To achieve the desired result on time and on budget for our clients, Spruce Technology uses a hybrid version of Agile and Waterfall methodologies. Scrum—the Agile development framework for developing and sustaining medium to complex products—provides for heavy collaboration and client stakeholder involvement. Spruce Technology’s hybrid approach provides clients with the benefits of Scrum (iterative development and active stakeholder involvement), coupled with the careful and in-depth planning involved in the waterfall technique.

Spruce Technology’s hybrid methodology is based on a set of principles for software development that emphasizes:

 

• Frequent delivery of product increments

• Iterative time boxes

• Active communication and collaboration

• Working software as a measure of progress

• Adaptive planning

• Daily stand-ups

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1: Spruce Technology Project Management Methodology

 

Spruce Technology divides projects into two phases: the planning phase and the execution phase. The planning phase focuses on requirements management. The execution phase comprises iterative development with integrated testing and incremental release of completed functionality. Project Communications Management and Change Configuration Management are integrated throughout the life of the project. Each individual activity will provides the client with deliverables that become the input for the subsequent activity. To manage deliverables and artifacts generated from the project and to aid in communication, Spruce Technology sets up a Project Management team website on SharePoint 2013. If the client uses another product to account for this, Spruce Technology uses the currently installed product.

 

Sprint Planning

 

The process begins with Sprint Planning. During this iteration, the client’s stakeholders and select members of Spruce Technology’s project team develop an overall vision for the product. They detail and prioritize the business needs the application must meet. The sum total of these activities is captured in a set of key project artifacts, which serve as the starting point for planning the overall project. Based on this initial backlog and with input from the development team, the Project Manager creates an overall project management plan and updated project schedule outlining the general course of development including reviewing requirements defined by the client. Overall system definitions are performed to form a detailed product backlog set. The number of sprint iterations is finalized during Sprint Planning as well. Following this, the process assumes an active Scrum framework.

 

From this point onward, a product backlog is selected to complete the sprint iteration. Each product backlog will contain a list of features, functionality, and technology items. This information is captured in the form of detailed functional requirements and detailed user stories to cover the functionality of a sprint. The items are listed in prioritized order and this priority is established by the client’ stakeholders. Usually one client stakeholder is defined as the product owner.

 

During Sprint Definition, the product owner is on call while the Spruce Technology project team decomposes the backlog items into tasks with effort estimates. This may lead to updates to the project schedule. The team builds a sprint backlog from those tasks.

 

In essence, the sprint backlog guides the project team’s end-to-end development efforts during the sprint. The sprint backlog is a clear definition of tasks for the upcoming sprint. It includes visuals or prototypes to depict the expected functionality to be delivered at the end of the sprint. It also contains test plans and scripts to guide the quality assurance (QA) and user acceptance testing (UAT) activities during the sprint. 

 

Sprint Execution

 

During each project iteration (or Sprint), the team undertakes all the phases and activities associated with the systems development lifecycle (i.e., Analysis/Backlog Review, Design, Implementation, Test, Integration and Deployment). The team applies these SDLC phases to a subset of the features and functions of the entire system. The features and functions are prioritized based on their business value and the judgment of the client’s stakeholders. The goal is to align development activities with the larger product vision within the client organization.

 

The sprint cycle, while it can be typically completed in a few days, has a maximum duration of 1 month. This duration is in line with the adapted nature of Scrum that the Spruce Technology project team uses. Daily scrum meetings between the project development team are held to discuss tasks, owners of tasks, potential problems with executions, the watch list for bugs and conflicts, as well as expectations for the following day. These stand-up meetings do not exceed 15-30 minutes.

 

At the end of each sprint, a new functional component of the application will be delivered. This functionality must be tested, reviewed and accepted prior to adding it to the build log. On the last day of every sprint, the Spruce Technology project team conducts a sprint review and retrospective to go over the sprint’s deliverables. This allows the project team to identify and incorporate any necessary changes for the next sprint. Meeting attendees include the development team, client stakeholders, and any additional stakeholders as decided by client management. The team demonstrates the functionality provided in the increment and solicits feedback. All lessons learned and best practice ideas are adopted for the remaining sprints in an effort for continuous improvement.

 

The Project Manager acts as Scrum Manager and ensure the project schedule is updated and all relevant project artifacts are updated based on the actions performed during a sprint. The project manager is also responsible for updating the project team site lists. Finally, changes within sprints are addressed as part of the daily meetings. Authorized changes are added to the product log and related artifacts are modified. All changes are logged to the project management team site for traceability and review.

 

Change/Configuration Management

 

Continuously throughout the project, steps are taken to identify and manage the impact of change on business practices. Spruce Technology’s hybrid methodology includes an effective change/configuration management process. In an Agile process, requirements are typically baselined at a high level and the key assumption is that the requirements change. Spruce Technology’s methodology mitigates this risk of change through careful sprint planning activities. That being said, change and configuration management activity is part of sprint planning and sprint execution. The process is controlled using change management templates that are defined and provided to the client at the start of the project. Once reviewed and approved by the client, they become a key project artifact to be used throughout the project. The following diagram represents the Spruce Technology change management process.