Transitioning to Agile
Questions to ask before making the switch
Before you jump into adopting Agile, let’s look at a few questions that will help you determine whether or not it will be the right fit.
The first question to ask is: will delivering product or feature increments be allowed at your company? Do you need to be able to change the focus or direction of that product in the middle of the process? In other words, are you starting a project without knowing all of the details of what the final product will look like based on the environment, future technological advances, or future wants/needs that aren’t apparent right now?
If you’re able to answer yes to the above questions, then so far, a transition to Agile is looking good. Here is the second set of questions, focused on the infrastructure of your team:
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Are they located near each other?
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Can they have daily stand-ups in person?
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If the team is not geographically close, do you have technology in place that allows them to quickly collaborate?
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Can you get everyone on a similar daily stand-up schedule?
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Will they be able to work in iterations?
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Are they commonly getting assigned work as a team or is everyone getting assigned work from random places?
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Are the members of your group open to change?
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Are they willing and able to collaborate and constructively discuss issues as they come up?
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Do you have individuals that can take on the role of product manager or Scrum master if using that style of Agile?
These types of questions should be asked and addressed if you feel that certain aspects of a team may raise red flags as barriers to Agile adoption. Although not all encompassing, this should get the conversation going before diving in.
Educate your team
Once you feel comfortable moving forward with Agile, you’ll want to start by educating your Agile teams on how they will transition into their new roles, when they will begin having daily stand-ups, and how they will transition their current work into their new storyboard setup.
What to watch for once you begin Agile
After you establish transition steps and make sure everyone is comfortable with the new style of work, you’ll want to make sure that you are monitoring and tracking their progress and success. If they are struggling to run at the same velocity as before, what may be causing those issues? If the team isn’t updating stories with their current status, have those statuses been clearly defined?
Tracking a new Agile team’s progress or success will be very beneficial to giving the team confidence in the changes they are incorporating. In addition, having these metrics will help justify the benefits of transitioning a team to Agile when in higher-level meetings.
Finally, it’s important to provide your team and new scrum masters with a form that outlines helpful questions to ask during daily stand-ups and the iteration retrospectives. This provides some excellent documentation for future reviews of process. It also allows for the team to identify areas that need improvement and help them answer questions they may not think to talk about if they are new to Agile.