Agile Process
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Introduction
The IT Project Management Office designed the Agile processes to provide the project team the flexibility to
tailor / adjust the process to support the needs and complexity of the project. The critical components of a
successful agile process focus on iterative development and the following principles:
Delivering working software incrementally
Defining just enough specification to get started; specification will be refined during the iterations Adapting to emerging specifications and new knowledge about the project
Collaborating with the customers and getting their feedback through software demos Continuously improving the team’s practices
The Agile process guidelines detailed below provide a step-by-step guide for successfully managing a project
using the agile methodology. This process guide contains control steps for monitoring and controlling the
project. It also identifies important deliverables and activities to document and approve.
Although the IT PMO has designed the processes to be flexible, certain components will be required in order
to satisfy UConn and state audit and reporting requirements. If a department utilizes a documented process
that contains the steps
necessary to support audit and reporting requirements, the project manager is free to
incorporate these into their chosen process.
At the beginning of each project, the project manager (or Scrum Master), in conjunction with the IT PMO,
will determine the detailed process and related components that best suit the project and add the most value to
UConn.
A project manager may choose to use a combination or hybrid of agile and waterfall processes on a project.
Here, we describe only the agile process.
Key assumptions before beginning the project are:
o
The Scrum Master or Project Manager will determine the sprint length, the deliverables used by the
team like the daily stand up, the spring planning, retrospective meeting project, and communication
frequency to stakeholders during the Planning phase.
o
Conducting a regular project status includes review of the project financial health (variance, cost
estimate to complete).
o
The role of the Scrum Master and Product Owner may be filled by the same person depending on the
resource availability for the project. The roles will be defined at the start of the project.
o
The IT PMO will sign-off on appropriate tailoring requested by the Scrum Masters before the Planning
exit gate.
Agile Process Jobaid
Review / Approval History
Review
Date:
Reviewed By:
Action (Reviewed or Approved)
Version 1
Catherine
Rhodes
Approved on 6/27/2012 for publication on the IT PMO website
and inclusion in training video
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Agile Jobaid
Intake & Initiation
Step 1: Intake
o Requester submits the Project Intake Form from itpmo.uconn.edu.
o Engagement Manager reviews the request to determine whether the request represents a true project as opposed to a request for routine IT services. o Engagement Manager forwards request for routine IT services to appropriate
directors.
o IT PMO assigns project number.
o Engagement Manager and IT Governance review the request for fit with UCONN. Is the request in line with UCONN’s Academic Plan and current IT Strategic Plans? How might other areas of the University benefit from this project? Is this request being met somewhere else in the University? Does the request raise any security concerns?
o Engagement Manager works with IT Governance and appropriate technical personnel to determine high-level technical feasibility of the request.
o IT PMO identifies the IT PMO project manager. The IT PMO project manager (PM) may fulfill the role of program manager and/or mentor for a departmental project manager. The PM may also fulfill the role of business analyst (BA) if none is available.
o PM engages requester, stakeholders, Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), and
Engagement Manager to perform an initial project sizing and classification exercise. This will help the PM and IT PMO to determine which steps in the process will make the most sense for the project. The PM will track against the agreed-upon steps throughout the project.
o ROLES:
IT PMO, PM, Sponsor, Stakeholders, SMEs, Engagement Manager, Requester, IT Governance, technical experts
As of July 9, 2012, IT Governance consists of the Project Request Review Council, the Deans and/or Directors associated with the request and the Vice Provost and CIO.
o DELIVERABLES:
Minutes from IT Governance meetings, including results of feasibility analysis and fit analysis
Assigned project manager, project number, estimation of project size and complexity
Engagement Manager communicates with requester/customer throughout the process and shepherds the request from beginning to end.
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Step 2: Justify
The Intake Form contains some high level justification for the project, and this is sufficient for most projects. However, to satisfy Board of Trustees requirements, sponsors and PMs must complete a full business case document for projects over $500,000. The business case presents alternative solutions for satisfying the request.
o PM and sponsor develop Business Case (justification for the project, solution alternatives and recommendation) with the requester, stakeholders, SMEs and Engagement Manager.
o PM et al review and refine the ROM supplied with the Intake Form. o Sponsor approves Business Case, including the ROM cost estimate.
o PM submits an Executive Summary of the Business Case to IT Governance for review. o IT Governance evaluates alternatives and approves one, or requests additional
information.
o Vice Provost and CIO submits approved alternative to Board of Trustees (BOT) for approval.
o IT PMO records the disposition of the project.
o
Engagement Manager notifies the requester.
o ROLES: PMO, PM, Sponsor, Stakeholders, SMEs, Engagement Manager, IT Governance, Requester
o DELIVERABLES: Business Case and ROM cost estimate
Step 3: Define
Develop Project Definition Document (UCONN’s version of a project charter) High-level Budget and Stakeholder Register. The size and complexity of the project will drive the size and complexity of this deliverable. Some of these could be as short as one or two pages.
o
PM develops Project Definition Document, High-level Budget, and Stakeholder
Register with the stakeholders, SMEs and Engagement Manager
o
Sponsor approves Project Definition Document and High-level Budget
o
PM submits Project Definition Document and High-level Budget to IT
Governance
o PM may define Stakeholder Management Strategy. This may also be done in Planning. o ROLES: PM, Sponsor, Stakeholders, SMEs, Engagement Manager, IT Governance
o
DELIVERABLES: Project Definition Document, High-level Budget, StakeholderRegister
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Step 4: Assess
o IT Governance reviews and approves Project Definition Document and High-level Budget and submits recommendation to proceed to UITS Directors and Vice Provost and CIO
o ROLES: IT Governance
o DELIVERABLES: IT Governance Recommendation
Step 5: Prioritize
o UITS Directors prioritize the project and make recommendation to proceed to Vice Provost and CIO based on resource availability
o ROLES: UITS Directors
o DELIVERABLES: UITS Directors Recommendation
Step 6: Approve
o Vice Provost and CIO approves funding or, for projects over $500.000, submits request for funding to Board of Trustees
o ROLES: Vice Provost and CIO, Board of Trustees o DELIVERABLES: Approved Funding
Step 7: Fund
o IT PMO Financial Project Manager notified UITS Fiscal Manager o ROLES: Fiscal Manager creates project accounts and allocates funds o DELIVERABLES: Approved Funding in a project specific account
Exit Gate - Reject or Approved Project
o IT PMO records disposition of project and notifies PM o Engagement Manager notifies Requester and Sponsor
If Approved:
Fiscal manager allocates project funds PM begins the planning phase
If Rejected:
PM conducts required project close-out activities
Intake & Initiation (continued)
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Planning & Analysis
Step 1: Assign Scrum Master and Product Owner
o From a work-intake request, the IT PMO assigns a Scrum Master to an approved project.
o ROLES: IT PMO, Scrum Master
o DELIVERABLE: EPM Demand System (when available)
o Note: PM and Scrum Master can be interchangeable roles in this process based on resource constraints.
Step 2:Request Project Team
o Using the Initiation documentation, Scrum Master determines Project Team members.
o Scrum Master engages resource managers to request resources to build Project Team (include Help Center). Engagement models vary.
o Scrum Master begins procurement request for infrastructure resources (e.g., Dev/Test/Stage/Prod environments, HW, SW)
o ROLES: Scrum Master, Resource Managers
o DELIVERABLES: Project Team Register (List of roles/responsibilities)
Step 3: Receive Vision from Customers
o Product Owner schedules project vision meeting with Customers (and stakeholders) in order to:
Document Condition of Satisfaction.
Document vision for the product, start gathering high-level themes for functionality.
Explain collaboration between customers and team, meeting expectations. Explain project roles and responsibilities
o CONTROL STEP: Scrum Master obtains project vision sign-off via email (approve/reject voting) from Sponsor team.
o ROLES: Product Owner, Scrum Master
o DELIVERABLES: Project Vision - Project Data Sheet, Roadmap
Step 4: Create a High-level Backlog, Estimated and Prioritized
o Product Owner works with the Customers to build High-level backlog.
o Customer prioritizes the backlog from the most important to the least important. o Team works with Product Owner to provide rough estimates for level of effort and
timeline.
o Scrum Master determines with team if a high-level design session is appropriate. o ROLES: Team, Customers, Product Owner
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Planning & Analysis (continued)
Step 5: Create Initial Release Plan & High-level Cost Estimates
o Scrum Master confirms Fixed Date release planning.
o Scrum Master conducts release planning with the Team to create the plan using the estimated, prioritized Backlog and the functionalities based on themes.
o Based on the Release Plan, the team velocity, and backlog, the Scrum Master creates project costs estimates.
o Scrum Master reviews Release Plan & costs estimates with Team, Customers, and IT PMO.
o Scrum Master writes Implementation/Go-live Plan and Schedule, including plans to roll back during go-live, if necessary.
o Scrum Master writes Operations/Help Center/Service Management Support Plan. o CONTROL STEP: Scrum Master obtains approval sign-off of Release Plan and cost
estimates, Operations/Help Center/Service Management Support Plan via email (approve/reject voting).
o ROLE: Scrum Master
o DELIVERABLES: Release Plan, Cost Estimates
Step 7: Develop Training Plan (if applicable):
o Trainer reviews the training requirements with the Product Owner and Scrum Master o Trainer determines the delivery method and schedule with the Product Owner and
Scrum Master
o Trainer develops the plan (includes Help Center training) for Project Team Review and approval
o Product Owner provides user count for training
o CONTROL STEP: Scrum Master obtains approval sign-off via email o ROLES: Trainer, Product Owner, Scrum Master
o DELIVERABLES: Approved Training Plan
Exit Gate:Project Go/No-Go for Funding and for Next Phase
(IT Governance, IT PMO, Sponsor jointly review project)
o Scrum Master conducts IT Governance, IT PMO, and Sponsor review of Project Vision, Back Log, Release Plan, and cost estimate for Go/No-Go decision
o Scrum Master communicates decision to the Team and Customers and drives next phase activities
o ROLES: IT Governance, IT PMO, Customer, Scrum Master
o DELIVERABLES: MS EPM tool (when available) or email approvals
Post Exit Gate -Upon Approval
o Change Management Begins
o Fiscal Manager creates spending accounts and authorizes Scrum Master to approve expenditures to this account; spending can begin
o IT Governance determines if priority of the project has changed o IT Governance releases funds as appropriate for project
o Scrum Master requests infrastructure procurement orders to move forward
o IT PMO/Scrum Master continues to track project health and financials until closure
Post Exit Gate -Upon Denial
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Iterative Development Sprints
Ongoing: Daily Team Meeting
o Scrum Master and the Team have a short daily meeting (aka Daily Stand-up) to ease the communication within the team and identify impediments. Everyone takes turns and answers three questions:
What did I do yesterday? What will I do today?
Is there something preventing me from working? o ROLES: Scrum Master, Team
Step 1: Prepare Backlog for Next Sprint
o Product Owner meets Customers to refine specifications for the upcoming stories. o Product Owner updates the Backlog and defines stories in more detail in preparation
for the next sprint. o ROLES: Product Owner
o DELIVERABLES: Stories in Backlog are ready for the Team.
Step 2: Estimate & Plan Sprints
o Product Owner presents the stories to the Team. The team discusses the stories and further refines them.
o Scrum Master facilitates estimation session. Team estimates the amount of work in the next sprint.
o Scrum Master estimates the work the team will be able do in the next sprint. Team agrees and commits to the work.
o ROLES: Scrum Master, Product Owner, Team
o DELIVERABLES: Work is defined and agreed upon for the next sprint (kept in sprint Backlog)
Step 3: Development
o Team members decide what they work on from the prioritized sprint backlog. o Team members might have questions for the Product Owner as the work progresses. o Team members follow the team’s development practices while they work and
complete their stories until they reach the definition of DONE - Example:
All code is in a version control system, all automated tests pass, there is good coverage and the code has been through code review.
o Team Members make their code available for the continuous integration server. o CONTROL STEP: Product Owner performs acceptance testing
o ROLES: Team, Product Owner
o DELIVERABLES: Working software, automated test suites
Step 4: Obtain Customer Feedback (Risk Mitigation)
o Product Owner meets with Customers to demo/test the new functionality and get feedback. This is a risk mitigation activity to prove that the project is on the right track.
o CONTROL STEP: Emergent requirements, gathered by the Scrum Master, will be added to the Backlog and prioritized by the Customer
o ROLES: Product Owner, Customers o
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Iterative Development Sprints (continued)
Step 5: Sprint Retrospective
o Scrum Master and Team reflect on what went well and what needs improvement during the sprint.
o ROLES: Scrum Master, Team
o DELIVERABLES: Improved Backlog
Step 6: Revise and Communicate Updated Release Plan (if needed)
o Based on new knowledge acquired during the sprint, the Scrum Master may need to update the release plan
o ROLES: Scrum Master
o CONTROLLED DELIVERABLES: Revised Release Plan – if project end date is changed, the Scrum Master completes a change request form; Scrum Master holds a review session for approval; IT PMO must review the change request form and approve it with Sponsor
Repeat Steps 1 - 6 for all sprints until complete for release. Step 7: Deliver Training (if applicable)
o Trainer trains the users. o ROLES: Trainer, Users o DELIVERABLES: none
Step 8:Determine Release Readiness with Customer
o Product Owner gives a demo of the release to the Customer.
o CONTROL STEP: Customer decides if software is ready and provides sign-off. o ROLES: Product Owner, Customer
o DELIVERABLES: Working software, commitment from Customer
Exit Gate:ReadinessApproval for Go-live (Note: Step 8 may occur during Exit Gate)
Product Owner and Scrum Master conduct meeting for Customers, Team to review the software and confirm approval
Scrum Master obtains approval sign-off via email (approve/reject voting); ROLES: Scrum Master, Customers, Product Owner, Team, IT PMO DELIVERABLES: Approval for Go-live
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Implementation
Step 1: Execute Implementation/Go-live Plan
o Scrum Master notifies Change Advisory Board (CAB) and Help Center. o Scrum Master executes Implementation/Go-live Plan created during Planning. o CONTROL STEP: Scrum Master obtains necessary sign-offs via email
(approve/reject voting); emails are attached to deliverables before filing o ROLES: Scrum Master, Team, CAB team
o DELIVERABLES: Product released to production.
Step 2: Validate Product in Production
o Scrum Master leads Sponsor team in validation of the product in production. o ROLES: Scrum Master, Sponsor Test Team
o DELIVERABLES: none
Exit Gate:Approve Production Release
o Scrum Master obtains approval sign-off via email (approve/reject voting); emails are attached to the deliverable before filing.
o ROLES: Sponsor, Scrum Master
o DELIVERABLES: Final project sign-off from Sponsor
Step 3: Transfer Project to Operations/Help Center/Service Management
o Scrum Master executes the Operations/Help Center/Service Management Support Plan defined during Planning.
o CONTROL STEP: Scrum Master obtains confirmation from Operations, Help Center, and Service Management that they have assumed responsibility for the product of the project via email (approve/reject voting); emails are attached to the deliverables before filing.
o ROLES: Scrum Master, Team, Operations Lead, Help Center Lead, Service Management Lead
o DELIVERABLES: Confirmation from Operations, Help Center, and Service Management that they have assumed responsibility for on-going support.
Step 4: Begin 30 Day Warranty Period
o Operations may request Project Team to provide support assistance during the first 30 days of operation.
o ROLES: Operations Team, Help Center o DELIVERABLES: none
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Project Closure
Step 1:Conduct Project Retrospective
o Scrum Master conducts Project Retrospective with team and customers. o ROLES: Scrum Master, Team, Customers
o DELIVERABLES: Lessons Learned
Step 2:Close Out Contracts and Deliverables
o Scrum Master reviews all deliverables for proper closure. o Scrum Master closes out all purchase orders and contracts. o Scrum Master validates that warranty timeline has expired. o Fiscal Manager closes the project accounts.
o IT PMO reviews all documentation for completeness. o ROLES: Scrum Master, Fiscal Manager, IT PMO o DELIVERABLES: Validated project deliverables
Step 3:Close Project
o IT PMO reports project as completed. o IT PMO closes out project in tools.
o IT PMO archives all project documentation.
o IT PMO updates central lessons learned repository, if appropriate. o ROLES: IT PMO
