Presentation at NYC 501 Tech Group on May 27, 2015 with Monica-Lisa Mills

1. Is Agile Project Management
Right for My Nonprofit?
501 Tech NYC
May 27, 2015
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2. Hello!I’m Monica-Lisa Mills
For many years, I helped nonprofits, civic and
mission-driven organizations manage their digital
worlds, prepare themselves for digital projects and
hire and manage vendors.
Now, I manage the development team at Advomatic,
project managing large projects, and streamlining
client service processes and tools.
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3. Hello!I’m Norman Reiss
I am a Project Manager at the Center for Court
Innovation, working with technology and research
staff to support, enhance and train staff on court
based software.
I also blog at Nonprofitbridge.com on Technology,
Communications and Fundraising and help seniors to
live more fulfilling lives.
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4. ■ What is Project
Management
(and some of the
challenges)?
■ What is Agile Project
Management?
■ How Can You Use
Agile for Your
Nonprofit Projects?
The Questions
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5. What is Project Management?
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You probably do it, even if it is not in your job title

6. Quick definitions
A project:
￭ Is temporary
￭ Creates something unique
￭ Has a series of steps
￭ Is not business as usual
A“project manager” is someone who:
￭ Applies knowledge, tools, skills and
processes to help meet project requirements
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7. What project managers manage
￭ Requirements
￭ Budget
￭ Timeline
￭ Quality
￭ Stakeholders
￭ End Users
￭ Team
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8. To state the obvious:
Projects don’t
always go
according to plan.
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9. And nonprofit
projects have
their own special
challenges.
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10. What are some of the
challenges of all projects?
What are some of the challenges of
projects in a non profit?
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11. What is “Agile” Project
Management?
Define the terms, get beyond the hype
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12. “
Individuals and interactions
over processes and tools
Working software
over comprehensive
documentation
Customer collaboration
over contract negotiation
Responding to change
over following a plan
(Original “Agile Manifesto”)
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13. “Agile is a
mindset not
a process.
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14. Elements of the Agile mindset
￭ Work collaboratively
￭ Plan just enough and just in time
￭ Stop and regroup at periodic intervals
￭ Get feedback many times along the way
￭ Get feedback from the actual users
￭ Things will go wrong, so fail early and often
￭ Change happens, so reprioritize often
￭ Fix problems as you go
￭ Create a “just enough” product first,
then improve it (iterate!)
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15. Iterative vs. Incremental
What does it mean to “iterate” on something?
Create distinct and
discrete parts one after
the other.
Revise versions of a
complete whole,
improving it over time.
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16. 16

17. Some Agile vocabulary words
Sprint/Iteration
Repeating timebox in which
work goes through the entire
cycle of planning, execution,
testing/review, clean up, and
implement/publish.
Standup Meeting
Quick, periodic check in
meetings, at least one time
per sprint/iteration, to
identify blocks and
coordinate efforts.
Product Owner
Person who takes ownership
of product on behalf of other
stakeholders and prioritizes
needs along the way.
Scrum Master
Person who refines process
based on feedback from
team, unblocks blocks and
facilitates communication.
User Stories
Requirements or needs
written as a brief narrative
describing end result, e.g.,
“User can search by
keyword”
Backlog
List of user stories still to be
done, continuously added to,
ordered and re-ordered by
priority.
Story Points
A high level way to mark the
effort it will likely take to
complete a story so that the
PO can make decisions.
Release
Also called “deploy” or
“implement”, this is the point at
which you publish reviewed work
for use and feedback.
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18. How could an Agile mindset
address common project
challenges?
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Some of the benefits of an Agile mindset
￭ See value earlier
￭ Reduce project risks
￭ Respond to change more effectively
￭ Test in the real world in time to adjust
￭ Work with fixed budgets or timelines
￭ Involve others in creation, train as you go

20. Agile is not for every project or team
Norman’s recent experience:
■ Vendor used “Agile” but didn’t explain
terminology or process
■ Each “sprint” wasn’t handled as its own mini-
project
■ Business processes weren’t well thought out by
internal team
■ End users didn’t stay involved
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21. YES, DEFINITELY
￭ Evolving needs
￭ Have buy-in from team
￭ Project owner + team value collaboration
￭ Some planning can happen along the way
￭ Quality is more important than predictability
So what types of projects work best with Agile?
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22. So what types of projects work best with Agile?
MAYBE NOT
￭ Static needs or a repeat product
￭ Team does not see the value of Agile
￭ Project owner just wants it done
￭ Team prefers to work on their own
￭ Everything must be planned in advance
￭ Predictability is more important than quality
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23. How Can You Use Agile
for Your Nonprofit Project?
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Adopting the mindset, evolving a process
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24. A simple Agile process
Define all
needs as
outcomes.
Define length
and number of
work periods,
and “just enough”
product.
Team selects
outcomes for first
work period.
Work.
Assess.
Remove
blocks.
Adjust
process.
Add new
needs.
Reprioritize
everything.
Team selects
outcomes for
second work
period.
Check at
the end of
the work
period.
Work.
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25. Needs Scheduled In Progress Finished Accepted
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Using Trello to manage the process

26. A more complex Agile process
write new
requirements
(if any)
plan + estimate
(high level)
prioritize + scope
remaining
requirements
select next
group of
requirements
plan + estimate
(refined)
build
test + fix
client review
not built as
planned?
built as planned?
release/deploy
start
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27. Done Current Backlog
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Using Pivotal Tracker to manage the process

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Detail view of “current” column

29. Tips + Advice
■ Focus on the concepts more than on a set process
- on the why and not the how.
■ Adhere to the process, but let it evolve.
■ Blur the lines between roles - everyone is
accountable for things moving forward.
■ Try Agile principles on a simple project internally to
see how it feels.
■ Get buy-in from your internal team first.
Bring in a vendor/consultant later, if needed.
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30. Resources
■ Project Management for Nonprofits
Updated NTEN presentation
■ How Project Management Can Be Used At Your Nonprofit
PMI Educational Foundation
■ How Agile Methodologies Helped Transform a Nonprofit’s Entire Practice
AIM Consulting
■ The Agile Nonprofit - CivicActions
■ ConsultancyScrum.org
Using Agile for a client/vendor technology project.
■ TheHumanSideofAgile.com - Gil Broza
■ AgileManifesto.org
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31. Questions?
Suggestions?
How do you know if a vendor is really Agile?
How do you sell this idea to your team/boss?
What tools do you need to use Agile?
Have you applied Agile concepts successfully?
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32. Thanks!Any questions? Find us!
Monica-Lisa Mills
@monalisa_ny | monica@monica-lisa.com
Norman H. Reiss
@nonprofitbridge | nreiss@nonprofitbridge.com
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