AgilePM Agile Project Management Handbook v2

241 Pages·2014·9.857 MB·English

Agile Project
Management
AgilePM®
Disclaimer
This handbook, Agile Project Management v2, is based on a subset of the DSDM Agile Project Framework and
intended for use as an aid to those undertaking APMG-International’s accredited Agile Project Management training
or revising for personal certification in Agile Project Management. Readers wishing to know more about or use the
DSDM Agile Project Framework are invited to visit the website at www.agilebusiness.org
Note: Agile Project Management training and Agile Project Management personal certification are accredited
by APMG-International. Only accredited training providers or their affiliates are allowed to provide courses
and examinations in APMG-International’s qualification schemes. Readers wishing to know more about APMG-
International are invited to visit the website at www.apmg-international.com
Only organisations accredited by the Agile Business Consortium may offer accredited DSDM products and services.
©2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 Agile Business Consortium Limited
Registered address: Agile Business Consortium, Henwood House, Henwood, Ashford, Kent TN24 8DH, UK
DSDM®, Atern®, AgilePM® and AgileBA® are registered trademarks of Agile Business Consortium Limited in the
United Kingdom and other countries. AgilePgM™ is a trademark of Agile Business Consortium Limited.
PRINCE2® is a Registered Trade Mark of AXELOS Limited in the United Kingdom and other countries
ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of AXELOS Limited in the United Kingdom and other countries
All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the Agile Business Consortium. Applications to reuse, reproduce or republish material in this
publication should be sent to the address above, or by email to [e-mail]
Published by the Agile Business Consortium
First Edition (version 1) first published and printed July 2010 Reprinted November 2011
Version 1.1 published and first printed August 2012. Reprinted March 2013, August 2013
Version 1.2 published and first printed December 2013 Reprinted April 2014
Version 2 published and first printed October 2014. Reprinted April 2015 (with typo amends)
reprinted November 2015 with amends (see page 6), Reprinted May 2017 with amends (see page 6)
ISBN 978-0-9928727-2-4
Printed in the United Kingdom by:
Buckland Media Group Limited, www.buckland.co.uk
Acknowledgements
Editorial Team: Andrew Craddock, Barbara Roberts, Jennifer Stapleton and Julia Godwin
Production: Kim Whitmore, Emily Ruffle, Mary Henson, Debbie Cole Creative Marketing and Newble Designs
2
Contents
Section One - Agile Project Foundations
Chapter 1 Introduction 9
Chapter 2 Choosing DSDM as your Agile Approach 11
Chapter 3 Philosophy and Fundamentals 15
Chapter 4 Principles 19
Chapter 5 Preparing for Success 23
Chapter 6 The DSDM Process 27
Chapter 7 Roles and Responsibilities 31
Chapter 8 DSDM Products 37
Chapter 9 Planning and Control 41
Chapter 10 DSDM Practice - MoSCoW Prioritisation 49
Chapter 11 DSDM Practice - Timeboxing 53
Chapter 12 Other DSDM Practices 59
Section Two - The Agile PM Perspective: Digging Deeper
Chapter 13 Practical Application of the DSDM Principles 67
Chapter 14 Roles and Responsibilities - The Agile PM’s View 75
Chapter 15 Project Management through the Lifecycle 91
Chapter 16 The Effective use of the DSDM Products 101
Chapter 17 Deliver on Time - Combining MoSCoW and Timeboxing 117
Chapter 18 People, Teams and Interactions 131
Chapter 19 Requirements and User Stories 143
Chapter 20 Estimating 151
Chapter 21 Project Planning through the Lifecycle 159
Chapter 22 Never Compromise Quality 165
Chapter 23 Risk Management 177
Chapter 24 Tailoring the DSDM Approach 185
Appendix A Glossary 197
Appendix B Project Approach Questionnaire (PAQ) 205
Appendix C Estimating using Planning Poker® and Velocity 207
Appendix D Index 213
3
AgilePM®
Foreword
Welcome to the Agile Project Management Handbook, produced by the not-for-profit Agile Business Consortium.
Since its launch in 2010, Agile Business Consortium’s Agile Project Management has proved very popular, and has
enabled the adoption of Agile Project Management practice worldwide.
This handbook is based on The Agile Project Framework, the latest version of DSDM, and is intended to support
the accredited Agile Project Manager ( AgilePM® ) Practitioner training course, as well as providing the definitive
source for the AgilePM® Foundation and Practitioner exams. Our aim is to encourage professional development in
the field of Agile Project Management.
In today’s ever-changing world, organisations and businesses are keen to adopt a more flexible approach to
delivering projects, and want to become more agile. However, for organisations delivering projects and programmes,
and where existing formal project management processes already exist, the informality of many of the agile
approaches is daunting and is sometimes perceived as too risky. These project-focused organisations need a mature
agile approach - agility within the concept of project delivery - Agile Project Management. provides:
• an approach that offers agility but retains the concepts of a project, project delivery and project management
• an Agile approach that is stand-alone but also works alongside more formalised project management approaches
such as PRINCE2®
• an Agile approach that can be dovetailed into formalised quality processes such as ISO9001 and CMMI enables
organisations to gain the benefits of an agile approach without introducing unnecessary risks. This ensures that
‘going Agile’ becomes a measured and balanced change, keeping what is good in the current organisation and
retaining existing good practices around project management and delivery whilst gaining the benefits of a more
agile way of working.
DSDM has been for many years the leading, proven, full-project Agile approach, providing governance and rigour
along with the agility and flexibility demanded by organisations today. The Agile Business Consortium is pleased to
be working with the APM Group to provide Agile Project Management based on DSDM’s Agile Project Framework
as the ‘engine’ for driving Agile Project Management. The Agile Project Framework reflects the very latest thinking in
corporate-strength agile. The Agile Project Framework has also been designed to link more easily with other Agile
approaches, since there is an increasing demand to use a combination of Agile approaches - “blended Agile”.
The use of this graphic within the text indicates a potential link to other Agile approaches. The handbook
content is based on the DSDM Agile Project Framework with the focus and additional guidance on the Project
and Project Management aspects. It does not go into the detail of generic Project Management practices, as this
information is readily available elsewhere. It focuses on ‘What does agile mean to an Agile Project Manager?’ ‘What
is different?’ ‘What needs to change?’
Additional information on the DSDM Agile Project Framework can be found at www.agilebusiness.org. DSDM is free
to view and free to use. You may also be interested in becoming a member of the Agile Business Consortium. Apart
from full access to all Consortium materials, Agile Business Consortium members get significant discounts on products,
training and events.
Barbara Roberts
Director for Product Innovation
Agile Business Consortium
4
Foreword
APMG is delighted to have collaborated with the Agile Business Consortium in developing this handbook and
producing the supporting training courses and qualification.
We are aware of the growing interest in the Agile movement and are particularly pleased to have developed
specific guidance for those wishing to run projects in an Agile way.
PRINCE2® is recognised globally as an effective way to manage projects but all project managers have to deal with
both the known and the unknown. Unforeseen circumstances and organisational changes can have a dramatic
impact on project outcomes. The key to successfully managing projects is to break them into stages, plan the
current stage in detail and be flexible regarding the subsequent stages. Agile project management offers flexibility
while still recognising the processes that give project managers the confidence to run their projects effectively.
This publication brings Agile to the PRINCE2 community and shows how an Agile approach dovetails very well with
the current PRINCE2 philosophy of adopting and tailoring PRINCE2 to meet an organisation’s own way of working.
We look forward to hearing of more Agile projects run in a PRINCE2 environment as Practitioners bring together
these concepts and deliver even greater value to their clients.
Richard Pharro
CEO
The APM Group
The Structure of this Handbook
The Agile Project Management Handbook is divided into two main sections.
Section One - The Agile Project Foundations - This section provides a simple, but rounded understanding of
the core topics associated with Agile Project Management. It forms the basis for the first part of the Agile
Project Management accredited training course, and is the source for the Agile Project Management Foundation
examination.
Section Two - The Agile Project Manager Perspective - Digging Deeper - This section provides more depth to a
number of the topics introduced in Section One. It also introduces some additional topics of particular interest to
the Agile Project Manager, either because the Agile Project Manager is responsible for these areas, or because these
areas have a direct impact on the Agile Project Manager’s ability to deliver successful Agile projects.
Appendices: A Glossary and a full Index are provided, as well as the detail of the Project Approach Questionnaire
and guidance on Estimating using Planning Poker and Velocity.
5
AgilePM®
Summary of AgilePM v2 changes from November 2015 to
April 2017 reprint
Rebranding
Apart from some minor text changes listed below, the primary reason for this reprint (May 2017) of the AgilePM
v2 Handbook is rebranding in line with Agile Business Consortium and APMG International.
Glossary
Exception – term changed to “Management by Exception” and detail revised
Globally
All references to DSDM Consortium, Dynamic Systems Development Method Limited have been updated to Agile
Business Consortium and Agile Business Consortium Limited.
All references to [e-mail] have been updated to [e-mail]
Summary of AgilePM v2 changes from April 2014 to
November 2015 reprint
Chapter 2 Choosing DSDM as your Agile Approach
Martin Fowler added to list of Agile Manifesto
Chapter 9 Planning and Control
“Exception” replaced with “issue”
Chapter 14 Roles and Responsibilities
Change of paragraph number from 14.15.7 to 14.16.7
In 14.7.1 bullet point “ensuring the non-functional requirements…..” moved to 14.6.1 to replace “advising on the
achievability…..”
Chapter 15 Project Management through the Lifecycle
First table on page 99 moved to page 98 to be associated with paragraph 15.3.4.
“Outline Plan created……” replaced with “outline created…..”
Table on pages 98/99 moved entirely to page 98
Roles associated with products revised to eliminate potential confusion with descriptions in Chapter 16.
Chapter 21 Project Planning through the Lifecycle
Text added to Foundations in diagram
Glossary
Addition of the term and detail for “Exception”
Globally
Various typos and punctuation amends
Replacing the term final solution, with ultimate solution
Replacing the term Foundation Summary with Foundations Summary
6
Section One
The Agile Project
Foundations
7
AgilePM®
8
1. Introduction
9