Learning Agile - Understanding Scrum, XP, Lean, and Kanban

Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene

2014

Introduction

Learning Agile gave me a feel for how the various agile methodologies would work in practice. In the past I’d only had a very basic understanding of Scrum and XP, and never even heard of Kanban. But now I have a better grip on these project management tools.

General thoughts

The book did a good job explaining each methodology through examples. There is a narrative about a team working on a mobile app at a small company which is used to demonstrate the practices and how they can help.

Agile is about continuously improving, working with the customer early in the project. Get working software out there so the customer can give you feedback. Keep it simple so you can get the software done quickly, and keep repeating this cycle, making improvements to the product and process along the way.

Scrum - Development time is broken down into 2 or 4 week sprints, with short daily scrum status meetings. The list of Project features that need to be built are stored in a backlog, and the Product Owner manages this. The team will decide what needs to be done next sprint and works together to make it happen. At the end of a sprint, the team holds a review meeting to demo the new software that is “done done”, and a retrospective to reflect on how well the sprint went. They can make changes to next month’s sprint if needed.

How it relates to the project/takeaways

While we can’t go full-on Agile (that would make more sense if we weren’t students and were working full time on the project) I’ve found inspiration from the techniques presented in the book.

Daily scrum meetings are quick with each person answering these three questions:

1. What have I done since the last meeting?
2. What will I do until the next meeting?
3. What roadblocks are in my way?

All of the teams working under my advisor meet on Monday and present the answers to these questions. Now I know where my advisor got it from!

Conclusion

Getting that customer/user feedback early and often is key. It doesn’t matter if you or your boss likes the product. They aren’t the ones paying for it. That’s easier said than done, but using an agile methodology can help your team accomplish its goals and make great software.

Also I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to be a project manager/Scrum master. I might look into it.

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