Assessments are undertaken to determine how well an individual or team is performing. Agile assessments are used to determine the level of agile practices in a project group and can be used to help a team in their agile transformation process. An agile assessment is used to measure the effectiveness of a transformation strategy and to measure progress.
Some of the reasons for performing an agile assessment include the following:
• Create a baseline for the current adoption level of agile practices; this is a necessary step for evaluating progress at a later date.
• Measure how agile adoption goals and transformation are tracking.
• Determine whether the team is ready to move to next level of agile practice or adoption.
• Recognize what aspects have been mastered and how new skills and capabilities can be used.
• Identify the next tasks to be worked on so that the team can target their focus on desired goals.
• Gather information for a potential organizational change: that is, use the assessment as a change management tool,
• Make the case for additional training or coaching to help improve progress.
During an agile assessment teams can be measured against specific skills or practices or as part of measures defined in a competency framework. A competency framework can be used to provide consistent understanding or requirements across all teams in an organization. It can also help provide metrics for planning and measuring against particular practices or capabilities.
Following are some examples of practices and capabilities that are used in an assessment:
• Define the Product – used to provide a clear definition of the product’s goals and features and to define deliverables that are required.
• Acceptance Criteria – define what determines whether a product feature is ready for use and release and ensure the team is informed of what is required.
• Architectural Alignment – ensure that those responsible for the overall architecture of the product are informed about release planning and work closely with teams to ensure solutions align.
• Empower Teams – employees are enabled to take ownership of their commitments and meeting requirements within the constraints of organizational management.
• Develop Competencies – employees are given the opportunity to develop their craft and practices during their daily work.
• Whole Team – teams should be located near each other and with access to the product manager; teams should not be sequestered based on their given project, product or department.