July 2020 - SCILS MANAGEMENT CENTRE

It is critical to note that agile is not a methodology, but an approach that can utilize a variety of methodologies. Agile uses organizational models based on people, collaboration, and shared values. The Agile Manifesto outlines the primary tenets of the agile philosophy. It uses rolling wave planning, iterative and incremental delivery, rapid and flexible response to change, and open communication between teams, stakeholders, and customers. Examples of agile methodologies include SCRUM, XP. Lean, and Test-Driven Development (TDD).

A Brief History of Agile

The frustrations of applying sequential project management methods to software development resulted in the emergence of Agile. A group of leading software developers met in Snowbird, Utah, the USA in 2001 to discuss their challenges. They ultimately created the Agile Manifesto. What the software industry needed was greater agility– new methods that allowed for changes without significantly impacting cost and production schedules.

By dividing production into small components (called iterations) that could be simply and rapidly developed and tested, modifications could be made without having to wait for the end product. Now agile methods are utilized in a variety of industries beyond software development, such as telecommunications, aerospace, and construction , as well as being blended with more traditional, linear project management approaches.

The value of agile principles and practices

Organizations who use agile principles and practices have documented the value they see from the philosophy and techniques:

Adaptive to changing business needs, giving the organization more influence over adding, changing, or removing requirements
Early and continuous customer feedback improves communication and empowers business owners who can receive and review critical information necessary to make decisions to steer the project throughout the development process.
Early measurable return on investment.
High visibility and influence over the project progress leading to early indications of problems.
Incremental delivery rather than a single complete delivery at the end of the project; reduces product and process waste

Examples of agile principle and practices

The following examples help illustrate the application of agile principles and practices:

Early, measurable return on investment through defined, iterative delivery of product increments.
High visibility of project progress, allows early identification and resolution or monitoring of problems.
Continuous involvement of the customer through the product development cycle.
Empowerment of the business owner to make decisions needed to meet goals.
Adaptation to changing business needs, giving more influence over requirement changes.
Reduced product and process waste

PMI – ACP (Agile Certified Practitioner) TRAINING & CERTIFICATION EXAM PREP

Agile and Market Opportunities

Worldwide, agile project management methods are being embraced by more and more organizations. PMI survey data reveal that most hiring managers think a certification in agile project management would be valuable to their firms. Moreover, practitioners believe that agile certification would be beneficial to their careers.

The PMI-ACP® was developed to help project management practitioners thrive in the challenges of globally-distributed teams, shifting requirements, and the need for rapid responses. It is meant for those with experience leading or working on agile project teams, and who have knowledge of a variety of agile approaches.

This PMI-ACP® certification recognizes knowledge of agile principles and practices across agile methodologies (including Scrum, Lean, Kanban, etc.), not simply limiting a practitioner to one agile approach. The certification can be used in a variety of roles, and any member of an agile team may be eligible to apply. It is also important to note that it can be used in a variety of projects and industries, not just in IT. Lastly, PMI-ACP® does not require PMI’s PMP® certification as a prerequisite.

The PMI-ACP® certification recognizes an individual’s expertise in using agile practices in their projects, while demonstrating their increased professional versatility through agile tools and techniques. In addition, the PMI-ACP® certification carries a higher level of professional credibility in project management as it requires a combination of agile training, experience working on agile projects, and an examination on agile principles, practices, tools, and techniques.

This global certification also supports individuals in meeting the needs of organizations that rely on project practitioners to apply a diversity of methods to their project management. It specifically validates a practitioner’s ability to understand and apply agile principles and practices.

PMI-ACP Certification Benefits

The PMI-ACP® certification delivers strong positive outcomes to practitioners. It is a certification that is more credible than other certifications that are based only on exams or training. This certification enables practitioners to:

demonstrate to employers their level of professionalism in agile principles, practices, tools, and techniques; and
increase their professional versatility in project management tools and techniques.

PMI – ACP (Agile Certified Practitioner) TRAINING & CERTIFICATION EXAM PREP

The Agile Project Management Approach Read More »

Kanban is a way of thinking about and managing work that can bring discipline and focus on the way your team works. Kanban provides that clarity through this one concept: Visualize your workflow. Visualizing your workflow might sound like an overly simplistic solution, but it can truly work wonders on your team’s ability to work with clarity and purpose. By encouraging teams to identify, prioritize, and intentionally complete work items one at a time, Kanban can help combat the damaging effects of multitasking in a hyper-stimulated world. You do this by figuring out upfront what steps need to be taken on a piece of work and then doing them in that order. Sounds simple, right? But most of our processes are far from linear.

Think about the last project you completed, and the process it went through to go from To Do to Done – was it linear? Did it move smoothly through your process, or did it stop and start and backtrack? Did you finish it on time, or did it take you longer than expected?

Visualizing your workflow will help you define the steps in your team’s process, and refine your process steps to continue to cut out wasted effort, time, and activity.

KANBAN BOARDS AND CARDS

Now that you know the what of Kanban, let’s discuss the how. Kanban uses boards – Kanban boards – to represent your process, and cards to represent your work items. Every Kanban board reflects some version of this basic workflow: To do > Doing > Done

The first step to practising Kanban is to customize your board to accurately reflect your unique process. Here are some examples of different Kanban boards for a Marketing team, an IT operations team, and an HR department.

Marketing | Backlog > Planning/Research > Testing > Implementation > Analysis > Done

IT Operations | Incoming Request > Ready > In-Flight > Delivered

HR | To Do > Planning > Doing > Reviewing > Done

Then, you’ll want to populate your board with cards. Kanban cards represent tasks and serve as visual reminders
of what needs to get done, that you can physically move through your process as you go

FOUR PRINCIPLES OF KANBAN

A Kanban board gives a real-time snapshot of backlog and work in progress, making it easy to decipher what work needs to be done and when. While anyone can visualize tasks on a board, your team isn’t really practising Kanban unless you’re following these four principles.

Visualize All Work

In order to visualize work, a team must first map out their workflow and break it down into its core stages. Each lane in a Kanban board is then configured to match those stages or handoffs. As work items are initiated, they are made into cards and placed in the appropriate lane. By making the workflow visible in this way, teams can observe the flow of work as well as who is working on what. This visibility alone leads to increased communication and collaboration among team members. Mapping your process as a team is an important step in getting started with Kanban, with as a team being the key phrase. Working collaboratively with everyone on your team to define your process will help to ensure that the workflow you decide to map out on your Kanban board accurately reflects the way your team works. You might be surprised by how much you’ll learn about your process!

Focus On Flow

In addition to limiting work in progress, Kanban allows teams to focus on process flow in a more visual manner. Being able to see the process in action allows teams to identify elements of the process that may have gone unnoticed without the visual representation. For example, by assigning each card to a team member, managers can see who on the team is working at capacity and who could take on more work items. Other team members can also see who may need help with work items at any given time. They can also see where projects are getting held up in the process so that inefficiencies can be identified, and work together to regain a healthy flow of work through the system.

Limiting Work In Progress

One of the benefits of increased visibility, as discussed above, is having one shared view of work in progress. When teams have too many items in the Work in Process (WIP) lane, it can lead to task switching, which causes people to lose focus and confuse prioritization. Without a system to prioritize one task over another, everything feels urgent – making you far more likely to engage in multitasking. All too often, we feel as though we have to be available at all times so that we don’t miss anything – we have to have Slack notifications, email notifications, etc. that follow us everywhere we go. Kanban can help us to minimize distractions by providing a system by which we can prioritize work. When an unplanned work request comes in, as a team, you can look at your board and say, “We’re working on finishing task A right now, but then we will have capacity to help you with task B. We will reach out to you when we are ready to help with task B.” By simply implementing a limit to the amount of work in progress at any given time, you can reduce the time it takes for a work item to move through your team’s process. Furthermore, teams and managers can easily identify bottlenecks and queues that may be slowing down the process or preventing the team from working as efficiently as possible. Not only can this improve the quality of the end product, but it can help teams save significant time and resources overall.

Practice Continuous Improvement

Yes – it’s true that the goal of continuous improvement is to help teams improve, continuously. But in the context of Kanban, continuous improvement is far more than that. It refers to the operationalization of improvement activity within an organization: The shared mindset and set of practices that, when done consistently, promote data-driven analysis and effective process improvement, and encourage innovation and growth across the organization. This doesn’t happen on day one of practicing Kanban – it’s the product of Kanban maturity. In order to practice true continuous improvement, organizations need to first master other key elements of Kanban: Namely, increasing visibility, actively managing flow, and using Lean metrics to measure your progress. Through these steps, you can unlock the power of continuous improvement.

Visual Project Management using KANBAN Read More »