Managing Agile Projects

422 Pages·2005·7.17 MB·English

by  Kevin

What are people saying
about this book?
Congratulations on putting together such an extensive and
valuable book on Managing Agile Projects – this is the kind of
contribution that will accelerate the adoption of Agile
Development into large corporate Enterprises.
Managing Agile Projects is the kind of book that will
make everyone realize that Agile Development is a true revolution
in the way we manage software development — from its practices
to its attitude.
This comprehensive book demystifies difficult issues such
as facilitating social interactions, interacting with stakeholders,
and producing just the right amount of artifacts such as
documentation, while providing detailed explanations of practices
to install day-to-day agile activities such as requirements gathering,
testing, integration and release management.
This practical guide will help executives, managers, and
developers to understand the true characteristics of agile
development and agile project management, and how these
characteristics are different than other types of development and
management.
This book is an essential read for those who want to
understand how to develop software with less risk, and less cost,
while maintaining high quality and employee satisfaction.
Mike Beedle, CEO
New Governance Inc.
Once again, Kevin Aguanno provides the Project Management
Discipline with yet another tool to aid in the execution of projects.
Not only does Managing Agile Projects identify the areas of
concern or potential issues associated with implementing new
concepts, or even change, it also provides the mitigation tactics that
a Project Manager can use in his Toolbox. Managing Agile
Projects is easy to read and is written with practical examples to
which we ALL can relate...a reference for ANYONE within the
Project Management Discipline including educators, trainers,
practitioners and those aspiring to be practitioners.
Lisa Jacobsen
Project Management Institute (PMI)
Kevin Aguanno’s Managing Agile Projects is a welcome addition
to the complex issues surrounding managing software development
projects using agile methods. It is neither too extreme nor too
general, it’s “just right.” The reader will find a broad set of
experience based recommendations for managing projects that use
agile methods as well as practical advice on how to introduce agile
to an organization. Since agile is itself an emerging process, Kevin’s
is a critical step along the way to a mature process based on
adapting the best practices from a variety disciplines ranging from
XP to CMMI.
Glen B. Alleman
Kevin Aguanno has brought together a book on project
management that hits the target dead center. The target is, of
course, that all projects are unique; therefore the approach should
be unique, or “agile,” as well. This book represents a consolidation
of very powerful, practical, and applicable approaches to project
management, a definite asset in my project management toolkit.
Its relevance reaches beyond IT and into industries were constant
changes and rapid responses are required to survive and deliver
successful projects.
Stéphane Deschênes, PMP
Managing
Agile Projects
Editor
Kevin Aguanno, PMP®, MAPM
First Edition
Multi-Media Publications Inc. (cid:153)(cid:153)(cid:153)(cid:153)(cid:153) Lakefield, Ontario
Managing Agile Projects
Edited by Kevin Aguanno
Published by:
Multi-Media Publications Inc.
R.R. #4B, Lakefield, Ontario, Canada, K0L 2H0
http://www.mmpubs.com/
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written
permission from the respective authors, except for the inclusion of brief
quotations in a review.
Copyright © 2004 by Kevin Aguanno. Authors of individual chapters retain
copyright ownership of their individual works.
ISBN (paperback edition): 1-895186-11-0
ISBN (PDF edition): 1-895186-12-9
First printing 2005.
Printed in USA. Published in Canada.
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Managing agile projects / edited by Kevin Aguanno. -- 1st ed.
(The project management essentials library)
Issued also in electronic format.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-895186-11-0 (pbk.)
1. Project management. I. Series.
HD69.P75A38 2004 658.4’04 C2004-902800-6
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments.......................................................11
Dedication..................................................................13
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Introduction .................................................. 17
Why do we Need New Methods?....................18
What is Different about Agile Methods?.........21
What are the Benefits of Being Agile?.............25
Why do we Need This Book? .........................45
The Roots of Agililty ..................................... 53
The Agile Manifesto .......................................60
Agile and CMM(I)..........................................62
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PPPPPrrrrrooooojjjjjeeeeeccccctttttsssss iiiiisssss DDDDDiiiiiffffffffffeeeeerrrrreeeeennnnnttttt..................................................6666677777
Managing Agile Projects is Different ............. 69
An Introduction to Iterative and
Incremental Delivery ................................. 75
Defining our terms .........................................76
Different ways to plan a project......................77
What’s so extreme in Extreme Programming?.82
What’s the best way to plan a project?.............84
Learning from Agile Software Development .. 87
Buy Information or Flexibility........................88
Ten Principles.................................................90
Emergent Order Through Visionary
Leadership ............................................... 115
The Problem: Project Manager as
Uninspired Taskmaster .....................118
The Solution: Project Manager as
Visionary Leader...............................121
The Means: An Agile Project Management
Framework........................................122
The Engineering of Unstable
Requirements........................................... 141
Active Stakeholder Participation .................. 147
Who is a Project Stakeholder?.......................149
What does it mean to be an Active
Participant?.......................................152
Inclusive Modeling With Business
Stakeholders......................................154
Dealing With The Nay Sayers ......................156
The Heightened Importance of
Communication ...................................... 159
Factors Affecting Communication ................160
Communication Modes................................161
Effective Communication .............................163
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TTTTTeeeeeccccchhhhhnnnnniiiiiqqqqquuuuueeeeesssss ......................................................................................................... 111116666655555
Agile Management Techniques.................... 167
Requirements Documents that Win the
Race......................................................... 175
Basic steps of the approach ...........................177
Identify the essential documentation content180
Choose the appropriate modeling technique.190
Succeeding with Agile Fixed Price Contracts 197
Process Agility and Software Usability......... 225
Agile Documentation................................... 241
Appropriate Reasons to Create Documents...243
Inappropriate Reasons to Create Documents 245
Documentation Trade-offs............................247
The Essence of Traveling Light.....................249
When is a Document Agile?..........................250
When Should You Update Documentation?..252
Effective Documentation Handoffs...............253
Increasing the Agility of Documentation ......254
Extreme Testing........................................... 259
Unit Tests .....................................................261
Functional Tests............................................263
Test Reporting..............................................265
Agile Meetings............................................. 271
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BBBBBuuuuulllllllllleeeeetttttsssss............................................................................................................................................ 222228888833333
There are No Silver Bullets .......................... 285
Extreme Methods Lead to Extreme Quality
Problems.................................................. 299
Benefits.........................................................304
Dubious Values and Practices........................306
The C3 Project Revisited..............................314
The VCAPS Project Revisited.......................315
Missing Answers...........................................316
Alternatives...................................................318
Synchronizing Agile Projects........................ 323
Stealth Methodology Adoption.................... 333
Focus on the Benefits....................................337
Introduce Agile Methods to your Project......338
RRRRReeeeesssssooooouuuuurrrrrccccceeeeesssss ...................................................................................................................................................... 333335555577777
Chapter Notes ............................................. 359
Contributor Profiles .................................... 385
Editor: Kevin Aguanno................................386
Scott Ambler.................................................387
Sanjiv Augustine ...........................................388
Alistair Cockburn .........................................389
David Cohen ................................................390
Larry Constantine.........................................391
Patricia Costa................................................392
David Hussman............................................393
Ronald E. Jeffries..........................................394
Gerold Keefer ...............................................395
Kirstin Kohler...............................................396
Mike Lindvall ...............................................397
Barbara Paech ...............................................398
Linda Rising .................................................399
Jim Tomayko................................................400
Pascal Van Cauwenberghe.............................401
Susan Woodcock...........................................402
Bibliography................................................ 403