Here is a list of whitepapers available for download. See also this list for other titles.
EVM and Agile Processes – an investigation of applicability and benefits
Abstract: Earned Value Management (EVM) is a technique for understanding the degree to which a project is following a plan. A prerequisite for EVM as traditionally applied is therefore a stable baseline plan with a fixed scope. Agile processes for software development by contrast are designed to be responsive to a changing environment and enable discovery of requirements through their lifecycle. Agile plans are rarely stable or of fixed scope. However both approaches share the goal of producing plans that provide stakeholders with immediate feedback on the daily progress of projects and they share common needs in understanding and reporting progress and productivity. In addition the fact that agile processes map requirements to plannable tasks means that requirements may change without invalidating the baseline for progress reporting. This paper reports on work to develop tool support based on the xProcess process and planning product to apply EVM to agile processes. It shows how the metrics for schedule and cost efficiency can be modified for compatibility with agile approaches, and how they help effective management of agile projects, particularly when supplemented with tool support for project forecasting and monitoring.
Published at: 2nd Earned Value Management Conference 12 March 2008. Download now.
Priority-Driven Processes
Abstract: By defining the processes behind its common project types, an organization can improve productivity, quality and compliance with its best practices. However not all processes are created equal, and imposing rigid or inappropriate processes will be wasteful and counter-productive. Processes which schedule activities by evaluating which activity provides the greatest payback soonest are known as priority-driven processes. They use the priority of the deliverables as a key management control, along with the control of resourcing levels, release dates and project scope. This change from more traditional planning methods can improve risk management, efficiency and resource utilization and result in faster deliveries of the key requirements.
This paper, the second part of a two-part discussion, looks at applying the process improvement environment xProcess to projects that use priority-driven processes. It considers how to design processes that use such prioritization alongside the project patterns, task patterns, artifact templates and tailored quality checking procedures that xProcess supports. Its companion paper, Planning By Priority, focuses more especially on tracking and optimizing live projects with xProcess.
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Planning by Priority
Abstract: In today's highly competitive business environment, it is absolutely critical to focus on what is important, versus what is "next on the list" – in other words to plan by priority. Priority-driven processes do exactly that and give you far more accurate forecasting capabilities than traditional project planning approaches.
Projects which plan by priority use the importance and cost of key deliverables to dynamically drive the schedule rather than following predefined activities. So your focus is on what provides the greatest payback soonest. This makes the organization far more responsive to mission-critical opportunities and challenges. Agile software development processes, as well as many other business processes, use such an approach in preference to "waterfall" style project lifecycles. The priority of an activity is the primary driver deciding task order (rather than ordering different types of activity in different phases of the lifecycle). This focus on priorities can lower risk, increase efficiency and optimize resource utilization - resulting in faster deliveries of key requirements.
This paper, the first part of a two-part discussion of priority-driven processes, looks at applying the process improvement environment xProcess to a priority-driven project, and it explores the “how-to’s” in setting up and scheduling a small project. The second part [Process-Driven Processes] considers how to design processes that use prioritization alongside the project patterns, task patterns, artifact templates and tailored quality-checking procedures that the environment supports.
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Managing Processes with Agility and Transparency
Abstract: Dynamic Process Management (DPM) is an approach for improving rapidly changing business processes while ensuring control and auditability of team assignments and process changes. Ivis Technologies has developed xProcess, a process improvement environment that brings flexibility, visibility and control to process management, specifically to support and enhance DPM.
This paper, the first in a series on DPM and xProcess, provides an overview of how DPM enhances agility and transparency within organizations.
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Building Agility into a CMMI-oriented culture - the BT experience
Abstract: This presentation describes how a CMMI-inspired initiative aimed at improving the delivery practices of BT's internal IT unit, BT Exact, helped to underpin a radical push to adopt agile development practices across its major delivery programmes. As BT moves into a new era of agile processes, it is an open question as to whether its formal process experience can provide a “best of both worlds” synthesis, or whether agility will only be achieved at the cost of loss of standardisation and control of its processes. While initial introduction of agile practices has met the inevitable and expected problems of change, there are encouraging signs of improvement and innovation. This leads us to believe that it is not only feasible to achieve agility and control, it is a business imperative to do so.
Published at: SEPG Europe Conference 2005 Download now