AgileLIVE: Scaling Agile to the Program & Portfolio Levels - Part 1

© 2014 VersionOne, Inc. 1


A few logistics…


Featuring


Thank you for joining us today!


1. Organization

2. Roles & Responsibilities

3. Communication & Coordination

4. Practices & Tools

4 Key Areas of Focus When Scaling


Complexity


…but vertical layers in enterprises remain insulated from each other…

We’ve gotten pretty good at eliminating silos within teams, and delivering working software at the team level…

…and we still aren’t good at delivering working products and services that are the composites of the work of multiple teams.

Size & Value


Complex enterprises struggle with agile when no single agile team or single iteration produces one cohesive unit that provides value to the customer.

Minimally Marketable Feature


Often, although teams may be able to produce working software, the larger organization doesn’t have the capability to integrate and deploy the composite products and services.

The Work of Multiple Teams


Underlying this is a disconnect between the people investing in the creation of the products and services and those actually creating them.

The Disconnect


It isn’t working.

Reliance on Tradition


Organization


SAFe

SAFe


The House of Lean


Roles & Responsibilities


The Team is the Thing


Team Roles Members and Purpose

Development Team Designers, Coders, and Testers that deliver

working software

Component Team A type of development team that maintains a

software component consumed by other

development teams

Feature Team A type of development team that delivers product

features

Product Owner Responsible for ROI, defines & prioritizes

backlogs, accepts work by the team

Scrum Master Serves, leads and facilitates for the team

Team Level Roles


The Program

Scrum Imperative: “Deliver customer value every iteration/sprint.”

We need a way to systematically and predictably integrate the work of multiple teams into something that IS valuable to the customer…


Program Roles Members and Purpose

Release

Management Team

Product Managers, business stakeholders, and Program

Managers who determine the readiness of a product

for release

System Team Testers and other people that build, integrate, and test

a complete product or system (or subsystem)

Product

Management

Owns the solution as a whole. Ultimate responsibility for

end-to-end solution.

Program Level Roles


A huge disconnect persists at the portfolio (“executive”) level in enterprises struggling to adopt agile. The PMOs are often treated as black boxes into which demands and budget are placed, along with unrealistic expectations.

Ideas and money go in…

Perfect software comes out!

The Portfolio


Portfolio Roles Members and Purpose

Product Leadership

Team

Business stakeholders, Product Managers, and

development leaders that collaborate on portfolio

direction

Enterprise

Architecture Team

Senior technical leaders and Architects that manage the

technology strategy

Agile

Transformation

Team

Representation from all areas of the organization

(primarily the Agile PMO/Center of Excellence,

Communities of Practice/Interest; business, technical,

agile coaches, consultants, et al. Anyone passionate

about transforming the organization

Portfolio Level Roles


Communication & Alignment


Communication & the Manifesto

• Individuals & Interactions

• Collaboration

• Face-to-Face Communication

• Business People and Developers Working

Together…


• Key Alignment Areas

– Vision / Goals / Objectives

– Priorities

– Content

– Dependencies / Impediments / Risks

– Plans & Forecasts

– Capacity vs Load

– Architecture / UX

– Knowledge



• Enablement

– Embrace Technology

– Prepare Facilities

– Schedule Synchronization Ceremonies &

Attendance Expectations



Capitalize on a cadence!


Team B Sprints

Team A Sprints

Program A

Planning Cadence

Program B

Planning Cadence

Portfolio Funding

Cadence

Synchronization Opportunities


1. Focus on Quality

2. Broaden Good Practices & Ceremonies

3. Expose & Coordinate the Value Delivery Hierarchy

4. Think Lean

Practices & Tools


Practices & Tools – Engineering Practices (XP)


• Scale Agile Activities

– Grooming

– Planning

•Prioritization

•Estimation

•Planning

– Broaden Demos & Reviews

– Retrospectives

Practices & Tools (Ceremonies)


Practices & Tools (Ceremonies)

Team B Sprints

Team A Sprints

Program A

Planning Cadence

Program B

Planning Cadence

Portfolio Funding

Cadence

Story Grooming & Ranking

Sprint Planning

Sprint Reviews

Sprint Retrospectives

Feature Grooming & Ranking

Release (PSI) Planning

Program Release Reviews

Program Retrospectives

Initiative Grooming & Ranking

Portfolio Planning & Funding

Portfolio Reviews

Strategic Retrospectives


Manage the Value Delivery Hierarchy

Practices & Tools

Portfolio Investment

Program Delivery

Team Delivery

Big Initiatives

Features

Stories

Releases

$$$

Development


Practices & Tools


Value Delivery

Portfolio Investment & Outcomes

Program Delivery

Team Delivery

Big Initiative Priorities

Feature Priorities

Story Priorities


Priority & Capacity = Optimum Delivery ($)

WIP

WIP

WIP

WIP

WIP

WIP

WIP

WIP

WIP

WIP

WIP

WIP

WIP

WIP

WIP

Portfolio Priorities

Program Priorities

Team Priorities


Practices & Tools – Lean Principles


Summary – 4 Key Areas for Change

Scale

Time

Team

1. Organization 2. Roles & Responsibilities 3. Communication & Alignment 4. Practices & Tools

Change


Email a description of your challenges with scaling agile

to enter into a drawing for a

FREE Onsite Agile Assessment

Email: [email protected]

Entries are due by March 5th

What are your challenges?

mailto:[email protected]




• Please submit any questions in the Q&A panel on your console.

• Next steps

Q&A

• Participate in Part 2, February 26, Noon – 1 pm ET

• Stay tuned for info on the next AgileLIVE webinar series!


Thank you for joining us today!


Presentation Credits

• ‘The Number Sense: How the Mind Creates Mathematics

by Stanislas Dehaena

• ‘Enterprise Agile Made Easier’

by Andy Powell and Lee Cunningham

• ‘Agile Software Requirements’

by Dean Leffingwell

• ‘VersionOne State of Agile 2013 Survey – 8th Annual Report

www.stateofagile.com’

• Contributors: Satish Thatte & Lee Cunningham, both VersionOne Agile

Coaches & Product Consultants

http://www.stateofagile.com/