Agile So ware Development with PPM Central

1.877.965.9501 www.me er.com

877.965.9501 www.me er.com

Table of Contents
Introduc on What is Agile? Agile in your project por olio Collabora on Project backlog Self organizing teams Agile repor ng Business stakeholder involvement SDLCs across the por olio Conclusion 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 6 7

Agile So ware Development with PPM Central

Introduc on
M er is a project por olio management (PPM) solu ons company. Our PPM CentralTM so ware analyzes and predicts work. M er is the rst PPM so ware and services company to meld advanced collabora on and web 2.0 concepts with modern and tradi onal project management to improve project and por olio performance. M ers PPM Central allows organiza ons to link schedule, cost and performance, regardless of the so ware development lifecycle (SDLC) methodology, providing increased visibility and forecas ng across an organiza ons en re por olio of projects. Organiza ons can u lize Agile, waterfall or a mix of SDLCs within their project por olio. Regardless of the approach, PPM Central provides project managers and execu ves the ability to compare and contrast dissimilar projects.

What is Agile?
Agile is an SDLC methodology that emphasizes smaller release cycles. The idea behind Agile is that the project team is designed to eciently handle change. Agile maintains that all members of the project team must meet frequently with the stakeholders and end users in order to meet common goals. These frequent mee ngs allow team members to receive feedback on their progress as well as a priori zed list of features for the product. Progress is measured by fully tested so ware, rather than detailed documenta on. Frequently releasing fully tested so ware is accomplished through the use of con nuous integra on builds and automated tests. This allows the project team to embrace last minute changes in requirements with minimal regression concerns. A key tenant within Agile is that mo vated team members are a cri cal component to successful projects. This is accomplished by allowing the project teams to self organize. This encourages the so ware developers, not the project managers, to es mate the level of eort for implemen ng new features. For some organiza ons, this is a cultural change that cul vates respect for everyones opinion and ul mately increases the total output for the team. Agile is dierent from the waterfall SDLC. The waterfall model relies heavily on documented ar facts as a way to measure progress. Release cycles within the waterfall SDLC are longer and usually go through a series of well dened phases: requirements, design, development, test and release. The waterfall SDLC is less exible than Agile, but can work well for projects when the requirements are well understood and documented. Many organiza ons use a blend of SDLC methodologies within dierent projects. Organiza ons should pick an SDLC that works for their par cular needs based on factors such as organiza onal culture, team member skills, project size, project type and loca on of your project teams. The primary rule in selec ng an SDLC is that it must maximize output. Ongoing tweaks to your SDLCs should be u lized in order to squeeze the maximum output from the project por olio.

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Agile So ware Development with PPM Central

Agile in Your Project Por olio

Most organiza ons today are an aggregate of projects whether youre building so ware, designing buildings or implemen ng an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Projects are the modern day version of the assembly line. As such, it is cri cal that your project organiza on is ge ng the most out of the projects that most closely align with your business strategy. While organizing the people and the projects to align to your companys Organiza ons should strategic goals is important, you also need to align your tools and pick an SDLC that works processes to support your business ini a ves. You must create your for their par cular needs por olio of projects to maximize not only the output of each individual based on factors such as project, but also the en re por olio. M ers PPM Central is exible organiza onal culture, and can easily manage any SDLC, including Agile. The following sec ons team member skills, demonstrate how you can use PPM Central to manage Agile within your project size, project type organiza on.

and loca on of your project teams.

Collabora on
Collabora on is an important component of Agile methodologies. Collabora on has never been easier for project teams with M ers workforward center. The workforward center introduces social in the enterprise by crea ng a project wall for team members. Messages allow team members to share ideas, ask ques ons, and iden fy solu ons for projects in real me without ever leaving the applica on. The workforward center also provides no ca ons. No ca ons can be pushed from other users or you can subscribe to them. Op ons for no ca ons include: data changes; scheduled; or, as approvals for documents or workow items. Recommenda ons in the workforward center provide forward-looking business intelligence to help team members perform be er at work. Targeted recommenda ons tell individuals who to collaborate with based on their work assignment matches. Recommenda ons tell users who to talk to and how they can help with their work. The result is faster, smarter communica on, which benets your bo om line. M ers PPM Central also has fully integrated Wiki that can be used to collaborate on new features, proper coding standards or design discussions. The Wiki tool can also be used for a collabora ve product backlog, allowing execu ves and team members to view the feature roadmap. As features are completed, items are easily moved from the product backlog to the release notes wiki page. The PPM Central Wiki tool can also be used to track requirements. Wikis are collabora ve by nature and, as project priori es change, high level requirements can easily be updated in the Wiki tool. With the eciencies of PPM Central, requirements are seldom referenced nor do they become completely obsolete once the project nishes.

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Agile So ware Development with PPM Central The searchable Wiki tool allows team members and product owners to update the feature descrip ons organically as the product evolves.

Project Backlog
Agile projects can use PPM Central to manage the project backlog. Features can be created and further divided up into smaller chunks of work within PPM Central. The team, including the product owner, can use the project backlog mee ng to priori ze the features in order to decide which features should be implemented in the current project. This allows full transparency in planning and feature development as the en re team works together. Features that are not high priority can easily be removed from the project backlog.

Wikis are collabora ve by nature and, as project priori es change, high level requirements can easily be updated in the Wiki tool.

Self Organizing Teams

A key tenant of Agile is that es ma ng new features is done by the team members, not the project manager. Individual team members are responsible for upda ng the es mate me to complete (ETC) for the features they are assigned. This diers from the classic model where the project manager is responsible for collec ng and upda ng percent complete within the schedule. The Agile model leads to a mo vated sta, as team members are more likely to take responsibility for their ac ons and the work they produce. The PPM Central Daily Work Status summary sec on allows team members to easily update the ETC of their ac vi es as well as enter in the actual me worked from their personal PPM Central home screen. This data aggregates into the project level for easy repor ng by the project manager.

Agile Repor ng
Agile methodologies stress that teams should remain exible and welcome changes throughout the project. M ers PPM Central helps teams meet these goals by allowing them to understand when product features will most likely nish. This knowledge helps teams quickly react and assess the impacts of business needs. It is important to understand and communicate a realis c nish date, as it lessens the chance of leading the team down a death march late in the release. M ers PPM Central eases this pain with two separate reports: Schedule Trend Report and Burn Down Report. These reports use regression analysis to analyze the rate at which ac vi es are completed and the rate at which the ETC is dropping. Both reports display trend lines that predict when the project is most likely to complete. With these reports, team members are fully engaged with the goals of the project as they are working to bring the report to zero hours and zero ac vi es remaining. M ers PPM Central also has a Velocity Report that allows you to track and manage how many feature ac vi es the team is comple ng per project. Using this report, you can analyze ac ons the team can take to tweak the process to become more ecient.

Copyright 2011. M er, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

Agile So ware Development with PPM Central

Business Stakeholder Involvement

Forrester Research states that one of the four steps to implemen ng Agile methodologies within your organiza on is to make the business part of the solu on (Ensure Success For Agile Using Four Simple Steps, Forrester Research, Inc., March 24, Forrester Research states 2009). This can be accomplished by ensuring that dashboards are that one of the four steps available to business management. Status dashboards easily facilitate to implemen ng Agile transparent communica on between IT and business groups. M ers methodologies within your PPM Central has dashboard capabili es that display the real- me organiza on is to make the status of any project within the por olio. Team members, execu ves business part of the solu on and stakeholders are alerted about the status of the project by viewing (Ensure Success For Agile at the project dashboard within PPM Central. M ers PPM Central Using Four Simple Steps, summary sec ons can be used to integrate data from the build server, Forrester Research, Inc., automated tests and issue tracking systems.

March 24, 2009).

SDLCs Across the Por olio

M ers PPM Central allows organiza ons to use a variety of SDLCs, including Agile. It is important that organiza ons do not follow a process just for the sake of the process or tool, but rather use a set of best prac ces to implement a process that accommodates specic needs. M ers PPM Central allows dierent departments within your organiza on to u lize the SDLC that ts best based on culture, experience and risk tolerance. M ers PPM Central does not limit you and is exible, allowing you to tweak and tune the SDLC that best ts your organiza on. If you decide to move to another SDLC, you do not need to purchase another tool. M ers PPM Central allows for mul ple SDLCs through an underlying classica on system called a taxonomy. The taxonomy allows PPM Central to structure the data for easy standardiza on between projects. Whether you employ Agile or waterfall, the data is automa cally aggregated at the por olio level. This allows for slicing and dicing between projects execu ng dierent types of SDLCs.

Conclusion
M ers PPM Central allows organiza ons to nd the op mum SDLC, whether it is waterfall or Agile, that works best for their needs. Organiza ons today are an aggregate of projects. M ers PPM Central gives organiza ons the ability to store project data in one place, allowing execu ves to manage from the top down and team members from the bo om up, using the same toolset. Projects perform be er when

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Agile So ware Development with PPM Central execu ves, customers and team members are collabora ng using PPM Central. You will gain high visibility through daily, weekly and monthly repor ng on your project por olio. You will manage change proac vely using PPM Central. M ers PPM Central allows you to obtain the highest return on investment from your projects by helping you to plan faster, manage smarter, execute be er and workforward. Please feel free to request an individual consulta on by contac ng info@me er.com

Copyright 2011. M er, Ltd. All Rights Reserved