1. business and industrial
2. business operations
3. management
4. project management

AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
Agile Risk Analysis & Management
AGRAM: a traceable risk approach without overloading Scrum
Egbert Bouman
Trondheim Test Conference, april 2015
INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
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About Valori and Egbert Bouman
25 years Testing PLUS
•
Test & Acceptance
•
Test Tool Services
•
Business Analysis &
Requirements
•
Author SmarTEST
High Performance
Maintenance
The Netherlands
Top-200 customers
150 professionals
Practice manager
Test & Acceptance
INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
In 2014, we started with a mission:
Bring risk analysis
and –management
to Scrum,
without making
Scrum heavier
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How the approach evolved
Developed in 2014
• Valori experts & customer think tank
• Improved after workshop pilots (TestNet, …)
Sticking to existing Scrum practices
• Scrum guide (www.scrumguides.org)
• Widely accepted practices (Spikes, HIP, DoR, DoS)
Baptized AGRAM
• AGile Risk Analysis & Management
• Add just ‘a gram’  to the agile process (i.e. Scrum)
INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
Let’s talk risks now
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Risks are weird
creatures
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(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
Looking at risks makes them evaporate
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Risks are fun
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
(almost) every risk
is manageable
Risk analysis is a risk in itself
How to
implement
‘just enough’
risk process ??
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
Project- and product risks
Our scope
today!
Risk management
Analysis & mitigation
Project risks
Product risks
Planning, progress, budget,
politics, people issues, etc.
For the end result,
when the project is finished.
Project managers &
scrum masters stuff
Product owners, business
users & testers stuff
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Scrum in a nutshell
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(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
Scrum in a nutshell (2)
Features, Epics,
Theme’s, ...
User stories with
acceptance criteria
Spikes, bugs
DoS
Product
owner
DoD
DoR
HIP sprints
Scaling Agile: all levels in your organisation
Demo
(Sprint Review)
Retro
spective
Improvement
backlog
From an agile forum
I take this very
serious,
because risk
management
may be waste
INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
A bit less extreme…
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How explicit must it be?
Scrum: risk management is implicit
• Scrum caters for timely risk elimination
• Even if you don’t talk risks
Do we need a more explicit process?
• Scrumdamentalists: no!
• We: sometimes no, often yes, but just enough!
INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
Why explicit ?
Auditability &
Compliance
• Internal and external auditors
• Require a traceable risk approach
People around
you expect it
• They stick to (old school?!) processes
• PRINCE2, MSP, PMBOK
No risk,
no test
• Testers don’t move without risks.
• And rightly so!
Stakeholders taken
seriously
• Their ‘risk appetite’ should be leading
• ‘Your nightmare is our care’
Because it makes
you more complete
• Against tunnel vision and group think
• Risks = pessimists requirements
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So, let’s Scrum!
Let’s assume that we:
•have serious risks
•want to address them in Scrum
•want it explicit & traceable
•want to add ‘just a gram’ to Scrum
INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
Case: SmartACCEPT 4.3
A real project with real risks!!
I am the product owner
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Case SmartACCEPT: four risks
1. Voice over
• Voice over with video is great, but:
• May introduce technical complications
2. Back-up &
restore
• May be insufficient
• Technical and process
3. Simplicity
• The GUI may become too complicated
• User experience erosion
4. Team velocity
• May decrease due to team disturbance
• Because of operational ‘prio 1’ issues
INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
1. Voice over
2. Back-up &
restore
3. Simplicicity
4. Team
Velocity
5 minutes
hands-on!
Take these 4 risks.
What’s your agile risk strategy
for each of these?
Adding ‘just a gram’ to the
Scrum process.
Talk with your
neighbour and decide!
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AGRAM four risk types strategy
1. Detail product risk
related to one specific
backlog item (or two)
2. General product risk
not related to an existing backlog
item, can be managed in 1 sprint
• Add an acceptance criterion to
the backlog item (user story)
• Raise a spike, risk item, HIP item
or a new user story
3. Long time product risk • Add an item to the
requiring attention for a longer
Definition of Done (or DoR, DoS)
time span & more sprints
4. Project risk
not directly related to
project deliverables
• Raise an Impediment or
Improvement item
AGRAM: Scrum empowered for explicit risk mitigation
INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
Use product and sprint backlog!
Manage risks in
the backlog
• As part of a user story or epic
• … as a spike
or
• … as an explicit risk item
or
Add failure prob.
as an attribute
• Backlog already has Value
• Add Failure Probability
• Risk = Value * Probability
Keep up-to-date:
Backlog grooming
• AKA backlog refinement, story time
• In sprint review + continuously
• Ken Schwaber: reserve 5% time
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INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
Use product and sprint backlog!
Manage risks in
the backlog
• As part of a user story or epic
• … as a spike
or
• … as an explicit risk item
or
Add failure prob.
as an attribute
• Backlog already has Value
• Add Failure Probability
• Calculate Risk = Value * Probability
Keep up-to-date:
Backlog grooming
• AKA backlog refinement, story time
• In sprint review + continuously
• Ken Schwaber: reserve 5% time
INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
Optional: make a risk list
This is an additional artifact, requiring maintenance.
So think twice: can’t you really do without?
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What’s the deal up to now?
Explicit and traceable risk management
• In an agile / Scrum setting
• And that’s what we were looking for!
For all risk types
• You can map every risk at one of the four types
• Split up composite risks if need be
Without overloading Scrum
• We added ‘just a gram’, one or two things:
• One attribute to the backlog
• If you want: a risk list as a separate ‘artifact’
INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
Can we add more? Yes, we can!
1. Visualisation
2. Out-of-the
box risk trawling
3. Deal with
(too) big risks
Add colour to the
risks and bring
them to live!
Avoid tunnel
vision
If the risks are too
big, what to do?
Sticking to the
teams main focus
point: user stories
Start with an
‘old style’
risk workshop
Scrum helps here
too
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1. Visualisation: Risk Burndown Chart
Source: Agile Body of
Knowledge
(AgileBOK.org)
Not bad, but adds a lot of process
and doesn’t relate to user stories
INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
Better visualisation: Risk plot
Stick to the team’s
main focus point:
user stories
Just fill in a simple
table or link to the
backlog (Excel)
Place near Scrum
Board and make risk
awareness part of
daily stand-up
Story points not part
of risk but separate:
size of bullet.
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Download at
www.smartest.nl
INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
Risk decreases (normally)
Day 1
But something is not real here, what?
Day 12
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2. Risk trawling: wide and focused!
Wide or focused?
• Wide & out-of-the-box: OK, but sometimes vague
• Focused at sprint backlog: OK, but danger of tunnel vision
You need both!
• Addressing blind spots and tunnel vision
• Maintaining user story focus for the agile team
Therefore:
• Start a project (> 1 sprints) with a PRA/PRIMA risk workshop
• In the sprints: manage concrete risks with the 4 AGRAM types
INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
Advantages broad risk analysis
Serious worries taken seriously
• Stakeholders, Product Owner, Scrum team
• More complete & balanced risk perspective
Out-of-the-box
• Not limited to (sprint) backlog
• Better ‘know what you don’t know’
Validation of in-sprint risks
• Use risk matrix to validate/complete
• Reduces group think & tunnel vision
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INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
Broad risk analysis tools
• Always start a project or
series of sprints with a
broad risk analysis.
• Using wide ranging quality
models: IPS, ISO25010
• PRIMA, PRA, taste wheel
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INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
3. If the risks are (too) big
Risks are …
Too big,
irresponsible
Measure
Big, possibly too
big
 Do shorter sprints.
Worst case, you won’t loose 4 weeks but 1 or 2.
 Deploy and test independently in Aenvironment ( ‘above the line’ in the W-model)
Significant, but
manageable
 Take ample time for inspection and demo’s
 Take care for test-expertise in the team
 The independent acceptance test may be faster
Small
 Test smart, but don’t talk risks too much
 Focus on opportunities and velocity
 Kill project / release
 Revise sprint backlog: less risky items
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To wrap it all up
Decide: explicit risk approach needed?
• Risk analysis is is not a goal in itself, avoid waste
Make your risks go with the Scrum flow
• Using the 4 AGRAM risk types
Visualise risks at the Scrum board
• Using the risk plot tool
Avoid tunnel vision
• Always start with an ‘out-of-the-box’ risk analysis
INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
Dont let risks
run free
Respect
Scrum, add
just a gram
Use AGRAM
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INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
Thank you
very much!
egbertbouman@valori.nl
www.valori.nl
www.smartest.nl
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(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
Additional
Slides
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DoD can be specific
From the
‘official’ Scrum
Guide
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(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
SmarTEST W-model (V-model made agile)
Product backlog, Requirements, Risks
IT criteria
PAT
Business &
User needs
Independent
testing
Outside team
How much independent
testing do you need?
I.e. where to draw the line?
In agile team
Design, build
and test
Bottom part fits agile methods
better. Like Scrum, Kanban,
BDD.
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More from the SmarTEST toolkit
Recent vernieuwd
See www.smartest.nl
for more free
downloads
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(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
AGRAM: Agile Risk Analysis & Management
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Remove
stress
Build
confidence
INNOVATION STARTS WITH TESTING
(c) Egbert Bouman, Valori, 2014/2015
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