Agile Now

<p><strong>Table of Contents -Introducing Agility</strong></p> <p><strong>1 – Everything Is Agile</strong><br>• What it means to be agile and why it’s a game changer.<br>• The phenomenal spread of agile around the business world; why agile is taking the business world by storm.<br>• Markets develop and customers constantly want new things; agile tools and techniques embrace change;<br>• Agile can be applied to everything – way beyond the popular IT and tech applications.<br>• Agile won't mess things up - it's not a gamble.<br>• The focus on working smarter, not harder and getting results fast.<br>• Checks are built in so it’s impossible to go wildly off track.<br>• Like traditional methods, agile can still fail but it fails fast and inexpensively.<br>• A word of warning; common misunderstanding and booby-traps with agile.<br>• Unsuccessful projects usually fail at the start and agile avoids the perennial problem of starting on false assumptions.<br>• Agile delivers results and free up time for more important stuff.<br>• Everyone is agile some of the time and some people are agile all the time.<br>• Agility is infectious.<br>• Agile organisations achieve more than agile project teams.<br>• Start small and go viral.<br>• There’s minimal risk and immediate results – so what is there to lose?</p> <p><strong>2 – Focus On Results</strong><br>• Producing results is the only thing that matters and business value is the main driver.<br>• It’s essential to have a vision, to know what the end goal is and that’s what business value is measured against.<br>• The vision, the end goal. provides a measure of success for all individual tasks and projects.<br>• Don’t sweat the small stuff - individual tasks are only a means to an end.<br>• Measure success by results and against progress towards the end goals, not by how much graft you put in.<br>• A minimal investment is required to get going with agile and there’s no time like the present.<br>• It’s easy to start small if necessary, often that’s the best approach.<br>• Agile handles anything from individual tasks and personal ventures to business projects can be handled.<br>The Golden Triangle: Prioritising, Time Boxing and Change Management.</p> <p><strong>3 – Prioritising</strong><br>• Prioritising is much more than creating a to-do list.<br>• It’s not an unnecessary overhead, it lays the foundation for doing the right things in the right order.<br>• The vision and end goals provide guiding lights.<br>• Define a backlog working towards the vision/end goals.<br>• Write up the deliverables not the activities e.g. new backlog board not go to B&amp;Q.<br>• Work out the size of tasks using story pointing or t-shirt sizes.<br>• Get it all down but keep an eye on the minimum needed to succeed – what must be done?<br>• Be wary of too many bells and whistles, the nice-to-haves.<br>• Prioritise the backlog based on business value<br>Constantly review the backlog, a healthy backlog changes regularly.<br>• Be driven by priorities not external pressure.<br>• Make all outputs specific, tangible and measurable.<br>• Remember that saying ’No’ is always an option.</p> <p><strong>4 – Time Boxing</strong><br>• Time boxing is easy to understand and even easier to use.<br>• Time boxing puts an end to overspending; both time and hard cash.<br>• Open ended tasks are a recipe for disaster.<br>• Be mindful of the Law of Diminishing Returns and the 80/20 Rule.<br>• Time box everything! No excuses.<br>• Plan on the basis of regular deliveries to the business. Every two weeks is a popular option.<br>• Allocate tight but achievable time boxes to get the best results.<br>• Control distractions and other time stealers.<br>• Stick to your guns and never tolerate overruns.</p> <p><strong>5 – Change Management</strong><br>• Change is essential for survival, standing still is not a viable option.<br>• Change is important, not something to be curbed or penalised.<br>• Agile embraces change with open arms.<br>• Incremental deliveries are vital.<br>• Inspect and adapt is the agile mantra.<br>• A changing backlog is a healthy backlog.<br>• Learns from mistakes but waste time searching for scapregoats.<br>• Have a strategy but think now and avoid 5 year plans.<br>• Plan in a maximum of 12 month chunks – only worry about where you want to be next year; elements of the organisations may not always get agile but even they like annual planning.</p> <p><strong>6 – Agile Tools &amp; Techniques</strong><br>• The best of tools available featuring Scrum and Kanban.<br>• Overview of the tools available for managing backlogs and workflows.<br>• Simple agile frameworks for a light touch approach.<br>• Upscaling to more complex ventures and projects.<br>• Ways to implement meaningful and useful metrics.<br>• The importance of avoiding an obsession with technology and processes.</p> <p><strong>7 – Resource Management</strong><br>• Agile techniques focus on effective resource management.<br>• People are a pivotal resource.<br>• Being Lean – the characteristics of agile thinking.<br>• What is takes to be agile, how to think act and behave.<br>• Getting the best out of people and teams.<br>• Training vs. coaching and mentoring.<br>• Be wary of evangelists and false prophets.<br>• Managing an agile transformation – remember there might well be pain!<br>• Getting leopards to change their spots.<br>• Applying agile principles at a personal level.<br>• Reaping the benefits of delegating and outsourcing.<br>• The importance of positive working relationships.<br>• A healthy body and mind helps promotes agility and productivity.</p> <p><strong>8 – Learning Fast</strong><br>• The importance of building an open, honest learning culture.<br>• Mistakes are inevitable, just don’t repeat them<br>• Reduce waste by learning from mistakes and mitigating against disasters.<br>• Reap the benefits of repeating what do you do well.<br>• Build in continuous improvement to maximize productivity.<br>• A practical guide to looking back and learning, formats for retrospectives and lessons learned sessions.<br>• Common mistakes and traps to avoid.</p>