Validation and Verification -- in Agile? Really?

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Validation and Verification: traditionalists know these ideas well. Do they still have relevance in the Agile space?

My opinion: Yes!

Traditional V-and-V: the way it is

Traditional projects rely on validation and verification (V-and-V) for end-to-end auditing of requirements:

• Validation: the requirements ‘deck’ is validated for completeness and accuracy.
  
  If there are priorities expressed within the deck, these priorities are also validated since priorities affect resource utilization, sequencing, and schedule.
  
  
• Verification: After integration testing, the deck is verified to ensure that every validated requirement was developed and integrated into the deliverable baseline; or that changed/deleted requirements were handled as intended.

Agile: what's to verify; what's to validate?

The BIG QUESTION: Is the strategic intent of the narrative answered? Is the business case on a path to success?

After all, the grand bargain in Agile is that flexibility for tactical implementation is allowed insofar as there is faithfulness to the strategic intent. Tactics are fluid; strategy is not.

Agile V-and-V: the way to do it

Certainly, Agile projects are less amenable to the conventional V-and-V processes because of the dynamic and less stationary nature of requirements.

• Validation: After the business case is set, the top-level narrative is in place, and the overall strategy of the project is framed, some structured analysis can occur on the top level requirements.
  
• If there are priorities expressed within these business case requirements, these priorities are also validated
• Conversational-style requirements -- aka, stories -- are also validated, typically after the project backlog or iteration backlog is updated.
  
• Verification: After integration testing, the deliverable functionality is verified to ensure that every validated conversation was developed and integrated into the deliverable baseline; or that changed/deleted conversations were handled as intended.
  
• During development, expect some consolidation of stories, and expect some use (or reuse) of common functionality.
  
  Thus, recognize that Agile may not maintain a fully traceable identify from the time a conversation is moved into the design and development queue to the time integration testing is completed. However, the spirit of the conversation should be there is some form. It’s to those conversational forms that verification is directed.

The last thing to do is circle back to the narrative: Is the big question verified? If so: victory!
If not, back to the sponsor for guidance and direction

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What time is the 3pm meeting?

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Have you ever been asked: "What time is the 3 pm meeting?" 
You're thinking: "This guy is on something; or he's texting while talking!"


We here in the backyard of the seemingly larger-than-life Walt Disney World* pay some attention to the management paradigms coming out of our corporate neighbor.

And, so the Disney response to that question is instructive, as given in this blog post from the Disney Institute, which I sum up as:

'Any interaction provides an opportunity to add value and improve quality of communications'

“What time is the 3 o’clock parade?” On any given day in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort, you might hear Guests asking our Cast Members this seemingly peculiar question. And, while the question appears to have an obvious answer, we also know that frequently the true question lies beyond the obvious.

As our Guests are often excited and distracted ..... So, Cast Members will ask some additional questions to uncover what it is that the Guest really wants to know…such as, “What time will the parade get to me?” “When should I start waiting to get a good viewing spot?” and “Where is the best place to stand?”

Instead of simply repeating the obvious answer—the actual parade start time—back to the Guest, our Cast Members take this opportunity to .... share with the Guest what time the parade will pass by certain locations in the park, offer possible vantage points to view the parade or advise when to leave another area and still arrive at the parade on time.

This is important, because rather than dismissing the “3 o’clock parade?” question as something trivial and offering a blunt response, Cast Members understand that it offers the opportunity to exceed the Guests’ expectations ...... 
.... the “3 o’clock parade” question is commonly used to help Cast Members understand that their answer can either end the conversation, or it can begin a quest for richer discovery.
....

*Did I mention:7 parks, 29 hotels on property, 40,000 acres, and tens of thousands of "cast members
And, I am an un-paid volunteer for Disney Sports Attractions

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Program success dashboard

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Looking for project dashboard that really provides insight at a glance?

This one from John Higbee might be the answer

If you've not a Higbee person, maybe you've not seen it. Take a look at John Higbee's presentation about "Program Success Probability" . (*)

Take notice of the neat arrangement of program success divided left and right by internal and external factors.

On page 5 of Higbee's slides, you'll find this image:

Dynamic colors
This presentation is intended as a dashboard. The colors are dynamic on a Red-Green-Yellow-Gray (not evaluated) scale. The scale has to be defined (calibrated) for each program in order for management to be able to get a proper take-away.

Trendy
Trends are shown in each block with arrows. Again, trends must be defined for each program, i.e. what is the meaning for an up-pointing arrow?

Of course, Higbee goes on in the presentation with more detail and more examples of dashboard presentations, for example the more-or-less standard presentation of sliding bars to show progress vs plan

For the Gov in all of us
Since this presentation is for a government audience, it includes dashboards for contractor performance and even contractor business success

Bottom line: an interesting suggestion for dashboards are in this presentation, along with at least one gov'y's idea of what's important.

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(*) Search this site for other Higbee presentations; you'll find others you might be interested in.

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Quantum science projects

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“God does not play dice with the universe.”
― Albert Einstein, The Born-Einstein Letters 1916-55

“So Einstein was wrong when he said, "God does not play dice." Consideration of black holes suggests, not only that God does play dice, but that he sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can't be seen.”
― Stephen Hawking

Science and engineering projects
If you line up with Hawking, and are looking for a start in the quantum world, read this:

GAITHERSBURG, Md.—The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has signed a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with SRI International to lead a consortium focused on quantum science and engineering. SRI International is a nonprofit, independent R&D center headquartered in Menlo Park, California.

Read More

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Bad Haircut

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The bad haircut 
What do you say when your colleague comes in with a bad haircut? (*)
Jump on it? Criticize it?
Threaten abuse?
Probably none of the above; probably you ignore it or make some civil remark

The bad idea 
What if the same person comes in with a bad idea? Now what?
Probably you can't ignore it, but your commentary can be civil, inquiring, benefit of the doubt and all that (Speak softly and carry a big stick ... our guy Roosevelt; and look at what he accomplished)

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(*) 2018 season opening episode of "Blue Bloods"

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Communications v content

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"The New York Herald pointed out [that] the telegraph appeared to make it possible for the whole nation to have the same idea at the same moment. .... Henry David Thoreau raised an eyebrow: "We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate"

The New York Times

Nothing important to communicate? Then why is everyone staring at their screens all the time? Could it be simple addiction to having the same idea at the same moment as everyone else?

 

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Situating reslience

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"Scholars ... have situated resilience, the ability to sustain ambition in the face of frustration, at the heart of ... leadership growth. Why some people are able to extract wisdom from experience, others not, remains a critical question"

Doris Kearns Goodwin, Historian

"Leadership in Turbulent Times"

In another venue, we might say some people are naturally street smart, while others have seen it all -- but can't make anything of it.

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Physics v Engineering

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The physicist ... is an expert in matter, motion, and energy, and has one simple task: to take energy from here and put it over there. [And] we have the engineer, who makes all things possible ....

Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist

Ooops, did the eminence of astrophysics forget project managers?

• Physicists may indeed move the energy ... who can forget "the bomb"?
• And, the engineers may make it all possible, as indeed they did re "the bomb", 
• But without the PMO there would be no money, no resources, no milestones to align the dots, and thus: no project! 

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Run to the challenge

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In the last posting, it was about heavy tails .... if it doesn't happen about now it grows less likely it will happen at all.

But, what if it does happen, all good management to the contrary? It could, you know.

 

Manage the consequences

• As part of the management group you have to "run to the challenge", sort of a first-responder paradigm, but with much less bodily risk.
• Gather yourself and assemble the pieces. Now what? You need the go-forward version of Plan B
  (Plan A is always "do nothing", just accept the circumstances) 

 Fight, fight, fight

• Here's a thought: you might have to shift into the "fight mode", more aggressively managing consequences than you did the lead-up to the present circumstances.

Sunk cost

• Whatever you "paid" so far, it's sunk and not retrievable -- unless insured. 
• The cost of getting to the present situation should have no bearing on the cost and practicality of Plan B, or whether or not Plan B is even warranted. 
• In other words, the cost of the fight should be valued only by the possible value of what could be obtained, not what has been sunk.

Cheer up! It could get better 😃

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Is your tail heavy?

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'Is your tail heavy' is the question raised at 'critical uncertainties' in a recent post.
It might be if you are a risk with some "memory" of the immediate past.

Risk with memory? What does that mean?

• The immediate past influences the immediate future
• The probability of the arrival of an outcome is not time-stationary: as time passes, the probabilities change
• The distribution of the arrival time of an outcome is "heavy tailed", meaning that (usually) with more time: if it hasn't happened it probably won't happen  

In the posting (above), an example is the expected arrival of an email: Near term, it's expected. But, if doesn't get here soon, it may not get here at all

Project consequences:

• Simple assumptions, like symmetrical bell curves, are unlikely to give a good picture of when a risky outcome may happen
• Testing for an unlikely outcome may be easier and more economical than you might think: run a few tests; if it doesn't fail soon (infant mortality) it likely won't for a long while. 
• Early on, consumer electronics exhibited such behavior. (If you could make it a few days, you were likely to make it a few years) 

Who knew 

Who knew heavy tails were the cheap way out of expensive testing??!

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