What are the most effective process modeling techniques for Agile development?

Agile principles encourage constant feedback loops, enabling systems engineers to swiftly respond to evolving project needs and stakeholders expectations. As a result this process meets technical specifications and also closely aligns with end users' operational requirements.

The Agile development process describes structured methods to develop product requirements and solutions, but the process is not ideal/applicable for all projects. There is no shame in not using the Agile development process, it does not imply the organisation/team is not otherwise agile in their development practices.

"AGILE"...Myopic thinking given the division of tasks into short phases of work and frequent reassessment attempts and re adaption of plans...Results in a Big Problem when you don't understand system safety concepts and risks... A seemingly very small change within a short life cycle can introduce very big uncontrolled system risks...

In my view, if we are not talking about software (then a purely agile framework can work quite well) an hybrid approach is the way to go. Even in an environment where predictive project management in being applied, agile should have its place in the production of some work products. Taking defense systems (e.g. naval ships) as an example and considering the commitments that have to be made during the development and production activities, I don’t think it is possible to go for a fully agile approach for the definition and realization of big, complex technological systems.

Not every project can be molded in to Agile methodology. It also depends on the requirements and choice of outcome that stakeholder wants. As an Agile PM one should be open to modify the project management process, mix and match methods as required and seek a creative approach.

In my experience, Kanban Board is another useful method for Agile Development. Organisations can use it with "Jira" web application. Kanban is basically a visual management method that uses a board with columns to represent different stages of work. Cards on the board represent tasks or sub-tasks and team members can move them through the columns as work progresses. The major advantage is its interactive user interface, it's easy to understand and provide real-time visibility into the workflow and allows for quick adaptation to changes.

When you decide to apply Agile development and to create processes, first start with analysis of your environment and regulations. E.g. in the environment of aerospace or space, there are clear "frames" by standards and regulations for development. The "freedom" to create processes according Agile, are restricted. But this is not really a handicap. To have a generic process that tells you "what to do", according the standards, is not harming you to apply Agile for the content (requirements realization). The "big" sprint is then defined by the requirements baselines (e.g. for first flight functionality) and "inside" the baseline you are free to apply Agile with development sprints to manage the backlog of this baseline.

User stories are a way to capture requirements from the perspective of end-users using simple, non-technical language that all stakeholders can understand. Use case modeling identifies the interactions between users and a system, pinpointing the functionality required to meet user needs. Process flow diagrams, on the other hand, visually represent the steps involved in a process, helping to identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies in the process.Event storming is a collaborative technique that models the behavior of a system based on events, helping to identify the various events that occur in a system and their relationships.

En mi experiencia, una vez identificados los usuarios es de gran utilidad definir su "user journey" (puede armarse en base a la información recolectada en entrevistas, o mediante la observación de usuarios en su trabajo cotidiano) y después mapear allí las historias de usuario.

Another aspect that should be considered is the stakeholders familiarity with the model syntax. Choosing a stakeholder friendly modelling schema will contribute for faster, easier and more accurate interactions with them.

Like any MDSE (model driven systems engineering) a process modeling tool shall * perform formal checks of the process * perform impact analyses on changes before changing * shall be able to simulate/run the process

What is often missing is the possibility to do versioning of processes and the whole management process system -> Baselining. Also the function to look at former process versions. (Ensure long running projects to access the version that was stated at time of contract.) Ensure that there is a development area where you work on next versions of the processes without already changing/harming the current processes.

Different companies would prefer different factors while deciding the best process modelling tool for their agile development effort. But in my experience, out of all factors, ease of use and effective collaboration are the most important ones. In this respect, I would grade Asana and Trello among the best. From the standpoint of ease of adoption, Trello’s interface is slightly better than Asana’s. Although Asana / Trello are not considered to be as comprehensive and providing as many features as Jira, but for most of the small to medium sized projects, those extra features may not be required. Overall, I would recommend Trello for its ease of adoption and user friendliness while meeting most of the requirements of agile development.

To help resolve this issue, many companies provide access to private offices where people can go and make private phone calls. These spaces can also be used by team members who want to work in private isolation for short periods if they are having problems concentrating in a noisy environment. This model is called “caves and commons”. “Caves” refer to the space where team members can retreat to when they need some quiet time or privacy for phone calls, and “common” is the area where the team members can work as a group.

I do believe that process modelling for Agile development shall be ...Agile. So capture expectations, specify it, make it running, get feedback, improve it... By the way an efficient environment ensure that the process is applied as it is specified

Even though agile is much more about behavior than about processes it makes sense to model processes. First nobody can follow a process not known. A modeled process is a documented process people can learn and follow. Second, in my experience it is easier for most persons to understand a process presented in a graphical, BPMN-like presentation than if the process is written down in form a bullet list. Third, once a modeled process is stable it can be automated ;-)

Segue em importância a modelagem do usuário a modelagem da equipe de trabalho, modelagem que ajuda na alocação de tarefas, e agilidade em suporte mútuo, segundo Dragut, a resolução de problemas segue uma distribuição de Erlang multicanais, habilidades e afinidades contam, se prevalecem afinidades ou só habilidades cai a produtividade. Promover novos elos de afinidade melhora esta produtividade a longo prazo. O.modelo ajuda a ver onde melhorar.

Das práticas mais recomendadas na modelagem de processos, sem dúvidas a comunicação é a mais importante. E não somente falar e expor o tema, mas discutir, entender, ser compreendido, definir papeis, pontos focais... Ajuda muito ter um esquema do fluxo e atribuir aos participantes. Utilizar de pontos de controle, fomentando ainda mais a discussão e dependências para contribuição entre todos... Estas práticas são somente algumas que podemos citar, e vale ressaltar que, sempre temos oportunidades para melhorar, então, podemos dar o primeiro passo a partir do que temos hoje e irmos evoluindo pouco a pouco.

Regardless of the technique you use, it is important to structure your models in a useful and understandable way for everyone involved in the process, map out all the steps and possible results, always trying to make it compact and without redundancies so that it becomes easy to understand. The structuring of the model must exist only as an aid to detect problems and inefficiencies, and the scope must include useful information to identify specific problems.

MBSE (MODEL BASED SYSTEM ENGINEERING) offers several added advantages to the process modeling: 1. Increases the enhanced communication and collaboration. 2. Requirements traceability is easily accessible and trackable. 3.Helps in iterative development and optimization. 4. Improve system understanding. 5. Facilitation of system V&V. More over it also streamline the process of recording, managing and maintaining the requirements and enhances the process of verification and validation.

The process modeling benefits are the common MDSE (model driven systems engineering) benefits * you have it in a model and can generate textual or graphical representations * you can simulate & run it * the modeling tool can do formal checks * the modeling tool can do impact analysis on changes

A pesar de todas las ventajas, no nos olvidemos de analizar los riesgos y de considerar las fases de garantía, ambas partidas pueden quebrar económicamente un proyecto.

El modelado de procesos, a lo largo de mis años de experiencia como ingeniero en sistemas, ha demostrado ser fundamental para mejorar la eficiencia operativa y la comprensión del flujo de trabajo en las organizaciones. Proporciona una visión clara de los procesos empresariales, facilitando la identificación de áreas de mejora y optimización. Además, fomenta la estandarización, lo que lleva a una mayor consistencia y calidad en la ejecución de tareas. El modelado de procesos también es valioso para la implementación efectiva de sistemas de información, permitiendo una alineación más precisa con los objetivos empresariales. En última instancia, contribuye a la toma de decisiones informada y a la adaptabilidad frente a cambios organizativo

Agile is much more about behavior than about processes. Agile lives from a maximum degree of freedom. So do not make your processes disabling agile. Processes can be a good enabler for agile. Automating standard tasks frees resources to deal with change. And fast reaction on changes is the goal of agile.

Agile can be more effective with certain practices which have been implemented and found to be working: # Real time collaboration. #Create a continuous learning framework like the Knowledge sharing process. #Maintaining metrics and analytics. #Predictive sprint planning. #Customer Co-creation session. Would make this agile a more practical tool than just a typical process.

Podemos acrescentar que não adianta propormos um modelo de processo com ferramentas e práticas X, Y, se não temos um time disposto a atuar em conjunto na ideia. Importante que todos sejam treinados e entendam profundamente os benefícios. Afinal, pensando em sistemas novamente, as partes do sistema é o próprio sistema que, sem elas não tem sentido de ser.

If you are working in a big Agile organization, it is instrumental to align on modeling principles across the different agile teams. Failing to do that could cause that each agile team may decide to model their components with different level of information quality which leads to confusions, missing information and incoherence.

Considerar que, en metodología ágil, se llega en ocasiones a un mal mensaje de hacer las cosas velozmente en corto tiempo, minimizando los controles que pueden sonar burocráticos...muy alejado de la realidad: El ser ágiles es poder dar respuesta rápida a eventos, cambios en los casos de uso o nuevas directrices que suceden en cada iteración del proyecto, soporte o iniciativa en la que estamos aplicando esta metodología