Agile in a Regulated Environment

Now, I don't know what happened when the Initiation phase was done a year ago this month, but I know what I've been doing since October on this project for a healthcare hardware maker.

It's been a while since I was exposed to FDA and HealthCanada and European Common Market regulation- and even then, it was a glancing blow- for medical gases- pretty straight forward.

With testing equipment, the load's a lot different.

The Agile Principal:

"The most efficient and effective method of
conveying information to and within a development
team is face-to-face conversation."

Is pretty much thrown out the window. Like Waterfall, paper seems to be king.

So we adapted. We put all the User Stories, comments, hazard analysis and developer notes on database changeson our wiki. A junior team member goes up to the wiki, picks a User Story, then uses  a <ctrl><a> and <ctrl><c> to save it in the clipboard then<,ctrl><v> to push it to a  Word template, clean it up and then go back for all those nice pictures the devs and managers like (because they never read the tests- sorry- Acceptance Criteria; actually, we have one dev who really reads the stories- shocked the bejesus out of me). Curse me for making Work Flow Diagrams!

Then, we add the title to a spreadsheet template with 6 to 12 bazillion acceptance signatures. Seriously. Signatures. And we get 'em, too! Then save 'em, batch print them to annoy non-project staff.

Add a test case result sheet from the QA guys (who are the only others who actually read the stories- sorry, this a class project; there's someone else who actually reads the stories, we have an actual tech writer stealing hours from my time card), a paper clip and then it gets scanned into some other application that actually freezes the User Story's state and requires an Act of Congress for a change.

This also scares me. I don't spell that well, my grammar's off sometimes when I forget 7th grade sentence parceing and I forget stuff when I'm getting whipsawed while writing a story-editing the one from last month the to which the QA team got (how's that fer grammar, eh?)-seeing my product owner making the mistake of walking by so I can grab him for just a few questions- redoing what the QA wanted me to do because he called me on a quick change instead a comlete job- and a dev asking me questions about a story written a month ago.

So, you're likely to see a few numbering, um, issues and a single word from a previous requirement I forgot to delete. My editor, who happens to be the Risk Analyst and the fellow that wrote the original version of this software, just caught two more of my , er, issues.

So the big changes the team had to make are:

• Realize we have throwback to the Waterfall/Iterative demand that 'Documentation is King.'  We created a process that isn't too heinous, but keeps the stories short, to the point and on the wiki as the primary story keeper while meeting our customer's documentation requirements.
• Sign-offs are not a simple head nod in this environment. In fact, sign-offs are worse than Waterfall.
• When you do the sign-offs after implementation (and after the head nod), it becomes a paperwork process you can hand off to a junior level team member so it doesn't get in the way.
• HIPPA, Good Manufacturing Practice. The Regulatory Guy (Gal) is the king after you meet the business needs.
• Scot needs a remedial English Course. You don't gotta know how to spell in radio.
  

Down and Dirty Baseline

Management wants As-Is documentation for its existing application. It handles billions of dollars each month. And the developers have already started working on the Manufacturer side of the application and want a lot of code and reporting re-use. I'm with the Dealer side.

Coding starts in mid August.

How to get this done was the first meeting I attended after my company laptop was issued and I found my cube int he farm.

I suggested a light weight requirements process- a description of current functionality, a screen capture, a process flow activity diagram and functional descriptions we can infer from playing with the application. Once these "use cases" are complete, we'll walk SMEs through them to correct errors, add stuff we had no clue about and the like.

We will have the required baseline done in a very short period. Enough to do a Gaps Analysis of Version 1 compared to plans for Version 2.

So far we've created a "use case" number and title for each major major page and cross referenced to menus.

It seems to be working- at least the boss is very happy check marks in the tracker are increasing in quantity and the 'now published' announcement e-mails are coming a lot faster. The BA team has access to the QA/Development environment. I got the Create User doc done in about a day and a half. The current system, as you'd expect, has had several changes over the years and is, um, complicated.

Abstraction is a wonderful thing.

Since Create User is the first major design issue, I'm already talking about Version 2.0 with the IA/Designer as I delve deeper into this really cool piece of work that has combined two or three legacy applications and several upgrade security tools. This archeological stuff is interesting. The boss is a SME and quite amazing himself. So this isn't going to be the cluster ***k it could have been.

I'll letcha know. This Agile stuff works great. But of course, you and I already knew that.

Ubuntu 10.04

Well, it took a bit of doing, but I've got Ubuntu 10.04 LT on my Lenovo T-61 laptop. I had version 9.04 installed as a dual boot Windows XP/Ubuntu system. All of the issues I've identified were caused my me, not Microsoft nor Canonical, the company that creates and supports Ubuntu.

You say you're not sure what this stuff is? Well, you must have heard of UNIX, right? UNIX (and there are variety of flavors out there such as Sun OS, AT & T, etc.) usually runs on what used to be called 'mini-computers,' which used to be between a PC and a Mainframe. Now it runs on what are known as 'workstations,' which are nothing more than really beefed up PCs. Anyway, LINUX is UNIX which can run on your PC.

The problem has been that despite installation scripts, graphical user interfaces and better installation programs, LINUX has been the haven for the technical among us. Until Ubuntu.

Ubuntu has a philosophy. And in its most recent revisions, shown that it can replace your Microsoft or Apple-centered operating system (in fact, one of the reasons Apple moved away from the Motorola Chips a few years back was to get the Intel x86 architecture. OS 10 and above are based on LINUX.

With Ubuntu, you download a file (called in image file) and burn it to a CD. You then boot your PC with the CD. After it boots, you have the option of playing with Ubuntu to see if you like it, or install it on your PC.

Here's where Ubuntu shines over many other forms of LINUX (because the operating system is 'open source,' anyone can change, adapt and create his/her own version...just like the different flavors of UNIX) since the installation routines have been honed for several years. And its very easy to do.

You have a couple of decisions to make during the install. Of course, I blew it. The power was going on and off during a storm and I had to get it done so I could re-do my resume. This is a recipe for disaster.

The first decision you have to make is whether you want to run Ubuntu as the sole operating system on your PC or with Windows or OS 10. If you pick the former, the installation program completely reformats your hard drive and then installs the new OS. If you select the second option (which I did), Ubuntu adds a 'boot manager.'

This is a program that interrupts your PC's start-up routines and allows you to use either Windows/OS 10 or LINUX. This is what got trashed on the second of my installations. Yeah, I know. I use a laptop and the battery should have taken care of it.

Except the battery wasn't installed because I read an article that says you sharply reduce the life of a Lithium battery by not using it and charging it well before it needs to be charged.

Then, I had trouble. Lord did I have trouble. I knew what I did and knew what I had to do to get out of it. I rebooted into the setup routine.

And pressed the wrong button without realizing it (because I didn't read the damn screen). Big Shot IT professional.

I pressed the button that lays in Ubuntu as the only operating system. And I didn't realize what I had done until the re-format routine was half over.

Office 2003. Gone. All my e-mail archives. Gone. All my resume and archive files. Gone. All my website files. Gone.

Wait a sec.

Ubuntu comes with Open Office (a free, open source Microsoft Office replacement) right out of the box.

It comes with FireFox. XMarks will re-synch all my bookmarks. The password synching didn't work for some reason.

It comes with GIMP, an open source alternative to PhotoShop. It also comes with free Instant Messaging, integrated E-Mail/Personal Information Manager (Evolution), allows you to install Thunderbird and its Lightning add-in and a raft of other 'must have' utilities.

There are dozens of free, downloadable open source programs. In fact, Ubuntu doesn't use the Synaptic Program Manager anymore- it has its own Add/Delete software utility now.

The interface is much cleaner than before. All those upper panel icons have been grouped together to make things a lot easier to find.

Hmmm.

Yes, I can install Microsoft Project and VISIO (the only programs that the open source community or Apple have no replacements for) using WINE- a real time application that allows you to run Windows programs under LINUX without the hurky-jerky screens we used to see on Apple machines running similar utilities.

Version 10.04 comes with integrated social media (a one stop application that gathers all the Tweets, Status Changes and FaceBook attaboys you got).

It integrates with Ubuntu One. That's a web site in the 'Internet cloud' that automatically gives you 2 Gigs of free, integrated data space and the option to pay $10/month for 50Gb (yeah, you read that correctly) AND will synch your Smart Phone (even my Windows Mobile 6!).

Maybe I won't miss Windows much at all.

It's been five days and there's been no withdrawl symptoms at all.

I recommend you run it in a dual boot configuration like I did for a few months so you can ease yourself into it. There's a lot to learn if you have trouble (and I realized I had trouble with R9.04- WINE didn't work, the OS didn't recognize the SD Card Reader nor the USB connection to my phone) and it was because of the multiple installs I did on 9.04.

Don't do that.

Back To Work

I go back to work, this time as a Project Manager for a nationally known retail operation based in Hoffman Estates, IL. I'll probably start on Wednesday or Thursday, but fully expect the the start date to push to next Monday. Hiring managers at this place have a lot to do to bring in a new contractor. This will be my third go round and this may be the charm.

With an unprecedented positive recommendation from a previous IT manager, the new boss was pretty well convinced he'd hired me before I came in for the face to face interview. That's what the recruiter said. This time he was right.

That was amazing. Thanks Nancy!

As usual, it took less than a day to get confirmation for the contract. Every job I've ever gotten resulted in the offer or confirmation taking hours instead of days. Once or twice it took as long as two days- but never any longer. In the latest round of interviews and waiting for the rejection phone call, e-mail or letter, I think offers were extended to other people (when I made it that far) and I was the 'back-up.' Of course, I may think too much of myself.It just might be I'm too old, made too much money or a combination of the three.

The new contract's supposed to run 4-6 months. In the interview, my new boss listed the projects his team will have to handle in the next 12-24 months. I believe he was telling me there's a perm gig in it for me, if I don't step on my....er....keep my nose clean. The recruiter thinks the same.

I had no idea Loyalty Programs could keep that many folks employed for that many projects over that length of time.

Thank Goodness for Marketing. Yeah, you heard me.

The journalist in me cringes when I say that because I've seen marketing and PR communications bombarding the newsrooms I managed.

Since then, I've worked three or four marketing projects and as visionary, pie in the sky and wishful thinking as these folks tend to be, the checks don't bounce and I learned the application isn't mine. It's theirs.

I'm an IT Project Manager now, pretty cool, hunh?

I gotta keep studying for my Microsoft Project and PMI PMP credentials or I'll lose access to the on-line question bank. I've found that pretty good for study.

It'll take a little while to get used to getting up at a reasonable hour more than once a week. So, I'm thinking I'll read and test in the evenings and maybe 8-10 hours a day on the weekend until I'm ready. I hope the new place will give me time off to take the tests. If I was smarter, i would have done all of this over the last 3-4 weeks.But I'm not and job hunting was a much higher priority.

As one Blog Commenter told me, Good. Maybe now you'll quick all that whining.

Probably. But if you've been looking for work over the last two years and know your elbow from your foot, you know I didn't exaggerate anything. And writing this blog with all the rants helped keep me sane. That and the Wellbutrin, Xanex and my wife.

But that's over, hopefully for a while- worst case for 4-6 months.

I hope to have some non-proprietary detail on how small teams in a huge IT arena handle development, project management and some generic info on Loyalty Programs. I've dome them on the BA side, so the PM side ought to be very interesting.

Thanks for sticking with me on this drive to be productive and back to work!

Gamesmanship

One of the dirty little secrets they don't tell you about in school is about the recruiter. Yes, 97-99% of them are professional, work hard and are ethical.

But that one to three percent are real pieces of work.

They call you and ask the basic questions to qualify you for the 'requirement.' 'Requirement.' It's a job listing, job ad or job order. It includes a list of requirements. Arrgh!

Anyway, the Level One Recruiter (like the Level One Help Desk Analyst whom we all hate) then tosses your resume over to the "Account Manager." This is a sales job, not a management gig. Like the fact that everyone who works in a gas station or movie theater is an Assistant Manager.

This Account Manager thinks s/he knows exactly what the client (i.e. the company and people for which you might be working) wants. Usually wrong, but OK, they have the contact or prime vendor account and I don't.

Every once in a while, s/he wants you to 'tweak" your resume.

I'm all for writing to your audience (second rule of writing) but a few times in the last several weeks, these "tweaks" included:

• Changing 'Senior Business Analyst' to "Senior Business Architect." Now, I did it because I figured this was HR title inflation. I sent the resume back and the Account Manager immediately responded- "Can I turn Technical Writer into Business Architect/Technical Writer?" I said, "Hell yes." I thought the person who designed and build a business was the owner or the sales manager. I've never heard of a Business Architect. The 'requirement' read exactly like a Senior Business Analyst's role. I thought he was kidding. Even though I was a good boy and was biting my tongue through the entire process, didn't even get a phone screen.
  
• Bringing out the fact that I've managed people. Which I have and expect to do again. In radio news, my highest number of reports was 35 (all news radio station), but I've always been on small teams full of really smart people. Anyone familiar with software development will tell you the BA typically acts as the Deputy, Associate, Assistant Project Manager. How do you bring that one out in a resume without it turning into a Vitae (a book length listing of every time you walked your boss's dog, the number of Cleanest Cubicle awards you've received and junk like that)? I've been a professional writer in a wide variety of media and I have no clue. Didn't get a phone interview for that one either.
• Lying. One person was very careful to mention the job needed programming skills. My programming skills are, uh, nil. The last time I coded, there were still line numbers and you used crappy editors like Edlin. And, if it didn't work the first time, I quit doing that program. It should work the first time. I once did a program in C+ that converted dates into base 64. The only thing I remember about that program was the fact it had a bazillion recursive If-Then loops and if it didn't work the first time I ran it, I was going to quit my job. I didn't do it. I once had a really great job for three weeks. They had six, count 'em six interviews where I told them I was a tech writer and knowledge manager, not a programmer...although I suppose if you put a gun to my head I could probably figure something out within 6-10 weeks. You know what my first (and only) assignment was? You guessed it. They wanted me to convert web content into Lotus Notes databases. I was flabergasted. A. Didn't you listen to me the six times I said I wasn't a programmer? B. There's a programming language for Lotus Notes? Then why doesn't it ever work the way you want it to? C. Lotus Notes? Why the hell aren't you on Exchange or Zindus Server?
  
• Fill in the gap. You see, I haven't worked since October 2008. I'm in a protected class (those 40 and above, which sucks) and I used to make way too much money according to the large corporations here in Chicago. As soon as the bottom dropped out of the economy, these bastards started pushing down BA, Information Architect and Project Manager salaries and hourly contract rates. It's going to boomerang and hit them in the ass in a couple of years. Anyway.  There's a gap in my resume. Him: What have you been doing, Scot? Me: I've been looking for work more than full time ever since my last project crashed. Him: We need something else, to show you were doing something. Me: I just told you what I was doing Him: Nope, need something better. Me: Tell them I was researching a book about how a Business Analyst fits into an Agile Project as well as a few domestic engineering jobs. Him: That'll work.

And none of them, not one of them (except for three or four astute, personable and caring recruiting companies) tell you anything unless the client company wants a phone interview or you hound them with e-mails. And then they're your very best friend... until the process craps out on you.
 
I dunno. Maybe I should have stayed in radio news. I could easily be making $37,000/year in one of the three or four news jobs left in the industry. Or I could be a disc jockey...saying the same thing over and over and over and over and over...

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