Transitioning with Agile – Ever tried it ??

Most of us are experiencing the adoption of agile in some form or the other in our organizations. While development, testing and infra projects are adopting agile ways of working, there are questions on whether “agile” is fit to be adopted in other areas like for example – a transition project. A transition project is one that intends to transfer knowledge from vendor to another. Typically this is done in a traditional waterfall method. There are deadlines defined with a communication plan as well. But the question is, can such projects operate in “agile” mode?

Before we answer this question, let us first list down the key activities that are planned for a transition project-
1. Define scope of engagement
2. Identify the teams that will provide information and specifications
3. Identify artifacts to be documented
4. Setup a transition team
5. Define escalation matrix
6. Define duration / timelines (which is normally ranges from 3-6 months based on the volume and scope)
7. Plan for parallel runs 
8. Setup approving authority
9. Understand the product / application
10. Plan for moving into steady state

These activities generally run in a waterfall mode and end up with challenges and road blocks. So, is there a possibility to run such a project in an agile fashion – address road blocks quickly, provide visibility to the process? Let us find an answer to this question. But before that …. try answering the following questions –

a. Can we setup a transparent communications plan that is less formal and continuous instead of a rigid formal plan?
b. Can the concerned teams plan for a daily stand up call (not more than 15 mins) instead of formal weekly calls?
c. Can a dashboard be setup for everybody to view and track transition status instead of Excel spread sheets?
d. Can the escalation process be streamlined, like non-availability of incumbent vendor, delay in any knowledge transfer of documentation, etc, can these be highlighted and alerted to the senior management that can provide help to the transition project team instead of emails?
e. Can knowledge transfer confirmation be done in regular intervals instead of planning it towards the end?

The above questions intend to verify whether traditional ways of working can be modernized, in our IT world we call it “agile adoption“. If your answer to most of the questions stated above is ‘YES’ then you have the answer to my initial question that was – whether transition projects be agile? Agile as a concept is all about how teams work towards a common goal, have visibility to the project status, review the feedback regularly and eliminate road blocks – irrespective of the fact whether this is a transition project and not a development project. Agile practices provide a light weight mechanism for transition activities hence keep it simple and effective.

Have you tried agile for any of your transition projects? Do share in your experiences.

And yes keep looking this space for the next edition on examples to leverage agile methods in a transition project.