By Rosalyn Charlton, August 2010

At our last Durban Agile SA event it really struck home, with a resounding, ululating, undeniable and somewhat appealing thud, just how dynamic, enthusiastic, and pro-active we are here in Durban in our agile community.  It is certainly worthy of much applause.

Applause

Not only did we have the biggest turnout ever with over 70 people in attendance, but our visitors from the JHB Agile community were vocally in awe of the amazing energy of the group, the incredible degree of participation, the fabulous contributions, interactions and constructive debates that the group achieves.  This is exactly what we are about in our user group, and what we set out to be, and precisely where the value lies!  Durban Agile Community I salute you for recognizing this and for getting it right.

Insert “User Group High-Five” here.

Yes, I know, I have been sternly instructed by my teams that there is to be “No High-Fiving” but in this instance I just couldn’t help myself.  But I digress.

At this event we enjoyed the first 2 of our showcase presentations from Durban companies: SA Home Loans and Impro.  Both shared their experiences of SCRUM implementations with us.  The presentations were extremely interesting and very interactive with the whole group getting actively involved in delving into the issues raised.  In keeping with the acclaimed style of our user group, we enjoyed great discussions on a wide variety of Agile and SCRUM aspects all of which uncovered deeper knowledge and experiences on the topics throughout the user group.  And this was precisely what our showcase presentations were intended to produce:  a good picture of our collective knowledge from which to draw going forward.  Very exciting indeed. 

See above-mentioned high-five.

During the course of the presentations and discussions there was one aspect in particular that struck me (figuratively of course, had it struck me literally that would have just been weird), and I am sure this was evident to all who were present.  Even though two companies both presented their experiences of the same methodology; SCRUM, the messages that emerged from each were radically different.   This I think epitomizes the very essence of SCRUM and what it offers.  SCRUM is a methodology which provides a framework of operation based on a philosophy and set of principles.  Beyond that it is not prescriptive.  This means that it will be used and benefitted from in any number of ways specific to the implementation and company who uses it.

In the SA Home Loans showcase we heard an account of how SCRUM is being used successfully in a pure software development team with a focus on the development of in-house enterprise systems in a financial institution and the mission critical challenges that brings.  This showcase revealed the extensive benefits enjoyed through SCRUM in the areas of team productivity, BA/DEV/Tester interactions, work visibility, accuracy of estimation and predictability, extensive performance improvements and manageability of large backlogs.

Steve Wood and Gary Daniel from our teams in SA Homeloans gave two respective views of the same journey; namely the PM perspective from Steve and the developer perspective from Gary.  The subtle yet clear differences highlighted how the objectives and advantages of SCRUM in particular, and agile in general, manifest in their own unique ways for each of the roles in the process. They not only delved into the difficulties and rewards on a technical and managerial level, but also touched upon the often-neglected “softer” issues of courage, unwavering dedication to the cause and vision, and team solidarity that is needed to see a choice and implementation like this through to success.  These more “human” factors are often the most critical factors at watershed make-or-break moments that one inevitably meets along the way.   A very clear message here:  Yes you can get everything else right, but Don’t Ignore These.

From a personal perspective I must admit that while I listened to my colleagues talk so passionately about their experiences of our agile journey here at SA Home Loans, I was more convinced than ever of the choices we have made and the amazing benefits of SCRUM.  I also have to admit to being unabashedly proud of the amazing team I work with and the enormous strides they have made in such a short space of time to bring about such change.   That and being pretty impressed that we manage to truly trust our collective instincts to head down this route and never look back.

Insert small, indiscernible dance of joy with a tiny imperceptible high-five.

The Impro showcase which followed opened a whole new set of doors for us and of course thereby invoked a collage of new discussions and topics of exploration.  Barry East, their Marketing Director presented an account of the way they had successfully used SCRUM not only in their technical teams and processes but all the way through to their approach to management of clients, client requests, and product management.  The astonishing extent of the adoption of the SCRUM concepts at Impro was appreciated by us all, along with the dramatic benefits being experienced specifically at a product and client request management level.

The Impro world is comprised of and complicated by the inseparable technologies of software development, embedded coding, and hardware requirements for the extensive access control systems which they produce.  Their product is a retail product with numerous international clients, with custom needs and requirements.   This presents a range of challenges for them in the way of achieving scrum team cross-skilling and collaboration, product release processes and change management to name but a few.   Barry very clearly showcased the benefits already being felt in their teams and business as a whole following the implementation of the scrum methodologies and by utilizing its principles widely across their operations.

The resounding and quite thought provoking message delivered was that great benefits can be gained by an organization as a whole, from technical teams right through to broader business areas, by fully embracing and following the scrum methodologies throughout.  This was most inspiring.

Applause, this time with real gusto.

I think the Impro case study is one that we will all continue to watch with great interest and delve into when invited.  It holds many fascinating dimensions from which I think we can all learn a great deal.

Our next event on September 15^th will have Agrista and SQS showcasing their Agile journeys and approaches.  So bring your curiosity, your charisma and a your ever-open mind for another rather scintillating evening of invigorating discussions

Again, I thank this fabulous user group for making our events as powerful and thoroughly enjoyable as they are, and I look forward to a repeat performance at our next event where our next set of showcases looks set to take us into an even greater array of fresh Agile perspectives.

Disburse forth into the world quietly and orderly yet with ceaselessly demonstrable agility.

Touché.