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Take Your Software and Architecture Practices to the Next Level
Agile software development and Agile project management have shown considerable success in helping organizations develop better software and better manage development projects in the face of changing requirements and evolving technologies. In the largest sense, Agile is about managing for change.
But enterprises face many other factors that must also be accounted for in project management and development. For example, enterprises need to manage quality, complexity, and consistency. Unfortunately, these aspects of software engineering and architecture are often overlooked in the excitement of adopting new Agile techniques.
ENTER TOTAL AGILE MANAGEMENTTM
Total Agile ManagementTM (TAM) is an approach developed by Cutter Consortium that incorporates the best practices of Agile, software engineering, and architecture to address change, quality, complexity and consistency with a unified set of principles and practices. TAM, the outcome of a collaboration between Cutter Practice Directors Mike Rosen (Enterprise Architecture), Israel Gat (Agile Product & Project Management) and EA and Agile Senior Consultant Hillel Glazer, evolved from these experts' experience with improving organizational maturity and agility. TAM ties together the various concerns and stakeholders that are needed in order for Agile to provide value beyond the individual team.
Is Total Agile ManagementTM right for your organization? In this series of audio clips, Mike Rosen, Hillel Glazer, and Israel Gat will help you decide:
Get insight into how you can combine software engineering, architecture, and agile best practices to deliver value immediately! Set up a call today with Mike Rosen, Hillel Glazer and Israel Gat.
WHY PUSH TO THE NEXT LEVEL?
Many organizations want to take their software or architecture practices to the next level. Cutter's TAM approach is designed to do just that. TAM will:
- Improve the quality and flexibility of software through the use of engineering discipline
- Reduce portfolio complexity
- Improve integration and interoperation between projects
- Improve consistency of user interaction across applications, as well as improving those applications' management, operations, and maintenance
- Align software projects with enterprise, business, and technology strategies and standards
- Create software assets, not just software projects
To achieve these goals, TAM looks to strengthen, enhance and introduce specific best practices as well as provide the framework and engagement model that ties the practices together.
TAM PRACTICES
Total Agile ManagementTM is based on three key overarching practice areas: software engineering; Agile development and management; and architectural development (software, product and enterprise). Any given organization will have some of the specific practices within each of the key areas in place, and depending on their particular situation and goals, will require other new or enhanced practices. A breakout of the TAM practices by key area follows:
Software Engineering Practices
- Definition, analysis and verification of requirements and acceptance criteria
- Product component decomposition, hierarchy and interface definition
- Review, analysis, evaluation, and alternatives selection based on established principles, criteria and thoughtful experimentation
- Using architecture to streamline analysis and design
- Verification of design and engineering artifacts prior to committing to a solution
- Validation of product components and solutions
- Product, project, process and governance practices
Agile Development and Management Practices
- Integration of architecture and engineering into Agile development
- Systematic reduction of technical debt to ensure long-term responsiveness, flexibility and adaptability
- Expansion of stakeholder and owner responsibilities for consistency and alignment
- Redefining "done"
- Keeping score: metrics and measures
- Identifying the appropriate agile technical and management practices
- Product and task decomposition and management, including non-product tasks
- Separation of product and project effort
- Establishing team charters and engagement models
- On-going team development
- Multi-dimensional, multi-axis ("spherical") retrospectives
Architectural Development Practices
- Determining leverage and integration points
- Developing the appropriate artifacts for Agile development teams
- Understanding the Architect's role:
- during Sprint 0;
- during the release; and,
- throughout the product life cycle
- Defining the Architect's role and responsibility in managing technical debt
- Supporting Test Driven Development
- Governing for Agile projects
Cutter's TAM approach does not just help an organization acquire new capabilities, it ensures that the new capabilities are aligned with the organization's culture and goals; that the roles, responsibilities and interactions of different stakeholders are clear; and that all stakeholders are on board with the new approach. Embracing Total Agile ManagementTM brings about positive change that is both organic and sustainable.
Mike Rosen
The Total Solution for Integrating Architecture and Agile Teams
According to Mike Rosen, "the implementation of agile has to include architecture. This goes beyond the typical "Sprint 0" ... At the same time, architecture must adapt to the processes and needs of agile ..." Read Mike's full Advisor »
THREE ROUTES TO VALUE
The TAM practices — software engineering, Agile development and project management, and architecture — are focused on delivering projects that provide value to the entire organization. TAM builds an expanded set of stakeholders, while at the same time addressing each stakeholders' viewpoints to focus on their concerns, skill sets, environment, and new practices as part of a total approach to projects.
Who are the Stakeholders?
Achieving the benefits of Total Agile ManagementTM requires a broader set of stakeholders, including Agile teams, architects, and management/executives.
Agile Teams
Agile team members (including team- and project-level leadership, facilitation, management and supporting cast) have the responsibility to deliver a product under numerous product and project constraints. Typically, they operate within a de-facto architecture, defined and managed or ad-hoc. Agile teams can gain productivity and improve product quality and robustness when they adopt certain engineering disciplines, when architects participate as a collaborative part of the team, and when architecture is considered throughout product evolution.
TAM for Agile teams provides the opportunities and guidance to expand the team's perspective to include that of the enterprise architect. TAM offers Agile teams insight into the means and the benefits of:
- Addressing complexity and consistency
- Taking advantage of engineering and architectural practices during sprints
- Evolving the definition of "done"
- Balancing user, technical debt, and architecture demands
- Recognizing the role and value of engineering and architecture
- Operating as an integrated member of the broader organization
- Engaging with architects: roles, responsibilities and touch points
- Contributing to the organization's architecture
Architects
Architects have the responsibility to translate strategy into tactics and standards and to align development with them. At the same time, architects often do not have direct authority to legislate alignment, but rather must achieve it through influence. Unfortunately, influencing Agile teams has been problematic for most architects. Architects gain influence when they understand the methods and culture of Agile development and have an effective model of interacting with Agile teams.
TAM for architects focuses on developing the architectural deliverables and engagement models that are most effective in influencing Agile teams:
- Understanding Agile practices
- Identifying architectural goals and how they must influence development and project management
- Identifying leverage points in Agile practices
- Creating influence by designing architectural artifacts that address the leverage points
- Designing architectural tests to support TDD
- Integrating architecture into Agile practices
- Managing technical debt
- Providing non-invasive architectural governance for Agile projects
- Supporting Agile teams
Leadership
If "the buck stops here," then "here" is the desk of an executive or manager who has cross-project or organizational responsibilities. All of the best intentions from the bottom will have only a limited effect unless management not only supports the efforts, but is an active participant in the organizational change and adoption of Agile. Management gains credibility, effectiveness and results when it understands, enables and engages with Agile initiatives.
TAM for executives focuses on detailing the benefits and opportunities of a broader approach to Agile, and highlighting the role that executives should take:
- Understanding the challenges, opportunities and benefits of TAM
- Understanding management's role and responsibility in the overall process
- Fighting organizational inertia and roadblocks
- Creating effective incentives and rewards
- Being the executive sponsor
- Being an active participant
- Providing appropriate governance
- Measuring and reporting success
CUTTER'S APPROACH TO HELPING YOU ACHIEVE TOTAL AGILE MANAGEMENTTM
Cutter's approach is to start with an initial constituency or stakeholder group and expand its current methods to create a coordinated combination of engineering, management and architecture practices that meet your organization's particular needs. This is based on a strategic evaluation of your current state, and takes into account the goals, strategies, stakeholders, skill sets, culture, issues, environment, and requirements of your organization.
Starting from the initial stakeholder's viewpoint, the overall selection and structure of TAM practices is developed to maximize value to the whole organization. After an initial success, additional focus can be given to one or more of the other stakeholders. A key to TAM is to clearly articulate the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder and to structure their interactions to delivery overall value.
Cutter provides several offerings to suit the needs of your organization. In addition, we can tailor a custom engagement to meet your enterprise's particular requirements, timeframe and constraints.
TAM Workshop
The TAM workshop is intended to raise awareness and bring different groups of stakeholders to a common understanding about the challenges and benefits of a total approach to Agile. Founded in this basic knowledge, the workshop guides the team to consensus about priorities and approaches and helps them develop a roadmap for implementation. The workshop is often a good entry point for executives and management.
The two- or three-day workshop typically includes:
- An overall understanding of TAM
- Basics of the engineering, management and architectural practices
- An engagement model and the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders
- Reaching consensus on priorities and approaches
- Developing a high-level roadmap for implementation
Performance Catalyst
This short, very focused engagement is intended to address a specific issue that is blocking an organization, or to help an organization get started with a new approach to Agile. The engagement focuses mainly on one set of stakeholders and development or improvement of one or two of the specific practices. This is often a good entry point for the Agile team or architects. This engagement typically tips off a chain reaction to the organic, evolutionary, and sustainable performance outcome that results from Total Agile ManagementTM.
The one-week engagement typically includes:
- Level setting and prioritization workshop
- Overview of TAM practices
- Engagement strategy, roles and responsibilities
- Skills development on one or two specific TAM practices
- Development of a roadmap for further implementation
360° Engagement
The 360° Engagement addresses all of the major aspects of TAM practices, engaging multiple different stakeholders throughout several cycles of an actual project. The engagement focuses on developing an overall team and improving specific skills for each of the different stakeholders. This is a good entry point for an organization that has made a strong commitment to improving its Agile approach. The 360° Engagement can begin with any of the stakeholders. It spans over three Agile iterations/sprints and typically includes:
- Level setting and prioritization workshop
- Overview of TAM practices
- Engagement strategy, roles and responsibilities
- Skills development on one or two specific TAM practices for one set of stakeholders
- Integration of new practices into Sprint 1 of a project
- Review and reprioritization
- Expanding awareness and education
- Skills development on specific TAM practices for second set of stakeholders
- Integration of new practices into Sprint 2 of a project
- Review and reprioritization
- Expanding awareness and education
- Skills development on specific TAM practices for third set of stakeholders
- Integration of new practices into Sprint 3 of a project
- Retrospective
- Metrics and measures
- Roadmap development
Ongoing Coaching
Ongoing coaching can be added to any of the engagements outlined above to continue the development and integration of skills.
Related/Supporting Workshops
When the individuals within a stakeholder group are confident in and consistently apply sound development, project management, and/or architectural practices, organizations can expect a smooth transition to Total Agile ManagementTM. To ensure teams are well-versed in those practices, Cutter offers supporting workshops on these topics:
- Agile development
- Project management and governance
- Architecture development
- Executive workshop: Clarifying opportunities, benefits and responsibilities
Become a Member!
Challenged with architecture and agile integration? Membership in Cutter's Business & Enterprise Architecture and Agile Product & Project Management practices will help you meet those challenges. Benefits include unlimited access to Cutter's research, inquiry privileges with Cutter Senior Consultants and Fellows, regular strategy sessions with a Cutter Practice Director, free and/or discounted admission to events, and more. Start your trial membership »
BECOME TRULY AGILE
Achieving the promise of Total Agile ManagementTM requires a "whole-body approach" that adopts the various stakeholder's viewpoints and takes into account all of their concerns and skill sets, the environment, and the newly adopted practices. Embracing TAM stakeholder by stakeholder and practice by practice will ensure TAM becomes embedded in the fabric of your organization.
For more information about how your organization can take advantage of the opportunities of Total Agile ManagementTM, contact your account executive directly, or email sales@cutter.com or call +1 781 648 8700 today.
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