Agile Development, Maximum Size Project? [closed]

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I'm considering running a project using the Agile methodology but the project is roughly 9 months work for 6 developers. Is this project too big to run under as Agile?

Obviously ignoring the risks associated with running the first Agile project on this size.

Thanks, Mike

Edit

Thanks for all the answers. I have no experience of Agile neither do I have a Scrum Master or anyone with much xp. My original thoughts were how to run an agile project as I haven't architected the system yet. So how do I run a team on a project which doesn't have architecture when the project will last 9-12 months.

Clearly I need to dedicate more time to understanding the principles before I dive in.

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No, it's not too big at all. However, your question to me seems to imply a kind of casual approach to methodology choice and perhaps an unfamilarity with Agile generally, or you wouldn't ask it - which Agile methodology were you intending to use? Have you experience in that or in other Agile development approaches? How are you proposing to train peoole in what to do?

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You have a typical setup here. 6 devs, room for several iterations.

If you had more developers, I would have recommended you to split them into smaller teams.

Project duration is less important since the approach is iterative and let you develop tbe most useful features first.

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The project isn't too big to run as an Agile project.

However, you haven't mentioned any other team members.

• Do you have testers and either business users or a BA who can act as a proxy, sat with your developers?

• Do you have stakeholders who are prepared to engage and give you regular feedback?

• Are your infrastructure team ready to provide you with the environments you'll need for more frequent testing, continuous integration, etc?

• Are your architects happy to work in an incremental, evolutionary way?

• Do you have a facilitator or coach who can make a safe environment to run retrospectives in?

• Are the project board prepared to receive different kinds of reports and metrics?

• Are you in a good place to learn and will the people around you make it safe for you to do so?

On an Agile project, the word "team" can be misleading, and the impact of the first Agile project is usually a lot bigger than anyone thinks it will be. Still not too big, though - good luck with it!

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The Scrum Guide states:

The optimal size for a Team is seven people, plus or minus two. When there are fewer than five Team members, there is less interaction and as a result less productivity gain. What’s more, the Team may encounter skill constraints during parts of the Sprint and be unable to deliver a releasable piece of the product. If there are more than nine members, there is simply too much coordination required.

Keep in mind "Team" in this context is part of the Scrum Team which also includes the Scrum Master and the Product owner, who are just as key. Do you have a person for each of those roles?

Granted, the Scrum Guide may not be a bible, but it's a good starting reference, especially for someone new to Scrum. But I'd say 6 is a good size for your team.

Are you working with a coach or someone on the Scrum Team who is experienced in Scrum? If not, there's a fair chance that you won't understand a number of key concepts. Said a different way, it's difficult to learn scrum from reading about it and trying it. Often teams that take that approach run into barriers, abandon Scrum, then tell people that "Agile doesn't work" because their project failed.

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Is this project too big to run under as Agile?

No. Since you seem to be in the Agile and Estimation and Planning phase it, watch this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkWglejhJZM

Mike Cohn (author of Agile Estimation and Planning) talks about a 700 people Scrum Project, divided into roughly 100 Teams, which clearly is a several month project.

Now would you think of your project being big? :)

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I would call your project and team as relatively small. Agile methodologies are better for small teams, but the project size doesn't really matter.