Chaos and Collaboration

A Successful Adoption of Scrum by a Government Department

Pete George

George Training & Development Ltd

www.GeorgeTD.com

“Almost exactly a year ago I set you the challenge of delivering a … capability … You successfully met this challenge and delivered us a significant new capability in July. Since then, the capability has been used to support a large number of … operations, a number of which have represented major gains for HMG … It’s been a fantastic 7 months … we couldn’t have done it without you!” Extract from a letter by the Deputy Director of a large HMG department, Jan 2010

APP1

APP2

APP3

APP4

APP5

APP8

APP7

APP6

The Challenge

The Answer??

“[Scrum] was a breath of fresh air really. It helped us clear the deadwood out of our processes and practices, which we’d adhered to ‘slavishly’. It gave us a clear connection to users”

Technical Architect, Blazing Saddles Team

2005 – Customer Wanted

2005 - Construction2008 - Construction

2008 - Customer Got

2008 - Customer Finally Got

2008 - Customer Wanted

APP1

APP2

APP3

The Conclusion

Scrum ArtefactsProduct Backlog Sprint

Backlog

Sprint

Release Period

Product Increment

Burndown Chart

Scrum ArtefactsProduct Backlog Sprint

Backlog

Sprint

Release Period

Product Increment

Burndown Chart

Scrum Roles

The Team

Product Owner

Scrum Master

BzS Product Owner

• Saw Team’s problems first-hand

• Relegated Backlog items

• Managed users’ expectations

• Focused Team on completing applications 

• Ensured most important applications delivered

• Collaborated on estimates for post-July work

BzS Product Owner

• Saw Team’s problems first-hand

• Relegated Backlog items

• Managed users’ expectations

• Focused Team on completing applications 

• Ensured most important applications delivered

• Collaborated on estimates for post-July work

Scrum Ceremonies

Sprint

Product Backlog PrioritisationSprint Backlog Planning

Review/Demo

Retrospective

Daily Scrum

Scrum Ceremonies

Sprint

Product Backlog PrioritisationSprint Backlog Planning

Review/Demo

Retrospective

Daily Scrum

“One of the best things I found was the close working with the principal users, having them present in the daily stand up was a boon in sanity checking our understanding of requirements and also to get ‘micro priority judgements’…It was a satisfying way of working because of the continuous feedback.”

Developer, Blazing Saddles Team

“[the user community] always had something constructive to add and it made it seem to me that they were delivering a ‘buy in’ to the Product.”

Tester, Blazing Saddles Team

Increased Collaboration

• Demonstration feedback

• Test charters

• Pair-based exploratory testing

• Alpha testing

• Beta testing

Increased Collaboration

• Demonstration feedback

• Test charters

• Pair-based exploratory testing

• Alpha testing

• Beta testing

Chaos?

• Technical Debt • Support Costs • Practices not principles • Culture shock within Team • Conflicting methodologies across the organisation

• No time for Retrospectives

Chaos?

• Technical Debt • Support Costs • Practices not principles • Culture shock within Team • Conflicting methodologies across the organisation

• No time for Retrospectives

Chaos?

• Technical Debt • Support Costs • Practices not principles • Culture shock within Team • Conflicting methodologies across the organisation

• No time for Retrospectives

What Success Looks Like

A Workshop for Agile Teams Who Are Still Improving

Agile TeamHealth Check

www.georgetd.com

Agile Team Health CheckThe Health Check is a half-day workshop for any team (max 20 members) who would like to improve their current way of working with the help of an experienced Agile facilitator. George T&D will provide the facilitator. All you need to do is provide a suitable venue (and coffee!). The workshop consists of a series of group exercises designed to help the team reflect together on how they are currently operating in the light of the 12 Agile Principles, and how they can perform better. Schedule09:00 Who are we? Introductions and team exercise09:45 Why Agile? Agile Principles review exercise10:45 Coffee break Coffee break11:00 How are we doing? Retrospective exercise 12:00 Where are we going? Action brainstorm exercise12:30 Finish

For more details or to book the workshop, email: enquiries@georgetd.com