Disciplined Agile Delivery A Practitioner's Guide to Agile Software Delivery in the Enterprise

Master IBM's Breakthrough DAD Process Framework for Succeeding with Agile in Large, Complex, Mission-Critical IT Projects It is widely recognized that moving from traditional to agile approaches to build software solutions is a critical source of competitive advantage. Mainstream agile approaches that are indeed suitable for small projects require significant tailoring for larger, complex enterprise projects. In Disciplined Agile Delivery, Scott W. Ambler and Mark Lines introduce IBM's breakthrough Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD) process framework, which describes how to do this tailoring. DAD applies a more disciplined approach to agile development by acknowledging and dealing with the realities and complexities of a portfolio of interdependent program initiatives. Ambler and Lines show how to extend Scrum with supplementary agile and lean strategies from Agile Modeling (AM), Extreme Programming (XP), Kanban, Unified Process (UP), and other proven methods to provide a hybrid approach that is adaptable to your organization's unique needs. They candidly describe what practices work best, why they work, what the trade-offs are, and when to consider alternatives, all within the context of your situation. Disciplined Agile Deliveryaddresses agile practices across the entire lifecycle, from requirements, architecture, and development to delivery and governance. The authors show how these best-practice techniques fit together in an end-to-end process for successfully delivering large, complex systems--from project initiation through delivery. Coverage includes Scaling agile for mission-critical enterprise endeavors Avoiding mistakes that drive poorly run agile projects to chaos Effectively initiating an agile project Transitioning as an individual to agile Incrementally building consumable solutions Deploying agile solutions into complex production environments Leveraging DevOps, architecture, and other enterprise disciplines Adapting your governance strategy for agile projects Based on facts, research, and extensive experience, this book will be an indispensable resource for every enterprise software leader and practitioner--whether they're seeking to optimize their existing agile/Scrum process or improve the agility of an iterative process.

Scott W. Ambler is Chief Methodologist for IT with IBM Rational, working with IBM customers around the world to help them to improve their software processes. In addition to Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD), he is the founder of the Agile Modeling (AM), Agile Data (AD), Agile Unified Process (AUP), and Enterprise Unified Process (EUP) methodologies and creator of the Agile Scaling Model (ASM). Scott is the (co-)author of 20 books, including Refactoring Databases, Agile Modeling, Agile Database Techniques, The Object Primer, 3rd Edition, and The Enterprise Unified Process. Scott is a senior contributing editor with Dr. Dobb’s Journal. His personal home page is www.ambysoft.com.

 

Mark Lines co-founded UPMentors in 2007. He is a disciplined agile coach and mentors organizations on all aspects of software development. He is passionate about reducing the huge waste in most IT organizations and demonstrates hands-on approaches to speeding execution and improving quality with agile and lean techniques. Mark provides IT assessments and executes course corrections to turn around troubled projects. He writes for many publications and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Mark is also an instructor of IBM Rational and UPMentors courses on all aspects of software development. His Web site is www.UPMentors.com.

Part 1: Introduction to Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD)

Chapter 1 Disciplined Agile Delivery in a Nutshell      1

Context Counts--The Agile Scaling Model     3

What Is the Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD) Process Framework?      5

People First     5

Learning Oriented     7

Agile     8

AHybrid Process Framework     9

IT Solutions over Software     10

Goal-Driven Delivery Lifecycle     11

Enterprise Aware     17

Risk and Value Driven     19

Scalable     22

Concluding Thoughts     23

Additional Resources     23

Chapter 2 Introduction to Agile and Lean     25

Toward a Disciplined Agile Manifesto     27

Disciplined Agile Values     27

Disciplined Agile Principles     29

Lean Principles     33

Reality over Rhetoric     36

Concluding Thoughts     38

Additional Resources     39

Chapter 3 Foundations of Disciplined Agile Delivery     41

The Terminology Tar Pit     43

Scrum     44

Extreme Programming (XP)      48

Agile Modeling (AM)      50

Agile Data     53

Lean Software Development     53

IBM Practices     54

Open Unified Process (OpenUP)      56

And Others     58

Those Who Ignore Agile Practices Put Their Business at Risk     58

Concluding Thoughts     58

Additional Resources     59

 

Part 2: People First

Chapter 4 Roles, Rights, and Responsibilities     61

The Rights of Everyone     63

The Responsibilities of Everyone     64

The DAD Roles     65

Concluding Thoughts     81

Additional Resources     81

Chapter 5 Forming Disciplined Agile Delivery Teams     83

Strategies for Effective Teams     85

The Whole Team     88

Team Organization Strategies     89

Building Your Team     101

Interacting with Other Teams     104

Concluding Thoughts     108

Additional Resources     108

 

Part 3: Initiating a Disciplined Agile Delivery Project

Chapter 6 The Inception Phase      111

How the Inception Phase Works     113

Aligning with the Rest of the Enterprise     117

Securing Funding     126

Other Inception Activities     129

When Do You Need an Inception Phase?     130

Inception Phase Patterns     131

Inception Phase Anti-Patterns     132

Concluding Thoughts     133

Additional Resources     134

Chapter 7 Identifying a Project Vision     135

What’s in a Vision?     136

How Do You Create a Vision?     137

Capturing Your Project Vision     138

Bringing Stakeholders to Agreement Around the Vision     142

Concluding Thoughts     145

Additional Resources     145

Chapter 8 Identifying the Initial Scope     147

Choosing the Appropriate Level of Initial Detail     149

Choosing the Right Types of Models     153

Choosing a Modeling Strategy     162

Choosing a Work Item Management Strategy     166

Choosing a Strategy for Nonfunctional Requirements     170

Concluding Thoughts     173

Additional Resources     173

Chapter 9 Identifying an Initial Technical Strategy     175

Choosing the Right Level of Detail     178

Choosing the Right Types of Models     182

Choosing a Modeling Strategy     187

Architecture Throughout the Lifecycle     190

Concluding Thoughts     190

Additional Resources     191

Chapter 10 Initial Release Planning     193

Who Does the Planning?     194

Choosing the Right Scope for the Plan     196

Choosing a General Planning Strategy     197

Choosing Cadences     202

Formulating an Initial Schedule     208

Estimating the Cost and Value     218

Identifying Risks     225

Concluding Thoughts     226

Additional Resources     228

Chapter 11 Forming the Work Environment     229

Forming the Team     230

Choosing Your Toolset     231

Organizing Physical Work Environments     238

Organizing Virtual Work Environments     244

Visual Management     246

Adopting Development Guidelines     247

Concluding Thoughts     248

Additional Resources     249

Chapter 12 Case Study: Inception Phase     251

Introducing the AgileGrocers POS Case Study     251

Developing a Shared Vision     254

Requirements Envisioning     262

Creating the Ranked Work Item List of User Stories to Implement the Solution     264

Architecture Envisioning     265

Release Planning     266

Other Inception Phase Activities     268

Alternative Approach to Running Your Inception Phase     269

Concluding the Inception Phase     270

Concluding Thoughts     272

 

Part 4: Building a Consumable Solution Incrementally

Chapter 13 The Construction Phase     273

How the Construction Phase Works     274

The Typical Rhythm of Construction Iterations     281

The Risk-Value Lifecycle     282

When Are You Ready to Deploy?     283

Construction Patterns     284

Construction Anti-Patterns     285

Concluding Thoughts     287

Chapter 14 Initiating a Construction Iteration     289

Why Agile Planning Is Different     290

Iteration Planning     291

Visualizing Your Plan     304

Look-Ahead Planning and Modeling     306

Concluding Thoughts     307

Additional Resources     308

Chapter 15 A Typical Day of Construction     309

Planning Your Team’s Work for the Day     311

Collaboratively Building a Consumable Solution     319

Ongoing Activities Throughout the Day     339

ACloser Look at Critical Agile Practices     348

Stabilizing the Day’s Work     359

Concluding Thoughts     360

Additional Resources     360

Chapter 16 Concluding a Construction Iteration     363

Demonstrate the Solution to Key Stakeholders     365

Learn from Your Experiences     368

Assess Progress and Adjust Release Plan if Necessary     373

Assess Remaining Risks     375

Deploy Your Current Build     375

Determine Strategy for Moving Forward     376

Concluding Thoughts     380

Additional Resources     382

Chapter 17 Case Study: Construction Phase     383

Continuing Our Scenario with the AgileGrocers POS Case Study     383

Planning the Iteration’s Work     387

Subsequent Construction Iterations     407

Other Construction Phase Activities     414

Concluding the Construction Phase Iterations     414

Concluding Thoughts     415

 

Part 5: Releasing the Solution

Chapter 18 The Transition Phase     417

How the Transition Phase Works     418

Planning the Transition Phase     419

Ensuring Your Production Readiness     421

Preparing Your Stakeholders for the Release     423

Deploying the Solution     424

Are Your Stakeholders Delighted?     426

Transition Phase Patterns     427

Transition Phase Anti-Patterns     429

Concluding Thoughts     430

Additional Resources     431

Chapter 19 Case Study: Transition Phase     433

Planning the Phase     434

Collaborating to Deploy the Solution     438

AgileGrocers’ Delight     439

Concluding Thoughts     440

 

Part 6: Disciplined Agile Delivery in the Enterprise

Chapter 20 Governing Disciplined Agile Teams     441

What Should Governance Address?      443

Why Is Governance Important?      447

Why Traditional Governance Strategies Won’t Work     448

Agile Governance     451

Agile Practices That Enable Governance     455

Fitting in with the Rest of Your IT Organization     460

Measuring Agile Teams     465

Risk Mitigation     479

Concluding Thoughts     480

Additional Resources     480

Chapter 21 Got Discipline?     483

Agile Practices Require Discipline     484

Reducing the Feedback Cycle Requires Discipline     485

Continuous Learning Requires Discipline     487

Incremental Delivery of Consumable Solutions Requires Discipline     490

Being Goal-Driven Requires Discipline     490

Enterprise Awareness Requires Discipline     491

Adopting a Full Lifecycle Requires Discipline     492

Streamlining Inception Requires Discipline     492

Streamlining Transition Requires Discipline     493

Adopting Agile Governance Requires Discipline     493

Moving to Lean Requires Discipline     493

Concluding Thoughts     494

Additional Resources     495

Index 497