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The world has embraced Agile Scrum and there is no looking back. How are offshore service providers going to cope with the adamant demands of Scrum Masters that they will work with only Co-located teams and that is what will deliver. Having been there and done that - SPAN has come up with a distributed Agile Scrum model that works. Beware - this model works only if all stakeholders want it to work earnestly - else there will be many ruses to do away with the distributed team
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Chakra M. VenkataramanaDirector
SPAN Infotech
The De Agile Model(Tailored for Offshore)
Distributed Agile
• Context is Testing and Development teams being distributed geographically
• Multiple Test requirements including – Regression– System– Compatibility– Automation– Technical Testing – Perf, Security and Compliances
• Can be applied to distributed Dev teams too – with minor tweaks
2
Against De-Agile
Time zone differencesConflicting work hours, Personal Sacrifices in terms of time managementAvailability – F2F Meetings, Information sharing, planning, daily-standups, retrospectivesParallel work – Peer coding/testing, immediate requirementsWork allocation and Scheduling, Effort deviations
Staffing and Shared Understanding
Self motivating and Self Organizing resourcesMisunderstanding requirementsDelay or reluctance for clarifications / time consuming
Trust and Communication
Capabilities – Technical, Domain, Standards, PersonalCultural and Language barriersUnseen speakerTwo way communication
3
Need for Distributed Teams
Programming
Paired ResourcesStreamlined processes – Comm & Collaboration, Source Control, Automation, CIFollow the Sun Model for faster deployment
CapabilitiesAll rounder resources are rareDomain, Tech, Design, Dev, Test, Tech-TestVendor Org support to offshored resources – draw up on support structuresInnovation and Value Adds
Cost
Globally distributed teams reduce cost, Contract Employees as needed – required competency at a short noticeOffshore resources at lower costImplicit additional hours - reasonable
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When would De-Agile Work?
Cost Advantages
Pros outweigh Cons
CapabilitySpecific Technology Requirements (expensive or not available)Available at short noticeStaff on demand / reduce when neededWilling to accept that there are challenges
Us vs ThemWorking FOR and not AGAINST ThemAcceptance
5
Tools and Techniques that enable De-Agile
• Dedicated Meetings rooms / Conf bridges• Collaboration Tools – TFS (requirements repositories,
SCM, management, Automatic build and deployment setup, Continuous
Testing, Automated defect tracking, and project management tools) • Communication - IM, Skype, IP Phones, Video
Conference and Web Cams• Daily Standups on Skype boards• Frequent (not too frequent) travel and work
from other locations• Classification of tasks Simple to complex - grow with time
• Overlap and Hand-shake
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Diagrammatic Model
• Project Initiation / Initiation of resource into the project
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Travel – Either Direction (4-6 weeks), every six months, Intro to stakeholders including POs, most affected people
Training – Domain, Standards, Technology, Architecture and Design Overview, SCM, Process inclusion
Task Allocation – Onsite execution under supervision, Graded tasks (complexity), Constant reviews initially, offsite tasks – graded tasks
Offsite Delivery – Testing Specific
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SPRIN
T M
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Gro
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SPO
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Dis
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Test
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Wor
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Pr
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Test
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Act
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Test
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Aut
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Script
ing
Test
ing
Inte
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Reu
sabl
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tinu
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Test
ing
Vid
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WE
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X/G
oto
Mtg
IM,
Sky
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PO Scrum Master SPOC
SC Manager
Reviewer - Temporary
Stakeholder
Roles (Additional?)
Measure - Metrics
Statistical Trends
Productivity and Quality
Feedback Continuous Improvement
Documentation
Activities (Additional?)
TFS
Collaboratio
n tools
TFS Client
SME Review
Tool based Review
Planned Additional Activities• Sprint and Retrospective (Video or In
Person)• Sprint Grooming• SPOC Discussions• Work in Progress testing• Automate for CI & CT• Metrics – Online Dashboards, Burndown and
Burndown charts, Velocity, Defect Trend, Requirement Stability, Productivity, Quality
• Frequent planned Demos• Reviews 9
Will all this work?
• We have multiple projects which have inherited processes from this model to succeed
• There needs to be strong incentive for this to work
• It is time and effort consuming but will stabilize in time (3 months)
• May not be very cost effective as it will not be a pyramid model of delivery
10
Implications of De-Agile
• Willingness to make it work is important • Additional effort from the Agile team to
manage distributed deliveries – atleast initially
• Slow onboarding – takes time to deliver• Additional processes and metrics• Additional documentation – adequacy can
be set
• Dependence on Collaboration tools• Additional Travel costs
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Q&A
12
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