DevOps in the Spotlight

W07 Scrum Under a Waterfall

04/01/2020

9:30am - 10:45am

Level: Advanced

Benjamin Day

Author, Trainer, Developer

It would be so easy if everyone at our companies just used Scrum -- or at least Agile. No one would lean on the team for dates and deadlines, and everyone would know that change is a good thing. It'd be one great big happy project management family. But let's face it -- an all-Agile organization isn't always possible. Maybe you have a Project Management Office (PMO). Maybe you work for a government contractor. Maybe you have regulatory requirements. Maybe you're the first Scrum/Agile project at your company. Maybe your company simply *likes* it this way. Whatever the reason, Agile teams frequently report into Waterfall organizations.

Your team thinks "backlog" and your bosses think "project plan." How do you make it work? How do you ensure communication and foster trust between the two groups? How do you bridge the project management impedance mismatch? You need to find a way get everybody to ‘play nice' so they can do their jobs.

In this session, we'll drill into the details of the project management impedance mismatch and talk about strategies to improve communication and delivery when you need to make Agile work inside a Waterfall-centric organization.

You will learn:

  • Similarities and differences between Waterfall and Scrum/Agile?
  • How to bridge the divide between the two project management styles and cultures?
  • What anti-patterns should you look out for? What tools can help you?