Value Performance Index for Agile Development

Centil is an emerging provider of Value Stream Management (VSM) services, providing consulting and coaching for large software development programs.  For this SBIR Phase I, we propose basic and applied research to develop and demonstrate our Value Performance Index methodology (patent pending) for managing Agile software development.  Centil has consulted on several programs that have been directed to use Earned Value Management (EVM) and has observed consistent anti-patterns that emerge as a result.  In conversations with DoD acquisition leaders, most understand that EVM is often incongruent with Agile principles, but are left with the unanswered question “How do I report progress, predict success and satisfy oversight requirements for large (i.e. ACAT I, II) Agile development programs?”   Centil intends to answer this question with its Value Performance Index (VPI).  VPI applies queue theory and throughput metrics to Agile development backlogs in a manner that provides a continuous empirical value that indicates the likelihood of a program’s on time completion.  The patent pending methodology will be developed as a plug-in to commonly available VSM tools (e.g. TaskTop Viz) and will also be compatible with Centil’s FlowLab dashboard.