Dealing with the human side of agile development processes.

1. Collaborative Development
The Human Side of Project Management
EDUCAUSE Midwest Regional Conference
March 2008
Jim Phelps, Terry Ruzicka
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2. Agenda
• Intro
• Methodology
• Case Study
• Impacts and Lessons Learned
• Tools
• Benefits
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3. Impacts and Lessons Learned
• Culture Change
• Communications
• Decision Making and Issue Tracking
• Expectation and Scope Management
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4. Background
• About Us
• About the Campus
• Waterfall vs. Collaborative/Agile
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5. Therese Ruzicka
Special Assistant to the Vice Provost
Division of Enrollment Management
University of Wisconsin-Madison
mruzicka@em.wisc.edu
Jim Phelps
Sr. I.T. Architect
Division of Information Technology (DoIT)
University of Wisconsin-Madison
phelps@doit.wisc.edu
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6. Photo from Google Maps
UW-Madison
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7. Agile vs. Waterfall
Photo by Jim Phelps
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8. Methodology
• Agile Development
• Model Driven Design
• Continuous Process Improvement
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9. Agile Development
Photo from Flickr: Natascha2008
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10. Model Driven Design
Photo from Flickr: Brenda Anderson
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11. Methodology
• Functional and Technical at the table
• Prototype early and often
• Iterative development
• Models for understanding and rigor
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12. Continuous Process Improvement
Photo from Flickr: D’akota
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13. Self-Organizing
Photo from Flickr: Laurel714
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14. Continuous Process Improvement
• Check-ins
• Realignment
• Evaluate effectiveness
• Adjusting
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15. References
Scott Ambler- http://www.ambysoft.com/onlineWritings.html
Agile Martin Fowler - http://www.ambysoft.com/onlineWritings.html
Development Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development
Model Driven Object Management Group (OMG) - http://www.omg.org/mda/
Scott Ambler - http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/agileMDA.htm
Design Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model-driven_architecture
UML - http://www.uml.org/
UML, BPMN BPMN - http://www.bpmn.org/
Continuous Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming
Process Joiner, Brian L. (1994). Fourth Generation Management - The New Business Consciousness.
McGraw-Hill.
Improvement Scherkenbach, William W. (1991). Deming’s Road to Continual Improvement. SPC Press, Inc
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16. Case Study
• The Project
• The Organizational Structure
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17. 150,000 Transcripts
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18. Old - Manual
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19. New - On-line
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20. Users and Customer Support
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21. Variety of Payment Methods
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22. Delivery Methods
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23. The Organizational Structure
• Sponsors
• Leads Team
• Fluid sub-teams (self-organizing)
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24. Impacts and Lessons Learned
• Culture Change
• Communications
• Decision Making and Issue Tracking
• Expectation and Scope Management
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25. Culture Change
• New Roles
• New Networks
• Discomfort
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26. New Roles
Photo from the classic movie: Metropolis
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27. New Roles: Fixes
• Define the new position
• Train - as if it is a new job
• Mentoring
• Help staff speak up and fully participate
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28. New Networks
Photo from history.nasa.gov
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29. Communication Network: Fixes
• Lots of conversations
• One-on-one
• Small teams
• Large teams
• Mentoring and training
• On-going check-ins
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30. Discomfort
Photo from “Terror in the Haunted House” 1958
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31. Discomfort: Fixes
• Encourage to talk about discomfort
• Acknowledge that there are unknowns
• Acknowledge that discomfort is part of
the process
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32. Culture Change
It is like starting a new job
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33. Communications
• New Structures
• Balance
• Personality Quirks
• Rumors and mis-information
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34. New Structures
Photo by Jim Phelps
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35. New Structures: Fixes
• Expect that channels and teams will be
fluid
• Monitor the channels and tools
• Assign responsibility for communicating
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36. Balancing Act
Photo by Jim Phelps
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37. Balancing Act: Fixes
• Monitor the channels and tools
• Keep the structure dynamic
• Be clear about responsibilities for
communication - especially between
teams
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38. Personality Quirks
Photo by Jim Phelps
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39. Personality: Fixes
• Have frank/kind discussion
• Establish fact-checking process
• Walk around
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40. Trusted 3rd Party
Photo from a The Three Stooges movie
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41. Expectation Management
• Good Ideas that just don’t make it
• Emotional Investment
• Assumptions
• Demystify decision making
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42. Expectation Management
Photo from Flickr: Tito_LOL
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43. Demystify Decisions
Photo from Flickr: yaruman5
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44. Decision Making
• Problem Solving not Status Reports
• Make sure teams understand their role
in decision making
• Ideas on the table
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45. Big Picture
Photo from Flickr: justindc
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46. Scope Management
• Everything in scope...
• Iterations v1.0, 1.1, 1.2...
• Roadmap
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47. Roadmap
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48. Issues Management: Fixes
• Prototype early - SWOT Often
• Assign issues to a person
• Watch for swirling issues
• Third Party : manage by walking around
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49. Capture and Assign
Photo from Flickr: justindc
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50. Useful Tools
• Charter(s)
• eMail listservs
• Issue tracking
• Document Repository
• Time Tracking
• Wiki
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51. Weave together
Photo from Flickr: justindc
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52. Impacts and Lessons Learned
• Culture Change
• Communications
• Decision Making and Issue Tracking
• Expectation and Scope Management
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53. Why?
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54. Bug
Photo from Flickr: gottcha78
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55. Benefits
• Deeper understanding
• Early prototypes capture problems
• Culture change as part of the process
• People see value in participating
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56. Methodology
• Agile Development
• Model Driven Design
• Continuous Process Improvement
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57. Methodology
• Functional and Technical at the table
• Prototype early and often
• Iterative development
• Models for understanding and rigor
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58. Continuous Process Improvement
• Check-ins
• Realignment
• Evaluate effectiveness
• Adjusting
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59. Impacts and Lessons Learned
• Culture Change
• Communications
• Decision Making and Issue Tracking
• Expectation and Scope Management
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60. New standard
Photo by Jim Phelps
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61. Friday,March 14,2008
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62. Collaborative Development
The Human Side of Project Management
EDUCAUSE Midwest Regional Conference
March 2008
Jim Phelps, Terry Ruzicka
Copyright Jim Phelps and Terry Ruzicka 2008. This work is the intellectual property of the authors.
Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes,
provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that
the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written
permission from the author.
Friday,March 14,2008 62