How To Start Working, Loving And Being Agile š
This is a story of people that code and design while doing the split.
Syke!
You have to admit, that is a great intro. Maybe Iāll turn that into a romance. Anyway, back to the article!
In this article, Iām going to explain to you how we apply the Agile mindset at PICUS. Even if you work as a freelancer, this article applies to you too! Agile can be implemented in many situations. Youāll also find that, in this article, weāll talk a lot about Scrum, one of the most famous frameworks used to apply the Agile methodology. ā We use a mix between Scrum, Kanban & Agile, applying in a way that works the best for us.
If you are not yet familiar with Agile, read this next chapter. If you already know what Agile is, you can skip this one over.
What is Agile & Scrum?
Agile is a mindset that has been around for several decades. It emerged with the objective to replace the Waterfall model and is based on four fundamental values from the original Agile Manifesto:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools;
- Working software over comprehensive documentation;
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation;
- Responding to change over following a plan.
Sometimes, Agile is confused with Scrum. Scrum is a framework that is used to implement the Agile way of thinking. It is probably the most used Agile framework in the world, due to its acceptance in the community!
Nowadays, lots of companies that develop software apply the Agile methodology, each differentiating themselves from one another. The original manifesto defines only the core values, as it is up to each company to define how they are going to apply these principles. Moreover, that is what we are going to explore in this article ā how we apply Agile at PICUS.
š Daily Stand-Ups
The daily stand-ups are a core part of our work routine. At 10:00 AM, we meet for 15 minutes with a little ball; we call āThe Chosen Oneā, that is passed around between team members. The person holding the ball has to speak about:
- What they did yesterday?
- What are they going to do today?
- Is there any impediment?
An impediment is when you canāt move on with your work because you need help and clarification, or just because your progress is dependent on another team member.
It is crucial that everyone is succinct during this interaction, so thatās the reason we do it standing up (stand-up, get it?) to speed things up ā some even do this while doing push-ups, but we are not yet on a part-time developer/designer, part-time bodybuilder.
After each member gets his turn, itās time to solve existing impediments! This is a top priority before we tackle the day, as it allows teams members to go on with their day without being interrupted.
Stand-ups are meant to be brief and focused towards the weekly goal, so if you need the help of someone, talk with them after the stand-up!
At the beginning of the week, we prepare what itās called a Sprint. A Sprint has a duration (in our case, weekly), a goal, and tasks that the team will work on towards the completion of that goal. We start by taking the clientās feedback and review from last week, write the main tasks on post-its and place them on a whiteboard (Trello), split into 4 columns ā āNext Upā, āIn Progressā, āReviewā and āDoneā. This process normally has a one direction flow, as we move the post-its from one column onto the next until we rejoice by getting things done on āDoneā! (pun intended)
š Weekly Sprint Retrospectives
Agile is not only about going forward and best-case scenarios. To be better in the future, you need to look into your past! ā Jeez, Iām such a philosopher, right?
Every Monday before we plan a new Sprint, we do the weekly Sprint Retrospective with the project team.
Sprints Retrospectives are paramount for the whole process of PICUS, as they allow us to review the actual work process and plan ways to improve and be more efficient in the future.
We analyze the previous week by dividing our whiteboard into 3 columns: Start, Stop and Continue. Then, every member writes down what he believes we could start doing, what we could stop doing, and what we should continue. Donāt forget that this is related to the previous Sprint ā so it is essential that the things we write down are only specific to that point in time.
It all starts with the team writing and assigning post-its to the respective columns. The member gets 1 vote for each column. They can use to select the ideas that could improve their productivity and happiness for the next Sprint. In the end, the post-its are organized from most to least voted, and 3 ideas are picked while the team feels triumphant looking at the board before starting the weekly goal.
ā© Applying the Agile Principles
Face-to-face
You can literally take this from the Agile Manifesto:
The most efficient and effective method of
conveying information to and within a development
team is face-to-face conversation.
Nothing beats talking with another person straight in their face. Being a small team, we are almost forced to talk with each other face-to-face all the time. However, there are moments where itās more tempting to use Slack. We try to avoid this and have (almost) all of our meetings in person.
We also really like to be self-sufficient. We donāt grow our food, but we do eliminate micromanagement from our day-to-day. It is much more efficient to self-organize and let the team, with the client, decide whatās essential for the project.
Getting sh*t done
Itās one of our mottos.
Why?
Because getting things done it is better than continuously talking about what could be done. We prefer to get our hands dirty and see where it can be improved.
Usually, we start by creating a rough outline of the project. It is pointless to plan every detail before we do it.
When it comes to clients, we provide the outline of how long the project will take, how much it will cost, and what tasks need to be done to complete the primary goal. However, everyone should be prepared for reacting and adapt to changes during the project. Transparency is vital for collaboration for the long term. That leads us toā¦
Partners, Not Just Clients š»
Throughout the project, we establish a cooperative relationship with our clients, as they have regular meetings with us to make sure their vision is being applied to the work we deliver.
Usually, these meetings happen once per week. We present the weekās work, explain the progress made so far, and we discuss what should be the next goal for the following Sprint. ā We call it the Sprint Review.
To further incorporate the client in the project and the team, all of our clients share Trello and Slack with us, to provide a transparent and real-time communication.
This is absolutely indispensable. The client should have a way to intervene and tell us if they want some changes to be made to achieve the projectās goals. This approach empowers the client and gives guarantees that they, in the end, will be satisfied with the deliverable.
Additionally, it allows keeping a short feedback loop whenever we have a question that needs to be answered. With this, we donāt have to wait until our weekly meeting to discuss minor details, allowing our team to spend less time on meetings and focus on the big picture.
This constant communication is our risk management, as both our team and the client know the current progress of the project and if the expectations are being met. In the end, happiness is all we want!
Trust me, Iām an engineer!
Always Innovating.
We genuinely care about being in constant adaption. Being in everlasting innovation doesnāt mean we are unstable ā by the contrary. This is one of the core principles of āThe Lean Startupā, and that book is one that inspires us (if you havenāt read it, do read it ā our team recommends it!)
We are always looking for new ways to be more productive, patterns, tools and, design practices to step up our game. Every Friday, we have workshops regarding a specific subject, to keep our team growing regarding knowledge and promote discussion.
For example, we recently did a workshop on Flutter and Ionic and created articles based on it. Always learning new things ensure that we always bring the most value to our clients.
It is essential that our projects are not obsolete a few years from now. Nobody wants to have a web app that wonāt be up-to-date in a few months.
To sum upā¦
Agile is a excellent methodology to follow in software, but it can be applied to other industries too. Work is delivered, reviewed more frequently and consequently, the results will be better.
If you want to apply to your department, company or just your schedule (in case youāre a freelancer), you need to know the main principles and, in general, be agile (wow, who would have thought!)
If you are curious about how you can apply Agile to non-software environments, you can check the article we did on āHow you can implement an Agile HR methodologyā.
Well, thatās it folks ā thank you for reading!
