Agile walls part 2 – architecture walls

09 October

This is part 2 of my 4 part series on Agile walls and the uses we can have for them. The premise of the wall is big visible charts, constant and accessible updates and clarity for the entire team on what is happening.

Architecture Walls.
Architecture walls are very different yet strangely similar to planning walls. They cover different material and focus on different information, but they can be used in the “macro” to discuss and document the end to end architecture of the solution and the “micro” to drill down into some specifics for the current stories or work units being delivered. My favourite approach is to have the overall project architecture wall updated with details during the iteration as the questions are asked and answered, and then have an allocated section of the architecture wall for standards, and then another section for questions and discussion sessions.


Image of a basic architecture wall

Figure 8-Basic Architecture Wall



As the information is populated to the wall there can be full group discussions on relationships, dependencies, testability and environments for the development and management of all of the artefacts required for the development and delivery of the solution. Any changes to something on the wall can be quickly done, and then published (because it is done in public everyone can see!) and the whole team gets to see, question and understand any changes and the ramifications of any changes. Team can also overlay their work cards on the architecture or screen or context diagrams to see if they have any gaps or are over-delivering.

Ideally, the architecture walls are very closely located to the team doing the work. Is should become the wiki or “go-to” reference for the team and there should be (ideally) a POW very close by so details can be discussed and thrashed out but the team with reference to the entire solution. To keep regular records of the changes to the architecture wall, taking photos with a digital camera or smartphone allows changes to be made and version control to be managed.

 

Posted by Sharon Robson

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