Embedding Agile Practices into a Plan-Driven Project Lifecycle

Description

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and its clients have historically used a structured, plan-driven approach to provide continuity, direction, and control to large, multi-year programs. Projects within these programs vary greatly in size, complexity, level of maturity, technical risk, and clarity.

On a recent program one of our client’s employed hierarchical requirements methodologies for technology development projects that had complex interfaces and tight project schedules. Frequent end-to-end product demonstrations were necessary throughout the system development process. In response Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) incorporated Agile engineering practices into the plan-driven project lifecycle. The Agile principle of delivering frequent, interim, and functioning products throughout the project’s lifecycle was a perfect fit for this project.

In this session, we will describe how we used Agile practices on a large development project for a command and control system. Learn how the project team benefited from both the plan-driven project execution and the rapid prototyping, integration, and client feedback made possible with the implementation of Agile practices. We will conclude with a review of the tools and mechanisms used to transition between each methodology.

Presented by Dan Johnson, Agile Scrum Master/Project Manager, Battelle (PNNL) Dave Millard, Senior Project Manager, Battelle (DOD and DOE) & Cara Rawlings, Technical Marketing Specialist, 321 Gang, Inc.