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Agile Project Management for Oracle Implementations Applying eXtreme Techniques In a Plan-Driven Environment. January 20, 2006 PNF. AGENDA . The Large Project / Fusion Dilemma Competing Approaches – Agile, Plan-Driven Examples of the Plan-Driven Approach Examples of the Agile Approach
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Agile Project Management for Oracle ImplementationsApplying eXtreme Techniques In a Plan-Driven Environment January 20, 2006 PNF
AGENDA • The Large Project / Fusion Dilemma • Competing Approaches – Agile, Plan-Driven • Examples of the Plan-Driven Approach • Examples of the Agile Approach • The Hybrid Premise • Defining Project Success • Quality Management • Other “Cross Over” Agile Tactics • Did I Mention People? • What More Information?
The Oracle Application / Fusion Dilemma Oracle Application projects are complex, and require considerable integration and up-front planning to be successful. Fusion of technologies adds to the complexity to the process as technical architecture must be clear, defined and stable. These are characteristics that drive existing Oracle Methods to be traditional in nature (Plan-Driven) and not necessarily conduciveness to rapid change. Yet, CHANGE is REALITY.
Competing Approaches Plan Driven Methods – are generally considered the traditional way to develop software. Based on concepts drawn from the mainline engineering fields, these methods approach development in a requirements/design/build paradigm with standard, well-defined processes that organizations improve continuously. The genesis of plan-driven methods lies in the systems engineering and quality disciplines. Agile Methods – are an outgrowth of rapid prototyping and rapid development experiences as well as the resurgence of the philosophy that programming is a craft rather than an industrial process. A truly agile method must include all of the following attributes; iterative cycles, incremental functionality, self-organizing teams , and the principal of emergence - meaning processes, principles, and work structures are flexible and receptive to recognized change rather than pre-determined. “ An extreme project is a complex, high-speed, self-correcting venture during which people interact in search of a desirable result under conditions of high uncertainty, high change, and high stress” Doug DeCarlo, Extreme Project Management
Hybrid Premise In an Oracle environment and on a project by project basis it’s possible to incorporate components of both the Agile approach and the Plan-Driven approach and yield optimal results. Some examples follow: • Defining project requirements • Quality management • Extreme Programming (cross-over) Tactics • People (a common finding)
Defining Project Success 7 Win Conditions The Win Conditions / Success Sliders principal contends that a set of 7 variables can be used to define how success is measured on a project. The Project Stakeholders decide the priority. Everything is negotiable: Radical Project Mgmt, Rob Thomsett. (Note: this replaces the old “iron triangle” Schedule, Quality, Cost” view of success) Off On Stakeholder Satisfaction Meeting of Objectives and Requirements Off On Off On Meeting Budget Off Meeting Deadlines On Added-Value Requirements (Whole PLC perspective) Off On Off On Quality Requirements Off On Team Satisfaction (most contentious)
Quality Management The IEEE and ISO 9000 define quality as “fitness of use” which mirrors Philip Crosby’s (1979) definition of quality - “conformance to requirements”. However the question remains, what is the required quality , and according to whose requirements and whose purpose? Agile theory suggests that quality on a project may be defined by an agreed upon combination of a set of attributes:
Planning User stories Release planning Project Velocity Iterations Stand-up meetings Designing Simplicity Spike solutions No functionality added early Re-factor Coding Customer always available Agreed standards mandatory Unit test first Pair Programming Integrate often Collective cod ownership Leave optimization to last No overtime Testing All code must have unit tests When a bug is found tests are created Acceptance tests are run often and the score is published. Other :Cross-Over” Agile Tactics
People Did I say that “Talent Matters”? “The top software developers are more productive than average software developers not by a factor of 10X or 100X, or even 1000X, but 10,000x.” -Nathan Myhrvold, former Chief Scientist, Microsoft (This is true regardless of which approach you take)
Want More Information? Web Sites http://thomsett.com.au/ http://www.extremeprogramming.org/index.html http://projectconnections.com/index.html http://www.pmi.org/ www.standishgroup.com/ Books Radical Project Management – Rob Thomsett eXtreme Project Management – Doug DeCarlo Balancing Agility and Discipline – Barry Boehm, Richard Turner
Thank You Paul Frangoulis, CPA, PMP Global Program Office, NCR pfrangoulis@bellsouth.net 770-329-0836