Getting Out of the Gate with Agile
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by
Kristine Shannon
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
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As an agile coach, I am often asked how to keep momentum going when transitioning to agile in higher education. While each organization is unique, each organization’s transition has unique objectives and scope for adoption. Whether considering using agile for one team on a small pilot project or diving into agile for the entire portfolio for multiple teams, there seem to be common indicators specific to higher education that keep momentum going strong.
A Key Person
Probably the most significant indicator that is common among institutions that keep momentum growing in their agile adoption is the existence of a key person driving the adoption. Generally, this key person is a mid-level manager or technical lead with broad vision and strong technical skills. With their leadership skills, they are able to effectively convince senior management and customers on campus to consider and support agile. Their technical expertise has earned the respect and trust of the technical folks opening up the opportunity for change among the team members. This key person also vigilantly reminds and inspires management, customers and the team members of the vision for their agile adoption.
The Right Training
Another important step in agile adoption is finding training that fits. Many times, institutional staff attends training with a trainer who does not understand the higher education environment. This can lead to frustration and loss of momentum in adopting agile.
Many agile training courses base the content on the assumption that the attendees are from an organization that is developing a product for profit. With a sole product model it is easy to determine a product owner and decision maker. In higher education, projects are based on institutional goals and can be based on many things such as increasing research levels or shifting learning models (traditional classroom vs. online). There may also be many stakeholders and product owners contributing to a large portfolio of products and projects. Because of these differences, defining distinct ownership for decision making can become complicated. The right training can assist you in understanding options for organizing your teams to work with multiple customers while ensuring high levels of collaboration and customer service.
Since agile originated in software development, many training courses are also tailored to delivering software products. In higher education, the portfolio and backlog can be quite diverse, including implementing vendor products, integrating deliverables with a community source initiative or rolling out a new service. For instance, at one university, the housing office attended an information session provided by the IT department discussing their shift to agile. After the session, they decided agile would work well for their office so they decided to use it to manage their project to implement online housing assignments for students. It is important to find training that will discuss and assist in maintaining a varied backlog.
Build a Backlog
Finally, to keep momentum strong, build a backlog. In agile, the backlog holds the stories – an ordered list of work to be done. On the top of the list, the stories represent smaller, specific features. Further down the list, epics represent larger units of work and projects. The important thing to remember is that the backlog is emergent. It will continue to change as priorities shift and discussions on the backlog items occur.
Teams that build their backlogs as they prepare for or immediately following training are able to make the most of the momentum that they gained from training. Once the backlog is introduced, it is important to establish a transparent intake process to receive new work and a “grooming” process to evaluate new work and changing priorities. Often a mentor or coach helps with this process through remote assistance or onsite workshops to ensure a smooth start. Finding peers to exchange ideas and collaborate is also helpful. ScrumU (http://scrumu.org) was formed by Georgia Institute of Technology, Wake Forest University and the University of Notre Dame to share ideas and lessons learned on implementing Scrum and Agile.
With higher education institutions facing unparalleled economic and technological shifts, it is more important than ever to be able to react quickly and flexibly. Institutions are finding that adopting agile meets these requirements and allows for greater innovation. Keeping momentum strong early in the adoption of agile builds a strong foundation for continued success.
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Kristine Shannon offers agile coaching and training services to higher education. Her customers include community source project teams and all types of institutions ranging from large state systems to small private colleges. Kristine's high level of service is backed by 15 years of experience managing and delivering IT projects at the University of South Florida and Wake Forest University.
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