ATF Agile Playbook.pdf#search=agile playbook.pdf

ATF Agile Playbook and Agile Tool Suite

ATF Agile Playbook

Purpose Agile, an inclusive term that describes a methodology, is a set of development and project management practices that focuses on scope flexibility, team empowerment, continuous improvement and delivering essential quality products in a shorter time span. It is based on iterative and incremental development, where requirements and solutions evolve through self-organized and collaborative cross-functional teams.

Agile methodologies include Scrum, Kanban, Extreme Programming (XP), and Lean, among others. These methodologies all focus on people, communications, the product, and flexibility in order to satisfy customers through early and continuous delivery of valuable solutions. By selecting a shortened duration of time to focus on a finite list of requirements, a delivery team can work to rapidly develop and test solutions thereby reducing the risk of developing solutions based on stale, outdated or miss-understood requirements. By delivering frequently, increased visibility into the progress of the solution is brought forward resulting in a more effective means of measuring successes and deviations.

The purpose of these series of pages is to provide guidance for teams who are engaging in ATF Agile projects, outlining the practices and artifacts that are generally expected by project teams using the ATF

Agile methodology. This document covers the project from Discovery/Sprint 0 through the Release

Integration testing that typically occurs in the TEST/IVV environment. This content is intentionally maintained on SharePoint to easily facilitate updates as best practices are identified and adopted within

ATF.

Execution Process that ATF uses to develop, build or deploy products.

ATF has adopted a Scrum based processes that has been refined to account for ATF's unique needs. The process is iterative and working product is built to show value and solicit feedback on a frequent basis.

For more information on other work path types, refer to the PMO's SharePoint https://teams.doj.gov/sites/OST/306000/PMO/Pages/PMO%20Internal%20Page.aspx

Format

The process is documented within the SharePoint sites listed above. Each page contains the same structure for continuity.

In the Center column:

Time box The duration an activity is suggested should take place.

Roster The participants that are suggested to be included in the activities.

Goal The intended outcome or purpose for the activity.

Inputs The expected materials and/or resource needed to complete the activities.

Process The list of tasks and processes to be executed within the activity.

Outputs The expected materials and/or resources expected as an outcome.

Other Anything else that needs to be taken into account during this section of the process.

Next

Step(s) Identifies what the next step would likely be.

In the Right column:

ATF Agile

Process

Map

Orients the viewer on where in the lifecycle they are.

Agile

Playbook

Sections

Provides the viewer quick links to different sections in the process.

Discussion

Board

Provides the viewer the ability to provide feedback or review other's feedback on the current section of the process.

Core Team This is the team that is ultimately responsible for developing, testing and delivering the product increments each sprint. This team is a cross-functional group of professionals with the required skills to get the incremental functionality delivered. This is a dedicated team that works together sprint over sprint and from project to project. The core team members of any scrum team are:

1. Product Owner and/or PO Proxy and/or BA

2. Scrum Master

3. Development team which typically constitutes a mix of Developers and Testers

Typically this team should not exceed 9 members.

1 PO/Proxy

1 Scrum Master

3-4 Developers

2-3 Testers

Business Analyst

Supporting role to a Product Owner to help document User Stories and Acceptance Criteria.

Generate User Stories under the direction of the PO.

Update User Stories under the direction of the PO.

Act as a liaison between the PO and the core team.

Attends the meetings on behalf of the PO (except demo) but frequently is just a go between to get questions the core team has answered by the PO.

Developer

A product builder who specializes in coding the software that meets stated acceptance criteria

Build the product.

Contribute to the development of User Stories.

Contribute to the development of a Sprint Backlog / Plan.

Product Owner

The Product Owner is the single point of contact for the Team regarding the product that is to be built. The PO identifies priority and filters stakeholder requirements and feedback into User Stories for the team to deliver. The PO is an integral part of the Scrum delivery team and is called upon repeatedly to clarify points of interest or contention during the development cycle.

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Write User Stories

Prioritize and Order the Product Backlog

Available to the team to provide clarification during Sprints to maximize performance and output

Product Owner Proxy

The Proxy Product Owner assumes the responsibilities of a Product Owner without the authority, serving in the role expected of the PO, but always clarifying and/or confirming decisions with the PO.

Write User Stories, Acceptance Criteria (confirm with PO for accuracy).

Provide daily feedback and direction to the team (confirm with PO as necessary).

Order User Stories in the Backlog (confirm with PO as necessary).

It is important to note that the Proxy should have sufficient Subject Matter Export (SME) knowledge to be able to respond to the majority of the teams' questions without having to see the PO for input. If the

Proxy has to follow up with the PO with too many questions then the implementation of a Proxy becomes counterproductive, adding an additional layer of communication and an impediment, as they are now a go-between.

Scrum Master

The Scrum Master (SM) is a servant leader who is primarily responsible to facilitating the processes involved in a Scrum delivery team. The SM ensures the team stays productive by identifying and removing impediments thus allowing the scrum team to stay focused on delivering product.

Remove Impediments The SM nurtures the team's self-organization and ensures any distractions, impediments, or roadblocks are eliminated. These can be external to the team (i.e. lack of support from another team), or they could be internal.

Coach the team

The SM goal is the increase the team's performance through coaching and training. The SM will help the

PO understand how to create and maintain the Product Backlog. The SM ensures the team meets the acceptance criteria defined by the PO and the definition of done created by the team.

Coach the organization

The SM ensures that the Scrum practices and principles are understood not only internally to the team but also externally to rest of the organization. They help those outside of the Scrum team understand the process and principles and how their teams should interact with the Scrum team(s) so it provides value to the team and not an impediment to create product.

Team Member

Team Members are the product builders. Team Members are made up of various skills and experience.

Develop and Test the product

Participate in the development/refinement of User Stories

Identify the complexity of User Stories

Build the Sprint Plan (tasks associated with a Sprint Backlog) https://teams.doj.gov/sites/OST/308000/OSTAgileEnablement/_layouts/15/listform.aspx?PageType=4&ListId=%7B0B0FCED9%2D785D%2D42C9%2D986D%2DEB83E9840F8C%7D&ID=2&ContentTypeID=0x0100E707B600BBEB6748A90DACA2F9D71803 https://teams.doj.gov/sites/OST/308000/OSTAgileEnablement/_layouts/15/listform.aspx?PageType=4&ListId=%7B0B0FCED9%2D785D%2D42C9%2D986D%2DEB83E9840F8C%7D&ID=4&ContentTypeID=0x0100E707B600BBEB6748A90DACA2F9D71803 https://teams.doj.gov/sites/OST/308000/OSTAgileEnablement/_layouts/15/listform.aspx?PageType=4&ListId=%7B0B0FCED9%2D785D%2D42C9%2D986D%2DEB83E9840F8C%7D&ID=17&ContentTypeID=0x0100E707B600BBEB6748A90DACA2F9D71803

Tester

A product builder who specializes in testing the product meets stated acceptance criteria.

Test code.

Contribute to the development of User Stories.

Contribute to the development of a Sprint Backlog / Plan.

Supporting Team

While the "Core Team" is ultimately responsible for the development and testing of the functionality there are other organizations/teams that have to provide support during each sprint. These people are typically only needed sporadically during a sprint and thus may support several teams. This can include (but not be limited to

Subject Matter Experts (SME)

System & Data Architects

Database Administrators (DBA)

Configuration Management

Operations/Environment Management

Documentation & Training organizations

Release level testing teams (Integrated &

Performance)

Information Systems Security Officer

Configuration Management

Advisory role for Configuration Management compliance, documentation and processes.

Provide guidance on the CM submission process within Dimensions.

Contracting Officer’s Representative

Monitor and inspect vendor performance and deliverables.

Ensure adherence to SOW requirements and responsibilities.

Provide vendor with required access, equipment, and tools to conduct all activities under the contract.

Database Administrator

Advisory role for knowledge transfer with previous efforts and legacy systems.

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Assist the project team in making informed decisions for legacy database connections and interfaces.

Information Systems Security Officer

Serve as the subject matter expert on DOJ and ATF Security Policy.

Conduct security testing and assessment toward System Certification and Accreditation activities.

Contribute security related acceptance criteria for appropriate user stories.

Review technical design and architecture to ensure compliance to applicable standards.

Advise the project team on security related requirements, design and documentation.

Line of Business SME

Provide subject matter expertise for the line of business being addressed by the product and the

Core Team.

Contribute to user stories and acceptance criteria.

Contribute in testing developed functions against the pre-defined and agreed upon user stories.

Advise Product Owner in setting priorities.

Advise Product Owner in documenting defects.

Managed Services Provider Representative

Serve as a primary point of contact for the Managed Services team.

Facilitate coordination of activities between the project team and infrastructure support teams.

Identify and plan for resource needs in operations and maintenance life cycle stage.

Operations Team POC

Serve as the Core Team's primary point of contact on the Operations Team.

Resource planning for production deployment and support.

Facilitate coordination of activities between the software development team and managed services provider.

System Architect

Advisory role for knowledge transfer with previous efforts and legacy systems.

Provide insight into legacy system and their architecture.

Assist the project team in making informed decisions for technical design and system architecture.

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ATF Agile Tool Suite

Purpose Goal: To provide the software and infrastructure necessary to support the ATF Agile Enablement effort.

Ultimately, the goal is to improve the quality of software and reduce the time to deliver by replacing the traditional practice of applying quality control after development has completed.

History: The CI tools were initially stood up in an AWS cloud environment to demonstrate their effectiveness and prototype the integration. Subsequently, it has been deployed to the ATF Data Center and is now available for developer use.

CI Maturity Spectrum

If you are just starting out, it’s best to introduce automation slowly to ensure you don't take on too much and introduce too much change too quickly.

ATF's Automation Goals

ATF is slowly introducing these concepts of automation to ensure all necessary things are taking into account. As Continuous Integration is introduced, the ultimate goal will be to reach Continuous Delivery so that project teams can create and automate as much as possible, while maintaining the necessary manual controls required by ATF's environment.

Additionally, ATF leadership is reviewing options to improve the automated deployment strategy to address the manual processes to deploy to the DEV, TEST and PROD environments (illustrated in the ATF Continuous Integration Environment graphic above).