Agile Development in Meteorological R&D: Achieving a Minimum Viable Product in a Scrum Work Setting

In the Agile Way of Working (AoW) a group of developers jointly work to efficiently
realize a project. Here we report on the application of AoW in meteorological R&D
outside of the software engineering environment. Three projects were formulated
derived from the Observations Strategy (2015) of the Royal Netherlands
Meteorological Institute (KNMI). An initial phase of preparation consisted of breaking
down the work load into tasks to be accomplished by individual project members and
achievable in two one-week Sprints. Sprints consisted of daily standups where
accomplishments, work intentions and obstacles were discussed, followed by project
work in a joint working environment. The three projects identified were: 1) Flying a
drone to detect boundary layer evolution, 2) Monitoring the quality of the precipitation
measurement system, and 3) Realizing a platform for merging third party data with
meteorological observations. The preparation phase proved to be vitally important to
each of the projects. The role of the Product Owner and Scrum Master in streamlining
and guiding these projects were essential to the success of the Sprint weeks, but the
joint group settings worked well for only two of the three projects. While team members
were positive about their experience with the AoW, the challenge remains to fuse the
traditional individual work practice of researchers with that of software engineers who
are experienced in working in a group setting.