For a PRINCE2 project it is recommended that Suitability of Agile is assessed throughout the project life (In agile terms mostly during retrospectives).
Most of the time the project situations are different affecting usage or working of Agile. Like the level of uncertainty involved or technology used or trust between the stakeholders.
To assess the agile environment in order to tailor PRINCE2 in the most effective way to work with agile, PRINCE2 Agile guidance suggests using an assessment tool called “Agilometer”. Use of Agilometer helps you make an informed decision.
The Agilometer looks at six key areas or categories indicating risk areas using agile. The project manager is responsible for figuring out what values should be given to each category after consulting the required stakeholders. Each category is represented on the Agilometer figure by a slider. These Key areas are as follows:
- Flexibility on what is delivered
- Level of collaboration
- Ease of communication
- Ability to work iteratively and deliver incrementally
- Advantageous environmental conditions
- Acceptance of Agile
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How should Agilometer be used to assess the suitability agile environment of the project?
The project manager with the help from the project team and its stakeholders should consider each Category separately. Each Category is assessed on a Scale of 1 to 5 or Low to High. A low level (1) in the Agilometer represents a high risk, while the highest level (5) represents the lowest risk. If you assess the Slider Category at Level 5, then it is the most ideal situation to apply Agile way of working.
After using the Agilometer PM creates an assessment. Next step after the assessment is to review and see what can be done to improve the sliders and shift them further to the right. i.e. Towards Level 5 or High.
What You Can Expect from Agilometer:
1. Flexibility of what is delivered
Customers Need to understand that not everything can be delivered. So many times there is a need for training and education. Also prioritization methods Like MoSCoW will be used to decide which Requirement ore needs are must and which probably are not needed at all.
2. Level of collaboration
The purpose of this slider is to investigate reasons why people may be reluctant to collaborate. This applies to the development team, as well as customer and supplier relationships. Having Slider at level 5 indicates that there is “One Team” culture and High levels of trust exist.
3. Ease of communication
Agile suggests that more informal communication. The environment is said to be ‘communication rich’ if there is a lot of face-to-face interaction and visual information is readily available for all its stakeholders.
So Check here how you communicate. It is recommended that face-to-face communication. Also Formal communication and reporting kept to limited.
4. Ability to work consistently and deliver incrementally
Value has to be delivered to customers early or in incremental steps or stages. Incremental or Step deliveries provide great opportunities for learning and improvement and also to experiment, explore from any mistakes. Check how you are delivering this Value to customers incrementally.
5. Advantageous environmental conditions
The overall working environment should be very supportive of working in an agile way. Typically, an ideal situation is where people are assigned full-time to work on the project and their skills should be appropriate. Check all you environmental parameters here.
6. Acceptance of agile
Stakeholders involved in the project also need to have a good understanding of agile way of working. They should be fully aware of the behaviours, concepts and techniques of working in an agile way. They have been trained and have experience in agile would be advantageous.