Chapter 3 – Agile Software

Development

Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 1

Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 2
Agile project management

Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 3

Agile project management

• The responsibility of software project managers is :

• software is delivered on time
• within the planned budget.

• The standard approach to project management is plan-driven.

• Agile project management requires a different approach, which is

adapted to incremental development and the practices used in agile
methods.

Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 4

Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 5
Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 6
Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 7
Scrum

• Scrum is an agile method that focuses on managing iterative

development rather than specific agile practices.
• There are three phases in Scrum:

• The initial phase: is an outline planning phase where you establish the
general objectives for the project and design the software architecture.

• sprint cycles: where each cycle develops an increment of the system.

• Closure phase: wraps up the project, completes required documentation

such as system help frames and user manuals and assesses the lessons
learned from the project.

Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 8

Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 9
Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 10
Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 11
Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 12
Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 13
Scrum sprint cycle

30/10/2014 Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 14

The Scrum sprint cycle

• Sprints are fixed length, normally 2–4 weeks.

• The starting point for planning is the product backlog, which is the list
of work to be done on the project.
• The selection phase involves all of the project team who work with
the customer to select the features and functionality from the
product backlog to be developed during the sprint.

30/10/2014 Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 15

The Sprint cycle

• Once these are agreed, the team organize themselves to develop the
software.
• During this stage the team is isolated from the customer and the
organization, with all communications channelled through the so-
called ‘Scrum master’.
• The role of the Scrum master is to protect the development team
from external distractions.
• At the end of the sprint, the work done is reviewed and presented to
stakeholders. The next sprint cycle then begins.

30/10/2014 Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 16

 Scrum terminology (a)
Scrum term Definition

Development team A self-organizing group of software developers, which should be no more

than 7 people. They are responsible for developing the software and other
essential project documents.
Potentially shippable The software increment that is delivered from a sprint. The idea is that this
product increment should be ‘potentially shippable’ which means that it is in a finished state and
no further work, such as testing, is needed to incorporate it into the final
product. In practice, this is not always achievable.

Product backlog This is a list of ‘to do’ items which the Scrum team must tackle. They may be
feature definitions for the software, software requirements, user stories or
descriptions of supplementary tasks that are needed, such as architecture
definition or user documentation.

Product owner An individual (or possibly a small group) whose job is to identify product
features or requirements, prioritize these for development and continuously
review the product backlog to ensure that the project continues to meet
critical business needs. The Product Owner can be a customer but might also
be a product manager in a software company or other stakeholder
representative.
30/10/2014 Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 17
 Scrum terminology (b)
Scrum term Definition

Scrum A daily meeting of the Scrum team that reviews progress and prioritizes
work to be done that day. Ideally, this should be a short face-to-face
meeting that includes the whole team.

ScrumMaster The ScrumMaster is responsible for ensuring that the Scrum process is
followed and guides the team in the effective use of Scrum. He or she is
responsible for interfacing with the rest of the company and for ensuring
that the Scrum team is not diverted by outside interference. The Scrum
developers are adamant that the ScrumMaster should not be thought of
as a project manager. Others, however, may not always find it easy to
see the difference.

Sprint A development iteration. Sprints are usually 2-4 weeks long.

Velocity An estimate of how much product backlog effort that a team can cover in
a single sprint. Understanding a team’s velocity helps them estimate
what can be covered in a sprint and provides a basis for measuring
improving performance.

30/10/2014 Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 18

Scrum benefits

• The product is broken down into a set of manageable and

understandable chunks.
• Unstable requirements do not hold up progress.
• The whole team have visibility of everything and consequently team
communication is improved.
• Customers see on-time delivery of increments and gain feedback on
how the product works.
• Trust between customers and developers is established and a positive
culture is created in which everyone expects the project to succeed.

30/10/2014 Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 19

Distributed Scrum

30/10/2014 Chapter 3 Agile Software Development 20