IBM Systems & Technology Group

2007 IBM Corporation

The Agile Journey
- Reflections on our experience

IBM Academy of Technology

Jay Krishnamurthy
Sr. Project Mgr, STG
Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
Agenda
Introduction
Who are we / What do we do ?
Our Pre-agile environment
Our Transition
Traditional Project Management vs. Agile Our
take
Lessons learned
Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
Introduction
Experiences of a small product team
We are not agile experts, not agile purists



Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
Who are we ?
We are in IBM Microelectronics division, part of
Systems & Technology Group
Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
What do we do ?
We develop Supply Chain optimization software
Used to solution Microelectronics Demand/Supply
Sold as a commercial product for the past three years
Team has close to 40 patents behind the product

Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
OPS Framework is a high performance Advanced Planning
System (APS)





ATP
SCOPE
MRP
CPE
AMRP
H-BCD
PDB
Express
WIP Projection
Demand Management
Supply Planning

93,574 P/N
55,498 Cust Demands
32,321 Ship Possibilities
5,018 Binning Records
3,329 Subst Possibilities
2,099 Sourcing Records
650 Capacity Resources
Inputs

79,680 Cust Shipments
272,785 Mfg Release Records
114,109 Internal Shipments
7,009 Shipments from Vendor
5,868 Substitution Records
Outputs
Example CPE Run Solving

22,000,000 Equations
3,880,996 Decision Variable

Run Time = 2.5 hrs
OPS Framework Tool Suite
Client Results
Improved customer services
Loyal and Satisfied Customers
Improved Revenue
Improved ROA
Lower inventory
Better resource-sharing
Higher utilization
Loyal and Satisfied Customer
Features
Handles Multiple Product Types
ASICs
Standard products
Foundry services
Manufacturing Optimization
Short Planning Cycle Time
Low Operating and
Maintenance Costs
Reliable Delivery Commitment
Flexible Pricing Alternatives
Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
UI
Our product
-
Core
Algorithms
(C++)
ERP
Interfaces
UDB / Oracle
AIX/ HP-UX/ LINUX
Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
Our Background
Team Members
Core Team PhDs in Operations Research
UI Team Java skills
Delivery Driven
Objectives & Deadline are set
Team works the details
Experienced in
Lean
Pair Programming
JAD
Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
The Conflict
RUP based Development
Process checkpoints built in to ensure artifacts are in place
before we proceed to next step
Market Needs
Increasing changes based on market needs
Change in priorities as time progresses
Conflict
Artifacts were becoming a ritual instead of adding value
Few of us were skipping it altogether to meet deliverables

Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
Agile
It all started with a two day workshop on Agile
Thanks Ted Rivera and Paul Gibson !!
After the session I summarized and shared my
thoughts with my team
We decided to try it out
Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
Enabling Factors
Several enabling factors
Small team
Co-located teams
Leadership / Culture
Freedom to experiment / skunk work
Team maturity
Worked together for a while
One of the key factors
We had something to address our pain point
> Providing rapid turnaround to market needs, while simultaneously
limiting churn on Development team

Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
Our Transition
We decided to try agile within our UI group
First Iteration
We set the 2 week boundary
Spent time with the business team to define scope
We didnt succeed in our first iteration
Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
What happened ?
If you watched the Celtics/ Lakers NBA games
When you are running fast and almost blindly passing
the ball, you need the right person to be in the right place
at the right time to take it and run with it
When your sub-group is on Agile, but rest of your
broader team is not, dependency management
needs to be proactive
Team dynamics/ communication/ collaboration
need to adapt and evolve when you are moving to
Agile

Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
How did we recover ?
In order to increase your success, double your failure
rate Thomas Watson Sr.
It took us few iterations before we got the hang of it


Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
Traditional Project Mgmt vs. Agile our take
When you develop a several month project plan
There are several uncertainties
However any smart PM has slack/float built into the
plan
When you are running a two week iteration
There isnt too much available window for slack
Things happen


Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
Traditional Project Mgmt vs. Agile our take (cont.)
Resource planning needs to be thought through
For example:
Test resources in waterfall allows involvement in
multiple projects
Agile requires dedicated continuous involvement
Challenging when part of the group is in Agile and
part waterfall


Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
Traditional Project Mgmt vs. Agile our take (cont.)
Stakeholder needs / Business Value to be mapped/
articulated
Need for the Invisible Hand that coordinates
iterations with Business needs / Release
As a RUP parallel, the iterations must align with the
vision
Dont lose sight of the forest


Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
Traditional Project Mgmt vs. Agile our take (cont.)
Flatten the team
Dont let the PM become the bottleneck
Let the team step up
Use a Ethernet Broadcast model
Use it with discipline

Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
Traditional Project Mgmt vs. Agile our take (cont.)
Traditional PM metrics dont help much in Agile world
Understand velocity
Recommend fiction Goal by Dr. Goldratt
Pay attention to Dependency management, Risk
management & mitigation
In a 6 month project if a person falls sick for a week, you can
recover
Cross train when possible
Learn to become a Project Facilitator not a Project Manager


Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
Lessons learned
When you start agile, give the team some space
Let the team learn to agile
Dont get aggressive with schedules in the first few
iterations
Rethink your team communication model
Dont let Agile turn into a 2-week waterfall
Use Storyboards, Test Driven Development
If not, your iterations become continuous catch-up iterations
Systems & Technology Group
2007 IBM Corporation
Lessons learned (cont.)
If necessary, throw out what you developed
Two examples
Proactively manage dependencies
Dont try to be a purist
Give heads-up to non-agile teams - Example
Dont become a methodology bigot
Methodology is the means to get to your goal
Choose what works for you best