Agile Project Management AgilePM® Disclaimer This handbook, Agile Project Management v2, is based on a subset of the DSDM Agile Project Framework and intended for use as an aid to those undertaking APMG-International’s accredited Agile Project Management training or revising for personal certification in Agile Project Management. Readers wishing to know more about or use the DSDM Agile Project Framework are invited to visit the website at www.agilebusiness.org Note: Agile Project Management training and Agile Project Management personal certification are accredited by APMG-International. Only accredited training providers or their affiliates are allowed to provide courses and examinations in APMG-International’s qualification schemes. Readers wishing to know more about APMG- International are invited to visit the website at www.apmg-international.com Only organisations accredited by the Agile Business Consortium may offer accredited DSDM products and services. ©2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 Agile Business Consortium Limited Registered address: Agile Business Consortium, Henwood House, Henwood, Ashford, Kent TN24 8DH, UK DSDM®, Atern®, AgilePM® and AgileBA® are registered trademarks of Agile Business Consortium Limited in the United Kingdom and other countries. AgilePgM™ is a trademark of Agile Business Consortium Limited. PRINCE2® is a Registered Trade Mark of AXELOS Limited in the United Kingdom and other countries ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of AXELOS Limited in the United Kingdom and other countries All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Agile Business Consortium. Applications to reuse, reproduce or republish material in this publication should be sent to the address above, or by email to [email protected] Published by the Agile Business Consortium First Edition (version 1) first published and printed July 2010 Reprinted November 2011 Version 1.1 published and first printed August 2012. Reprinted March 2013, August 2013 Version 1.2 published and first printed December 2013 Reprinted April 2014 Version 2 published and first printed October 2014. Reprinted April 2015 (with typo amends) reprinted November 2015 with amends (see page 6), Reprinted May 2017 with amends (see page 6) ISBN 978-0-9928727-2-4 Printed in the United Kingdom by: Buckland Media Group Limited, www.buckland.co.uk Acknowledgements Editorial Team: Andrew Craddock, Barbara Roberts, Jennifer Stapleton and Julia Godwin Production: Kim Whitmore, Emily Ruffle, Mary Henson, Debbie Cole Creative Marketing and Newble Designs 2 Contents Section One - Agile Project Foundations Chapter 1 Introduction 9 Chapter 2 Choosing DSDM as your Agile Approach 11 Chapter 3 Philosophy and Fundamentals 15 Chapter 4 Principles 19 Chapter 5 Preparing for Success 23 Chapter 6 The DSDM Process 27 Chapter 7 Roles and Responsibilities 31 Chapter 8 DSDM Products 37 Chapter 9 Planning and Control 41 Chapter 10 DSDM Practice - MoSCoW Prioritisation 49 Chapter 11 DSDM Practice - Timeboxing 53 Chapter 12 Other DSDM Practices 59 Section Two - The Agile PM Perspective: Digging Deeper Chapter 13 Practical Application of the DSDM Principles 67 Chapter 14 Roles and Responsibilities - The Agile PM’s View 75 Chapter 15 Project Management through the Lifecycle 91 Chapter 16 The Effective use of the DSDM Products 101 Chapter 17 Deliver on Time - Combining MoSCoW and Timeboxing 117 Chapter 18 People, Teams and Interactions 131 Chapter 19 Requirements and User Stories 143 Chapter 20 Estimating 151 Chapter 21 Project Planning through the Lifecycle 159 Chapter 22 Never Compromise Quality 165 Chapter 23 Risk Management 177 Chapter 24 Tailoring the DSDM Approach 185 Appendix A Glossary 197 Appendix B Project Approach Questionnaire (PAQ) 205 Appendix C Estimating using Planning Poker® and Velocity 207 Appendix D Index 213 3 AgilePM® Foreword Welcome to the Agile Project Management Handbook, produced by the not-for-profit Agile Business Consortium. Since its launch in 2010, Agile Business Consortium’s Agile Project Management has proved very popular, and has enabled the adoption of Agile Project Management practice worldwide. This handbook is based on The Agile Project Framework, the latest version of DSDM, and is intended to support the accredited Agile Project Manager ( AgilePM® ) Practitioner training course, as well as providing the definitive source for the AgilePM® Foundation and Practitioner exams. Our aim is to encourage professional development in the field of Agile Project Management. In today’s ever-changing world, organisations and businesses are keen to adopt a more flexible approach to delivering projects, and want to become more agile. However, for organisations delivering projects and programmes, and where existing formal project management processes already exist, the informality of many of the agile approaches is daunting and is sometimes perceived as too risky. These project-focused organisations need a mature agile approach - agility within the concept of project delivery - Agile Project Management. provides: • an approach that offers agility but retains the concepts of a project, project delivery and project management • an Agile approach that is stand-alone but also works alongside more formalised project management approaches such as PRINCE2® • an Agile approach that can be dovetailed into formalised quality processes such as ISO9001 and CMMI enables organisations to gain the benefits of an agile approach without introducing unnecessary risks. This ensures that ‘going Agile’ becomes a measured and balanced change, keeping what is good in the current organisation and retaining existing good practices around project management and delivery whilst gaining the benefits of a more agile way of working. DSDM has been for many years the leading, proven, full-project Agile approach, providing governance and rigour along with the agility and flexibility demanded by organisations today. The Agile Business Consortium is pleased to be working with the APM Group to provide Agile Project Management based on DSDM’s Agile Project Framework as the ‘engine’ for driving Agile Project Management. The Agile Project Framework reflects the very latest thinking in corporate-strength agile. The Agile Project Framework has also been designed to link more easily with other Agile approaches, since there is an increasing demand to use a combination of Agile approaches - “blended Agile”. The use of this graphic within the text indicates a potential link to other Agile approaches. The handbook content is based on the DSDM Agile Project Framework with the focus and additional guidance on the Project and Project Management aspects. It does not go into the detail of generic Project Management practices, as this information is readily available elsewhere. It focuses on ‘What does agile mean to an Agile Project Manager?’ ‘What is different?’ ‘What needs to change?’ Additional information on the DSDM Agile Project Framework can be found at www.agilebusiness.org. DSDM is free to view and free to use. You may also be interested in becoming a member of the Agile Business Consortium. Apart from full access to all Consortium materials, Agile Business Consortium members get significant discounts on products, training and events. Barbara Roberts Director for Product Innovation Agile Business Consortium 4 Foreword APMG is delighted to have collaborated with the Agile Business Consortium in developing this handbook and producing the supporting training courses and qualification. We are aware of the growing interest in the Agile movement and are particularly pleased to have developed specific guidance for those wishing to run projects in an Agile way. PRINCE2® is recognised globally as an effective way to manage projects but all project managers have to deal with both the known and the unknown. Unforeseen circumstances and organisational changes can have a dramatic impact on project outcomes. The key to successfully managing projects is to break them into stages, plan the current stage in detail and be flexible regarding the subsequent stages. Agile project management offers flexibility while still recognising the processes that give project managers the confidence to run their projects effectively. This publication brings Agile to the PRINCE2 community and shows how an Agile approach dovetails very well with the current PRINCE2 philosophy of adopting and tailoring PRINCE2 to meet an organisation’s own way of working. We look forward to hearing of more Agile projects run in a PRINCE2 environment as Practitioners bring together these concepts and deliver even greater value to their clients. Richard Pharro CEO The APM Group The Structure of this Handbook The Agile Project Management Handbook is divided into two main sections. Section One - The Agile Project Foundations - This section provides a simple, but rounded understanding of the core topics associated with Agile Project Management. It forms the basis for the first part of the Agile Project Management accredited training course, and is the source for the Agile Project Management Foundation examination. Section Two - The Agile Project Manager Perspective - Digging Deeper - This section provides more depth to a number of the topics introduced in Section One. It also introduces some additional topics of particular interest to the Agile Project Manager, either because the Agile Project Manager is responsible for these areas, or because these areas have a direct impact on the Agile Project Manager’s ability to deliver successful Agile projects. Appendices: A Glossary and a full Index are provided, as well as the detail of the Project Approach Questionnaire and guidance on Estimating using Planning Poker and Velocity. 5 AgilePM® Summary of AgilePM v2 changes from November 2015 to April 2017 reprint Rebranding Apart from some minor text changes listed below, the primary reason for this reprint (May 2017) of the AgilePM v2 Handbook is rebranding in line with Agile Business Consortium and APMG International. Glossary Exception – term changed to “Management by Exception” and detail revised Globally All references to DSDM Consortium, Dynamic Systems Development Method Limited have been updated to Agile Business Consortium and Agile Business Consortium Limited. All references to [email protected] have been updated to [email protected] Summary of AgilePM v2 changes from April 2014 to November 2015 reprint Chapter 2 Choosing DSDM as your Agile Approach Martin Fowler added to list of Agile Manifesto Chapter 9 Planning and Control “Exception” replaced with “issue” Chapter 14 Roles and Responsibilities Change of paragraph number from 14.15.7 to 14.16.7 In 14.7.1 bullet point “ensuring the non-functional requirements…..” moved to 14.6.1 to replace “advising on the achievability…..” Chapter 15 Project Management through the Lifecycle First table on page 99 moved to page 98 to be associated with paragraph 15.3.4. “Outline Plan created……” replaced with “outline created…..” Table on pages 98/99 moved entirely to page 98 Roles associated with products revised to eliminate potential confusion with descriptions in Chapter 16. Chapter 21 Project Planning through the Lifecycle Text added to Foundations in diagram Glossary Addition of the term and detail for “Exception” Globally Various typos and punctuation amends Replacing the term final solution, with ultimate solution Replacing the term Foundation Summary with Foundations Summary 6 Section One The Agile Project Foundations 7 AgilePM® 8 1. Introduction 9