Last week (3Dec09), Forrester Research Analyst Tom Grant led a discussion on Agile in Technology and how it pertains to Product Management. I took some copious notes on the discussion and thought I would share them here.
Be forewarned, some of this may seem a bit cryptic. I was typing in real time (on my new HP Netbook) and participating in the discussion, so I didn’t capture every single piece of the conversation. Plus, they’re notes, so by definition they are brief. I’ll try to add some clarity where I can. Items with ** denote topics that were brought up as part of a response, but not discussed in detail.
<NOTES>
Agile in tech orgs requires company-wide changes to be successful
Topics for discussion (desired @ start)
- Multiple Groups
- Agile Adoption Path
- Communicating Up
- Roadmap
- Associated Groups
- Longer-term Projects
- Cult of Agile
**Does Agile get used for things other than software (service, hardware, etc)?
What does Agile really mean?
- Fail fast
- Rapid iterative sprints (vs. releases)
- Consumer v. enterprise
- Empowering for Dev
- Customers funding development of features (demise of PM?)
- Customers/requirements mob-style
- Discover issues more quickly
**Designating sprints as design or build can provide balance for dev team and product team
What are the characteristics that make Agile truly Agile (are there minimal reqs to be Agile)?
- Daily communication
- User stories
- Coaching (external training)
- Executive sponsorship
**Challenge of balancing defect/feature in sprint/releases
How can Agile better accommodate futures (12 month plan)
- Showing a long-term roadmap that likely won’t happen that way vs. showing a 3 month roadmap that is likely, but without future planning
- Use backlog as “possible” roadmap
Challenges of Waterfall and Agile turn out to be very similar, but are labeled differently
1st age of Agile is done, moving to 2nd age where Agile is more broadly adopted and enhanced
</NOTES>