Insights

Sanjay Doshi

Senior Project Manager, Bluefin Solutions

Can SAP be delivered using an agile methodology?

This blog is about using an agile software development approach for SAP projects. A few years ago Bluefin Solutions decided to use the SCRUM agile methodology for an SAP project. Whilst SAP projects are traditionally known for being delivered using the waterfall based methodology ASAP, we opted for the SCRUM approach because of time constraints. We needed to deliver a centralised employee availability management functionality using the SAP Composite Environment within a very short space of time and the only way we felt this could have been done was through use of a collaborative, agile approach hence the selection of the SCRUM methodology.

My experiences with my SCRUM Master hat on

My experience on the project was extremely positive. So what did I like?

Daily scrums: From the daily SCRUMS issues where identified almost immediately and became my focus to resolve and ensure progress was not delayed.

Increased visibility: I liked the increased visibility of the work as it happened. This made the tracking of progress and identifying divergence from plan very easy.

Managing sprints: The fact that once a sprint was completed there was confidence in the team and the business that something substantial had been completed and delivered was great.

The collaborative approach: The project team working as one with the business and IT guys sitting together and building the solution together, collaboratively. Assumptions where reduced and what was being delivered was what the actually customer wanted, not simply an interpretation of a document. The solution was the document. Less time was spent documenting and more time was spent building a collaborative solution. And because the business representatives where seeing the solution evolve they also understood the impact to the solution of any decisions and/or changes that inevitably came up.

All these things made the project great to work on and the benefits of which showed through in the end result. That's not to say there weren't any challenges with the agile approach however.

Challenges with the agile approach

I identified 2 in particular which I'll look at in turn.

1. Organisation readiness to support an agile project
2. Transitioning from waterfall to agile

1) Organisation readiness to support an agile project

Whilst the project team was geared for an agile project, the organisation was not. As the saying goes, you can only go as fast as the slowest member of the team...or something like that anyway! Well the project team could only really go as fast as the internal processes would allow. There were many challenges in trying to bypass or side-step lengthy internal processes - for example in this case, speed of transport and release management was one of them. This is certainly something to consider when considering agile methodology - just how agile is the organisation?

2) Transitioning from waterfall to agile methodology

Working in the SAP world where the waterfall approach is common place, to move to agile methodology requires a shift in the mindset. Working without a blueprint, but a 'product backlog catalogue', was a step too far for some. And the need for a signed-off blueprint can be too great to overcome. Having to account on daily basis on progress was great from a SCRUM master perspective, but could be felt negatively and a little like micro management. The quick pace meant progress was fast and swift, and could be seen as moving too fast at times.

So, what did we do? We used a mixture of a waterfall and agile

Did it work? Yes it did. We took parts of ASAP and SCRUM to best suit the organisation, the team, the scope and timelines of the project. Using the combination allowed us to utilise the best of both worlds.

We are now using elements/techniques of the SCRUM methodology on many projects, whether it be short daily update meetings, burndown charts, breaking up the realisation phase into sprints or indeed the collaborative way of working.

So, can SAP be delivered using an agile methodology?

I certainly believe so. Whilst going completely agile may be a step too far for most, finding the balance is the key and can have significant benefits.  The main benefits being:

• Greater customer involvement and collaboration
• Faster implementation times
• Releasing functionality as it becomes available
• Improved stakeholder satisfaction
• Quicker benefits realisation

I'd love to hear challenges and experiences you've faced using SCRUM or any other agile methodology with SAP. What tools and techniques did you use? What worked and what didn't?