Measuring agile delivery: top 3 customer questions
One of our latest customers, new to agile development, asked a three good questions. Here are our answers.
How can we measure you on deliverables in an agile project?
The end of sprint acceptance is based on the “Definition of Done” (DoD) defined collaboratively with the Product Owner and the Delivery Team. Think of the DoD as the target that the Team will shoot for and furthermore, each will be backed by an executable test. It is this last requirement that makes it necessary for the Product Owner and the Delivery Team to collaboratively determine the DoD. The DoD is defined and refined during Product Backlog creation and finalized during the Sprint Planning sessions. Essentially, after the Sprint Planning session, the Delivery Team knows what to shoot for. They know the success criteria for each story they have committed to, and this can be rigorously measured.
How do we measure the test results against end of sprint deliverables to ensure we are on track with a usable, albeit partial, functional application from the very beginning?
In terms of metrics, we track and report using standard Scrum metrics such as the Daily Burn Down Chart, Sprint Velocity, and Earned Business Value. During the Sprint Planning or even prior, each story is assigned a “point value”. This point value in general correlates to Level of Effort or Business Value; determining what exactly is a point is one detail we nail down early together. At the end of each sprint, the stories delivered are evaluated by the Product Owner according to the Definition of Done. Based on the stories accepted, the number of points delivered for a sprint can be tracked, and hence, the Velocity and Earned Business Value can be reported. Exactly how these metrics are reported is also be ironed out early, but we generally use an Agile Tool such as Banana Scrum or Rally.
Who do you use for Scrum Masters?
We use Certified Scrum Masters, leaders in their craft. Our typical Scrum Masters have many years of experience in this role in both product and enterprise arenas. Some teach Scrum formally, all live and breath it. They are generally quite active in the Toronto Agile community and other agile groups. Some have PMI certification, which helps deal with very complex projects for our larger customers, however they have to be agile thinkers to work for Architech. The role is about enabling the Delivery Team, not managing project plans and other common “Project Management” artifacts.