boss
Find me some words that do mean
that and ask again
Dilbert™ is a creation of Scott Adams

6. It’s not the holy grail
• Almost any methodology can be
made to work on some project.
• Any methodology can manage to
fail on some project.
• Heavy processes can be
successful.
• Light processes are more often
successful, and more importantly, Alistair Cockburn
the people on those projects credit
the success to the lightness of the
methodology.

7. It’s about requirements!
And requirements analysis
The Requirements Paradox
• Requirements must be stable for
successful development; but user
requirements are never stable
• We don’t want requirements to
change, but because changing
requirements are a known risk,
we should provoke change now. Niels Malotaux

8. Requirements
Dilemma
Not everything the customer
wants is known at the outset
Requirements evolve with
operational experience

9. Build in Increments
Freeze requirements over short cycles
Define a little, build a little
Allow evolution, encourage creativity
Embrace change and innovation

10. No Big Bang!
Waiting until the end invariably misses the mark

11. Five Essential Points

12. 1 Leadership & Management
Embrace change —
rather than fight it
Accept incremental
progress and results
Respect short delivery cycles
Keep value proposition
current and relevant

13. 2 Best Value Method
Orient best value to the customer or end-user
Deliver the most bang as seen through the customer’s eyes

14. 3 Frequent & Incremental
Most
Important
ELY
REMNT
EXT GE
UR
Deliver frequently & incrementally
Respect urgency and the importance
conveyed by the customer

15. 4 Small Teams
Six to twelve people
Self-managed
Performance oriented

16. 5 Coach for success
Focus relentlessly on outcomes, not activities
Knock down barriers to team success
Communicate to sponsor and beneficiaries

17. Value begins in
the business case
Business case: a
framework for details
Only the goal—the shape of
the outcomes—not the
details
‘Just enough’ for
a mind’s eye of how it will be
‘Just enough’ for
compelling attraction

18. Value in Three Steps
1 3
Customer pays
Sponsors
or accumulates
visualize and
advantage to realize
invest
value of investment
2
Project transforms investment
into outcomes with potential
customer value

19. Investment, Milestones & More
Milestones, Investments, Vision, not Details will
not Gantt charts not budgets specifications emerge
Milestone

20. The Incremental Project
1+2+3=6
Most Urgent
Most Important
Least Urgent
ortant
Least Imp
Partition project goals
Sequence the most urgent first
Schedule sequences to hit milestones

21. Use Cases, User Stories, &
Backlog
Use Case Scenarios Actionable backlog
User Stories Vignettes

22. Dynamic Backlog Cycles
Must be completed
Should be completed
Backlog cycle
One Time box
Lessons learned
Creative ideas
New cycle plan
Copyright 2010 John Goodpasture, All Rights Reserved 22

23. Time boxes regulate team work
Increments of the backlog are delivered at milestones
Work on Feedback Make Course
Backlog Corrections
TIMEBOX
Milestone

24. Team work benchmarks
Time box throughput: rate of go-live value added
Throughput benchmark: enables planning predictably

25. Cadence
is the
key

26. Plan to the horizon
Team 1
Team 2
END
Team 3
All time boxes are planned within one horizon

27. Throughput Accounting
Measure Value Added to the business
Throughput only measures “value added”

28. Benefit realization
Throughput is where the benefit is
Benefit is not realized until customer pays
and / or
Benefit is realized when the deliverable
advantages the customer

29. Beneficiary linkages
Sponsor recovers investment
Project manager earns
the value of the deliverable
Beneficiary pays according
to the value of benefits

30. More information
www.johngoodpasture.com

31. Square Peg Consulting, LLC
Send John questions at
info@sqpegconsulting.com
johngoodpasture.com
PUBLISHED BY J. ROSS PUBLISHING