Translated material
Agile approach: How it works in Promsvyazbank
The speed of implementation of quality products is the main competitive advantage of the bank. Understanding this, in Promsvyazbank moved to the use of Agile approaches, transferred mobile applications to their own development and released completely new, improved applications for iOS and Android.
Why Agile?
Speaking about the reasons for the transition to Agile, the head of the “Digital Business” block, Promsvyazbank Algyirdas Shakmanas says that this approach allows the bank to revise the culture of interaction between people who participate in the project. Agile is, first of all, a special way of thinking and only then a family of approaches and specific technical practices for developing products.
The best advantages of Agile can be seen by comparing it with the traditional cascading development model. It implies that the organization is divided into “functional wells”, where people are subordinate to the leader who creates their own system setting, distribution of tasks and motivation of employees to fulfill some specific function. At the same time, the project is involved in the project sponsor, the customer, the project manager and the development team. The design procedures are regulated, the work is carried out according to a previously drawn up and agreed plan, any significant change in requirements leads to the need to revise the work plan of the project team, terms and budget, which will require new approvals with the functional leaders of the project team, the managing committee, etc. Such procedures do not contribute to frequent changes in the requirements for the product. As a rule, most companies still work for such classic models.
In Agile, the organizational structure is simplified. “The approach came to the business from the world development of software. The AGILE manifest was created by people tired of the search for a “silver bullet” (the best development method), which will best develop software products that can satisfy the real needs of the user. The industry is probably looking for this bullet from the moment the first software product appears. But in the end, it turned out that there was no one silver bullet for all, ”says Alexey Chubenko, director of the development of digital channels Promsvyazbank.
AGILE principles contribute to the creation of a system of continuous value improvements for the user, when the product can be changed by short iterations for the requirement of users for an arbitrarily long time. To implement such a system, a small cross-functional self-organizing team is released, which works in constant interaction with the customer. The team has a common goal, there are no functional managers, there is only a set of grocery tasks that determines what to do, and the team determines how to best realize these tasks.
The organizational method of Scrum assumes that in order to comply with the principle of Agile - creating valuables for the client with short iterations - it is necessary to work with two -week or monthly cycles (sprints). To comply with the user's needs and focus on the product being created, it is necessary that the development team is fully busy in the project so that no one put any other tasks to it. The team stands out a special role of the master - a person who rakes obstacles that prevent the team from reaching the goal and constantly improving the development process.
REFERENCE. Scrum - a sports term that came from a rugby can be translated as "a fight, crush around the ball." Such a term was used by the creators of the method of developing the Ken Schwaber software and Jeff Sutherland, perhaps because it more accurately describes the basic principles of the small cross-functional team on the most priority value of the product with short cycles, the results of which are ready to use the integral part of the product.
“There is an opinion that in the approach of Agile due to the speed and lack of centralized leadership, the team is lost, that the work is underway on the principle of“ Tyap-Lap-and in production ”. In fact, the latter is characterized by the Code-And-Fix technique used by startups, which is important to check the product hypothesis on end users as soon as possible, and only then, realizing that the product has value, increase its quality. If the team makes a bad code - this is not agile in any case, because it does not comply with its principles, ”notes Alexey Chubenko.
The good news is that the best technical and process practices of development are used in Agile. In extreme programming (XP), for example, there is a practice of pairing programming, when one programmer writes the code, and the second sits next to the monitor, immediately reads this code and discusses with his partner how it can be optimized. This, it would seem, is twice as expensive, but in fact it is optimal and cheaper by reducing the number of errors in the code, both people are more immersed in the project, the interchangeability increases, people are less tired and work more efficiently.
The self -organizing team seeks to comply with the principles of Agile and is constantly looking for ways to improve the development process, improve the quality of the product and the speed of implementation. And if it does not begin to use, for example, the best DevOPS practices if frequent, fast -fast application assemblies are not used, if there is no automatic deployment of the application and automatic testing, the best programming practices will not be used, etc., then the team will gain a large technical debt (errors in the system, temporary technical solutions), which will lead to the fact that it will not be followed by the principle continuous value improvements of the product, because in the next sprints you will have to change the architecture and conduct, for example, code refactoring and correcting errors and crutches, instead of making a new function for users. Or, for example, the product will be completely ready for the user, but its introduction will stretch to the long stages of inspections and coordination with the operating unit.
REFERENCE. DevOPS (from the English Development - Development and Operations - Support, Maintenance) - Set of approaches and practices of software development, with a focus on the active interaction of technical specialists participating in the processes of analytics, development, implementation, implementation and support of the product (programmers, testers and admins/intrinses, accompanying industrial operation. staff).
To build a product “pipe” (or Pipesin, from the English pipe - pipe) from the beginning of coding to the introduction of a specific value for the client in the sale, Devops is used so that this pipe is without narrow neck, without valves and loops, and forms a straight stream. To do this, the team involves all the competencies and roles that can affect it on the path of this flow. If DevOPS practices are not implemented, employees who will serve this system can suddenly find before starting the solution that it is created so that it cannot be operated and everything needs to be finalized. Automatic assembly of the application and automatic testing should be carried out, according to the results of which a decision is made on the further release of code up to production systems.
“Google and Facebook can ultimately introduce hundreds of system changes per day precisely because they have this Payplane is built in such a way that there are no obstacles anywhere - if all the stages of the path have been automatically passed, the code is in the industrial environment a day after the product idea was developed and reinforced,” says Alexey Chubenko.
How this happens in Promsvyazbank
“Why did we come to this? - explains Algirdas Shakmanas. - Because in the classical model of cascading development, each team is responsible for its stage, the process turns into a series of endless approvals and the time for withdrawal to the market cannot be reduced. Triangle speed - resources - quality is constantly floating. The customer begins to feel the decision only when the testing process begins, and it often turns out that this is not at all what he expected. ”
When using the Agile approach, you do not need to make any final decisions at once. “The main idea is that, in principle, there is no brilliant visionary who clearly knows that the client needs to get in a month or two,” explains Chubenko. - Because even the most experienced professional can have a distorted idea of what the client needs. There are many customers, they are all different people, of different ages and social status, with different habits, etc. Agile makes it possible to quickly react to the need for changes that the user, if something is done incorrectly, will convey very quickly. To do this, we build a continuous feedback from the user. We collect it through various channels - from applications and social networks to the letters of our customers. ”
Before the release, the bank conducts beta testing: creates a community of the most active users of the application and gives them to try what is going to open after some time for everyone. This allows you to see some specific flaws through the eyes of real users.
Alexey Chubenko (at Flipchart) and one of the first AGILE-command PSB. Photo: Arseniy Nesodimov for Republic
“We strive to release releases to the app stores every two weeks, but for this we will need, for example, to increase the percentage of automatic tests of the functionality of our application. As a rule, we are ready to make some kind of feature in two weeks, but we are not always ready to successfully test it, this requires additional time. But at least the monthly cycle we are definitely observing, ”says Chubenko.
The final task is to transform the bank's digital business into a flexible product development model. Of course, this will affect the IT unit, therefore, together with the head of the IT displacement of Promsvyazbank Andrei Ovsyannikov and the ICBT LLC team (the main developer of the banking banking Bank), decisions are made what changes in these tools, technologies, and approaches to development must be made in the organization to achieve the principles of flexibility.
“We did not follow the path that some banks and some companies adopted, when they decided at one point that they would become flexible, and for this they created quite stringent rules that everyone should now comply with to become flexible. In my opinion, this in itself contradicts Agile - to create the rules by which everyone should transform, ”Comers Chubenko.
Instead, the bank went along a flexible path even in transformation. “We do not say that Promsvyazbank should become flexible in a year - we say that we have the opportunity and desire to create all the conditions for the whole bank to see in practice that Agile really brings the result - reduces the time for the withdrawal of the product to the market and improves the quality of user experience. To do this, we launch pilot teams, ”says Shakmanas.
For pilots, PSB chose products requiring the fastest changes that will be developed by two pilot agile teams. These are products in the digital business, in average and small business. In the digital block, the transaction functions of the application and the Internet bank are highlighted, which the client uses every day-payments and transfers. Here, the bank see obvious growth points - the need to increase the number of suppliers, simplify payment procedures, make functions of flexible search, apply new approaches to usability, and withdraw new functions. Paying will become more convenient, easier and more profitable.
The launch of pilot Agile team will allow the jar to see what problems they face, which prevents them from complying with these principles. To solve these problems systematically, a transformation team was created at the bank's reign.
Relatively speaking, if now the process of coordination and placement of the developed application in the industrial environment begins after the development of development, which leads to an increase in the application period to the end users, then as a result of our transformation we can include this process in the continuous cycle of changes and reduce this period, attracting the operational unit and subdivisions of IB at the very early stage of development and testing.
Accordingly, the bank will change processes, regulations, look where improvements are possible, where it is necessary to apply new technologies or technology. “Thus, at the pilot’s stage, which we plan to spend in three months, we will be able to change the processes existing in the bank and create the soil to launch the next commands along this path. And gradually, with such point changes, we will be able to change the existing procedures for working in a bank, ”Shakmanas is sure.
“We do not claim that everyone in the bank will work on Agile. We understand that this work process has its advantages, which are best manifested in the product growth phase. But maybe they should not be rashly used for all stages of the product cycle at the bank - force to work on Agile units that are responsible for the compliance of our processes with the requirements of the regulator or support of the ABS, ”adds Chubenko.
The first release of the PSB mobile application has already been made taking into account the principles of Agile. A cross-functional team was created, which included both customers on behalf of the business units of the digital block and the developers from the IT units directly, and the developers of both the mobile application and the backing system that implements the business logic of operations, so that in such a joint interaction to the face there is the opportunity to quickly change the front and backing office systems.
This brought its results - the iOS application was developed in a short time, in just three months. It was released in the App Store in May of this year. “I must say that we were ready for the first version to collect a large number of reviews - maybe not negative. The team could make changes in a short period, and just thanks to this, we quickly could pay off the negativity that arose due to the fact that we made such an unspooping transition. In particular, we significantly increased safety, but at the same time, a login and password had to be reduced to enter the application. As it turned out, many clients have forgotten them corny. We quickly improved the form of password input and after a week we rolled out a change that made it possible to remove this problem, ”says Alexei Chubenko.
The Android version was released recently. By comparing new versions of mobile applications for Android and iOS with old applications, you can notice that the bank switched to native development technologies. Previously, a technology was used that formed the same application for both mobile systems, which was convenient in terms of development, but not always allowed us to satisfy users' wishes for the interface. Now customers can naturally use the patterns laid down in the mobile phone operating system.
In addition, new functions appeared in the application, a transfer from a card to a card is simplified. But since this is only the first release, there are few functional changes in it. First of all, the usability has been improved, the menu concept was rebuilt. In the future, on this new platform, the bank will be able to add new functions.
“Just based on the need to introduce such changes, a decision was made on the transfer of competence to develop to the bank. We understood that the development of a mobile application is the main banking activity, this is what will allow us to become leaders in the market of mobile applications, ”says Shakmanas.
Now in the beta version of the mobile application, the bank is testing a chatbot. Plans for its development include the opportunity not only to conduct a dialogue with the user, but also to execute his commands given to the human language, for example: “Pay 500 rubles for my phone.” “We do not have the goal of creating a new messenger, we have the goal of improving interaction with the client in different channels. That is, a chatbot is a platform, and the channels for it can be different-from SMS to the most famous messengers-Telegram, WhatsApp, etc., ”Chubenko explains.
It is clear that such indicators as an increase in the penetration of the client base into digital channels, an increase in the number of customer operations in digital channels, and an increase in profit are important for the bank business. But now the bank sets itself a slightly different goal. “It is no less important that, having penetrated our digital channel, the client is satisfied with what he used; So that, having paid for the mobile phone, he felt convenience to be satisfied with this and come to us again. After all, we understand that now a person is a client of at least two or three banks, he has several applications on the phone, and he can very quickly compare them and go to the competitor. Наша задача – сделать так, чтобы клиент остался с нами», – подытожил Шакманас.
Photo: Arseniy Nesodimov for Republic