Hybrid Agile Project Management

Learn How to Get the Best of Both Worlds

How Does a Hybrid Agile Process Work?

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 HOW DOES A HYBRID AGILE
MODEL WORK?

© 2014-2020 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 2

In the first lesson of this module, we’re going to discuss “How Does a Hybrid Agile Model
Work?”

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Scrum Only Defines a Process for the Team-level and Sprint-level

2-4 weeks

That may be sufficient for small single team projects but other layers of planning may be
needed for larger and more complex projects.
© 2014-2020 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 3

Scrum is an excellent process but it really only defines a process for a team-level and
sprint-level process. It doesn’t specify any additional layers of management that may be
needed on top of it for larger and more complex projects.

That may be sufficient for small, single team projects but other layers of planning may be
needed to scale a simple single-team project to a larger scope and complexity.

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 Levels of Planning With Scrum
In many cases for larger and more complex projects, it is essential to add additional
layers of planning to a Scrum project:

Project-level Project-level Planning Can Be As “Thick” Or “Thin”

Planning As Necessary

Team and Sprint-level

Feedback Planning
Loop

The project-level planning forms an “envelope” around the team and sprint-level planning process
defined by Scrum and defines the overall project objectives
© 2014-2020 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 4

In many cases for larger and more complex projects, it is essential to add additional
layers of planning to the project

Most Scrum projects will have at least project-level planning where at least the high-
level goals and objectives of the project are defined; however, project-level planning can
be as “thick” or “thin” as necessary depending on the nature of the project.

The project-level planning forms an “envelope” around the team and sprint-level
planning process defined by Scrum; however, the project-level planning would typically
be at least somewhat dynamic. Rather than defining a rigid upfront plan that might not
change for the entire duration of the project, it would be expected that lessons learned
from the team and sprint-level planning process would be fed back into the project-level
planning process to make adjustments to the project-level plan as necessary.

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 Levels of Planning With Scrum
Project-level
Planning

Release-level Release-level Planning Can Be As “Thick” Or

Planning “Thin” As Necessary

Team and Sprint-level

Planning

2-4 weeks

The Release-level Planning also forms an “envelope” around the team and Sprint-level Planning
process defined by scrum and defines the goals for the release
© 2014-2020 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 5

In addition to the project-level planning, for large complex projects you might also need
to break up the project into releases and add an additional level of release planning. The
release planning can also be as “thick” or “thin” as necessary but would typically define
the high-level capabilities to be included in the release and might also estimate the time
required to produce the release.

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 Different Levels of Agility
Hybrid Agile Processes

Increasing Agility

Plan-Driven Iterative Adaptive

Approaches Approaches Approaches

Increasing Agility and Adaptivity

More emphasis on higher- Planning limited to team-

level planning level planning
© 2014-2020 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 6

As I’ve mentioned it is very possible to blend a plan-driven approach with an Agile

approach to create different levels of Agility as shown here. It is primarily a matter of
putting the right level of emphasis on different levels of planning in the project.
At one extreme, a highly adaptive approach might be limited to team-level planning only
with little or no release-level planning or project-level planning
At the other extreme, a more plan-driven approach would put a much higher level of
emphasis on project-level planning and release level planning
By adjusting the level of emphasis on planning at each of those levels, it is very possible
to create a broad range of hybrid Agile approaches with different levels of agility and
adaptivity.

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 A hybrid Agile model might be just a more
realistic implementation of Agile

© 2014-2020 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 7

An important point is that none of these things are significantly different from what
might be done in an Agile project but the need for them in a standard Agile environment
is not well-defined. In some cases, there is a belief that these things might not be
necessary but I don’t think that is very realistic.

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 General Hybrid Agile Approach Characteristics

Ongoing Project Management

Front-end Back-end
Inception Deployment
Planning 2-4 weeks
Process

The core of the process is based on Agile/Scrum

© 2014-2020 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 8

This slide shows a general model of what a hybrid Agile process might look like:

• The core of the process is based on an Agile/Scrum development process

• More front-end inception planning would be added to the startup phase of the
project to define the overall vision and scope of the project and tailor the process to
the nature of the project. This is not to say that there is no front-end planning that
happens in an Agile project but the need for front-end planning is not well-defined.
The level of front-end planning might be either limited depending on the nature of
the project

• There would be more ongoing project management as the project is in progress – this
would not be a traditional, plan-driven form of project management but some level of
project management would be needed to manage the scope of the effort

• Finally, there might be some level of release and deployment process on the back-end
of the project. This is something that might normally need to be done in an Agile
project but it isn’t formally-defined

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 Key Differences From a Waterfall Approach

Partnership with the Business Sponsor and Business Users

A high-level understanding of the project scope and high-level requirements exists

in the form of user stories at the macro-level

The Business Sponsor/Users and the project team will jointly own responsibility for
further defining the details of the solution as well as optimizing it to make it
successful in the team-level process

Cobb, Charles, Managed Agile Development – Making Agile Work for Your Business, Outskirts Press, 2013

© 2014-2020 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 9

Let me briefly summarize some key Differences from a Waterfall Approach:

1. Partnership with the Business Sponsor and Business Users

A high level understanding of the project scope and high-level

requirements exists in the form of user stories at the macro-level. The
level of detail in the requirements definition may vary depending on the
nature of the project; however, it is normally not necessary to specify all
the details of how a solution will be developed in the project-level
planning.

The Business Sponsor/Users and the project team will jointly own
responsibility for further defining the details of the solution as well as
optimizing it to make it successful in the micro-level process

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 Key Differences From a Waterfall Approach

Cross-functional Team Approach

Requires more of a cross-functional team approach

The entire project team will also be involved in making collaborative, cross-
functional decisions

Cobb, Charles, Managed Agile Development – Making Agile Work for Your Business, Outskirts Press, 2013

© 2014-2020 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 10

Another key difference is :

1. Cross-Functional Team Approach

Requires more of a cross-functional team approach, where the various

functional participants in the team (Developers, Business Analysts,
Testers, etc.) work concurrently as an integrated team with the business
users to jointly define, develop, and test the solution throughout the
project

The entire project team will also be involved in making collaborative,

cross-functional decisions as part of the project-level planning and
release-level planning activities together with the Business Sponsor,
Product Owner, and Business Users.

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 Key Differences From a Waterfall Approach
“Rolling Wave” Planning Approach

Upfront planning is limited

Uses “progressive elaboration” and “rolling wave” planning

Cobb, Charles, Managed Agile Development – Making Agile Work for Your Business, Outskirts Press, 2013

© 2014-2020 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 11

Another key difference is :

3.Rolling Wave Planning Approach

Uses “progressive elaboration” and “rolling wave” planning.

Requirements are generally defined only to a high-level in the initial
project planning and then requirements are progressively elaborated in
more detail as the project progresses.

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 Key Differences From a Waterfall Approach

Incremental and Iterative Development Approach

Instead of using a sequential approach to design, develop, and test the entire
solution, an incremental and iterative approach is used to incrementally design,
develop, and test portions of the overall solution

At the team level, a standard Agile approach such as Scrum can be used to manage
the development process

Cobb, Charles, Managed Agile Development – Making Agile Work for Your Business, Outskirts Press, 2013

© 2014-2020 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 12

Another key difference is :

3. Iterative Approach

Instead of using a sequential approach to design, develop, and test the

entire solution, an iterative approach is used to incrementally design,
develop, and test portions of the overall solution.

At the “micro” level, a standard Agile approach such as Scrum can be

used to manage the development process.

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 NEXT LECTURE…
WHAT IS A HYBRID AGILE MODEL AND
WHY WOULD YOU USE IT?

© 2014-2020 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 13

In the next lesson we’re going to discuss What is a Hybrid Agile Model and Why Would You Use
It?

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