Strategies and

Recommendations to
Manage Agile Transformation
Javad Ahmad, Oracular IS LLC.

House Rules
I welcome the questions during
the presentation except
reserve the right to engage the
questioner at my discretion
o So, if I dont get to you right away please note down your question,
and ask at the end of the
presentation

I plan to wrap up in 45 to 50
minutes thus allowing 20 to 30
minutes towards the end for
questions and answers
I tend to go fast so it needed
feel free to slow me down!
No money back guarantee!

Introduction
Personal

Professional

Born in Lahore
Grew-up in Peshawar, Mangla
and Rawalpindi
Completed by High School (PreMed) from Cadet College Hasan
Abdal
Joined Rawalpindi Medical
College for two years
Started at the University of
Wisconsin in 1989
Completed BBA in Marketing
and MIS

Started my first Professional Job

in 1993 at a software
development company
Switched the career to get into
consulting in 1995
Trained as an Oracle DBA
Built the career around
PeopleSoft
Before starting at Oracular in
2001, had the opportunity to
work at some regional and
global organizations. Notably:
PeopleSoft
KPMG

Introduction

Current Role at Oracular

o Started in 2001
o Primary Responsibilities include

Delivery Management
Business Development Management
Account Management
Marketing

About Oracular
Oracular is an Information
Technology consulting partner
to North American and
International Companies.
Oraculars long-term customer
relationships are based on a
tradition of Innovation, Trust
and Global perspective with
Local focus.
With a Project Driven delivery
model, Oracular offers
Business Process
Optimization / Transformation
services; and PMO services to
maximize IT investments

Our Story

Founded in 1988
Member of Oshkosh
community since 1995
Corporate Headquarter Oshkosh, WI

35 Onshore Consultants,
10 Associates and Staff
40 Offshore Consultants

Key Service Areas

Packaged
Packaged
Applications
Applications
Web Sites
Web
Sites
Databases
Databases
Storage
Storage
Custom
Custom
Applications
Applications
Co-Location
Co-Location

ERP (PS, RP)

ERP
MS(PS, RP)
MS
Infrastructure
Infrastructure
SharePoint
SharePoint
Database
Database
(Oracle, MS
(Oracle,
SQL) MS
SQL)
IT Management
ITServices
Management
Services
Custom
Custom
Applications
Applications
MS Cloud
MS
Cloud
Management
Management

Support and Managed

Services

Business
Business
Process
Process
Management
Management
IT Strategy
IT
Strategy
Project
Project
Management
Management
Office
Office
ERP
ERP
Implementation
Implementation
and support
and
support
Data
Data
Management
Management
System
System
Integration
Integration
Custom
Custom
Development
Development

Hosting Services

Consulting Services

All Under One Roof

Lifecycle
Admin
Implementat
ion
Upgrade
Infrastructur
e
Custom Dev.
Integration
Services
Data
Managemen
t
Reporting

Lifecycle
Admin
Implementat
ion
Upgrade
Infrastructur
e
Custom Dev.
Reporting

RedPrairie
RedPrairie

Lifecycle
Admin
Implementatio
n
Upgrade
Infrastructure
(e.g. AD,
Exchange)
Custom Dev.
Reporting
SharePoint
SQL Server
Data Mgmt.
(SSIS, SSRS,
BI)
Cloud/Azure

PeopleSoft
PeopleSoft

Microsoft
Microsoft

Vertical (Technology) Practices

The refined go-to-market strategy Services

In addition to the technology driven vertical practices, we

added the following Horizontal (functional) Practices
Project Management
Project Management Office
SCRUM Master
Project Controls and Measures
Implementation of Project Management Tools and Practices

Business Process Management

Process Mapping and Optimization
Process Automation
Process Controls and Measures
Document Controls and Generation

Data Management

Master Data Management

Operational Data Store
Business Intelligence
Reporting

Agenda

WHAT
o What is Agile

WHY
o What is the value of Agile for myself and my
organization
o Why should anyone bother

HOW
o How Agile can be utilized to obtain desired goals
o How can the management Prepare for the
organizational transformation, Guide the teams,
act as Change Agent to facilitate the
transformation; and most-importantly remain
Engaged at all levels

Actual Quote from a developer

Theres a myriad of different

approaches, principles, methods and
terms, all of which are characterized as
Agile.
And from my perspective, all this noise
makes agile software developmentsound
far harder, far more scientific, and far
more confusing than it really needs to
be.
Kelly Waters

Setting Expectations
Not here to teach Agile
o I am assuming either you already know the basic principles
of Agile, OR
o You will be able to gather enough information today to have
Agile Overdose

My take on the topic is more from a business

leaders perspective
As the agenda suggests
o We will build a case for Agile
o Discover strategies and techniques to respectively adopt it
within our respective workplace

Hope to close with a few take-aways that can be put

to action immediately

What was the need for a new

approach?

The traditional Waterfall approach was seemingly:

o
o
o
o

Slow
Highly Regulated
Rigid
Favored process over outcome

IT Professionals were looking for a way to speed up

development without compromising quality
o During 90s many such light weight methodologies emerged

RAD
XP
FDD
SCRUM
Etc.

What is Agile?

Newer approach to Software Development

o Since 2001

Focuses on smaller, tangible outcomes as

opposed to big system changes
Champions continuous improvements and
on-target delivery
Depends upon clearly defined roles

Agile is born!

In an attempt to uncover the better ways to

develop software the drafters of Agile
Manifesto combined the essence of
various
lightweight
approaches
toWay
form
Agile
Way
Classic
Agile
Focus
is on: Individuals and
Focus on: Processes and Tools
Interactions
Self-organizing teams
Co-location, pair programming

Emphasis on: Working Software

Emphasis on: Comprehensive

Documentation

Outcomes driven by: Customer

Collaboration

Outcomes driven by: Contract

Negotiations

Designed to: Handle Changes

Designed to: Follow the project plan

Measured by: On target

outcome

Measured by: On time completion

The Anti-Methodology

Is Agile Anti-Methodology?

Is Agile, Six Sigma implementation

in IT?
Agile must not be confused with the
concepts of Six Sigma. Six Sigma approach
is designed to improve efficiency in a
standard process by eliminating the waste
and minimizing the standard deviation.
Agile on the other hand is more focused
on the Right Results and an on-target
outcome.

What is Agile?

In Summary
o Agile is more than just a methodology
o Agile is an Ideology
o Agile must be implemented to fit the given
circumstances
One-size-DOES-NOT-fit-all

Why Agile?

Is there a business benefit?

The inherent flexibility and speed within
the constructs of Agile should offer
improvements in the overall business value
by offering Quantitative and Qualitative
gains Quantitative
as follows
Qualitative

Little to no re-work
Smaller, net cost-of-change
Increased cash-flow
Improved productivity

Quicker time-to-value
Improved Customer
Satisfaction
Improved product quality
Decreased risk
On-target outcome

Why Agile?

Is there a procedural benefit?

The improved communication and
visibility into product development must
address the Project Management concerns
Project Management Concerns
addressed by Agile
Missed deadlines
Lack of Effective Communication
In-consistent quality
Lack of clear understanding of
the scope
Difficult to manage change
orders
Lack of stakeholder involvement

Clear Process Improvements

with Agile

Clear and Visible Planning

Better Work Atmosphere
Less Mistakes and deviations
Concise Documentation
Knowledge Sharing

HOW?

HOW to setup the Agile Principles within

the Organization and achieve Maximum
benefits
HOW to facilitate the Organizational
Transformation

How to best take advantage of

Agile?

Prioritize projects by business value

Choose your projects wisely
o Projects that are best suited for Agile

Innovative in nature with many unknowns

Could be divided into smaller, tangible outputs
Has strong user demand
Smaller, empowered - cross-functional teams

Clearly establish the vision, not necessarily the

requirements
Do not short-change the staffing
Maintain and manage effective Backlog
Implement and leverage SCRUM framework
efficiently

The Adoption Dilemma!

So we learned
o Agile is not a monster, simply a way to structure
the development work stream

We established
o Agile is indeed beneficial to the business

Bottom line
o It is not Rocket Science; and it can be easily
utilized

Then WHY DO WE STRUGGLE to transform our

teams?

Agile Transformation is a Change Management Issue

My Two Cents

The Adoption and

Transformation
challenges could
be boiled down to
a few key items:
o The Non-Believers!
The proponents of
each approach and
method i.e.
Waterfall vs. Agile
claim that their
approach is better
and produces better
results.

My Two Cents

At present many Sr. IT Leadership grew

up in the days of Waterfall; and feel Agile is
too chaotic and costly
Even when they are persuaded to
incorporate Agile they execute it like
Waterfall

My Two Cents

Then there are those

who simply struggle
with the whole concept
of Agile and its value
to them

My Two Cents
On the other-hand, the proponents of the Agile
think that this approach is the cure to all ills in
the world.
The reality is that there is:
o No Magic bullet
o No, one-size-fits-all methodology

As IT professionals, we need to evaluate each

projects at its merit and leverage the appropriate
methodology to deliver the results.
In many cases we may find that, it is the
combination of the two methodologies that offer
the best outcome.

Often the failure of Agile is not in the

development, but adoption. Therefore,
much of the responsibility of the success
of Agile Transformation lies on the
shoulders of the management.

Tips for the management to facilitate Agile Culture

Favor Collaborative Work Environments

o Provide an environment conducive to collaboration
o Provide visual aids etc.

Do not underestimate the need for counseling and

coaching
o All environments have personalities that tend to be more:
cowboys and mavericks, Heroes and Crisis Managers, Brilliant
hermits
o If they do not respect their roles within the respective teams
the outcome will not be efficient

Champion Honesty
o Agile Projects by nature have many un-knowns.
o Allow the teams to provide true and honest progress; so that
proper output can be managed with burn out charts etc.

Tips for the management to facilitate Agile Culture

Transformation begins at the top

o Get the management to buy-in and participate

Focus on Education
o Build strong Project Managers as strong SCRUM
Masters
o Inculcate the knowledge of Agile and SCRUM
across the organization

Manage Expectations
o Transition is not going to take place over-night
o Sudden and abrupt change, may be harmful
o Opt for a slow yet permanent change

Tips for the management to facilitate Agile Culture

Recognize the fact that Agile is more demanding

o Works best with Senior and Seasoned developers
o Works best with continuous engagement of the product
owners/stakeholders
o Heavily relies on, iterative testing and QA

Recognize the difference between Adaptive and

Predictive nature of requirements/project
o Agile is better suited for Adaptive, whereas Plan driven methods
are more Predictive

Re-work/modernize Documentation standards to comply

with Agile requirements
o Coding vs. Documentation

Recognize the fact that Method Tailoring is allowed in

Agile

Tips for the management to facilitate Agile Culture

Clear definition of roles

o At minimum following two roles are essential for a
successful Agile setup

Recommendation for Agile

Adaptation

Get the management buy-in

Create dedicated teams
Estimate projects based on Release Planning
Educate the teams
Hold daily SCRUMS
Manage Functional Requirements as Product Backlog
Clearly defined DONE state
Make use of Burn Down Schedule
Hold Retrospectives
Incorporate the Design Phase within the sprints,
together with Architecture and Development
Focus on QA

Thank You!
E-mail:

javad.ahmad@oracular.com

Phone: +1-920-303-0470
Fax:
+1-920-303-0471
Web:
http://www.oracular.com
Address:
300 Ohio Street
Oshkosh, WI 54902
USA