Success with Requirements

Volume 3 :: Number 9 :: 2009
ISSN: 1936-3583

Welcome to our Newsletter

Mary and I spent an action-packed week at the Agile 2009 conference in Chicago in August. It was a rewarding and exhausting experience - reconnecting with friends and colleagues, exchanging ideas on agile requirements, and conducting a well-attended tutorial.

The question on everyone's mind: how do you transition to agile?

This question was also posted on several LinkedIn forums (thanks, Kupe). In this issue I share a short list of suggestions on easing the transition to agile, all based on my own agile experiences.

Be sure to check out some upcoming free webinars of interest listed below (one on IIBA® BABOK®, and one on agile requirements by collaboration).

I'll be in Japan the second half of September, where I'll keynote the IDG Forum as well as give a presentation at the Tokyo IIBA, along with working on a client engagement. If you've got any suggestions for great places to visit in Osaka, Kyoto, or Tokyo, please send them along!

~ ellen

Ellen Gottesdiener,
President and Principal Consultant
EBG Consulting, Inc.
http://www.ebgconsulting.com
twitter: www.twitter.com/ellengott

In this issue:

Resource for Learning, Reinforcing and Referencing the IIBA® BABOK®

Agile Requirements Buzz at Agile 2009

Easing The Transition to Agile

Free Webinars: IIBA® BABOK® and (Agile) Requirements by Collaboration

Upcoming Events

A special discount on EBG's eLearning curriculum for readers of Success with Requirements

Archive Issues

Resource for Learning, Reinforcing and Referencing the IIBA® BABOK®

We recently created a video tour of EBG's eLearning curriculum that includes a link to our Reference Guide. If you want to learn more about the IIBA® BABOK® or you are studying for your CBAP®, feel free to use our Reference Guide. The Guide references relevant areas of the BABOK®, the EBG Foundation curriculum, and my book The Software Requirements Memory Jogger. You can access it when you view the tour. Please let us know what you think!

Agile Requirements Buzz at Agile 2009

During the Agile 2009 conference icebreaker event, numerous folks hosted fresher's fair* topics of interest. This event, suggested by agile business analyst Chris Matts, was a real hit! Topics included agile retrospectives, testing, agile coaches, kanban, real options, facilitation, and more.

Mary and I hosted the topic Agile Requirements. We posted an initial mind map of a wide range of ideas, e.g., roles, techniques, concepts, etc. During great discussions and lively exchanges of stories with many Agile 2009 attendees we added to the mind map. Check out the photos of the mind map at the end of the session.

*A fresher's fair is an English university tradition to introduce "freshers," or freshman, to clubs, special interest groups, or societies.

[Like visual puns? Check out our quick, fun YouTube video on Agile Business Analysis.]

Easing the Transition to Agile

Run the transition project itself like an agile project. Use agile to become agile! Set a vision, and build a backlog. Make the transition project visible to everyone, that is, promote complete transparency. In general, follow these practices:

* Start small: after initial training and education, start with a few cross-functional (and, ideally, co-located) teams. A few organizations have transitioned with full-on, all-hands-go agile. But most start small and radiate the practices from there.

* Educate, train, coach:

* Educate senior management, teams, and product owners/customers in agile.

* Most organizations don't address the customer group until later. Be proactive. By attending to customers earlier, you will promote obtaining business value from the transition project as soon as possible. Support your customers not only with training but also with coaching and a community of practice. After all, they own the product backlog and bear the greatest burden of deciding what to build and when.
* Work with your teams: after training, get them coaching early. Include UX (user experience) professionals, testers, and business analysts.

* Emphasize business value and quality: pick a small set of measures for these things, and focus like a laser on quality from the start. Measurement and attention to process are second to value and quality.

* Establish engineering practices: start with continuous integration and automated testing. Add other practices such as TDD (test-driven development), refactoring, collective ownership, etc., as each team decides it is ready and needs them.

* Get rhythm, or "flow," before adding more complex planning practices: Agile teams need at least three iterations to get "in flow" and have a stable velocity. This flow includes a cadence (either timeboxes or limited WIP (work-in-progress), la kanban), visible info radiators, daily stand-ups, the starting and ending rituals of the iteration (including retrospectives), and work-ahead backlog pruning. Once rhythm is in place, it is time to do longer-range release planning and product roadmapping.

* Practice patience: this is a big change program. Expect frustration, some failures, and resistance. Don't give up. Have mechanisms to address organizational impediments (there are various ways to structure this; this practice should be started ASAP). Prepare for discomfort. Be a positive part of your community as it undergoes change. Learn about change and change models.

* Get unstuck: Most organizations that successfully transition to agile will tell you that coaching (internal or external) has been key for them to overcome a variety of impediments along their agile journey. Use your metrics (value delivery and quality) as feedback for inspection and adaptation.

* Nurture transparency and courage: Let the teams choose their own "information radiators," and communicate where and what they are to the entire organization, and never compromise on using ongoing retrospectives throughout. Communicate, communicate, communicate (honestly).

Free Webinars: IIBA BABOK and (Agile) Requirements by Collaboration

Don't miss two FREE upcoming webinars:

"Navigation Tips for Exploring the IIBA® BABOK® 2.0," delivered by Mary Gorman. Wednesday, October 7. Register here using code EBGMBG09.

"Requirements by Collaboration: Defining Product Needs on Large Agile Projects," delivered by Ellen Gottesdiener. Friday, October 9. Register here.

Upcoming Events

1. Ellen will keynote the IDG Modeling Forum 2009 in Tokyo on September 18.

2. Later that same day, Ellen will present at the IIBA-Japan in Tokyo.

3. Ellen will conduct a one-day workshop on agile requirements and a presentation on agile analysis at Project Summit/Business Analyst World in Boston the week of October 19.

4. Ellen will present a keynote on agile analysis at the Wisconsin Business Analyst Development Day (WIBADD) in Madison, Wisconsin, on October 20.

5. Ellen and Mary will be conducting workshop sessions and symposium talks at Project World & World Congress for Business Analysts in Anaheim, California, November 16-18, 2009. You can get a discount by using priority code PWNOV09EG when registering.

6. Ellen will deliver EBG's Agile Requirements: Collaborating to Define and Confirm Needs at Max Train, Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 2-3, 2009.

eLearning Curriculum and Discount�

Success with Requirements eNewsletter subscribers get a discount (10%) on our 8-course self-paced eLearning training curriculum, Foundation for Requirements Development and Management. Use code: FRSWR04 when you register here. This curriculum is endorsed by the IIBA and earns 24 CDUs. Remember, you can get a sneak preview of the curriculum by viewing the video tour that includes a link to our Reference Guide.

Archive Issues

Visit our recently enhanced archives to read our prior issues.

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Please send us copy of the publication that includes our reprint, along with a cover note referencing that it is a reprint.

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