An Agile Retrospective

Presented by Chris Gilbert at DDD Brisbane 2016.

A look at some of the common problems that we're still seeing in Agile software development in 2016 and some things that can help.

Originally presented at DDD Perth 2016 with Rob Moore.

Transcript

1. @chriswithpants #dddbne An Agile Retrospective What works? What doesn’t? What can we try out in order to improve?
2. @chriswithpants #dddbne Please support our sponsors
3. @chriswithpants #dddbne Rob Moore Principal Consultant for Readify. Passionate about leading software teams to deliver business value. @robdmoore Chris Gilbert Principal Consultant for SixPivot. Common sense enthusiast. Wearer of pants. @chriswithpants
4. @chriswithpants #dddbne Why are we here? Guiding choice: What do we see the most pain from?
5. @chriswithpants #dddbne Retrospective Prime Directive Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand. Norm Kerth Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Reviews
6. @chriswithpants #dddbne Caveat Context is everything; be pragmatic We are going to show you things we’ve done that have worked for us* * YMMV
7. @chriswithpants #dddbne Ceremonies
8. @chriswithpants #dddbne Problem: Bad standups Idea #1: Goal-oriented questions Idea #2: Walk the board
9. @chriswithpants #dddbne Guiding Principle “Are you getting value from the ceremony? What changes– even radical ones – can you introduce to get more value? EXPERIMENT!”
10. @chriswithpants #dddbne Backlog Management
11. @chriswithpants #dddbne Problem: Business value not driving backlog items Idea #1: Emphasise “So That” Idea #2: Drive tech debt via business value
12. @chriswithpants #dddbne Problem: Driving requirements from huge spec documents that are months/years in the making Idea #1: Use acceptance criteria effectively Idea #2: Use more than just text
13. @chriswithpants #dddbne Guiding Principle “Focus on value to the business for all work. Optimise for just-in-time conversations where possible.”
14. @chriswithpants #dddbne Estimation
15. @chriswithpants #dddbne Problem: Inaccurate Estimating Idea #1: Only estimate stories Idea #2: Use relative Fibonacci estimation
16. @chriswithpants #dddbne Relative estimation FTW
17. @chriswithpants #dddbne Problem: Tedious planning poker Idea #1: Take high estimate if one Fibonacci bracket diff Idea #2: Only discuss implementation if points dispute
18. @chriswithpants #dddbne Guiding Principle “It's a balancing act between too much effort and not enough. It's an estimate - it's OK if the estimate is wrong. Law of averages usually applies.”
19. @chriswithpants #dddbne Testing
20. @chriswithpants #dddbne Problem: Separate test plans / specs are created Idea: Use acceptance criteria
21. @chriswithpants #dddbne Problem: Testers out of sync with dev team Idea #1: Testers part of the core team Idea #2: Story kickoffs and BAs! ^
22. @chriswithpants #dddbne Guiding Principle “The whole idea of agile is it's iterative and we fail fast. If testing isn't a collaborative part of the work as it's being done, we're not failing fast and if we don't fail fast, we can't fix it fast.”
23. @chriswithpants #dddbne Product Owners
24. @chriswithpants #dddbne Problem: PO's with no authority over scope Idea: Empowered, knowledgeable PO
25. @chriswithpants #dddbne Problem: Unidirectional conversations about scope (PO → Devs -or- Devs → PO) Idea: Foster bi-directional relationship with PO
26. @chriswithpants #dddbne Guiding Principle “Bi-directional relationship between dev team and empowered, preferably collocated product owner”
27. @chriswithpants #dddbne Culture
28. @chriswithpants #dddbne Problem: Not focusing on shipping Idea #1: Build a culture of making production matter
29. @chriswithpants #dddbne Problem: Company not open to change Idea #1: Question the value of activities Idea #2: Build continuous improvement culture
30. @chriswithpants #dddbne Guiding Principle “Fostering a culture of continuous improvement is so very important; that way it doesn’t matter where you start you can always improve. Production or it didn’t happen”
31. @chriswithpants #dddbne Thanks! Questions? Rob Moore @robdmoore Chris Gilbert @chriswithpants
32. @chriswithpants #dddbne Please fill out your feedback http://www.dddbrisbane.com/feedback Do you want prizes? Because that’s how you get prizes!