Delivering value with the Scrum framework for Agile product and project management approach.
Scrum focuses on maximizing Return on Investment (ROI), but it does not define how to manage and track costs to evaluate actual ROI against the vision. A cost measurement that integrates with Scrum would be an additional feedback tool. This article presents the adaptation of the Earned Value Management (EVM) approach to the Scrum framework. The result is called AgileEVM (Agile Earned Value Management) and is a simplified set of earned value calculations. From the values in Scrum, a release date estimate is derived using mean velocity. Using this equation, you can generate a similar equation with traditional EVM techniques, thus establishing the validity of using EVM with the Scrum framework. This technique was applied to two projects to validate the approach. This experience also helped to determine the utility of AgileEVM.
Martin von Weissenberg explains in his blog post that focus and rapid feedback not only improve software development projects but shorten them dramatically as well. He use an experimental setting to compute the ROI for four different approaches: traditional plan-driven project delivering near the end, an unfocused project with continuous delivery, a focused project with an 80/20 Pareto distribution of value and a focused project with an 80/50 Pareto distribution of value. The results prove that focus and rapid feedback in the form of continuous delivery are game-changer.
Learn how you can improve your business analysis with Agile story mapping, a technique that maps your stories back to business value. Thus you will be able to know if they make or save the company money and you will learn the benefits of bi-directional requirements traceability .
How in the world do agile teams produce real value every few weeks? In this video, Lyssa Adkins explains how agile puts the business in the driver’s seat to slice the wedding cake of value one slice at a time.
There is a strong human predisposition to assume, with the consumption of budget and the passing of time, that actual project progress is proceeding at the same pace. Sadly, facts recorded at project completion have repeatedly failed to demonstrate this correlation. Earned Value Management (EVM) is a tool that should help to solve this problem.
In his blog post “Earned Value versus Earned Schedule“, Glen Alleman discuss the concepts of Earned Value and Earned Schedule.
