Agile Project Management For Dummies

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond the Book

Where to Go from Here

Part 1 Understanding Agile

Chapter 1 Modernizing Project Management

Project Management Needed a Makeover

The origins of modern project management

The problem with the status quo

Introducing Agile Project Management

How agile projects work

Why agile projects work better

Chapter 2 Applying the Agile Manifesto and Principles

Understanding the Agile Manifesto

Outlining the Four Values of the Agile Manifesto

Value 1: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Value 2: Working software over comprehensive documentation

Value 3: Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Value 4: Responding to change over following a plan

Defining the 12 Agile Principles

Agile principles of customer satisfaction

Agile principles of quality

Agile principles of teamwork

Agile principles of project management

Adding the Platinum Principles

Resisting formality

Thinking and acting as a team

Visualizing rather than writing

Changes as a Result of Agile Values

The Agile Litmus Test

Chapter 3 Why Being Agile Works Better

Evaluating Agile Benefits

How Agile Approaches Beat Historical Approaches

Greater flexibility and stability

Reduced nonproductive tasks

Higher quality, delivered faster

Improved team performance

Tighter project control

Faster and less costly failure

Why People Like Being Agile

Executives

Product development and customers

Management

Development teams

Part 2 Being Agile

Chapter 4 Agile Approaches

Diving under the Umbrella of Agile Approaches

Reviewing the Big Three: Lean, Scrum, and Extreme Programming

An overview of lean

An overview of scrum

An overview of extreme programming

Putting It All Together

Chapter 5 Agile Environments in Action

Creating the Physical Environment

Collocating the team

Setting up a dedicated area

Removing distractions

Going mobile

Low-Tech Communicating

High-Tech Communicating

Choosing Tools

The purpose of the tool

Organizational and compatibility constraints

Chapter 6 Agile Behaviors in Action

Establishing Agile Roles

Product owner

Development team member

Scrum master

Stakeholders

Agile mentor

Establishing New Values

Commitment

Courage

Focus

Openness

Respect

Changing Team Philosophy

Dedicated team

Cross-functionality

Self-organization

Self-management

Size-limited teams

Ownership

Part 3 Agile Planning and Execution

Chapter 7 Defining the Product Vision and Product Roadmap

Agile Planning

Progressive elaboration

Inspect and adapt

Defining the Product Vision

Step 1: Developing the product objective

Step 2: Creating a draft vision statement

Step 3: Validating and revising the vision statement

Step 4: Finalizing the vision statement

Creating a Product Roadmap

Step 1: Identifying stakeholders

Step 2: Establishing product requirements

Step 3: Arranging product features

Step 4: Estimating efforts and ordering requirements

Step 5: Determining high-level time frames

Saving your work

Completing the Product Backlog

Chapter 8 Planning Releases and Sprints

Refining Requirements and Estimates

What is a user story?

Steps to create a user story

Breaking down requirements

Estimation poker

Affinity estimating

Release Planning

Sprint Planning

The sprint backlog

The sprint planning meeting

Chapter 9 Working throughout the Day

Planning Your Day: The Daily Scrum

Tracking Progress

The sprint backlog

The task board

Agile Roles in the Sprint

Creating Shippable Functionality

Elaborating

Developing

Verifying

Identifying roadblocks

The End of the Day

Chapter 10 Showcasing Work, Inspecting, and Adapting

The Sprint Review

Preparing to demonstrate

The sprint review meeting

Collecting feedback in the sprint review meeting

The Sprint Retrospective

Planning for sprint retrospectives

The sprint retrospective meeting

Inspecting and adapting

Chapter 11 Preparing for Release

Preparing the Product for Deployment: The Release Sprint

Preparing for Operational Support

Preparing the Organization for Product Deployment

Preparing the Marketplace for Product Deployment

Part 4 Agile Management

Chapter 12 Managing Scope and Procurement

What’s Different about Agile Scope Management?

Managing Agile Scope

Understanding scope throughout the project

Introducing scope changes

Managing scope changes

Using agile artifacts for scope management

What’s Different about Agile Procurement?

Managing Agile Procurement

Determining need and selecting a vendor

Understanding cost approaches and contracts for services

Organizational considerations for procurement

Working with a vendor

Closing a contract

Chapter 13 Managing Time and Cost

What’s Different about Agile Time Management?

Managing Agile Schedules

Introducing velocity

Monitoring and adjusting velocity

Managing scope changes from a time perspective

Managing time by using multiple teams

Using agile artifacts for time management

What’s Different about Agile Cost Management?

Managing Agile Budgets

Creating an initial budget

Creating a self-funding project

Using velocity to determine long-range costs

Using agile artifacts for cost management

Chapter 14 Managing Team Dynamics and Communication

What’s Different about Agile Team Dynamics?

Managing Agile Team Dynamics

Becoming self-managing and self-organizing

Supporting the team: The servant-leader

Working with a dedicated team

Working with a cross-functional team

Reinforcing openness

Limiting development team size

Managing projects with dislocated teams

What’s Different about Agile Communication?

Managing Agile Communication

Understanding agile communication methods

Status and progress reporting

Chapter 15 Managing Quality and Risk

What’s Different about Agile Quality?

Managing Agile Quality

Quality and the sprint

Proactive quality

Quality through regular inspecting and adapting

Automated testing

What’s Different about Agile Risk Management?

Managing Agile Risk

Reducing risk inherently

Identifying, prioritizing, and responding to risks early

Part 5 Ensuring Agile Success

Chapter 16 Building a Foundation

Organizational and Individual Commitment

Organizational commitment

Individual commitment

Getting commitment

Can you make the transition?

Timing the transition

Choosing the Right Pilot Team Members

The agile champion

The agile transition team

The product owner

The development team

The scrum master

The project stakeholders

The agile mentor

Creating an Environment That Enables Agility

Support Agility Initially and Over Time

Chapter 17 Scaling across Agile Teams

Multi-Team Agile Projects

Making Work Digestible through Vertical Slicing

Scrum of scrums

Aligning through Roles with Scrum at Scale

Scaling the scrum master

Scaling the product owner

Synchronizing in one hour a day

Multi-Team Coordination with LeSS

LeSS, the smaller framework

LeSS Huge framework

Sprint review bazaar

Observers at the daily scrum

Component communities and mentors

Multi-team meetings

Travelers

Reducing Dependencies with Nexus

Nexus role — Nexus integration team

Nexus artifacts

Nexus events

Joint Program Planning with SAFe

Understanding the four SAFe levels

Joint program increment planning

Clarity for managers

Modular Structures with Enterprise Scrum

ES scrum elements generalizations

ES key activities

Chapter 18 Being a Change Agent

Becoming Agile Requires Change

Why Change Doesn’t Happen on Its Own

Strategic Approaches to Implementing and Managing Change

Lewin

ADKAR’s five steps to change

Kotter’s eight steps for leading change

Platinum Edge’s Change Roadmap

Step 1: Conduct an implementation strategy with success metrics

Step 2: Build awareness and excitement

Step 3: Form a transformation team and identify a pilot project

Step 4: Build an environment for success

Step 5: Train sufficiently and recruit as needed

Step 6: Kick off the pilot with active coaching

Step 7: Execute the Roadmap to Value

Step 8: Gather feedback and improve

Step 9: Mature and solidify improvements

Step 10: Progressively expand within the organization

Avoiding Pitfalls

Signs Your Changes Are Slipping

Part 5 The Part of Tens

Chapter 19 Ten Key Benefits of Agile Project Management

Better Product Quality

Higher Customer Satisfaction

Reduced Risk

Increased Collaboration and Ownership

More Relevant Metrics

Improved Performance Visibility

Increased Project Control

Improved Project Predictability

Customized Team Structures

Higher Team Morale

Chapter 20 Ten Key Factors for Project Success

Dedicated Team Members

Collocation

Automated Testing

Enforced Definition of Done

Clear Product Vision and Roadmap

Product Owner Empowerment

Developer Versatility

Scrum Master Clout

Management Support for Learning

Transition Support

Chapter 21 Ten Metrics for Agile Organizations

Return on Investment

New requests in ROI budgets

Capital redeployment

Satisfaction Surveys

Defects in Production

Sprint Goal Success Rates

Time to Market

Lead and Cycle Times

Cost of Change

Team Member Turnover

Skill Versatility

Manager-to-Creator Ratio

Chapter 22 Ten Valuable Resources for Agile Professionals

Agile Project Management For Dummies Online Cheat Sheet

Scrum For Dummies

The Scrum Alliance

The Agile Alliance

The Project Management Institute Agile Community

International Consortium for Agile (ICAgile)

InfoQ

Lean Enterprise Institute

Extreme Programming

Platinum Edge

Index

EULA