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Methodology

This page describes the development process used in the T&I Incubator. During the course of the GÉANT 4.GN4-3 project, the incubator runs Incubator will run a number of sequential cycles called "Activities". An activity typically lasts 6 months. During such an activity, an incubator activity team, or A-team, engages with a number of different topics, typically 2 or 3, in parallel. The incubator has 2 A-teams working in parallel. As such, the Incubator can work on 4 to 6 topics in parallel during a 6 month activity activity cycles, each typically last six months. The Incubator team is structured to work on a number of different activities in parallel during a cycle. The Incubator has two Activity Teams (A-Teams) that work on different activities. Both A-Teams work on a same number of activities during each cycle. The development process used for this engagement is a loose implementation of the Scrum development methodology, and the roles and also some terminology used in this document are borrowed from the Incubator development methodology refer to this Agile methodology.During the activity the A-team uses Sprints too work on the topic. A sprint runs for 4 weeks in framework. In line with these practices, the A-Team works on the activities for each cycle in a series of sprints. Each sprint runs for about four weeks, during which the A-team Team focuses on a specific subset of tasks. The Principe Investigator, or Magnum P.I., defines the work for an activity, and its priorities. While the team membership of the A-team itself is as stable as possible, a Mentor, a senior A-team member with specific expertise, is being brought in on a per activity basis to support the A-team as a subject matter expert. The A- 

During an activity cycle, various artifacts are used to collect and report on the work being done. The Activity Backlog holds all tasks which can be completed for the activity. The Sprint Backlog holds a selected set of tasks from the Activity Backlog, on which the A-Team works during a specific sprint.

Each Activity is assigned a Principle Investigator (PI) who defines the content of the Activity Backlog and its priorities. The A-Team team supports the PI by providing feedback to the work items defined. The team also makes estimates of how much work specific work-items are so Activity Backlog, estimating how long specific tasks will take to complete. Based on this, the PI can decide priorities for each task in the Activity Backlog and plan each individual sprint backlog accordingly. In the spirit of the scrum methodology line with Scrum methodology, the A-team Team itself is responsible for planning of the work in a sprint, based on the prioritized PI’s prioritised list of the PI. During the activity, various artifacts are used to collect and report on the work being done. The Backlog holds all items the PI wants to work on. The PI may updatedupdate, change and (re)prioritize prioritise the Backlog items backlog tasks at any given time, according to newly gained insights and priorities. The Sprint Backlog holds a selected set of Backlog items the A-team is working on for a specific sprint. The Sprint Backlog does not change over the course of a Sprint.

A Mentor, i.e.a nominated senior A-Team member with specific expertise, is brought in on a per-activity basis to support the A-Team as a subject matter expert.

The Scrum methodology also includes a number of so called ceremoniesCeremonies, that is, meetings who all have with that serve a specific function. The Backlog planning is done In the Incubator development methodology, the following meetings are defined and periodically take place: 

• Activity Backlog Planning Meetings are held by the PI in collaboration with the A-

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• Team to ensure that the tasks on the

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• Activity Backlog are well described and understood

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• . In addition the tasks are assigned a number of points to indicate the (relative) amount of work needed. This is done for both the stories and the epics. Estimating effort for epics is indicative, but should give a rough idea of how much work each one entails.
• Sprint Planning Meetings, where the A-Team discusses the top

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• tasks on the Activity Backlog and decides which ones to engage with in the upcoming sprint, and which are included in the Sprint Backlog. 
• Sprint Retrospectives are held by the A

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• -team to evaluate the processes of the past sprint and discuss improvements.
• Sprint Demos  are open to a wider stakeholder audience. Their objective is to showcase the work done by the A-

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• Team in the

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• sprint that was just completed and allow the PI, Mentors, MIB and other stakeholders to learn about its results, ask questions and provide feedback. 

Figure 1 shows and allows for the P.I and possibly other stake holders to learn about the result and ask questions. A Sprint review is done by the A-team to evaluate the processes of the past sprint and to discuss improvements.Figure 1 displays the various actors, artifacts and ceremonies in the Trust and Identity Incubator development process.

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Figure 1: Actors, artifacts and ceremonies in the Trust and Identity Incubator development process

Figure 1 also already shows the role of the Incubator advisory board or MIBs. These are not part of the development process and their engagement is described in the T&I Incubator Activity Process.

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Roles and Responsibilities

This section describes the roles and responsibilities of various actors in more detailthe context of planning and executing the sprints.

Principal Investigator

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(Magnum

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PI)

The Magnum Principal Investigator is the person mainly responsible for defining the work and then prioritizing those work tasks. The PI is clear on the goals of the activity Activity and represents the stakeholders, e.g. the customer, market and organizationsor organisations. The PI is responsible for the Backlog and makes sure it is filled and the items tasks are understood.

Activity Team (A-Team)

The members of the A-Team engage with tasks within the an activity. A team is typically made up of people with -Team members have various skills and different expertiseexpertise that are needed to fulfill the tasks for the Activity. The A-team Team selects shich items which tasks they work on from the Sprint Backlog, based on the amount of work involved and priority the priorities set by the P.IPI.
During a sprint, they the team work on tasks on in the Sprint Backlog. The A-team demonstrates the results of a past completed sprint during in the Sprint Demo.

Scrum Master

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The Scrum Master supports the an activity by facilitating task communication, organizing organising meetings and allocating resources. The major Master’s main task is to keep organizational overhead away from the team deal with any organisational overhead and resolve impediments, so that the A-Team and P.I. are able PI are free to focus on their actual work.

Mentor

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The Mentor is an experienced advisor who helps the P.I. PI to plan the product and upcoming work and provides subject matter expertise to the A-team.

Main Incubator Board (MIB)

Within the Incubator development process, the MIB replaces the Customer in Scrum terms. During the monthly Sprint Demo, A-Teams present the newly created product increment to the members of the MIB, among other participants. The MIB provides feedback to the teams and especially to the PIs to suggest product improvements within the next Sprint.

Activities

This section describes in more details the ceremonies and artifacts in more detail.

Backlog

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Planning

The Scrum Master, Mentor (optional) and P.I. PI meet at the start of each sprint Sprint to discuss the remaining work to be achieved within the activity cyclean Activity. New work items tasks that were discovered will be added to the Activity Backlog as well as any remaining items tasks from the last Sprint .
Although it is fine to document future work, it should also be considered that it is possible to implement the backlog during the remaining timeBacklog. The combined set of tasks is then (re)prioritized.

Actors: MagnumPI, Scrum Master, (Mentor)
Input: Trello Template
Output: Activity Backlog (Trello)

Sprint

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Retrospective and Planning

Before the A-Team prepares the next Sprint,  both the success stories and problems of the last Sprint are reviewed. These lessons learned are taken into account towards improving  the process, implementation and communication, which enables the team to continually strengthen their collaboration.

The Activity Backlog The Sprint plan is used to prepare the Sprint Backlog. Thi sis This is done by the A-team Team in collaboration with the P.I. PI and the the Scrum Master. The purpose is to plan the work for the upcoming sprint. The Team team jointly decides on estimates how much work a specific item task on the Activity Backlog iswill involve.
It is necessary that each Each team member estimates must estimate the amount of time they will contribute to the activity during this the Sprint. Since internal, none non-project-related , tasks may reduce the average time one team members can contribute to the tasks, which is absolutely okmake available to an activity, it is import for the planning to provide a honest assessmentimportant that a realistic assessment of this is provided during planning.
The team evaluates the remaining Activity Backlog and assigns work items distributes  work tasks among the team according to the working time available for the Sprint.

Actors:PI, Mentor, Scrum Master, A-Team
Input: Activity Backlog, Estimated FTE, Feedback from MIB Sprint Demo
Output: Sprint Backlog (Trello) consisting of assigned action items tasks (Trello cards)

Implement

The A-Team implements the agreed Sprint Backlog over the course of a Sprint.

Actors: A-Team
Input: Action items tasks (Trello cards)
Output: Result (e.g. Software Release, Concept, Business Plan, ...)

Weekly Standup Meeting

The team meets once a week for a short meeting to report work done, work for the next week and impediments. The Magnum should provide a short status report which can be provided to the SC.
Note: This meeting should be scheduled Thursday or Friday to discuss an entire calendar week. Furthermore, it should be done for all projects similarly to enable a project management meeting at the end of the day.

Actors: Scrum Master, MagnumPI, A-Team
Input: Trello cards
Output: Impediments, Project Status Report, Add dates to calendar in confluence

Sprint Demo

The team A-Team (at least one representative) presents the Sprint results to the P.I MIB and any other stakeholders, who provide feedback potentially to be potentially  used for the next Sprint. The Sprint demo will take Demo takes place for all activities at once. A Sprint demo Demo is a public event ans and is open to anybody.
From a project perspective, a Sprint Demo may be accomapanied accompanied by a “allan all-hands” hands project team meeting (not open for to public).

Actors: A-Team, Scrum Master, Stakeholders
Input: Sprint Results (e.g. Software Release, Concept, Business Plan, ...)
Output: Feedback

Meeting Overview