The road to potential shippable increments

the ROAD to ��potential SHIPPABLE increments

April 25, 26 - Lyon h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/gravitywave/483395506/

Who am I?

•  Nick Oostvogels •  Independent consultant •  PM, agile & Kanban coach •  Freelance blogger •  Conference organizer •  Father of 3

The story

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The story

•  A typical Scrum team •  Dedicated team of 5 devs, 2 qa, 1 PO, 1 SM,

1 analyst

The story

•  Switched from waterfall 6 months ago •  Getting better •  Being coached

The story

•  Developing a web application •  Highly visible project •  Have to start delivering

Retrospectives

•  Taken seriously •  Improving continuously •  Open minded, willing to try new things

PROJECT POST-MORTEM LESSONS LEARNED

MORE FREQUENT with ITERATIVE development

Agile RETROSPECTIVES

Image by code_mar.al at h2p://www.flickr.com/photos/code_mar.al/4145914957/

Retrospectives SET the STAGE

GATHER INFORMATION

INSIGHTS

DEFINE ACTIONS

CLOSE

But still…

Finishing a sprint 100% seemed impossible

Introducing…

The 6 step program…

… towards potential shippable increments

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1st step

Change focus by learning the improvement kata Goal: get more value out of the retrospectives

Kata : a pattern you practice to learn a skill and mindset. Improvement kata : a pattern for improving, adapting and innovating.

It helps to improve continuously towards a goal instead of random hunting for improvements.

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Current condition

Vision

Target Condition

PDCA PDCA

PDCA

Improvement kata

Customized for retrospectives

1.  Formalize the vision

“What is important for us? How do we want to deliver software?

Current condition

Vision

Target Condition

PDCA PDCA

PDCA


2. Use the vision to agree on the target condition

“What is the next step we can take to get closer to the vision?”


3. Use the vision as a cross-check

Does this improvement suggestion help us to get closer to the vision?

Result

•  Better focus •  Long term thinking •  Systems thinking •  The vision is used as a referee ��

during discussions

•  It may take several ��sprints to get to ��the next target condition

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2nd step

Focus on quality

Goal: ‘REALLY’ delivering features

What is quality?

Zero bug policy!

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How?

•  In sprint testing •  In sprint validation Definition of done: + no open bugs related to user stories of the sprint backlog Fix regression bugs before starting new work

Results

•  Happier end users •  Easier demo’s •  Higher confidence towards deployment •  More accurate planning

3rd step

Focus on improving flow Goal: identify and understand bottlenecks

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Theory of constraints

Boyscouts example

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•  Step 1 – Find bottlenecks through symptoms •  Step 2 - Plan actions to reduce or eliminate

bottlenecks •  Step 3 – Subordonate everything else to the

above decision

•  Step 4 – Evaluate the bottleneck •  Step 5 – go back to step1

Investigate & act Walk through the lifecycle ��

of the user stories

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Investigate & act Use measurements

Investigate & act Discuss possible bottlenecks

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Investigate & act Plan actions to reduce or ��

eliminate the bottleneck

Result

•  Awareness •  Get used to hunt for bottlenecks

4th step

Make bottlenecks visible

Limit Work in Progress

Active In Development (5) In Test (3) Resolved (2) Closed

Kanban board

Kanban rules

Never break the WIP limits!

Being idle due to uneven flow distribution drives people crazy!

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Kanban rules

1.  Check if the bug list is empty 2.  Check if you can help the next stage to pull a

feature 3.  Check if you can help somebody with a feature

in your stage 4.  Investigate the root cause 5.  Improve the application or your way of working 6.  Learn something new, related to the job

What to do when the flow is stuck?

Remember:�� Kanban doesn’t focus on maximizing utilization of people ��

Result

•  Focus on the entire chain •  WIP limits to manage flow and tackle

bottlenecks

5th step

Anticipate bottlenecks early on

Understanding measurements

Distribution

SLA’s

Result

•  Visualisation •  Better decision making •  No more tasks that disappear in the process

6th step

Use SLA’s for good sprint backlog composition

Sprint backlog

Big user stories need to go first We can only do a few big ones Small user stories near the end Dependent user stories may not fit the sprint S (0-‐2 sp) : 4 days -‐ 7 days

M (3-‐5 sp) : 4 days -‐ 7 days L (8-‐13 sp) : 10 days -‐ 14 days

The Role of PO and SM

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Product Owner

Explain priorities Actively participate

Trust the team Put quality and flow first

Scrum Master

Guard the rules Give the team a

mandate Trust the team

Compare ��with ��1 year ��earlier

Compare with 1 year earlier

Planning is much more accurate despite less upfront preparation •  Bugfree software •  Consistent delivery

•  Definition of done •  Up to date product backlog


Easier end-user testing and demos Better feedback

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Team spirit increased

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Not pushing to go faster ��but improving end 2 end

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Focus on finishing instead of starting

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Ownership “Everybody cares”

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Summary

1 Improvement Kata

6 Use SLA’s during planning

2 Focus on Quality

3 Improving flow

4 Make bottlenecks visible (WIP limits)

5 Anticipate bottlenecks (SLA’s)

Available on

Related books

www.dare2013.be

Thanks!

@NickOostvogels

http://www.skycoach.be

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The road to potential shippable increments