Seeking Certainty:

Agile Development Methods in Software Projects

Roy Morien

Research Fellow DEBII, Curtin Business School Curtin University, Perth, Australia & Visiting IS Specialist Naresuan University Phitsanulok, Thailand

Agile Development – Lessons from Successful Enterprises

I want now to look elsewhere in what might be called ‘process improvement’ endeavours of highly successful enterprises and projects.

Process improvement has been, in my view (arguable, I will admit) based primarily on the publication of process auditing requirements. Proof of process adherence in the way of reports, documentation and verification of conformity to an adopted process is the hallmark of ‘process improvement’.

Argue with me if you will … but later



Process improvement stipulations must encompass the social and behavioural aspects of ‘human activity systems’, and view processes as learning activities, and knowledge sharing.

Toyota: The ‘Lean Manufacturing’ Company



Why talk about a motor vehicle manufacturing company? And why talk about this one?



Toyota is the largest motor vehicle manufacturing company in the world, by market capitalisation.



In its 2002-2003 financial year, Toyota made a profit of US$8.5 billion … larger than the combined profit of Ford and GM … the biggest annual profit of any vehicle manufacturer in the last decade.



Net profit margins are 8.3 times higher than the industry average.

Toyota: The ‘Lean Manufacturing’ Company

    

Toyota’s stock price rose 24% in 2002 … market capitalization was higher than the combined market capitalization of Ford, GM and Chrysler Return on assets is 8 times higher than industry average.

Has made a profit every year for the last 25 years.

By 2005, Toyota was outselling every other car manufacturer in the world.

Toyota opened new manufacturing plants in the US when all the US manufacturers were closing plants and going off shore.

Likert, Jeffrey K., THE TOYOTA WAY: 14 Management Principles from the world’s greatest manufacturer, McGraw-Hill, 2004

Toyota: The ‘Lean Manufacturing’ Company



Toyota is renowned as the company that created Lean Manufacturing.



Toyota is managed according to 14 basic management principles that can be summarised as:



Fostering an atmosphere of continuous learning and improvement



Satisfying customers (and eliminating waste )



Quality first and consistently



Grooming leaders from within the organisation



Teaching employees to become problem solvers



Growing together with suppliers and partners for mutual benefit.

Team New Zealand



In 1995, a team from New Zealand won the famous and prestigious yacht trophy, called the Americas Cup. This was only the 2nd time in 146 years that a non-US syndicate had won the trophy … Australia had won it once before.



The amazing thing was that the NZ yacht won 41 of the 42 races that they competed in over the 6 months competitive campaign. What was even more amazing was that the NZ syndicate had a very limited budget, and a limited amount of time to develop their record-winning boat.

Maani, Kambiz E. & Robert Y. Cavana, Systems Thinking, Systems Dynamics – Managing Change and Complexity, Pearson Education NZ, 2007

Team New Zealand



How did they do it? There are some valuable lessons here in this experience and success that are very applicable to software development.



The success has been attributed to:



The inspirational leadership of the syndicate Leader



The strong sense of community within the syndicate team

 

The openness of communication between team members ‘Customer’- led development – the sailors!!!



The sustained rate of continual improvement (of the boat speed)



The level of commitment and purpose by all participants



This syndicate exhibited many of the valuable traits of a ‘learning organisation’:

The Success Factors

TOYOTA

     

Fostering an atmosphere of continuous learning and improvement Satisfying customers (and eliminating waste) Quality first and consistently Grooming leaders from within the organisation Teaching employees to become problem solvers Growing together with suppliers and partners for mutual benefit.

TEAM NEW ZEALAND

     

The strong sense of community within the syndicate team The openness of communication between team members ‘Customer’- led development – the sailors!!!

The sustained rate of continual improvement (of the boat speed) The inspirational leadership of the syndicate Leader The level of commitment and purpose by all participants

The Learning Organisation

“The function of the society of post-capitalist organisations

… is to put knowledge to work … it must be organised for constant change ”

Peter F. Drucker The Core Capabilities of a Learning Organisation: 1.

2.

Creative orientation Generative discussion 3.

Systems perspective (Maani & Cavana, p138.)

The Learning Organisation

  

Creative orientation

The source of a genuine desire to excel. .. The source of an intrinsic motivation and drive to achieve … favours the common good over personal gains.

Generative discussion

A deep and meaningful dialogue to create unity of thought and action

Systems perspective

The ability to see things holistically by understanding the connectedness between parts.

The Learning Organisation The 5 Core Disciplines of a Learning Organisation:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Personal Mastery Shared Vision Mental Models Team Learning and Dialogue Systems Thinking

The Learning Organisation

The 5 Core Disciplines of a Learning Organisation:



Personal Mastery

Instills a genuine desire to do well … focus on the desired result, not the process itself … requires a commitment to truth – continually challenge current practices and norms (if not, can distort reality and prevent knowing where they really stand.



Shared Vision

Shared vision aligns diverse views and feelings into a unified focus … management cannot impose a shared vision … a sense of community and shared vision is essential for long-term survival.

The Learning Organisation

The 5 Core Disciplines of a Learning Organisation:

 

Mental Models

The first step in any change process is to unfreeze the preent patterns of behaviour and thinking as a way of managing resistance to change. The leader has a pivotal role in dismantling negative mental models and shaping new ones.

Team Learning and Dialogue

Dialogue is an essential requirement for organisational learning … constructive feedback … mutual encouragement among group members is essential … a knowledge sharing environment … a learning environment … ideas are important, not the people who suggest the ideas … egoless behaviour.

Toyota Production System

 “We place the highest value on ACTUAL IMPLEMENTATION and taking action.” (Fujio Cho, President, Toyota, 2002)  “All we are doing is looking at the time line from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing that time line by removing the non-value-added wastes” (Ohno, 1988).

 “The need is for fast, flexible processes that give customers what they want, when they want it, at the highest quality and affordable cost”.

Applying TPS to Software Development

The 12 principles of Lean Software Development are:  Satisfying the Customer is the Highest Priority. Customer requirements and priorities are determined and their responses are important factors (What? When?).

   Always Provide the Best Value for Money. Software developed should meet customer’s (current) requirements and at a reasonable price.

Success Depends on Active Customer Participation. Customer’s participation is essential to requirement changes and on the spot trade-off decisions.

Lean Development is a Team Effort. Collaboration of the various teams based on their diversity is the key to innovative and fast-cycles in development.

   

Lean Software Development Principles

Everything is changeable. The development team must be ready to adapt to changes due to a shift of requirements and must have plans to accommodate these changes when they occur.

Domain, not Point Solutions. Software that is useable in multiple domains help spread the cost and contributes to the value equation.

Complete don’t Construct. Whenever possible buy rather than build is a viable strategy for most application development groups. (But Build and Deliver, Not Document and Delay).

An 80% Solution Today Instead of 100% tomorrow. This statement holds true as markets are advancing at such a rapid pace to provide a hundred percent solution. Studies have been conducted shows that most of the times 45 percent of the functions created in the applications are not used.

Lean Software Development Principles

   Minimalism is Essential. Wastage is kept to a minimal by controlling the level of paperwork, team sizes and having a tight focus on the product scope.

Needs determine Technology. The objectives of the development should be first identified and then the technology to support it. It is easier to change technology than it is to deliver the business applications.

Product Growth is Feature Growth, not Size Growth. Products should have change-tolerant features. When new features are explored, the impact on business practices should be considered.