Get your users involved or go back to waterfall

by | Feb 27, 2014

 niagara-218591_640

Practically every IT and engineering organization is looking to optimize their software development processes, and as a result the industry-wide transition to Agile development slowly continues.  I have seen Agile transform the delivery of technology in some organizations; unfortunately, I’ve also seen some organizations backslide because they make major mistakes in its implementation.

I’ve talked with people in development organizations who claim Agile is working well while comments from other stakeholders around their business assure me it isn’t.  Just because work is organized into two or three week iterations, daily stand-ups are conducted and user stories are created and tracked in Rally (or some other tool) doesn’t ensure Agile is “working well”.  I have been surprised recently to hear people claim Agile success when they have very few users involved.  Yes, being efficient is imperative to the Agile process, but without daily collaboration involving all parties, how are you to determine what the end user needs?
 
Let’s just focus on one principle of the Agile Manifesto:
 
Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
 
At its root, the transformation from Waterfall development to Agile development is about moving from a comprehensive, time consuming, requirements development phase up front (ultimately packaged into a requirements document to be “signed off” on by users) to a documentation-light, ongoing prioritization and definition of requirements.  The only way this works is to have users heavily engaged throughout the process, seeing the product as it is built.  When I hear that a company is implementing Agile except for the user story workshops and user reveals/demos… I’m very concerned.
I’m so concerned that I’d suggest these companies go back to something more “Waterfall” or “Iterative” unless they can get true involvement from their users on a daily basis.  Otherwise, the developers might be having more fun and “feel” more productive, but they are less likely to be driving business value from their technology investments than they would be with a more traditional approach.
 

READ MORE

The Magic of Mortals

The Magic of Mortals

Daily we wake up to new developments in automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML). Across sectors and industries, automated solutions prove highly successful in surpassing the capacity of the human brain for certain tasks, improving...

read more
Leveling Up: How to Hone Your Skills at Home

Leveling Up: How to Hone Your Skills at Home

Leaders have been trying to crack the code on talent development for years. Recent studies have shown, however, that strength-focused leadership [read: intentionally elevating the qualities that already come naturally to us] is the clear winner for developing talent...

read more
Fake Case Study: Jack of all trades vs. Master of One

Fake Case Study: Jack of all trades vs. Master of One

  Listen to any earnings call or executive presentation and you will likely hear the terms “top line” and “bottom line.” These are words used to describe a business’s performance. According to Investopedia, the words are defined as follows: Top line refers to the...

read more
Your Personality Is Showing

Your Personality Is Showing

There I was, minding my own business one evening, digging into my organization's SEO performance (as one does), when I came across something interesting. Search terms related to "MBTI" — or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, developed by Katherine Cook Briggs and Isabel...

read more
Lessons From a Change Manager Who Hates Change

Lessons From a Change Manager Who Hates Change

Hello. My name is Monique, and I’m a change manager who hates change.   After years of receiving “consulting therapy” from various mentors, I am now able to say these words out loud and proudly. But for a long time, it felt more like an admission of guilt. I mean, who...

read more
Creativity as a Cure

Creativity as a Cure

The topic of creative solutioning has been front and center these days as we talk more and more about organizational adaptability in the face of dynamic and uncertain times. For example, I recently read about a project that got me thinking about specific priorities...

read more
Thought Ensemble, a Pariveda Company — Why Now?

Thought Ensemble, a Pariveda Company — Why Now?

Big news over here as we close out the year - we have been acquired by Pariveda, a 750-person consulting firm in 12 markets across North America! We are now “Thought Ensemble, a Pariveda Company” and I’ll be serving as the Managing Vice President continuing to lead...

read more
Thought Ensemble Joins Pariveda Solutions!

Thought Ensemble Joins Pariveda Solutions!

Dallas, December 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pariveda, a leader specializing in solving complex technology and business problems, announces the acquisition of Thought Ensemble. With the addition of Thought Ensemble, Pariveda now provides holistic business strategy,...

read more
Thoughts on Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act

Thoughts on Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act

It was about a year ago that we first started hearing about Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act (SB19-085) and I knew it was going to be national news. We’d just gotten past the “Rocky Mountain High” jokes, and our lovely state was trying to break new ground...

read more