Improving Software Productivity with Agile Methodologies

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PROCESSI DI PRODUZIONE E

GESTIONE DEL SOFTWARE

Ing. Paola Turci

Improving Software Productivity

with “Agile Methodologies”

Status of SE in the New Millennium

To date …

_{Current tendency to make software functionalities and} business cases coincide - stimulated by the Internet era and reinforced by the dot com_economy

• Leads to linking software construction and business dynamics more closely than ever

_{In industry there is a need for swiftly-developed, complex} software projects that are both research-likeand

mission-critical

• Software development must no longer be thought of as oriented toward a productBUTit is an ongoing process which continually delivers value (continuous evolution)

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P. Turci -Processi di Produzione e Gestione del Software

Standish Group

In the 1994, published a landmark white paper

Each year, reports on success, failure and

challenge rates.

Its 2000 report “Chaos in the new millennium”

Only 28% of software projects succeeded Outright failures 23%

Challenged projects 49%

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CIO Magazine, July 2001

Almost ¾ of all software development in the

Internet era suffered from one or more of the

following:

_{Total failure} _{Cost overruns}

_{Rollout with fewer features or functions than promised}

Nike's glitch with i2's inventory software, which prompted Nike CEO Phil Knight to wail, "This is what we get for our $400 million?“

Sobey, a Canadian grocery chain that in February suddenly and publicly canned a SAP project …” $50 million into the trash bin”

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from: from: from:

from:

Rapid Application Development

Steve McConnell Steve McConnell Steve McConnell Steve McConnell

Use of Modern Programming Practises (percentage of total system) Percentage Low Medium High

of Nominal (0-25%) (26-75%) (76-100%) Productivity +200 +100 0 (average) -100

Remarks

The use of any specific best practice is necessary

but not sufficient for achieving maximum

development speed

Doing few things right doesn’t guarantee rapid

development

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PEOPLE PROCESS

PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY

Why Projects Fail

Undermined Motivations - Maslow

Weak Personnel / Turn Over

semantic gap Adding People to Late Project

"The Mytichal Man-Month" Brooks

Uncontrolled Problem Employees

Unsatisfactory Working Conditions

Lack of Stakeholder Buy-In

Document Oriented (instead of

functional oriented) design up-front Unrealistic Expectations overly optimistic schedules

lack effort estimation

Shortchanged Upstream Activities

jumping into coding

tests at the end of the project

Code-like-hell Programming

Insufficient Plannig

planning to catch it later

abandonment of planning under pressure Insufficient Management Controls insufficient risk management Contractor Failure

Requirements Creeping _{increase complexity}

Developer Gold-Plating

Requirements Gold-Plating

Research-Oriented Development

Sylver-Bullet Syndrome

Overestimated Savings from New Tools or Methods

Switching Tools in the Middle of a Project

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PEOPLE

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PROCESS

Unrealistic Expectations

_{overly optimistic schedules} _{lack effort estimation}

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Shortchanged Upstream

Activities

_{jumping into coding}

_{tests at the end of the project}

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PROCESS

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Insufficient Planning

_{planning to catch it later}

_{abandonment of planning under pressure}

Insufficient Management Controls

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PROCESS

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PRODUCT

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TECHNOLOGY

“ … Building a product the right way still

sounds

like

a laudable goal, but what really matters today is

building it

fast

.

… We have asked, ‘What shall we add to our

process to deal with this new situation?’ No

answer to that question is going to be right

because the question itself is wrong.

What the mobility imperative requires is that we

subtract

from the process:

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From Nothing

From Nothing,,,, to Monumental

to Monumental

to Monumental,

,

, to Agile

to Agile

Most software development is a chaotic activity,

often characterized by the phrase “

code and fix

”

(works pretty well as the system is small)

Heavy Methodologies; disciplined process with the

aim of making software development more

predictable and more efficient

New group of methodologies have appeared in the

last few years: Agile Methodologies

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Agile Alliance

Manifesto for Agile Software Development, a

statement of the common values and principles of

agile processes

Agile methods are adaptive rather than

predictive

Agile methods are people-oriented rather than

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The Agile Manifesto

“ We are uncovering better ways of developing

software by doing it helping others to do it.

Through this work we have come to value:

_{Individuals and interactions} _{over processes and tools}

_{Working software}_{over comprehensive documentation}

_{Customer collaboration} _{over contract negotiation}

_{Responding to change} _{over following a plan}

That is, while we value the items on the right, we

value the items on the left more.

“

The Agile Manifesto

(cont(cont(cont(cont’’’’d)d)d)d)

“ We follow the following principles:

_{Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer} through early and continuous delivery of valuable software

_{Deliver working software frequently, from a couple} of weeks to a couple of months, with preference for the shorter timescale.

_{Welcome changing requirements, even late in} development. Agile processes harness change for

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The Agile Manifesto

(cont(cont(cont(cont’’’’d)d)d)d) _{Business people and developers work together daily}

throughout the project.

_{Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them} the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.

_{The most efficient and effective method of conveying} information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.

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The Agile Manifesto

(cont(cont(cont(cont’’’’d)d)d)d) _{Working software is the primary measure of progress} _{Agile processes promote sustainable development. The}

sponsors, developers and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

_{Continuous attention to technical excellence and good} design enhances agility

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The Agile Manifesto

(cont(cont(cont(cont’’’’d)d)d)d) _{Simplicity - the art of maximizing the amount of work not}

done - is essential

_{The best architectures, requirements and designs} emerge from self-organizing teams

_{At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become} more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly