Transitioning to Scrum Framework
with Distributed/Offshore Teams
Mark Bullock
August 16, 2012
About Cobalt, ADP Dealer Services
Sales lead generation, vetting, aggregation
Display and Search Engine Advertising
Dealer and Dealer Locator Websites
Vehicle import/export/editing, Reference Data
Professional Services
Owner Marketing
Business Intelligence
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About Core Products
Mobile & desktop web applications
services, integrations
WebLogic Server, Tomcat on Linux
Java, JSP, JavaScript, HTML, some Perl
7 locales
Users are consumers, dealerships, support, OEMs
Big monthly release, weekly releases
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About You
Who uses Scrum Framework?
Who uses another agile process?
Who works with distributed teams?
Who works with offshore teams? Where?
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Why Transition?
Sept 2004 SASQAG panel discussion
– “Only good for toy projects”
RUP with one-month iterations
– Struggles with big projects, one failed project
Executive from aQuantive
– Risk of failure & late delivery is lower
– Quality is higher because deliveries are smaller
– Team self-esteem higher due to frequent deliveries
– Collaboration of team and product owners, time from idea to
implementation
Developers more responsible for quality
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Scrum Framework Primer
User Stories
As a <user> I want to <action> so I can <business
value>
Acceptance Criteria
GIVEN <initial conditions> AND <action> THEN
<expected results>
Tasks
Product Backlog Grooming
Sprint Planning
Daily Scrum – make commitments
Demo
Retrospective
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The Transition
Scrum Framework + Test Driven Development
2009
Began with one team
Seattle & Bangalore
Consultant joined meetings
One week sprint to go through the process many
times
Rolled out to more teams
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Initial Transition Challenges
Stories too big
Defects in demos
Not writing many unit tests
Automated acceptance tests are testing business
logic
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What Does QA Staff Do?
Scrum Master
User Stories
Acceptance Criteria - specific, good/bad/ugly
Write/review automated tests unit, integration,
acceptance
Test – manual exploratory, browser
Bug Reports – write, verify, troubleshoot
Experts on testing – database, cache, rollouts,
usability
Help out with anything – coding, database
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Tools for Scrum and Continuous Delivery
Google Docs, Jira for managing product backlog,
sprints
Confluence for docs, procedures
Code Collaborator
Anthill – builds, automated test suites
Junit
WebDriver
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Scrum + TDD Successes
smaller teams with focus can produce a lot
incremental improvements / no big failures
Automated tests find defects
Production P1 defect rates have trended down
Product managers like to see progress, glad to not
write big product requirement documents, more
flexibility to change team priorities
16 teams with people in FL, TX, OR, and Pune in
addition to Seattle and Bangalore. One team trying
Scrumban where you pull stories along. Two teams
have no dedicated QA/QC staff.
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Scrum Challenges
Retrospectives ineffective
Rush to finish stories
Technical debt
Automation
– few integration tests
– false failures, reliability, slow
– JavaScript
Manage all work in Scrum
(e.g. database, customer rollout, infrastructure)
TDD - do people really write tests first?
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Offshore Partnership
Everyone does the same work
Ability to solve problems in-country (IT, CM, Release)
Hiring
Deployments
One week sprints so team works with product
manager frequently
Recorded training videos
Communicate every way possible - email, chat,
phone, conference call, video conference
Managers regularly meet or attend scrum meetings
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Offshore Successes
cost savings
ability to add staff
India staff can deploy or do maintenance at night
round the clock work
Scrum with one-week sprints increases interaction
with product managers
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Offshore Challenges
time difference US vs. India requires commitment
infrastructure
email crossing the ocean
directives vs. partnership
relationships require travel in both directions
need to build confidence so offshore staff can make
decisions
code review back and forth
Fear of layoffs
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References
Scrum DZone Refcardz by Michael James
http://tinyurl.com/dkyqjs
Agile Software Development with Scrum by
Schwaber, Beedle (colors book)
Agile Testing by Crispin and Gregory
Test Automation Pyramid by Mike Cohn
http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/the-forgottenlayer-of-the-test-automation-pyramid
Switch: by Heath & Heath
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Thank You
• Cobalt is hiring in Seattle and Lynnwood
http://www.cobalt.com/careers/
• Developer
• Project manager, product manager, data scientist
• SEO specialist
• Web builder, Web content specialist
• IT
• Sales, marketing, payroll
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