Basics of agile

Basics of Agile
© 2020 Swapnil Prabhavalkar. All rights reserved.
sprabhavalkar.2014@gmail.com
+91 845 484 9694

Contents
What is Agile?
Iterative, Incremental & Time-boxed
Origins of Agile
Agile Manifesto
Agile Principles
The Agile ‘Mindset’
Benefits of Agile
Drawbacks of Agile
Popular Agile Frameworks
Notable Agile Adopters
Agile or Waterfall?
References
Copyrights

What is Agile?
Agile is a time-boxed, iterative approach
to software delivery that builds software
incrementally from the start of the project,
instead of trying to deliver it all at once
near the end.
– Agile in a Nutshell (www.agilenutshell.com)

Iterative, Incremental & Time-boxed
Iterative
Work on the project is done in a
series of iterations. Each iteration is
a mini development cycle, with its
own analysis, design, build, test
and deployment phases
Time-boxed
Each iteration is of a fixed duration
that is constant throughout the
execution of the project. The
duration can range from hours to
weeks, depending on the size of
the project executed
Incremental
The product is developed as a set
of features in each iteration. Every
feature delivered at the end of an
iteration is potentially deployable
in a live Production environment

Origins of Agile
 Software development landscape was dominated by the ‘Waterfall’ model
 Linear, non-iterative approach to software development, inspired by the
process followed in manufacturing industries
 Composed of requirements gathering, design, build, test and deploy phases
 Worked well prior to the 2000s, as business requirements did not change very
rapidly back then
 Many ‘lightweight’ software development methods evolved in the 1990s,
which were included under the Agile umbrella after 2001
Pre-Agile Era

Origins of Agile
 Formally conceived in February 2001 by a group of seventeen software
professionals (also known as the ‘Agile Alliance’) in Utah, USA*
 Intended to reduce the burden of unnecessary processes and documentation
on software development practices, while retaining the focus on quality
software delivery
 Recognizes the limits of planning in an increasingly turbulent business
environment
 Stresses on the importance of people, collaboration and building
organizational communities in which people would want to work
 At its core is the agile ‘mindset’ which must be adopted at the team and
organizational level
* While several agile methodologies were being practiced even before 2001, the term gained widespread formal acceptance after the meeting of the Agile Alliance
Formalization of Agile

Agile Manifesto
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.
We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals & Interactions over Processes & Tools
Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation
Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation
Responding to Change over Following a Plan
The Agile Alliance
February 2001

Agile Manifesto Individuals & Interactions over Processes & Tools
 Recognizes people as the core driving
force of any project
 Healthy interaction fosters mutual respect
and trust
 Interactions aimed at improving
collaboration among stakeholders
 Emphasis on spontaneous and open
communication
Individuals & Interactions
 Facilitators for achieving project objectives
 Provide a framework to the way projects
are executed
 Must be balanced with other aspects of
the project such as people and delivery
 No single process or tool is self-sufficient
Processes & Tools

Agile Manifesto Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation
 Primary aim of the development effort
 Tangible output of the project
 Drives business outcomes and thus,
generates value for the customer
 Can be maintained with ‘just enough’
documentation
Working Software
 By-product of the development effort
 Only when there is a strong need for
future reference
 The more detailed, the more efforts it
takes, driving up the cost factor
 Additional maintenance needed
 Useful in cases where team member
turnover is high
Comprehensive Documentation

Agile Manifesto Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation
 Recognizes customer as the most
important stakeholder on the project
 Improved collaboration with customer
builds trust over time
 Customer’s trust encourages prompt and
honest feedback during development
 Customer engagement at every step
improves quality of the final product
 Accumulates goodwill in the long run
Customer Collaboration
 Primarily focused on profitability and legal
aspects of the venture
 Might not involve all relevant business
stakeholders at crucial stages of drafting
 End-user needs might be overlooked
 Brings in elements of rigidity and formality
to they way the project is executed
Contract Negotiation

Agile Manifesto Responding to Change over Following a Plan
 Quick response to change is crucial for
building the right product
 Gives a competitive edge to the customer
in capitalizing on changing market trends
 Development efforts geared towards
making changes available as early as the
next iteration
 ‘Keeping up with changes’ is what true
agility is all about!
Responding to Change
 Lends a sense of rigidity to project
execution
 Preferred when chances of requirement
changes are very low to none
 Accommodating change can be expensive
 Quality processes can add more cost to
the project
Following a Plan

Agile Principles
Our highest priority is to satisfy
the customer through early and
continuous delivery of valuable
software.
Build projects around
motivated individuals. Give
them the environment and
support they need, and trust
them to get the job done.
Continuous attention to
technical excellence and good
design enhances agility.
Welcome changing
requirements, even late in
development. Agile processes
harness change for the
customer's competitive
advantage.
The most efficient and effective
method of conveying
information to and within a
development team is face-to-
face conversation.
Simplicity – the art of
maximizing the amount of work
not done – is essential.
Deliver working software
frequently, from a couple of
weeks to a couple of months,
with a preference to the shorter
timescale.
Working software is the
primary measure of progress.
The best architectures,
requirements, and designs
emerge from self-organizing
teams.
Business people and
developers must work together
daily throughout the project.
Agile processes promote
sustainable development. The
sponsors, developers, and users
should be able to maintain a
constant pace indefinitely.
At regular intervals, the team
reflects on how to become
more effective, then tunes and
adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Agile Principles 1 of 12
 Commitment to customer satisfaction takes the highest priority in
Agile development
 Produce tangible results as early as towards the end of the first
iteration
 Near continuous delivery through shorter iterations
 Software delivered at the end of each iteration should hold value
for the customer, i.e., it should be directly usable in the customer’s
business process
Our highest priority is to satisfy the
customer through early and
continuous delivery of
valuable software.

 Acknowledge that change is integral to any business environment
and must be catered for during development
 Incremental development provides greater flexibility to
accommodate changes
 Just-in-time planning addresses changes by allowing them to be
taken up in the next immediate iteration
 Ability to quickly adapt to changes lends the customer a
competitive advantage
 Changes are only taken up during iteration planning, and not
during an iteration (unless driven by acute business urgency)
Welcome changing requirements,
even late in development.
Agile processes harness change
for the customer's
competitive advantage.

 Software that works and thus, adds value to the customer should be
delivered at regular intervals
 The shorter the iteration, the more frequent the value delivered
 Shorter iteration lengths also provide frequent opportunities for
stakeholder feedback
Deliver working software
frequently, from a couple of weeks
to a couple of months,
with a preference to
the shorter timescale.

 Involvement of business along with the developers helps generate
timely feedback during development
 Most design defects can be avoided
 Daily involvement keeps business updated of the most current status
 Boosts collaboration and mutual trust within the team
 Requirement changes can be handled more efficiently
Business people and developers
must work together daily
throughout the project.

 Team members should have a sense of motivation to deliver what is
expected to the best of their abilities
 Trust and mutual respect form the basis of high-performing teams
 An open culture fosters transparency and free expression of
opinions and ideas
 Constructive criticism and objective evaluation enable improvement
 Teams must be protected from excessive bureaucracy and red-tape
Build projects around motivated
individuals. Give them the
environment and support they
need, and trust them to
get the job done.

 Face-to-face conversation is free of most barriers to
effective communication
 Improved accuracy in transmission and reception of ideas
 Non-verbal communication such as e-mail or text messages
more susceptible to communication gaps
 Co-location is highly recommended for Agile teams
 Frequent video conferencing, if possible, may be employed
if co-location not possible
The most efficient and effective
method of conveying information
to and within a development team
is face-to-face conversation.

 Only software that performs its expected function adds value
to the customer
 Effectiveness of the development process is measured by its
ability to produce working software at each iteration
 Testing data can provide metrics to assess ‘workability’ of the
software
 New releases should not break prior versions (regression,
security and backward-compatibility)
 Strong emphasis on frequent demos of the work completed
 Involvement of business during testing enhances reliability
and efficiency of the process
Working software is the primary
measure of progress.

 After a few iterations, the pace of development should stabilize as
the teams mature and collaboration improves
 ‘Committed’ team members are 100% invested in the project
 ‘Involved’ team members such as business users should be able to
consistently devote a fair share of their time to the development
process
 Incremental and iterative development reduces burnout and stress
due to timelines, thus, improving productivity
 Productivity improvement, in turn, promotes a sustainable pace
Agile processes promote
sustainable development.
The sponsors, developers, and
users should be able to maintain a
constant pace indefinitely.

 Design should consider present and future scenarios for the feature
being worked on
 Quality processes such as peer reviews should be built into the team
culture
 Technical debt should be minimum and cleared at the earliest
 Adoption of latest technological trends and best practices to be
considered as and when possible
 Time dedicated to quality may be factored in during iteration
planning for more accurate estimation
 Improvement is a continuous process and must be a shared
responsibility of everyone on the team
Continuous attention to technical
excellence and good design
enhances agility.

 Work that does not deliver any value to the customer should
not be undertaken
 Suggestions from within the team for enhancement of features
in scope must first be evaluated by the business
 ‘Gold-plating’ should be avoided
 Information radiators should be used to identify and arrest
scope creep as early as possible
 The simpler the solution, the more effective it is
Simplicity – the art of maximizing
the amount of work not done –
is essential.

 Mutual trust and collaboration are essential factors for building
self-organizing teams
 Respect for the individual and collective decision-making result in
an open work culture
 An open culture fosters free exchange of constructive ideas that
contribute to improvement of the product
 Self-organizing teams are strongly focused on a common goal of
delivering a product with the highest quality
 Over time, as the team matures, it adapts more quickly to the
needs of a changing business environment
The best architectures,
requirements, and designs emerge
from self-organizing teams.

 Introspection and retrospection are key tools for continuous
improvement leveraged by self-organizing teams
 Data points for identifying improvement areas can be obtained
from various information radiators updated on a daily basis
 End of an iteration is a preferred retrospection point
 Improvement measures should be unanimously adopted
 Lessons learned and implemented may be formally captured for
future reference
At regular intervals, the team
reflects on how to become more
effective, then tunes and adjusts
its behavior accordingly.

The Agile ‘Mindset’
 Imbibing the twelve Agile Principles and the Agile Values set forth in the
Agile Manifesto
 Creating an open culture based on trust and respect for each other
 Focus on continuous improvement in terms of quality and timelines
 Balance between customer commitments and the needs and constraints
of those who are delivering on them
 Needs to be adopted organization-wide, and not just at the team level
 Coaching may be needed to guide the teams in early stages of Agile
adoption
Agile

Benefits of Agile
 Increased customer satisfaction due to incremental availability of
working product
 Ease of handling and harnessing changes
 Rapid realization of Return on Investment (ROI)
 Balanced focus on quality and timelines
 Frequent stakeholder feedback during development
 Freedom from the ‘command-and-control’ style of management
 Improved team dynamics

Drawbacks of Agile
 Behavioral challenges towards adopting the Agile mindset
 May take significant time for teams to become self-organizing
 Incremental product may not always be cohesive
 Subjective estimation prevents inter-project metrics comparison
 May not be suitable for projects with immovable deadlines, such as
those within Compliance and Regulatory areas
 Bare minimum documentation

Popular Agile Frameworks Scrum
 Deliver working product incrementally in iterations called ‘sprints’
 Each sprint is a mini SDLC for product features being developed
 Requirements broken down into artifacts such as Product Backlog,
Sprint Backlog consisting of Features that are further decomposed into
User Stories
 Teams are cross-functional and self-organizing
 Roles include Product Owner, Scrum Master and Team Member
 Meetings called ‘ceremonies’ at various stages of development
 Estimation is usually complexity-based and in story points

Popular Agile Frameworks Extreme Programming (XP)
 Produce working software in frequent ‘releases’
 Prescribes taking traditional software development practices to their extreme,
hence the name ‘Extreme Programming’
 Key activities include coding, testing, listening and designing
 Based on values of communication, simplicity, feedback, courage and respect
 Relies heavily on practices such as pair programming, test-driven
development, continuous integration, refactoring and coding standards

Popular Agile Frameworks Kanban
 Lean method to manage work by balancing demands with available capacity
 Originated in the Toyota Production System
 Means ‘sign board’ in Japanese
 Aimed at limiting the work in progress (WIP)
 Employs the principle of ‘pulling’ work based on capacity, as opposed to work
being ‘pushed’ to the development process
 Kanban boards provide a visual representation of work in terms of the
number of items and the stage each item is in, while also capturing WIP limits
for each stage

Notable Agile Adopters 1 of 2
Since 2011, the Microsoft Visual
Studio Team Services (VSTS) team has
been using Agile tools and techniques
in their development processes.
Embracing the Agile mindset and
applying Agile principles has helped
them significantly improve the way
they build software and services.
With the adoption of Agile by Cisco’s
Collaboration and Communications
Group (CCG) from 2009, the
communication giant has been able
to develop new products and refine
existing ones with close involvement
of Agile customers across industries
and market segments.
Driven by the rapidly changing
customer behavior in response to new
digital distribution channels, ING
Netherlands embarked on an Agile
transformation journey since 2015.
A constantly evolving organizational
model founded on core Agile principles
has helped ING deliver that strategy.

Gaining traction around 2009 among
teams developing LEGO Universe,
Agile practices have been a part of
LEGO’s digital branch since then.
From 2014, LEGO has been able to
successfully scale its Agile way of
working by implementing the Scaled
Agile Framework (SAFe) at an
organization level.
Spotify has been an adopter of Agile
since its inception in 2008. Starting
with scrum for a fewer number of
employees, the brand has
systematically scaled up in its growth
years to achieve its goals quicker by
evolving what has come to be known
as the ‘Spotify Tribe’ Model.
Zappos started its Agile adoption
journey in 2013 with a shift to
‘holocracy’, an organizational model
that distributes decision-making
authority to self-organizing circles.
Supported by the three pillars of
culture & values, purpose and market-
based dynamics, it has been able to
leverage organizational agility to
achieve its business objectives.
Notable Agile Adopters 2 of 2

Agile or Waterfall?
AGILE
 Vague and uncertain requirements
 High possibility of scope changes
 Minimal documentation needed
 Iterative and incremental development
 Just-in-time planning
 Continuous feedback from stakeholders
 Quality built into development process
WATERFALL
 Clear and specific requirements
 Less chances of scope changes
 Strong emphasis on documentation
 Linear approach to development
 Rigorous and elaborate planning
 Little to no feedback from stakeholders
 Explicit checks and processes for quality

References
 History: The Agile Manifesto
https://agilemanifesto.org/history.html
 Manifesto for Agile Software Development
https://agilemanifesto.org/
 Principles behind the Agile Manifesto
https://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
 The complete history of agile software development
https://techbeacon.com/app-dev-testing/agility-beyond-history-legacy-agile-development
 The Chicken and the Pig
https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/agile/scrum/roles/the-chicken-and-the-pig
 Embracing Agile
https://hbr.org/2016/05/embracing-agile
 Waterfall model - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model
 Agile at LEGO
https://www.infoq.com/news/2017/09/agile-lego/
1 of 2

References
 [PDF] Agile Product Development at Cisco: Collaborative, Customer-Centered Software Development
https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/global/en_hk/solutions/collaboration/files/agile_product_development.pdf
 [Video] Agile at Microsoft
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/resources/videos/agile-at-microsoft/
 ING’s agile transformation | McKinsey
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/ings-agile-transformation
 Exploring Key Elements of Spotify’s Agile Scaling Model
https://medium.com/scaled-agile-framework/exploring-key-elements-of-spotifys-agile-scaling-model-471d2a23d7ea
 Safe enough to try: An interview with Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh | McKinsey
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/safe-enough-to-try-an-interview-with-zappos-ceo-tony-hsieh
 Scrum Methodology and Project Management
https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/agile/scrum
 Extreme programming – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_programming
 Kanban (development) – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban_(development)
2 of 2

Copyrights
 Definition of Agile © Jonathan Rasmusson, ‘Agile in a Nutshell’
 The Agile Manifesto © 2001 Agile Manifesto Authors
 Agile Principles © 2001 Agile Manifesto Authors
 Microsoft, Cisco, ING, LEGO, Spotify and Zappos are registered trademarks of the respective corporations and their logos are used here
for indicative purposes only
This presentation is protected by US and International copyright laws. With the exception of those stated on this slide, copyright to all material
held by the author. Reproduction and distribution of this work, in whole or in part, without written permission of the author is prohibited.

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