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2Collaborate Across Business Communities
Data warehousing and business intelligence systems will live in a diversity of environments, not just in the IT department. It’s important to treat business owners, technical experts, project managers and the many communities of users across the organization as members of the team by allowing them to offer input and test working features as they’re developed.
3Educate Stakeholders
Because most stakeholders aren’t well-versed in data warehousing and business intelligence, they don’t know what’s reasonable for them to ask or expect, and often they change their minds as they see the system put into action. Investing time in education both up-front and throughout development will help clarify needs and goals, keeping the developed product useful and relevant.
4Continuously Deliver Working Features
In traditional development models, developers could work for months on a feature, only to find it no longer applicable to a changing business environment. In Agile analytics, each iteration should deliver a working feature to be tested by stakeholders and adapted in further iterations to better suit the organization’s needs.
5Test Frequently
With so many stakeholders on board, it is crucial to test data warehousing/business intelligence systems frequently throughout the development process. Integrate continuously and test systems in pre-production or demo environments at various benchmarks throughout the project so there are no surprises at the end.
6Adapt to Changing Conditions
7Automate as Many Processes as Possible
The greatest manpower should be saved for developing new features and collaborating across organizational and development teams. As such, it’s important to automate as many regular processes as possible, from testing to administrative tasks so that developers can focus intensely on an iteration’s set goals.
8Foster Self-Organized Teams
9Adapt Agile Methods to Individual Projects and Teams
10Conduct Regular Reviews of Processes
Agile systems development requires just as much discipline and rigor as the traditional waterfall method in order to stay on track. However, rigor should be applied not to adhering to rigid systems and static goals, but to constantly re-evaluating the effectiveness of the methods and styles at hand.
11Constantly Learn
Keep up-to-date with the best data warehousing and business intelligence practices and implement them fluidly into each iterative phase. This will substantially increase the development team’s agility and keep the organization ahead of its competitors.