The Project Manager's Guide to Mastering Agile

426 Pages·2015·4.63 MB·English

by  Charles G. Cobb

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❯The Project
MANAGER’S GUIDE
TO MASTERING
AGILE
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❯The Project
MANAGER’S GUIDE
TO MASTERING
AGILE
Principles and Practices
for an Adaptive Approach
Charles G. Cobb
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Cover image: Blur © iStock.com/snvv
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Copyright © 2015 Charles G. Cobb
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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CONTENTS
PREFACE xiii Summary of Key Points 13
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xix Discussion Topics 14
1 Introduction to Agile Part 1 Fundamentals of Agile
Project Management 1
2 Agile History and the
The Chasm in Project Management
Philosophies 2 Agile Manifesto 17
The Evolution of Agile and Agile Early History 17
Waterfall 3
Dr. Winston Royce and the Waterfall
Definition of waterfall 4 model (1970) 18
Definition of agile 4 Early iterative and incremental
Comparison of plan-driven and development methods (early 1970s) 19
adaptive approaches 5 Further evolution of iterative and
The Evolution of the Project incremental development (mid- to
Management Profession 7 late 1970s) 20
The early history of project Early agile development methods
management 7 (1980s and 1990s) 20
Transformation of the project Agile Manifesto (2001) 21
management profession 8 Agile Manifesto values 22
What’s driving this change, and Agile Manifesto principles 24
why now? 9
Summary of Key Points 30
Agile Project Management
Benefits 11 Discussion Topics 31
v
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vi CO N T E N T S
Spikes 59
3 ScrumOverview 33
Progressive elaboration 60
Scrum Roles 34 Value-based functional
decomposition 61
Product owner role 35
Agile Requirements Practices 61
Scrum Master role 36
The role of a business analyst in an
Team role 38
agile project 61
Scrum framework 39
“Just barely good enough” 63
Sprint planning 41
Differentiating wants from needs and
Daily standup 42 the “five whys” 63
Sprint review 42 MoSCoW technique 64
Sprint retrospective 43 User Personas and Stories 64
General Scrum/Agile Principles 44 User personas 64
Variability and uncertainty 44 User stories 65
Prediction and adaptation 45 Epics 67
Validated learning 46 Product Backlog 68
Work in progress 47 What is a product backlog? 68
Progress 48 Product backlog grooming 68
Performance 49 Summary of Key Points 70
Scrum Values 51 Discussion Topics 71
Commitment and focus 51
Openness 52
5 Agile Development,
Respect 53 Quality, and Testing
Courage 54 Practices 73
Summary of Key Points 55
Agile Software Development Practices 73
Discussion Topics 55
Code refactoring 74
Continuous integration 75
4 Agile Planning,
Pair programming 75
Requirements, and
Test-driven development 76
Product Backlog 57
Extreme programming (XP) 77
Agile Planning Practices 57
Agile Quality Management Practices 78
Rolling-wave planning 57
Key differences in agile quality
Planning strategies 58 management practices 78
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CON T E N T S vii
Definition of “done” 78
7 Agile Estimation 101
The role of QA testing in an agile
project 79
Agile Estimation Overview 101
Agile Testing Practices 80
What’s different about agile
Concurrent testing 80 estimation? 101
Acceptance test driven Developing an estimation strategy 103
development 80
Management of uncertainty 103
Repeatable tests and automated
Agile Estimation Practices 104
regression testing 81
Levels of estimation 104
Value-driven and risk-based testing 81
What is a story point? 106
Summary of Key Points 81
How are story points used? 107
Discussion Topics 83
What is planning poker? 108
Velocity and Burn-Down/Burn-Up Charts 109
Velocity 109
Part 2 Agile Project Management
Burn-down charts 110
Burn-up charts 111
6 Time-Boxing, Kanban, and Summary of Key Points 112
Theory of Constraints 87
Discussion Topics 113
The Importance of Flow 89
Time-Boxing 90
8 Agile Project
Time-boxing advantages 90
Management Role 115
Additional time-boxing productivity
advantages 90 Agile Project Management Shifts in
Thinking 117
Kanban Process 91
Emphasis on maximizing value
Push and pull processes 91
versus control 117
What is a Kanban process? 92
Emphasis on empowerment and
Differences between Scrum and self-organization 119
Kanban 93
Limited emphasis on documentation 120
Work-in-process limits in Kanban 94
Managing flow instead of structure 121
Kanban boards 95
Potential Agile Project Management
Theory of Constraints 96 Roles 121
Summary of Key Points 98 Making agile work at a team level 121
Discussion Topics 99 Hybrid agile project role 123
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viii CO N T E N T S
Enterprise-level implementation 124 Group your work items by feature
groups or themes 155
Using agile concepts in non–agile
projects 127 Deliver according to business
goals 156
Agile and PMBOK® 127
Release and Sprint Planning 157
The difference between explicit and
tacit knowledge 127 Release planning/sprint planning
capabilities 158
Relationship to traditional project
management functions 129 Sprint detail planning 158
Summary of Key Points 137 Sprint Tracking 160
Discussion Topics 138 Kanban boards 161
Burn-down charts 162
9 Agile Communications Summary of Key Points 163
and Tools 139
Discussion Topics 163
Agile Communications Practices 139
Information radiators 139 11 Understanding Agile at a
Deeper Level 165
Face-to-face communications 141
Daily standups 142 Systems Thinking 165
Distributed teams 142 Influence of Total Quality Management
(TQM) 167
Agile Project Management Tools 143
Cease dependence on inspection 168
Benefits of agile project management
tools 144 Emphasis on the human aspect of
quality 170
Characteristics of enterprise-
level agile project management The need for cross-functional
tools 145 collaboration and transformation 171
Summary of Key Points 148 Importance of leadership 173
Discussion Topics 149 Ongoing continuous improvement 173
Influence of Lean Manufacturing 174
10 VersionOne Tool Customer value 177
Overview 151 Map the value stream 177
Pull 178
Product/Project Planning 151
Flow 182
Product backlog management 153
Respect for people 186
Manage business initiatives with
epics 155 Perfection 187
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