My slides from Drupalcamp Asheville 2014 on Agile methodologies.

1. Taming the Project
An Agile Approach
Matthew Saunders matthew@atendesigngroup.com
Saturday, August 23, 14

2. Hi, I’m Matthew Saunders
atendesigngroup.com association.drupal.orgatendesigngroup.com @Creech
Aten Design Group, VP Project Management
Drupal Association, Board Member
Writer, dogstar.org
d.o, MatthewS
G+, saunderm
IRC, j_matthew_s
Saturday, August 23, 14

3. atendesigngroup.com @atendesign
We design, build and support websites for organizations
doing good work all around the world.
Saturday, August 23, 14

4. Project Mangement
Why Do We Do What We Do?
atendesigngroup.combit.ly/AshTame
Saturday, August 23, 14

5. We NEED
Project
Management
for Successful
Outcomes.
b4b2
Saturday, August 23, 14

6. I had a client...
• a couple of months ago call me at 6:30 in the morning
yelling and screaming because his site had been down
for over an hour. I drag myself out of bed, get to the
computer and his site comes right up... I told him to try
to get on Google. Guess what? According to him
Google was down too. I politely told him to call his
internet provider because that was down and once his
internet came back up to use it to search for a new
developer.
Saturday, August 23, 14

7. I had project...
• that had multiple decision makers. They wouldn't
move forward unless they all agreed on any one
point. And they couldn't agree on anything.
Saturday, August 23, 14

8. I met a drunk guy...
• "Oh, you make sites? Let's make something like
Facebook and earn alot of money! I'll come up with
ideas and you make it.”
• Me: “Got any suggestions?”
• Drunk guy: “Yeah, we need something like Facebook
so we'll be rich! You go make it!"
Saturday, August 23, 14

9. I had a client...
• who didn’t know what they wanted.
• They spent endless hours in meetings with you "throwing
ideas around".
• Despite warnings that they were consuming their
contracted hours in this fashion, insist that they shouldn't
have to pay for the time because the site still hasn't been
built.
Saturday, August 23, 14

10. Lack of...
• Planning
• Communication
• Process
• Focus
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11. and Cultural Differences
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12. make for nightmares for us, our partners
(internal and external), They bring us to
an Open Sourced “Arkham”... and we
feel...
Saturday, August 23, 14

13. ... the “Call of Druthuhlu”
Saturday, August 23, 14

14. Bring Calm from
Chaos.
Saturday, August 23, 14

15. star5112
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16. Saturday, August 23, 14

17. daveknapik on flickr
Saturday, August 23, 14

18. 3 Methodologies
Saturday, August 23, 14

19. anyjazz65 on flickr
Saturday, August 23, 14

20. Cowboy or Extreme
• Highly informal
• Focuses on Stakeholders
• Can be used in very unpredictable projects
• Can be excellent for rapid prototyping
Roy Montgomery
on flickr
Saturday, August 23, 14

21. n.hewson on Flickr
Saturday, August 23, 14

22. Waterfall
• Highly Formalised
• Focuses on Requirements
• Inflexible
• Planning is Frontloaded
Saturday, August 23, 14

23. Can Feel
Uncontrolled When
Inevitable Change
Occurs
Saturday, August 23, 14

24. SheltieBoy
Saturday, August 23, 14

25. Agile
• Defined Timeboxes
• Iterative Development Methods
• Incremental
• Collaborative Requirements and Solutions
• Rapid and Flexible Responsive to Change
• Self Organizing Teams
Saturday, August 23, 14

26. Some Terms
Saturday, August 23, 14

27. Time BoxSaturday, August 23, 14

28. Sprint Stuart Grout
Saturday, August 23, 14

29. Epic mendhak
Saturday, August 23, 14

30. User StorySaturday, August 23, 14

31. Scrum
Eoin Gardiner
Saturday, August 23, 14

32. Client Check In
dmosiondz
Saturday, August 23, 14

33. Roles
Saturday, August 23, 14

34. Project Manager
• Scrum Master
• Lead Pointing
• Defense from Distractions
• Helps team avoid mistakes
• Manages Schedule
Saturday, August 23, 14

35. Product or UX
• Backlog
• Personas, Epics, Stories
• Clarify Business Needs
• Demos
Saturday, August 23, 14

36. Developers
• Self Organize Stories
• Communicates expecations of what
can be completed in a sprint
• Defines how business needs should
be architected and executed
• Executes
Saturday, August 23, 14

37. IA/UX/Stories
Setting up the project for success
Saturday, August 23, 14

38. Information Architecture
• Content Audit
• Content Map
• Site Map
• Wireframes
• User Stories
• Drupal Architecture
Saturday, August 23, 14

39. Design
• Design Studio
• Mood Boards or
• Element Collage
• Comps/Mockups
Saturday, August 23, 14

40. A Sprint Model
Saturday, August 23, 14

41. The Breakdown
• 1 Week of Planning and Organizing
• 2 Weeks of Development
• 1 Week of User Acceptance
Saturday, August 23, 14

42. Aten Small Teams
• Team Lead/Developer
• Back End Developer
• Front End Developer
Saturday, August 23, 14

43. Saturday, August 23, 14

44. Saturday, August 23, 14

45. Saturday, August 23, 14

46. Well Oiled Machines
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47. IRC
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48. Google Docs
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49. Jira Workboard
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50. Basecamp
Saturday, August 23, 14

51. Axure
Saturday, August 23, 14

52. Harvest
• We book our time in Harvest against
tasks that match our epics
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53. Saturday, August 23, 14

54. Great Process
Faster
Better
Awesome
Saturday, August 23, 14

55. Thanks!
Matthew Saunders @CreechMatthewS
Saturday, August 23, 14