Agile Project Management to Deliver Proprietary Plugins Despite Stakeholder and Team Misalignment

About Our Client

The Client is a US-based web development company with 250+ employees.

Need for Professional Requirements Analysis and Management

The Client aimed to develop internal software tools (plugins) to help novice developers write cleaner, more efficient code quickly. The plugins would offer features such as syntax highlighting, code suggestion, error detection, and real-time feedback. They were intended to integrate smoothly with commonly used development tools, including IDEs, web browsers, and command-line interfaces. The project involved four stakeholders with varying interests and priorities, complicating coordination and communication. To navigate these challenges, the Client required expertise in professional business analysis within the Agile framework — a skill set that the Client lacked internally.

ScienceSoft became the preferred partner for this project, owing to our successful track record with the Client’s partners and verified proficiency in managing globally distributed teams. Additionally, ScienceSoft's 35-year experience in software planning and development provided a solid foundation of trust and expertise. Thus, the Client engaged ScienceSoft to drive the project to success.

One Expert to Meet Business Analysis, Project Management, and Product Ownership Needs

ScienceSoft assigned a business analyst with over 10 years of experience to lead the project.

Software planning

The business analyst started by conducting an initial analysis of the software requirements. She organized workshops and interviews with various stakeholders, including developers, managers, and end users, to capture their key needs and expectations comprehensively. Following this, she led user story mapping sessions where all these groups participated together to outline user paths, prioritize features, and ensure everyone was aligned on the project's direction.

ScienceSoft’s business analyst documented the elicited requirements in a detailed product backlog, using user stories and acceptance criteria to define each requirement clearly. She prioritized the backlog using techniques like MoSCoW prioritization and the Kano model to ensure that the most critical features were delivered first.

At the end of the discovery stage that lasted two weeks, the business analyst delivered a robust project plan. This plan outlined clear milestones, timelines, and deliverables, ensuring that all team members were aligned on the objectives and understood their roles and responsibilities. She also included a risk management strategy to anticipate potential issues and mitigate them proactively.

Taking over product ownership and project management

Impressed by the structured approach, clarity, and predictability ScienceSoft’s business analyst brought to the project, the Client gradually expanded her role to include project management and product ownership tasks.

As a project manager, our business analyst established smooth two-week sprints by effectively allocating resources, continuously tracking project risks, and updating mitigation strategies. Serving as the primary point of contact for stakeholders, she provided regular updates on project progress, managed deadlines, and oversaw the quality of the deliverables.

In her role as a product owner, she refined and prioritized the product backlog, ensuring user stories were well-defined and ready for development. She also:

• Provided clarifications to the development team on the requirements and acceptance criteria during sprints.
• Reviewed completed work against acceptance criteria to ensure it met the required standards before presenting it to the stakeholders.
• Gathered feedback from the development team and stakeholders to inform future backlog prioritization and refinement.

Building a cohesive team across multiple time zones and cultures

The project involved a globally distributed development team, which presented challenges in coordination and communication due to varying schedules and cultural differences.

ScienceSoft’s expert implemented a suite of Agile collaboration tools and channels. She introduced:

• Slack for instant messaging.
• Zoom for video conferencing.
• Jira for task management.
• Confluence as a centralized hub for all project-related information, including meeting notes, project timelines, task descriptions, and progress reports.

This setup ensured transparency and easy access for all team members, facilitating seamless coordination despite geographical disparities.

As the project manager, our expert also scheduled regular Scrum ceremonies to maintain continuous team alignment. Daily stand-ups allowed team members to share their progress, discuss blockers, and plan their daily tasks. Sprint planning sessions at the start of each sprint enabled the team to define goals, prioritize backlog items, and estimate tasks. At the end of each sprint, sprint reviews provided an opportunity to demonstrate completed work to stakeholders, gather feedback, and discuss improvements. And sprint retrospectives allowed the team to reflect on what went well and what needed improvement, fostering continuous improvement. To mitigate time zone differences, our expert and the developers chose a convenient worktime overlap for every team member and scheduled all meetings during this timeframe.

Our expert also conducted sensitivity training sessions to foster an inclusive environment where cultural differences were respected and valued.

Facilitating software adoption

ScienceSoft’s expert streamlined software adoption by creating detailed documentation that covered the plugin integration process and usage. The documentation included step-by-step instructions, code examples, and troubleshooting tips to assist developers. To further support the transition, she organized training sessions that introduced users to the new software tools and highlighted their advantages, ensuring everyone could effectively utilize the software.

Robust Plugins Successfully Launched in 3.5 Months

ScienceSoft helped the Client create a cohesive set of plugins that make continuous learning an integral part of the software engineering workflow, enhancing both the individual and team performance of the Client’s in-house developers. Despite the challenges posed by a diverse development team with varying schedules and mentalities and four stakeholders with different interests and priorities, ScienceSoft's efficient planning and coordination ensured the smooth delivery of tailored, comprehensive software within just 3.5 months.

Methodologies

Q&A sessions, business requirements analysis, document analysis

Technologies and Tools

Azure DevOps, Axure RP, Slack, Zoom, Jira, Confluence