Module 1—Objectives
• Discuss and explain the agile idea of evolving, emerging, and adaptive scope
• Discuss and explain best value as the optimum outcome of agile proj- ects
Evolving, Emerging, and Adaptive
In the agile context, scope changes; scope is the variable among cost, sched- ule, quality, and scope. Scope is constantly evolving, emerging, and adaptive to customer/user priorities. In this way, scope is profoundly different than the traditional project; this reality causes the most angst among business sponsors and project leaders accustomed to challenging change and vola- tility. For transition strategies, the idea of an ever-changing scope is perhaps the highest hurdle to overcome.
Volatility Is Managed
The most important point for readers is that volatility of evolving and emerging scope is managed. As we will discuss, the business case product vi- sion is long-term stationary, meaning that at any time we view it, the vision is more or less invariant. However, within the framework of the vision, vol- atility is managed on a scale from high and allowable—for tactical planning changes leading up to development—to stable enough for developers to work during a specific development iteration.
The planning responses for scope and requirements are organized this way:
• The business case holds the product vision in a top-level framework, with rather less direction than customary about feature, function, and performance
• Scope is planned incrementally with evolution allowed and encour- aged
• Planning occurs in shorter and more time-sensitive frameworks called rolling waves (a planning concept discussed elsewhere in this book) • Development cycles—called iterations or sprints—are governed by a
few rules that regulate requirements
Requirements governance is a lesser task for project managers, so long as fidelity is maintained to the spirit and strategic intent of the sponsor’s vision. Indeed, successful agile project managers accommodate the different role
central authority plays in evolutionary and adaptive methodologies.1 The role becomes modulation and containment of exuberant and aggressive customers while allowing, encouraging, and facilitating innovative interactions—consis- tent with the business case framework—that arise from high performance customer-developer teams, a topic of another chapter in this book.
Emergent and Adaptive Methods
A project management tip
Emergent and adaptive methods
Adaptive methods have the property of emergence, meaning the outcomes generally have more range and complexities than would be predicted by the simple combination and ap- plication of practices and project rules that govern develop- ment teams.
The range and complexity of emergent and adaptive methods arises from feedback, a form of reflection, which gives the process of transforming input into output the attributes of nonlinearity and circular dependency—out- put depends on input, but then input depends on including output effects, which requires the whole process to adapt to the mix of input and output in circulation.
This circular dependency with adaption forming a closed-loop system is markedly different from traditional closed-loop linear systems. The mission of linear systems is to accurately and predictably transform input to output with high fidelity; in effect to follow the plan.
This is not so with adaptive feedback systems. The mission of adaptive systems is to make outcomes satisfying to the system agents, who are all the active participants in the system processes. If the feedback is properly phased—that is, timed to arrive back at the input at a helpful moment—and if the interaction of all the participants is aimed at a common objective, sys- tems with adaptive feedback can converge on high quality results.2
Moving the Scope Lever
Perhaps more so with agile methods than in any other methodologies, the hand of the customer moves the scope lever. The scope lever is one of four principle levers—the other three are schedule, budget, and quality. Sched- ule and budget are given in the business case; budget is simply the limit on funding, a cap on affordability, and a resource to be distributed among iter- ations as the value proposition evolves.
The business case milestones set the top-level schedule; milestones ex- press business timing and set project value in the context of a calendar. Quality is a lever with little range of motion; quality is provided at a uni- formly high standard; quality cannot be compromised without jeopardizing trust with the customer.
Scope as a Best Value
Agile projects value maximizing customer satisfaction over minimizing the variance to a plan. Putting scope-budget-schedule-quality together in a best- value formulation, scope is the most flexible, but with flexibility contained within limits of architecture, feasibility, and funding demand. To be sure, outcomes must make a worthwhile difference for the customer and put the enterprise in a better position, but within a budget cap. After all, someone has to pay for the project!
Best Value Defined
The most scope possible—for the available resources—that most optimizes business effectiveness, importance, and responsiveness to urgency.
A best value outcome has the most optimum cost for what is delivered, even though what is delivered may not conform exactly as originally envi- sioned. Indeed, best value may actually be more scope than envisioned, but at exceptional and affordable investment.
A best value outcome is the most value-added outcome achievable for the available resources. Most value-added means the project is maximally lean about operating expenses and resource consumption. It also means that the difference between the value of ideas and opportunities pre-project, and the value of useful products and services post-project is maximized. Revisit Figure 2.2 for a pictorial of this discussion.
A project management tip
Best value is the answer to scope
• Even though scope is flexible, stakeholder expectations
are embodied in the project vision which is stationary.
• The best answer for satisfying stakeholders is to always
provide the most benefit for the investment made—to maximize the value returned.
Scope Defined
Scope is defined this way:
• Scope is all the things we must do, all the things we want to do, and all the
things we actually do
• Backlog is the scope parsed into work units, stories, use cases, tasks, and
the like
• Architecture is the scope mapped into form and function
There are some must-dos that influence scope—must-dos as a matter of governance and must-dos as a matter of custom and expectation. Projects must adhere to standards that have become generally accepted practices; processes and protocols must be applied in a manner that is consistent with certifications; and projects must meet the unspoken demands of the market that, over time, have become routinely expected—demands for reliability, availability, compatibility, responsiveness, and eco-friendliness, to name a few.
Module 1—Discussion for Critical Thinking
Accepting change, indeed; provoking change is perhaps the most fundamen- tal idea in agile methods next to that of delivering small increments of use- ful functionality early and often. But, from your experience, how would you reassure a project sponsor that matters are under control and that resources will not be wasted chasing scope changes of little value?