Scrum in Action

321 Pages·2011·3.05 MB·English

by  Andrew (Andrew Pham) Pham

(cid:2)
Scrum in Action:
R
Agile Software
Project
Management and
Development
Andrew Pham
Phuong-Van Pham
Course Technology PTR
A part of Cengage Learning
Australia . Brazil . Japan . Korea . Mexico . Singapore . Spain . UnitedKingdom . UnitedStates
(cid:2)
ScrumR inAction:AgileSoftwareProject ©2012CourseTechnology,apartofCengageLearning.
ManagementandDevelopment ALLRIGHTSRESERVED.Nopartofthisworkcoveredbythecopyright
AndrewPhamandPhuong-VanPham hereinmaybereproduced,transmitted,stored,orusedinanyformor
byanymeansgraphic,electronic,ormechanical,includingbutnot
PublisherandGeneralManager,Course
TechnologyPTR:StacyL.Hiquet limitedtophotocopying,recording,scanning,digitizing,taping,Web
distribution,informationnetworks,orinformationstorageandretrieval
AssociateDirectorofMarketing: systems,exceptaspermittedunderSection107or108ofthe1976
SarahPanella
UnitedStatesCopyrightAct,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthe
ManagerofEditorialServices: publisher.
HeatherTalbot
MarketingManager:MarkHughes
Forproductinformationandtechnologyassistance,contactusat
SeniorAcquisitionsEditor:MitziKoontz CengageLearningCustomer&SalesSupport,1-800-354-9706
ProjectEditor:JennyDavidson
Forpermissiontousematerialfromthistextorproduct,
TechnicalReviewer:BenOguntona submitallrequestsonlineatwww.cengage.com/permissions
CopyEditor:SandyDoell Furtherpermissionsquestionscanbeemailedto
[email protected]
InteriorLayoutTech:MPSLimited,aMacmillan
Company
CoverDesigner:MikeTanamachi ScrumisaregisteredtrademarkofScrumAlliance.
Indexer:BroccoliInformationManagement Allothertrademarksarethepropertyoftheirrespectiveowners.
Proofreader:SaraGullion Allimages©CengageLearningunlessotherwisenoted.
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2010942047
ISBN-13:978-1-4354-5913-7
ISBN-10:1-4354-5913-X
eISBN-10: 1-4354-5914-8
CourseTechnology,apartofCengageLearning
20ChannelCenterStreet
Boston,MA02210
USA
CengageLearningisaleadingproviderofcustomizedlearningsolutions
withofficelocationsaroundtheglobe,includingSingapore,theUnited
Kingdom,Australia,Mexico,Brazil,andJapan.Locateyourlocalofficeat:
international.cengage.com/region
CengageLearningproductsarerepresentedinCanadabyNelson
Education,Ltd.
Foryourlifelonglearningsolutions,visitcourseptr.com
Visitourcorporatewebsiteatcengage.com
Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 13 12 11
To our family with love.
This book is dedicated to all the professionals throughout the world whose
intelligence and hard work have made, and will make, the world a better place.
“ ”
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
—
Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher
Foreword
This book is a valuable, practical, no-nonsense addition to the Agile literature.
Co-authorsAndrewandPhuong-Vanquicklygetdowntobrasstacksincovering
a very broad software development and management landscape. In valuable
fi
detail, they cover Agile foundations, nance, management buy-in, Agile
requirements,architecturevision,productownerrole,focusedtesting,teamwork,
Agilemanagement,andhowtoadaptScrumwithoutdestroyingit,andtheytopit
off with a readiness assessment tool.
fi
I see two major groups of people who will nd this book really useful: those
coming from a more traditional plan-driven mindset and those coming from a
newerAgilemindset.Thestrengthofthistomeisthatitispracticalwithoutbeing
’
dogmatic, and therefore provides a bridge to the others thinking for people in
both these groups.
For those of you coming from a traditional, plan-driven background, there are
severalwonderfulsectionsofinformation.Thematerialonvisioningarchitecture;
creating smart requirements for the Scrum Product Backlog; being an effective
product owner in true Agile, servant leader mode; focusing on automated,
regression, and integration tests; being an enthusiastic and productive team
member; and adapting Scrum without killing its Agile core will serve two pur-
poses.Ononehand,itshouldprovidewarmthandcomfortifyourhearthasbeen
chilled by myths that Agile teams are lacking in essential software development
disciplines.Ontheother,itwillexposeyoutosomeofthereallycriticalsoftstuff:
the wonderful people, team and leadership elements of Scrum that have made it
fi
so popular with the rank and le and enlightened managers alike.
Foreword v
For those of you coming from a newer Agile mindset, especially if you may not
havebeenexposedtomoretraditionalrigor,thematerialthatcoversconsidering
fi
earned value in particular and nance in general, creating an architecture vision
and applying it to the Scrum product backlog, and performing criteria-based
estimation as an addition to planning poker should help expand your thinking
without raising your hackles. The treatment of traditional rigor here is quite
sensible and appropriate, and Ireallybelieve that youshould have noissues with
fi
nding a way to apply some of these proven traditional techniques almost
immediately on your projects.
’
Ifyoure aproject manager, developer,tester, productmanager, business analyst,
fi
or in fact, anyone involved with software development, you will nd that this
book helps you understand the nitty gritty of work on Scrum teams with a very
focused practicality. It is a comprehensive work that I believe you will enjoy, no
matter where your starting point.
I met Andrew in one of my ScrumMaster classes, and was quickly impressed by
the depth of his knowledge and the sincerity of his viewpoints. Quite frankly, he
could have taught the class, and his humility in sharing his knowledge was
remarkable. Along with co-author Phuong-Van, Andrew invites you on an
excitingjourneyintoAgilemanagementanddevelopment.Ihopeyouwillaccept
the invitation.
Sanjiv Augustine
Author, Managing Agile Projects
fi
Certi ed Scrum Trainer
Co-Founder, Agile Project Leadership Network
President, LitheSpeed
Foreword
Agile,asasoftwaredevelopmentprocess,isfrequentlymisunderstoodtomeanno
’ fi
requirements, well gure out the design as we go, and anything remotely
resembling a planning meeting is simply out of the question. This book very
effectively puts that misconception to rest.
’ fi
For those new to Agile and Scrum development practices, its frequently dif cult
’
to discern not only what you need to be doing but how to tell if youre doing it
’
correctly. Without spending real sprints with experienced practitioners, its dif-
fi
cult to understand the impact of trade-offs that occur constantly during real-
world project development. Are your sprints too long? Too short? Are you
spendingtoomuchtimedoingretrospectives?Whyexactlyareyoudoingthemto
’ ’
begin with? Andrew Phams and Phuong-Van Phams book not only helps
explain why you should be doing a particular Agile or Scrum practice, but also
’
provides hard-earned experience in helping you understand if youre doing it
properly.Thisbookprovidesthedesperatelyneededstrawmanforactivitiesthat
are frequently new to everyone on the team.
One of my favorite parts of the book is the time spent looking at Agile from the
non-developerperspective.Whatdoesitmeantoyou,asanenterprisearchitect,if
your organization has decided to start using Scrum for its development process?
’ ’
What if youre the customer? What if youre in charge of the effort and need to
fi
somehowmeldtheAgileprocessyouwanttosupportwith nancialandprogress
tracking information in your department? For as much as some development
teamsliketothinktermslikeROIandEVMareformanagementtodealwith,this
book helps tie a project together without losing what makes Agile so effective.
Foreword vii
Unlike what is sometimes taught in the theoretical classroom, this book is for
— —
professionals who would like and need to know how to apply Agile and
Scrum to real-life situations. This is to say that this is not a book for process
dogmatists but for professional pragmatists whose mission is to deliver real
software in real companies with real people and real situations.
DeployingAgile,andespeciallyScrum,processesintoanorganizationisnosmall
feat, given all the constraints we know. This book is a valuable resource to help
make that a reality.
Dan Pilone
Author, Head First Software Development and Head First iPhone Development
Founder and Managing Partner of Element 84, LLC
Acknowledgments
Weoweatremendousamountofthanksandgratitudetomanypeoplewhohave
helped us with the writing of this book.
First, there is our family with all their unwavering and unconditional love and
support.
Next, we would like to thank the team at Course Technology PTR. And to begin
with, there is Mitzi Koontz, senior acquisitions editor, who believed in our book
fromday one; next Sandy Doell,copy editor, who did awonderful jobinmaking
fl fi fi
thebook owmuchbetterthanwhenwe rststarted;and nally,JennyDavidson,
project editor, who made it all happen by ensuring a remarkable co-ordination
between all of us.
Next, we would like to extend a technical thank you to:
n David K Pham, Formerly CTO with KTD Media Corporation and Founder
of 7billion, LLC, for having tested all the ideas in this book and helped
improve them even more.
n Scott Booth, MCP, Manager with Pariveda Solutions, a Texas-based
’ fl
consultancy,whonotonlyattendedAndrewspresentationontheIn uence
of Architecture Vision on Team Velocity and Software Quality at the DFW
ScrumUserGroup,butalsotookquitealotoftimetoreviewthebookforus.
n Sameer Bendre, CSM and PMP, a Senior Consultant with 3i Infotech
Consulting, who was so enthusiastic about the book and who also put some
of his friends in contact with us.
Acknowledgments ix
fi
n Mike Vizdos, a Certi ed Scrum Trainer based in Richmond, Virginia, who
took time to give us his feedback despite his busy teaching schedule.
n Linda Rising, author, who did not hesitate to take time out of her busy
scheduletogiveussomequickfeedbackforanearlydraftonherwaytocatch
fl
a ight to Germany.
fi
n Henrik Kniberg, author of Scrum and XP in the Trenches and a Certi ed
fi
Scrum Trainer, based in Stockholm, Sweden, who was the rst one who
made us think of a better title for the book.
n Anwar Bardai, a Senior Computer Specialist with Compucom, Inc., who
worked with Andrew Pham a few years ago in successfully using some
elements of Scrum and Agile to implement an ERP package in record time
for a large computer retailer.
n Benjamin Oguntona, Senior System Manager with AT&T, who worked
with Andrew Pham when Andrew was Technical Director with SBC
and then Principal and Chief Architect with Cingular Wireless, for
enthusiastically taking the time to review and to edit the book.
n Dennis Palmer, a product owner with Esquire Innovations, Inc., a software
companybasedinCalifornia,whotooktimetoreviewthebookwhenitwas
still at an early stage.
n Dennis Simpson, IT Rescue Mission Specialist, based in Dallas, Texas, who
notonlytooktimetoreviewthebookatlengthbutalsohelpededitthebook
to make it more polished.
n HaroldThomas,CBAP,aBusinessAnalystwiththeOhioStateDepartment
of Job & Family Services, who did not hesitate to take time from his own
writing schedule to review our book and help edit it.
fi
n Sanjiv Augustine, Certi ed Scrum Trainer, co-founder of the Agile Project
Leadership Network (APLN), and author of Managing Agile Projects, who
not only took the time out of his busy schedule to review the book but was
also very kind in writing a foreword for our book.
n Dan Pilone, author of Head First Software Development and Head First
iPhone Development, and Managing Partner with Element 84, LLC, for
havingtakenthetimetoreviewthebookandforwritingtheforewordforit.