Page 1. Dip Your Toes in Agile and Leave the Waterfall Behind. NACHA Payments Linda Coven April 20, 2016.

Transcription

1 Dip Your Toes in Agile and Leave the Waterfall Behind NACHA Payments 2016 Linda Coven April 20, 2016 Page 1 Page 1

2 Agenda Survey methodology The agile experience Opportunities and challenges Conclusions Q & A Page 2

3 We heard from people with various titles within the financial institutions and vendors surveyed Head of Product Development, Treasury Management Operations Manager Senior Product Manager SVP Product Strategy Group Product Manager Product Manager SVP, Head of Product Management, Cash Mgmt. Treasury Product Director Senior Product Manager Corporate and Institutional Banking Treasury Management Product Team Lead Commercial Digital Banking Senior Director, Digital Channels - GTB VP, Strategic Solutions Product Head, Payments & Cash Management Director of Engineering Marketing Vice President and Product Line Manager Page 3

4 We surveyed both financial institutions and the vendors that provide cash management systems Financial services vendors that provide products and services to banks to support treasury management 28% Financial institution (FI) that provides products and treasury management services to business 72% Page 4

5 Agenda Survey methodology The agile experience Opportunities and challenges Conclusions Q & A Page 5

6 We asked when companies began using agile 2011 or earlier Don t Know 11% 6% 22% 6% 39% 6% 11% Only 11% surveyed are exclusively agile Page 6

7 The reasons agile has not been fully implemented vary widely Different teams decide when/if to adopt agile It depends on the type of project being conducted majority of project structure is waterfall Number of attempts to adopt agile but they always end up with part iterative, part waterfall Projects are being moved to agile methodologies over time in order to be least disruptive to existing projects in flight Some already underway with waterfall, some based on the needs of the bank Waterfall works for one of the products Other 56% Project is being developed jointly with vendor that is not using agile 25% Project is being developed jointly with bank that is not using agile 6% Project was already underway as waterfall 13% Page 7

8 The amount of time spent by those surveyed on agile-specific activities varies widely 28% 28% 11% 22% 11% Less than 25% 25% to 39% 40% to 59% 60% to 79% 80% to 99% Page 8

9 For the majority of those surveyed, no additional product resources are provided No, business analysts or other similar positions took on the role 17% Don t know 5% No, product managers took on the additional role 78% Page 9

10 Little or no specific product owner training is provided for many of those surveyed None 33% More than 2 weeks 11% More than 1 week, but no more than 2 weeks 6% More than 1 day, but no more than 1 week 50% Page 10

11 Majority of the agile teams are colocated Distributed with 12 or fewer members 39% [CATEGO RY NAME] [PERCEN TAGE] Colocated with more than 12 members 11% Page 11

12 Colocated teams communicate through multiple channels Discussions in scheduled meetings 100% 100% Shared software (tracking stories, backlog, tasks, etc.) Discussions throughout the day in the open meeting 92% 100% Other 15% Most found communications effective or highly effective Page 12

13 User stories have proved to be an effective means of ensuring the product meets customer needs We base our entire development on the user stories. If the story is wrong then the development will be wrong Not effective 6% Effective 35% Highly effective 59% Page 13

14 Utilization of the backlog process by the product owner is an effective tool to manage priorities for timely delivery Effective 71% Not effective 6% Highly effective 24% Gives the product owner control of changing priorities and product delivery. I personally believe that we should have an additional backlog titled, 'Ready for Grooming Backlog,' which we would place stories that have not yet met our definition of ready and therefore not be included in scope for pointing. This would allow the product owner to quickly look at the backlog and get an understanding of what is ready and what is not. If a story is not in the 'Backlog' but not the 'Ready for Grooming Backlog' and that story needs to be in the next sprint, then I know I have work to do to get that story finished. Page 14

15 Setting of acceptance criteria can help ensure the product is delivered as desired Not effective 18% Effective 29% Highly effective 53% Drives common testing and use cases. Page 15

16 Sprints are effective in getting delivery of the required product in the expected time Not effective 12% Effective 47% Highly effective 41% Allows for scope to be broken into deliverable components. Having the ability to review the development on a biweekly basis through demos has allowed me to catch any issues that need fixed prior to a full release. But the sprint prior to a release sometimes results in a decision to be made to either pull a feature from a release or push the defects into production. Sprints help lay out what is expected with the demo and overall production. Also it is useful that everything, including bugs and other work efforts, are included in the sprints. It shows a full picture of what is getting done and/or fixed during production. With large projects with carryover from sprint to sprint, making sure it is understood how much of the stories and product will be delivered. Page 16

17 Those utilizing sprint planning meetings find them effective in keeping the team on the same page Not applicable 24% Highly effective 24% Not effective 6% Effective 47% Page 17

18 The daily stand up can help the team address obstacles quickly to stay on track Not applicable 12% Highly effective 41% Effective 47% Page 18

19 The sprint review and product demonstration helps the product owner and stakeholders assure the end product will meet customer needs Not effective 12% Not applicable 6% Highly effective 47% This is probably the biggest change from waterfall. It is great to see the demo of the product after a sprint. During this time I can provide additional feedback if the feature was not delivered as expected. Or sign off on the feature if it meets my definition of done. Effective 35% Page 19

20 The retrospective, though challenging, can help the team apply lessons learned and improve performance Not effective 12% Highly effective 24% Effective 65% Page 20

21 There are improvements with agile in quality, time to delivery, and customer satisfaction over waterfall Agile has improved time to delivery 13% 19% 31% 38% Agile has been an improvement in quality over waterfall 13% 56% 31% Agile has improved adherence to budget 44% 31% 6% 19% Agile has improved customer satisfaction 38% 6% 50% 6% Not applicable Improved Not improved Much improved Page 21

22 Agenda Survey methodology The agile experience Opportunities and challenges Conclusions Q & A Page 22

23 There is still considerable work to be done in most organizations to align other activities with agile Traditional product management duties continue to be accomplished in a timely manner (e.g., product strategy, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, Senior management measures success of the project based on quality and customer acceptance over simply meeting proposed time and budget Marketing team is aligned with the development team to deliver marketing materials as needed for each release 41% 41% 71% Direct customer review and feedback is solicited and incorporated into sprint reviews and stories 41% Customer service team is aligned with the development team to deliver customer support as needed for each release 35% Training team is aligned with the development team to deliver internal/external training as needed for each release 24% Other 18% None of these 12% Page 23

24 Additional benefits of agile over waterfall The new approach has energized the team, creating excitement about the project with strong collaboration across multiple stakeholders. This results in increased productivity and accountability at all levels of the project. Ability to view and make any changes to product features incrementally will result in a better end product. An additional benefit for our organization by using agile is the transparency into the development product cycle for middle and senior management. In addition, the whole group is aware of changes/discrepancies so it is all faced with a team approach. Clean releases, feedback loop is faster from ops end users. Faster delivery, better collaboration amongst teams, faster changes, faster decisions. Helps ensure all team members stay on task because things are constantly moving. It allowed us to implement within a very short period of time. New staff experienced in agile have been hired recently to assist with full rollout of agile, so expecting significantly more visibility into metrics-based approach to product delivery, which will help with optimizing capacity year-round, so expecting to deliver more product capabilities to market. Provided an opportunity for staff to grow in the current positions by learning the agile methodology. Significant improvement in speed to market and flexibility of roadmap. Simpler development where an MVP is determined. Second phase requirements can be tested in advance to further determine need. User interface is meeting customer needs. Team empowerment and communication. Page 24

25 Challenges with agile Product-related decisions made by the team are not always aligned with the way higher management sees it. Transitioning to agile from waterfall has created minor challenges with how to resolve obstacles, obtain funding and for a few other traditional project deliverables and milestones. This is primarily due to the level of detail that is expected but may not be available with an agile approach The product team is currently not staffed or structured to accommodate dedicated resources per project, which can create resource constraints when multiple projects are running concurrently. An additional challenge our organization has using agile is tying back agile products to a traditional waterfall budget. Being traditionally waterfall has been a challenge for this new project that is using agile development. It has been a learning process, but I believe we will meet our objectives faster through agile than with waterfall. Confusion with agile process. Not all team members are trained or have a good understanding of the agile development process. Team dynamics need to take place and culture amongst working team and management team takes time to establish. It is a big change in mindset for everyone. Difficulty aligning multiple systems for timely/simultaneous delivery. Getting teams used to waterfall accustomed to a different approach to requirements is the most challenging. Currently, producing specs and stories, so that creates almost duplicate work currently, so more impact on product managers and business analysts currently with producing requirements. Creates challenge to maintaining adequate backlog with adequate detail to support development in a timely manner. Many legacy technology functions have been stopped and expected to be absorbed by other teams (operations or product) without prior agreement/engagement/buy-in from executives. Some of the projects naturally lend themselves to agile while some do not. The challenge is to identify and focus on where the greatest ROI exists for choosing agile. Tracking to budget and forecasting total cost. Page 25

26 Agenda Overview of agile development Survey methodology The agile experience Opportunities and challenges Conclusions Q & A Page 26

27 Conclusion Once understood and resourced appropriately, agile can clearly improve the development process, allowing for more rapid deployment of high quality to meet customers needs Work needs to be done to align other stakeholders and waterfall processes to the agile framework Page 27

28 Agenda Survey methodology The agile experience Opportunities and challenges Conclusions Q & A Page 28

29 Page 29

30 Aite Group: Partner, Advisor, Catalyst Aite Group (pronounced eye-tay) is an independent research and advisory firm focused on business, technology and regulatory issues and their impact on the financial services industry. Linda Coven Senior Analyst Page 30