Mastering Agile Business Management

Learn to how to blend Agile and traditional project management to

make Agile work for your business

Example Case Study

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 Example Case Study

© 2014-2019 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 2

In this lecture we’re going to discuss a case study involving General Dynamics, UK which is a
great example of applying a Hybrid Agile Project Management approach to a fixed price
government contract.

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Background – General Dynamics, UK
(Provided by Nigel Edwards)

Background:

General Dynamics UK Limited is a leading prime contractor and complex

systems integrator

Projects have to work within two key constraints, time and cost

Project used a hybrid Agile methodology based on DSDM (Dynamic Systems

Development Method)

© 2014-2019 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 3

First, here is some background. General Dynamics UK Limited is a leading prime contractor
and complex systems integrator working in partnership with government, military and civil
forces, and private companies around the world.
Due to the nature of the government contracting environment that General Dynamics, UK has
to operate in, projects have to work within two key constraints, time and cost, where other
Agile methods don’t always have those constraints. This case study illustrates how a company
can successfully develop a hybrid Agile approach that blends together elements of a plan-
driven approach for managing time and cost constraints and still provide flexibility to their
customers
The project used the DSDM (Dynamic Systems Development Method) framework which is a
hybrid, project-level Agile framework used primarily outside of the US to successfully deliver
the Combat Identification Server (CIdS) Technology Demonstrator Project (TDP) for the
Ministry of Defense (MOD) in the United Kingdom. The objective of the project was to help
clear “the fog of war” by providing a picture of the position of nearby friendly forces on the
ground in the cockpit of an aircraft.

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Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)

The feature content of the

solution is fixed while time and Fixes time, cost, and quality at the
cost are subject to variation. foundations phase while contingency
“If the project goes off track, more resources are often is managed by varying the features
added or the delivery date is extended. to be delivered
Quality is often a casualty and also becomes a variable,
accompanied by late delivery and increased cost.
© 2014-2019 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 4

This diagram shows a high-level summary of how the DSDM framework is structured.

“In the traditional approach to project management shown in the left-hand diagram, the feature
content of the solution is fixed while time and cost are subject to variation.

“If the project goes off track, more resources are often added or the delivery date is extended.
However, adding resources to a late project often just makes it later. A missed deadline can be
disastrous from a business perspective and could easily damage credibility. Quality is often a
casualty and also becomes a variable, accompanied by late delivery and increased cost.

DSDM Atern’s approach to project management shown in the right-hand diagram fixes time,
cost, and quality at the Foundations phase while contingency is managed by varying the features
to be delivered. As and when contingency is required, lower priority features are dropped or
deferred with the agreement of all stakeholders in accordance with MoSCoW rules.” MoSCoW is
a requirements prioritization approach that we will discuss later in this lecture.

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DSDM Principles

Focus on the business need

Deliver on time

Collaborate

Never compromise quality

© 2014-2019 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 5

Here’s a summary of the principles behind DSDM:

1. Focus on the Business Need - Understand the true business priorities and establish a sound business
case. Then Seek continuous business sponsorship and commitment and guarantee the minimum
usable subset (of features)

2. Deliver on Time

Time-box the work, Focus on business priorities, Always hit deadlines

3. Collaborate

Involve the right stakeholders, at the right time, throughout the project

Ensure that members of the team are empowered to make decisions on behalf of those they
represent

4. Never Compromise Quality

Set the level of quality at the outset and ensure that quality does not become a variable

Design, document, and test appropriately and Build in quality by constant review and test early
and continuously

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DSDM Principles (cont.)

Build incrementally from firm foundations

Develop iteratively

Communicate continuously and clearly

Demonstrate control

© 2014-2019 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 6

5. Build Incrementally from Firm Foundations

– Strive for early delivery of business benefit where possible and continually confirm
the correct solution is being built
– Formally reassess priorities and ongoing project viability with each delivered
increment
6. Develop Iteratively
– Do enough design up front to create strong foundations and take an iterative
approach to building products
– Build customer feedback into each iteration and accept that most detail emerges
later rather than sooner
7. Communicate Continuously and Clearly
– Run daily team stand-up sessions and Use rich communications techniques such as
modeling and prototyping
– Present instances of the evolving solution early and often and Keep documentation
lean and timely
– Manage stakeholder expectations throughout the project and Encourage informal,
face-to-face communications at all levels
8. Demonstrate Control
– Use an appropriate level of formality for tracking and reporting
– Make plans and progress visible to all
– Measure progress through focus on delivery of products rather than completed
activities
– Manage proactively and Evaluate continuing project viability based on the business
objectives

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MoSCoW Prioritization

M • Must have

S • Should have

C • Could have

W • Won’t have

© 2014-2019 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 7

This slide shows a description of the MoSCoW approach for requirements prioritization. The
different levels of priority include:

Must have – These provide the Minimum Usable SubseT (MUST) of requirements that the
project guarantees to deliver.

Should have

A “Should Have” may be differentiated from a “Could Have” by reviewing the degree of pain
caused by it not being met, in terms of business value or numbers of people affected.

Could have

Wanted or desirable but less important

Less impact if left out (compared with a Should Have)

Won’t have

These are requirements the project team has agreed it will not deliver.

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Key Success Factors – General Dynamics, UK
(Provided by Nigel Edwards)

Relationships, professionalism, and transparency

Coaching and mentoring

Teamwork, conflict management, and risk

management

Prioritization and “pruning” of requirements

© 2014-2019 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 8

Some of the key success factors for this effort were:

• Developing a relationship that is based on a spirit of trust and partnership with the client was
essential to create a win/win environment for both

• Coaching and mentoring of everyone on the team was also essential to implement the
approach

• It also required strong teamwork, conflict management, and risk management

• Finally, prioritization of requirements was essential in order to stay within the fixed-price
goals of the project. That forced making some tradeoffs to give up some functionality when
required to stay within the contract budget

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Results – General Dynamics, UK
(Provided by Nigel Edwards)

Collaborative approach to contract management was a big win

More efficient project management approach

Very successful project and highly satisfied customer

© 2014-2019 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 9

The project was very successful and the collaborative approach was a big win. In the US, the
Defense Department is now mandating Agile for many contracts; however, it naturally needs to
be a hybrid approach to combine some level of traditional plan-driven project management to
meet cost and schedule constraints with an Agile development approach

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 NEXT LECTURE…
SCALING AGILE TO AN
ENTERPRISE LEVEL PART 1

© 2014-2019 High Impact Project Management, Inc. 10

In the next section of the course we’re going to talk about Enterprise-level Agile Project
Management Topics and the first lesson in that section is on Scaling Agile to an Enterprise Level.

Thanks for taking the time to do this lecture and I’ll look forward to working with you in the rest
of the course.

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