Agile Ibm Aot Conf 062308

8/12/2019 Agile Ibm Aot Conf 062308

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IBM Systems & Technology Group

2007 IBM Corporation

The Agile Journey

- Reflections on our experience IBM Academy of Technology

Jay KrishnamurthySr. Project Mgr, STG


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Systems & Technology Group


Agenda

Introduction

Who are we / What do we do ?

Our Pre-agile environmentOur Transition

Traditional Project Management vs. Agile Ourtake

Lessons learned


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Introduction

Experiences of a small product team

We are not agile experts, not agile purists


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Who are we ?

We are in IBM Microelectronics division, part ofSystems & Technology Group


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What do we do ?

We develop Supply Chain optimization software

Used to solution Microelectronics Demand/Supply

Sold as a commercial product for the past three years

Team has close to 40 patents behind the product


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OPS Framework is a high performance Advanced PlanningSystem (APS)

ATPSCOPE

MRPCPE

AMRPH-BCD

PDBExpress

WIP ProjectionDemand Management

Supply Planning

93,574 P/N55,498 Cust Demands32,321 Ship Possibilities5,018 Binning Records3,329 Subst Possibilities2,099 Sourcing Records650 Capacity Resources

Inputs

79,680 Cust Shipments272,785 Mfg Release Records114,109 Internal Shipments7,009 Shipments from Vendor5,868 Substitution Records

Outputs

Example CPE Run Solving

22,000,000 Equations3,880,996 Decision Variable

Run Time = 2.5 h

rs

OPS Framework Tool Suite

Client ResultsImproved customer servicesLoyal and Satisfied CustomersImproved RevenueImproved ROALower inventoryBetter resource-sharingHigher utilizationLoyal and Satisfied Customer

FeaturesHandles Multiple Product Types

ASICsStandard productsFoundry services

Manufacturing OptimizationShort Planning Cycle Time

Low Operating andMaintenance CostsReliable Delivery CommitmentFlexible Pricing Alternatives


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UI

Our product

-

Core

Algorithms

(C++)

ERP

Interfaces

UDB / Oracle

AIX/ HP-UX/ LINUX


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Our Background

Team Members Core Team PhDs in Operations Research UI Team Java skills

Delivery Driven Objectives & Deadline are set Team works the details

Experienced in Lean

Pair Programming JAD


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The Conflict

RUP based Development

Process checkpoints built in to ensure artifacts are in placebefore we proceed to next step

Market Needs Increasing changes based on market needs

Change in priorities as time progresses

Conflict

Artifacts were becoming a ritual instead of adding value

Few of us were skipping it altogether to meet deliverables


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Agile

It all started with a two day workshop on Agile

Thanks Ted Rivera and Paul Gibson !!

After the session I summarized and shared mythoughts with my team

We decided to try it out


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Enabling Factors

Several enabling factors

Small team

Co-located teams

Leadership / Culture Freedom to experiment / skunk work

Team maturity Worked together for a while One of the key factors

We had something to address our pain point> Providing rapid turnaround to market needs, while simultaneously

limiting churn on Development team


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Our Transition

We decided to try agile within our UI group

First Iteration

We set the 2 week boundary

Spent time with the business team to define scope

We didnt succeed in our first iteration


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What happened ?

If you watched the Celtics/ Lakers NBA games When you are running fa s t and almost blindly passing

the ball, you need the right person to be in the right placeat the right time to take it and run with it

When your sub-group is on Agile, but rest of yourbroader team is not, dependency managementneeds to be proactive

Team dynamics/ communication/ collaborationneed to adapt and evolve when you are moving toAgile


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How did we recover ?

In order to increase your success, double your failurerate Thomas Watson Sr.

It took us few iterations before we got the hang of it


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Traditional Project Mgmt vs. Agile our take

When you develop a several month project plan

There are several uncertainties

However any smart PM has slack/float built into theplan

When you are running a two week iteration

There isnt too much available window for slack

Things happen


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Traditional Project Mgmt vs. Agile our take (cont.)

Resource planning needs to be thought through

For example: Test resources in waterfall allows involvement in

multiple projects Agile requires dedicated continuous involvement

Challenging when part of the group is in Agile andpart waterfall


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Stakeholder needs / Business Value to be mapped/articulated

Need for the Invisible Hand that coordinates

iterations with Business needs / Release As a RUP parallel, the iterations must align with the

vision

Dont lose sight of the forest


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Flatten the team

Dont let the PM become the bottleneck

Let the team step up

Use a Ethernet Broadcast model Use it with discipline


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Traditional PM metrics dont help much in Agile world

Understand velocity Recommend fiction Goal by Dr. Goldratt

Pay attention to Dependency management, Riskmanagement & mitigation

In a 6 month project if a person falls sick for a week, you canrecover

Cross train when possible

Learn to become a Project Facilitator not a Project Manager


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Lessons learned

When you start agile, give the team some space

Let the team learn to agile

Dont get aggressive with schedules in the first few

iterationsRethink your team communication model

Dont let Agile turn into a 2 -week waterfall

Use Storyboards, Test Driven Development

If not, your iterations become continuous catch -up iterations


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Lessons learned (cont.)

If necessary, throw out what you developed Two examples

Proactively manage dependencies Dont try to be a purist

Give heads-up to non-agile teams - Example

Dont become a methodology bigot

Methodology is the means to get to your goal Choose what works for you best

Documents

Agile Ibm Aot Conf 062308