Gain insights into applying Agile methods in large projects and teams. Explore challenges, best practices, and strategies to secure organizational buy-in for successful implementation.

Agile methods allow us to handle rapidly changing requirements, typical in most software projects. These methods are conventionally used for small teams and software projects. However, in this course, you will learn how to effectively apply Agile methods to large software projects and large teams.

You’ll start with a recap of the Agile Manifesto, followed by a description of the common challenges associated with Agile methods in the context of large software projects. You’ll learn how Agile approaches have been applied to build responsibility. Next, you’ll learn about approaches to apply Agile methods in the processes. You will then learn best practices for applying Agile methods such as software testing, and software architecture. 

This course provides insights into successful and unsuccessful approaches to introducing agility to teams, processes, and technology aspects of large projects. It also teaches strategies to secure organizational buy-in for agility in the context of large projects and teams.

Applying Agile Methods to Large Teams and Projects

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Let's discuss a case-study by #key# Joshua Kerievsky:  Agile expert and CEO of Industrial Logic (an agile consultancy). #key# and #key# Diana Larsen: Expert, consultant and author of multiple books on Agile #key#.
> The team that became great didn’t start off great—it learned how to produce extraordinary results.\
-- #key# Peter Senge: Systems scientist and  senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management #key#

Most of the large #key# XP: Extreme Programming #key# groups we’ve coached didn’t start off great. They became great over successive iterations by learning how to improve. While XP’s practices help individuals, pairs and teams learn to improve, the two practices that stand out the most in their ability to help teams and whole organizations produce extraordinary results are #key# project chartering: The term project chartering means that the project team and the management develop a shared understanding (a jointly defined charta), which defines what has to be done, how has it to be done, when will it be done, who will do it, and what kind of objectives will be reached with it. #key# and project retrospectives.

## Project chartering 
Project chartering helps project communities answer questions like:
* Is the idea for the project worthwhile?
* How does the project further the organization’s vision/mission?
* How do we know if the project is a success?
* Who is part of the project community?

Like refactoring, project chartering is an ongoing endeavor. Writing and revising a charter requires a rigorous inquiry into the project’s:
* Vision and mission
* Project community
* Values (What are the community’s five most important values?)
* Committed resources
* Management tests (a measure of internal and external success)
* Boundaries and limits
* Working agreements

Project chartering does not take the place of release and iteration planning. Rather, it provides direction for those adaptive planning activities. Project communities that learn to practice successful project chartering often obtain professional help with this practice since this kind of highly collaborative and adaptive chartering differs greatly from traditional project chartering.

Management tests are a key part of project chartering. These tests complement an XP project’s unit tests and #key# story tests: A story test is another term for an acceptance test. #key# by adding a test layer around the project itself. While unit tests assert that small units of code meet programmer expectations and story tests assert that system features meet customer expectations, management tests assert that organizational returns on investment meet management expectations.




Learn about the notions of project chartering and retrospectives from an XP case study.

Introduction to the Course

Agility and Largeness

Dealing with Large Teams

Dealing with the Process

Dealing with the Technology

Dealing with the Company

Putting It All Together: A Project Report (Case Study)

Final Thoughts

Retrospectives Case Study: Learning to Become Great (XP Example)