Software the Agile Way....

Who needs to prioritize? In a typical project execution we have several roles who participate in making things happen. In a scrum framework we have Product owner, Scrum Master, development team  All these roles have a common goal which is to make project a success.But what does success mean is defined by customer and her needs/wants/desires.  Hence it is very much important for Product owner to first prioritize what will help her first. The same prioritization can be translated to Team and Scrum Master.  Hence the answer is Prioritization is for everyone however team can influence PO in making the right decision.  How to  prioritize? There is no magic formula for prioritization, though there are techniques like MOSCOW rule  but i have noticed for customer everything is MUST HAVE. This will not help customer as it would lead to a wrong product which may not help customer. Remember 80/20 rule, 80 perc of the user use 20per...

The very first thing you must do to become Agile is establish a good relationship with your customers, users, and domain experts; who ever it is that directly or indirectly pays for your work. The first symptom of a damaged customer relationship is when your customer considers it a waste of time to participate in the project.  You may have delivered software that just doesn't meet return on investment (ROI). In any case your customer is important and you need to repair your relationship first. One way to start a partnership with your customers is to listen to their needs and respond immediately. The best way to guarantee your customer's time (and thus money) isn't wasted is to involve them enough to guarantee success. Respect your customer by acknowledging their expertise, listen carefully, defer to their authority, and never insert your own opinions into your code. Communicate with your customers simply and in a language they understand. If your customers think b...

Pitfalls - Customer is there ( but not full time) and Sprint 1 started but no deliverables (working software) !! Challenges - Initial Product Backlog with must have stories are not defined which means there will be no initial design model. Engineering team is there but everyone is directionless as nobody knows where to start!! How to be prepared - Be ready with Product backlog with must have stories and requirement workshop with engineering team before starting the Sprint 1. Engineering team must have an architect to do the initial design. Requirement workshop to be conducted in presence of customer.Team should be well trained to work in Agile methodology. Plan some deliverable in the Sprint 1 

Customers are afraid that • They won't get what they asked for. • They'll ask for the wrong thing. • They'll pay too much for too little. • They must surrender control of their career to techies who don't care. • They won't ever see a meaningful plan. • The plans they do see will be fairy tales. • They won't know what's going on. • They'll be held to their first decisions and won't be able to react to changes in the business. • No one will tell them the truth. Developers are afraid, too. They fear that • They will be told to do more than they know how to do. • They will be told to do things that don't make sense. • They are too stupid. • They are falling behind technically. • They will be given responsibility without authority. • They won't be given clear definitions of what needs to be done. • They'll have to sacrifice quality for deadlines. • They'll have to solve hard problems without help. • They won't ...

How should the software perform when the network is slow? How should the software perform when the network has 5% packet loss? How about 10% or 30%? If the software requires a persistent connection, what needs to happen when the user steps into an elevator, or when the device goes to sleep, or when the application is interrupted by a phone call? The standard screen resolution for smartphones is 320x300 pixels, but tablets are larger and next-generation mobile devices can support HD screens. What should the user see in all that extra white space? We integrate with Facebook, Twitter or Google login. What do we do when that service is down, and how can we test it? Source- http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/tip/Mobile-application-requirements-Same-process-new-challenges

Reason#1 -  Customers develop other friendship or relationship Reason#2 -  Customers get transferred to new locality Reason#3 -  Customer get competitive advantage over price/values/service and move to another competitor. Reason#4 -  Customer get dissatisfied with the product Reason#5 -  Customer are not valued ( Indifference shown to them by business owner/Manager/Employee) Critical questions to ponder: 1. How often do business research their customer to find out the level of satisfaction with the product and services that they sell!! 2.  Are the front-liner staff members empowered to make decision now or must they seek approval from higher up?