what are the obstacles that might inhibit the collection and evaluation of Agile process metrics and...

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Mechanical Engineering

what are the obstacles that might inhibit the collection andevaluation of Agile process metrics and production analysismatrices?

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Agile projects come with a set of challenges and problems thatare different from those faced by projects following a traditionalmethodology This paper covers a selection of considerations foraddressing the challenges failures and problems that occur inagile projects Based on an Internet search just under 50challenges were identified in introducing agile methodologies intoan organization or working with agile projects The problemsinclude issues with 1 communicating 2 managing daytodayoperational problems 3 gaining buyin from managementcustomers and team members 4 changing culture and mindset and5 gaining experience and making it work Of course some of theissues and challenges are unique and occur due to differences andidiosyncrasies in the organization or the project Neverthelessthis paper covers 10 actions that can be used to avoid these commonissues or problems or to mitigate their impact This paper includesextracts from the book Going Agile Project Management PracticesInternet research and reference materials from other industryexpertsState of AgileAgile project management methodologies for software developmenthave been around since the 1990s There are thousands oforganizations using them and hundreds of thousands of trained agilecoaches The Agile Manifesto The Agile Alliance published in2001 represented a seminal point at which the software communityacknowledged that requirements evolve and cannot be fullypredefined Today there are several software developmentmethodologies frameworks and processes that embody the AgileManifestos values and principles for example Scrum LeanKanban Feature Driven Development FDD Extreme Programming XPCrystal and Dynamic Systems Development Methodology DSDMAccording to surveys from VersionOne 2013 Scott Ambler2012 Microsoft Begel Nagappan 2006 and Dan Rico2008 projects using agile methodologies deliver sooner are moreflexible for change and produce higherquality software Teams andstakeholders perceive greater satisfaction due to improvedcommunications smoother collaborations and increased flexibilityFurthermore agile projects deliver business results faster thantransitional methodologies and deliver high benefittocostsratios In Dan Ricos report traditional methodologies deliveredhigher on the benefitstocost ratio than agile Thus there is nodefinitive proof that the return on investment from agile projectsis higher than that from traditional projects However on averageagile projects report achieving the expected business benefit moreoften than traditional projectsAgile Failures Challenges and IssuesThe Scott Ambler survey defines success as a solution beingdelivered and meeting its success criteria within the acceptablerange defined by the organization and failure as the project neverdelivering a solution Specifically Turner and Zolin make similarobservations on success in their paper Forecasting Success onLarge Projects Developing Reliable Scale to Predict MultiplePerspectives by Multiple Stakeholders Over Multiple TimeFrames They state that project success is measured not justby completion of the scope of work to time cost and quality butalso by performance of the projects outputs outcomes and impactsTurner Zolin 2012 p 87 For our discussion on failurewe shorten the definition to failure is never delivering asolutionThe Ambler report concluded that agile projects do not fail morethan other projects They succeed at the same level as otheriterative methodologies However agile projects face a set ofchallenges and problems related to applying a different approach toproject management According to VersionOne the top three reasonsfor agile project failure areInadequate experience with agile methodsLittle understanding of the required broader organizationalchangeCompany philosophy or culture at odds with agile valuesTable 1 provides an overview of an Internet and document searchon the problems challenges and issues with agile projectmanagement approaches These challenges can be grouped into fourareas and contain just under 50 situations faced introducing orusing agile methodologies According to the VersionOne surveyorganizations that have gone agile see some of these challenges asbarriers to the further agile adoptionCommunicating changing culture andmindsetBuyin from management customers and teammembersDaytoday operational problemsExperience Making it WorkCommunication problems Too narrow communication bandwidthCommunication between development and product owner Communicationbetween development and quality assuranceCompany cultureLack of culture transitionOrganization changeMindsetManagement buyinOnly developers engagedBig visible charts are intrusiveInsufficient training Team does not like showing workUnwillingness of teamCustomer not signing offCustomer fear Customer wont commit to agileExternal pressureGetting customer into loop Getting stakeholders to agreeDepartmental fragmentation Lack of management awareness Nosingle product owner authority Management not changing behaviorBack loading documentationBack loading testingDecreased visibility of project progressEffort estimations Good requirements development Integrationwith other systemsInterruptions Lack of decisions on architecture Lack of time tofix failed testsLarge projectsProject complexityToo big backlogToo old backlogToo many meetingsToo many open issuesToo many unplanned tasksGetting test automatedRegression testingBudgetingGivingup too earlyInexperienced Product OwnersInexperienced ScrumMastersNew to agileProcess not understoodReinvent agile methodologyScaling to large projectsTable 1 Agile challenges and problemsAvoiding failureThere are several books including Going Agile ProjectManagement Practices which describe methodologies processesexamples and recommended actions for going agile in a way thatshould promote success Nevertheless the issues challenges andproblems are usually unique and occur due to differences andidiosyncrasies in the organization the people the execution ofthe See 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