I have a Q & A with the IBM agile training center. If you are interested in agility, you can check the communication.

XXX:

Your problems are good. We are also thinking about some problems,
I would like to express my views on these issues. For more information, see the blue text below:

Body of the email:

Hello, I have mentioned a few questions about the training that day. For more information, please try again. Some questions may be naive :)

1. What types of projects is agile?
Because most of IBM projects are product R & D projects, you can make a good long-term plan and clarify the release plan and iteration cycle, but is it inappropriate for a project that does not have a very clear requirement or that needs to be changed frequently ??

Agile ideas and practices can adapt to a wide range of projects, but they are not suitable for all projects. I attended the agile Developer Conference in China last year and the Annual Meeting on software process improvement in China, there are many types of projects for agile implementation, including products and projects. The project types are scattered in various industries and the project cycle is long or short, however, it is difficult to use a simple language to summarize which projects are suitable for agility and which are not suitable. The key is to use appropriate agile processes and practices flexibly and accurately in the agile implementation process. Agility cannot cure all diseases. Sometimes our prescriptions need to be integrated and combined with other development models of agility.

2. For agile development, this stakeholder is very important. For customers, most of the time they can participate in the project, they are basically the customer's project manager, however, this person should not be a key user. For a complicated project, there are many key users. But do they all need to be involved ??
In actual situations, it is difficult to involve all of them. This PM alone is definitely not enough. How can this problem be solved?

The scope of stakeholders is relatively large. We need to grasp the key stakeholders in the project. If there are many key stakeholders, it is difficult for us to have them participate in each plan and demonstration meeting at the same time. I can arrange for different types of stakeholders to be presented in different milestone, too many demonstrations and feedback not only consume a lot of time, but also make it difficult to unify the feedback of stakeholders.

3. What is the difference between agile development and the commonly used phased development? Did you mention it that day? Do you have a better comparison of advantages and disadvantages? I personally think that phased development may be more appropriate. This phase cycle can be long or short based on requirements and is not limited by agile fixed iteration cycles.

I think there is no good or bad relationship between agility and other development models. The key is to select an appropriate development model based on the specific circumstances of the project, many agile ideas come from other development models, such as Scrum, OpenUP, RUP, and XP.

4. quick feedback is one of the advantages of agility. However, many projects may perform basic backend R & D in an iteration, there is nothing on the front-end UI for the customer to see, will there be a certain risk in this case?

Such a stage cannot last for too long. Even backend development requires acceptance criteria, such as automated testing or test-driven development. Without acceptance criteria, how to ensure quality, and how to ensure that the development results can meet the needs of customers is obviously risky.

5. How can I report workload to customers for agile projects ?? General projects usually sort out all the requirements at the beginning of the project, and then evaluate the workload as a whole and give a reasonable quote. However, according to agile thinking, this is not required, you only need to clarify the requirements of this iteration before each iteration. It claims to be a rapid response to user changes. That is to say, it is usually to determine the needs of subsequent iterations while doing so, but does this seem to be difficult to assess the overall workload at the beginning?

I have been thinking about this problem. The agile development model has no good way to estimate the overall workload of the entire project. It can only be achieved by other means, for example, the enterprise's organizational process Asset Library or other project processes are implemented by using the combination of IPD and agile development.

6. Whether agile or not, the most important thing is: people's self-initiative. If developers are of good self-quality, they are very responsible for their own development, in addition, the communication within the team is also very good. Is agility necessary ??

You will find that there is no fixed definition of agility, only the agile declaration and 12 guidelines. Agility focuses on methods to ensure the realization of these goals, if you have a good way to achieve the initiative of Members, it can be said that it is an agile practice, although this is not a typical common agile practice. Agile best practices are to collect and share these good methods.

7. agile transformation involves HR, finance, and other departments. IT is not a very important department for enterprises. How can we promote the changes of the entire Organization ??

This question seems to have been answered at the meeting. I think it is only step-by-step. It is very difficult to push from top to bottom. We need the support and trust of leaders, at the same time, the development team is willing to practice to solve their headaches. In this case, agile transformation is more appropriate. If the IT department has a low position in the company's organizational structure, I want to do a good job in development so that agility can truly solve our problems and benefit us at the same time, improve our business objectives and gradually influence other departments on this basis. This will take a longer time.

8. What is the core of agility ??
Or what is the biggest change ??
Is it an iteration (similar in stages )? Is it a change in the demand management method (which is not obvious at present )? Is unit and automated testing (whether agile or not) required )? Or TDD (which is difficult to push )??

I think the core of agility is the four points I mentioned: accuracy, speed, excellence, stability, and agile practices that ensure the achievement of these goals.