Be Agile Do Agile

Timothy J. Kloppenborg, Vittal S. Anantatmula

Description

The global economy and free market philosophy have resulted in higher global competition and increased expectations from customers. It is obvious that new approaches are needed to satisfy demands and many of them fall under a broad umbrella called agile. To capitalize fully on the benefits of agile, one must first understand the concepts that underpin it.

In this book, we first identify many concepts that various approaches advocate for agile and group them into three areas forming a simple, robust system. Then, we describe the most useful agile methods in savage summaries regardless of the approach that promotes them, grouping them logically and showing how to use them.

We have an agnostic agile model that can be useful to anyone using any form of agile. Both concepts for being agile and techniques for doing agile are summarized in this book and there are several ways to use this book. To understand the concepts of agile, consult Chapters 3, 4, and 5. Chapters 7, 8, and 9 will help you learn and perform agile tools and techniques.

Sujets

• Gestion de projets
• Gestion de projet
• Business
• Economics
• Gestion et management
• Project Management

Informations

• Publié par: Business Expert Press
• Date de parution: 22 janvier 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 8
• EAN13: 9781953349958
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Be Agile Do Agile
Be Agile Do Agile
Vittal Anantatmula and Timothy J. Kloppenborg
Be Agile Do Agile
Copyright © Business Expert Press, LLC, 2021.
Cover design by Charlene Kronstedt
Interior design by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd., Chennai, India
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations, not to exceed 400 words, without the prior permission of the publisher.
First published in 2021 by
Business Expert Press, LLC
222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017
www.businessexpertpress.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-95334-994-1 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-95334-995-8 (e-book)
Business Expert Press Portfolio and Project Management Collection
Collection ISSN: 2156-8189 (print)
Collection ISSN: 2156-8200 (electronic)
First edition: 2021
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is dedicated
Manga Anantatmula Elizabeth Kloppenborg
for their invaluable support
Description
The global economy and free market philosophy have resulted in higher global competition and increased expectations from customers. It is obvious that new approaches are needed to satisfy demands and many of them fall under a broad umbrella called agile. To capitalize fully on the benefits of agile, one must first understand the concepts that underpin it.
In this book, we first identify many concepts that various approaches advocate for agile and group them into three areas forming a simple, robust system. Then, we describe the most useful agile methods in savage summaries regardless of the approach that promotes them, grouping them logically and showing how to use them.
We have an agnostic agile model that can be useful to anyone using any form of agile. Both concepts for being agile and techniques for doing agile are summarized in this book and there are several ways to use this book. To understand the concepts of agile, consult Chapters 3 , 4 , and 5 . Chapters 7 , 8 , and 9 will help you learn and perform agile tools and techniques.
Keywords
agile; agile mindset; agile tools; agile metrics; agile manifesto; lean; scrum; XP; SAFe; disciplined agile; project; project leadership; project success; project management; leadership; servant leadership; emergent leadership; teamwork; roles
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part I Being Agile
Chapter 2 Understanding the Agile Mindset
Chapter 3 Successful Outcomes
Chapter 4 Engaging Your Team: Leadership, Teamwork, and Roles
Chapter 5 Effective Communication and Collaboration
Part II Doing Agile
Chapter 6 Agile Methods (Doing Agile)
Chapter 7 Planning Adaptively
Chapter 8 Creating Useful Solutions
Chapter 9 Giving and Adapting to Feedback
Chapter 10 Agile in a Nutshell
Bibliography
Savage Summary Glossary
About the Authors
Index
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Frank Forte and Andy Burns who are both agile gurus and have taught us a great deal. We would also like to thank our four reviewers, Frank Forte, Kathryn Wells, Laurie Laning, and Marcie Lensges, who each offered different perspectives and useful suggestions. Finally, we would like to thank our editor Kam Jugdev who found more ideas for improvement.
CHAPTER 1
Introduction

With the onset of personal computers in 1980s and becoming popular in 1990s, an urgent need to develop and implement software projects became a norm and a requirement. However, for many software developers and those who sought software programs, it is an unknown territory plagued with many unknowns and uncertainties. Neither the company seeking those services nor the project team members who were attempting to deliver those projects knew what processes to adapt for delivering requisite outcomes. Then, what persuaded organizations and software developers to run into this fast-paced situation of developing projects?
The following issues are addressed briefly in this chapter and with more details in the book.

1. Tell why organizations have turned to agile as a method of planning and managing their projects
2. Briefly describe major differences between plan-driven (traditional) and agile project management
3. Describe why agile is sometimes a more useful approach
4. Briefly define what be agile and do agile mean
The answer is simple. Personal computers and their applications presented many opportunities to improve productivity and generated many business opportunities to offer new products and services worldwide. Computerization attracted every industry—manufacturing, production, engineering, health care, research and development, service sector—and the like, you name it! Everyone was eager to adapt this technology, and you will find an enthusiastic customer for all these projects.
Further, the global economy and free market philosophy are compelling drastic changes in global competition with corresponding higher expectations from customers. These challenges and fluid situations demand agility. Agility is the ability to move quickly and easily responding to changing customer desires. An agile approach is a necessity, not an option. Obviously, this approach is necessary to manage projects, as some of the traditional approaches, designed for stable work culture, may not work. Creative and imaginative efforts of many led to the development of new approaches. Many of these fall under a broad umbrella called agile. Many projects in the current economy face a fluid situation and uncertainty that demands agility.
With so many players—customer organizations and software development companies—involved in rapid development of new applications and services, new inventions were emerging at a rapid pace. Obviously, change was becoming a norm; requirements for many projects were changing routinely. Some projects were canceling altogether, as their intended outcomes were becoming obsolete even before the delivery, as customers were redefining project objectives to catch up with competitors and market demand. Business was moving at fast pace. Consequently, traditional project management methods were set aside, as they mismatched the demands of these new projects. These projects were often referred to as application development by crisis . These hazy circumstances led to thinking of agility in planning and executing projects.
Around the same time, with the advent of information technology and its applications, business and customers alike were expecting products and services faster, better, and cheaper. Further, the information technology sector facilitated this change in mindset by explosion of information sharing and expansion of the market globally. A major change was also occurring in the IT world—which is data management. Large subject databases were being implemented to manage data as a corporate asset. This meant that applications no longer had to create all their own data and manage it. Applications could now tap into high-quality data sources quickly. Therefore, the speed at which applications could be developed increased dramatically. People and organizations liked this opportunity and placed higher demands for quality products and services at an affordable rate. All these changes left no option for project managers but to consider agility in project planning and execution.
Traditional project management methods and tools were developed during the period prior to information age that was less chaotic. Project management, as a formal discipline, began in early 1950s, and proponents of the systemic approach developed traditional project management methodology. After the agile approach is developed, this traditional approach is often referred to as waterfall methodology and justifiably so. In this traditional or waterfall method, a project usually transitions from one phase to the next phase sequentially and usually after the previous phase is completed. For example, one must understand all the requirements that identify exclusions, inclusions, assumptions, specifications, and constraints associated with the project deliverable, and then the scope of a project is defined. Without scope definition, project plan activities cannot be initiated, and without developing a comprehensive project plan, we cannot move forward to the project execution phase. This traditional approach is systematic, logical, and makes sense when technology and engineering associated with these projects have been steady and changes are gradual. However, it is not true with information technology, which is changing by leaps and bounds.
Specifically, software development projects are faced with rapid and constant growth of technology and associated changes in customer demands. Clients often do not know what they want in a new system or product, and younger workers chafe at old command and control restrictions. At the best, a customer can explain the work process and flow (context of the project) and the desired functional outcomes expected from the project. In many cases, the software development effort takes a trial-and-error approach to identify features and use quality tests to ensure customer satisfaction. The critical challenge is to translate a need or requirement into a specification, which is not easy in this case. This is one of the main reasons why an agile approach is justified. Other reasons for employing agile methods are ambiguous and changing requirements of the project and compelling forces of global economy to deliver products and services faster, better, and cheaper.
In addition to the nature of changes to the projects and global e