What Makes Agile Projects Succeed? – BayAPLN

I recently facilitated What makes agile projects succeed (or Fail)? for the BayAPLN, the Bay Area chapter of the Agile Project Leadership Network. There were 63 participants, even more than at the Chicago Scum Gathering. Using the Group Wisdom Without Groupthink technique, the group generated, discussed, and ranked 65 ideas. We managed to do all of this in less than 90 minutes!

Here are the top-ranked ideas for what makes agile projects succeed.

Tier One
Retrospectives

Tier Two
Clear definition of done

Tier Three
Have fun
Trusting environment
Discipline

Tier Four
Know the business goal
Don’t be afraid to kill the project
Good user stories
Tell the truth & support truth telling

Tier Five
Big visual displays of information
Good charter
Metrics for code and other aspects
Vertical slices of functionality
Standardized story estimating technique

Tier Six
Pairing
Co-location of the team
Empower the team
Reduce build time
Tolerance for ambiguity
Add a scrum coach!
Continuous process improvement

Tier Seven
Regular participation by business owners
Team over individual (especially metrics)
Buy-in from everyone
Flexible roles
Repeatable regression tests
Fail early & learn
Maximize work not done: Be lean
Insist on open & collaborative workspace
No new scope inside the sprint
Individual responsibility
Decisive and strong product owner

You may also be interested in seeing the results from groups that have considered the same question.
P-Camp 2008
Code Camp 2007
Agile Open California 2007

Amy Lightholder took notes during the event, and they can be found here.

Cheers,

Chris

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