The document summarizes a presentation by Jon R. Stahl on getting executive leadership and organizations to practice agile principles from the top down. It discusses how most agile movements are not sustainable because they fail to change culture and establish a process. It advocates that leadership must live the values of agility, seek to understand their unique culture, and be transparent. It also provides examples of information radiators that can help visualize work, values, projects and assets to establish transparency and shared understanding.

1. Agile From The Top Down:
Executives & Leadership Practicing Agile
Jon R. Stahl
8-9-2011
@jonRstahl

2. jon.stahl@leandog.com BS in CIS
+ Econ Minor
@jonRstahl
Co-Founded 2.5 Years Ago
Grew up in Pittsburgh, in Cleveland last 18 years

3. Our office/boat
“The Kearsarge”
A Steamship built in
1892

4. “The Deep Dive” - 1999
How does the process of designing a better product work?
What does a process AND a culture look like?

6. “Build a culture and a process, that's
what companies really want”
Process + Culture := Sustainability

7. Why are most Agile movements NOT sustainable?

8. Agile Manifesto
We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals & Interactions over Process & Tools
Working Software over Comprehensive Documents
Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation
Responding to Change over Following a Plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value
the items on the left more.

9. Agile Principles
 Deliver software in short increments
 Expect and encourage change
 Constant collaboration with customer
 Continuous attention to technical
excellence
 Simplicity
 Self organizing teams
 …

10. Scrum = Agile?
• Does your company think they are just doing some
common “agile” practices and therefore they are Agile?
•
• Or do they recognize that Agile is a set of values and
principles?

11. We Want To Go Agile!
• Give us the recipe
• Give us some coaches
• Give us some training
• Do it quickly
Really Saying…
• Help me change our culture,
• A culture that you can’t possibly understand
unless you are living in it
Wait….
• We can’t even describe our culture to you
clearly

12. They must
• live the values
• lead by example
• seek to truly understand their culture
• be as transparent as the teams they lead
Lets explore how we could begin to expose your
culture and live the values!

13. Our Backlog
PMO Leadership Assets Information
Re-Factored WIP & Kaizen By Value Radiators
Asset Roadmaps
Speak Leadership Values &
& Quality
In Stories Retrospectives Principles
Metrics
Leadership Asset Business &
Implementation
Stand Ups Scoring Objectives
Stahl Warning: Standard Work
Tools
People
Org Chart
Project
Demand Funnel
I talk FAST so
stop me if Standard Work People
Project
Sizing &
Agile Craftsmanship
necessary, I do Capacity
not mind  Standard Work People Project
Waterfall Constraints Release Planning
Financials, Leadership Asset
Operations, etc. Road Blocks Technology Soup

14. Information Radiators
Visualize What you Manage

15. Clear communication is the foundation
“I’m glad we all agree.”

16. Get those mental models out on the table
“Ah...”

17. An explicit model allows convergence
through iteration
“Ah!”

18. A genuinely shared understanding
“I’m glad we’re all agreed then.”

19. Information Radiators
• A display posted in a place where people can see it as
they work or walk by.
• It shows readers information they care about without
having to ask anyone a question.
• This means more communication with fewer
interruptions.
• Large & easily visible to the casual, interested observer
• Understood at a glance
• Changes periodically, so that it is worth visiting
• Is easily kept up to date

20. Create a BVR (Big Visual Room)
• Find a location with lots of wall space
• Must be in a high traffic area like…
– Lunch Room / Cafeteria
– Long Hallways / Busy Corridors

21. Step 1: Values & Principles

22. The MOST Important Wall Of All!
• Put you values on the wall
• Examine a software value system and principles
• Put this on the wall
• Tie them together
• Management Team Signs it
• We Recommend..
– Agile Manifesto
– XP Values (Courage, Communication, Simplicity,
Feedback, Respect)
– Lean: Kaizen & Muda

23. Manifesto
for
Agile
So6ware
Development
Principles
behind
the
Agile
Manifesto
We
are
uncovering
beUer
ways
of
developing
• Our
highest
priority
is
to
sa4sfy
the
customer
soDware
by
doing
it
and
helping
others
do
it.
through
early
and
con4nuous
delivery
of
valuable
soDware.
Through
this
work
we
have
come
to
value:
• Welcome
changing
requirements,
even
late
in
Individuals
and
interac4ons
over
processes
and
tools
development.
Agile
processes
harness
change
for
the
customer's
compe44ve
advantage.
Working
soDware
over
comprehensive
documenta4on
Customer
collabora4on
over
contract
nego4a4on
• Deliver
working
soDware
frequently,
from
a
couple
of
weeks
to
a
couple
of
months,
with
a
Responding
to
change
over
following
a
plan
preference
to
the
shorter
4mescale.
• Business
people
and
developers
must
work
That
is,
while
there
is
value
in
the
items
on
together
daily
throughout
the
project.
the
right,
we
value
the
items
on
the
leD
more.
• Build
projects
around
mo4vated
individuals.
Source:
AgileManifesto.Org
• Give
them
the
environment
and
support
they
need,
and
trust
them
to
get
the
job
done.
eXtremeProgramming
Values
We
Follow
• The
most
efficient
and
effec4ve
method
of
conveying
informa4on
to
and
within
a
development
Courage,
Communica4on,
Feedback,
Respect,
Simplicity
team
is
face-­‐to-­‐face
conversa4on.
• Working
soDware
is
the
primary
measure
of
progress.
• Agile
processes
promote
sustainable
development.
• The
sponsors,
developers,
and
users
should
be
able
to
maintain
a
constant
pace
indefinitely.
We
uphold
the
manifesto
with
prac4ces
that
we
adopt
from:
• Con4nuous
aUen4on
to
technical
excellence
and
good
design
enhances
agility.
•
eXtreme
Programming
(XP)
• Simplicity-­‐-­‐the
art
of
maximizing
the
amount
of
work
not
done-­‐-­‐is
essen4al.
•
Scrum
• The
best
architectures,
requirements,
and
designs
emerge
from
self-­‐organizing
teams.
•
Lean
• At
regular
intervals,
the
team
reflects
on
how
•
Organiza4on
Effec4veness
/
Development
to
become
more
effec4ve,
then
tunes
and
adjusts
its
behavior
accordingly.
•
SoDware
CraDsmanship
Source:
AgileManifesto.Org

24. Step 2: Visualize Your Business

25. Visualize the Business Units and Strategy
Customer Experiences
Buying
Selling
Ownership
Claims
Strategic Objectives
• Product Development wants to expand from 8 states to 16 states.
• Product Development wants to introduce a recreational vehicle product.
• Marketing wants to increase our Gen Y customer base from 5% to 20%.
• Sales wants to provide consumers their policy data via mobile technology

26. Step 3: Visualize Your Projects & Demand Funnel

27. Map the Demand & WIP
Business Units Project Backlog WIP
A
Least Valuable Most Valuable
B
C
D

28. Size the Demand & Add Time to Market Constraints
Sizing Time to Market Constraints
XS 0 - 625 Hrs 1
Units double with risk
Unit Q1
S 626 – 1,250 Hrs 2 Q2
Units
M 1,251 – 2,500 Hrs. 4 Q3
Units
Q4
L 2,501 – 5,000 Hrs 8
Units
XL 5,001 - 10,000 Hrs 16 4 Program X
Units
Project A
Biz A Biz C
M
Biz B Biz D

29. Understand Lean Pull

30. Calculate Units By Team
7 – 12 Developers 2,080 less 20% Non-Billable = 1664
2–3 Product Owner/Business 1664 x 16 = 26,624 per team
Analyst
2–3 Quality Assurance Or do by Budget ie: 6 Million a year,
1–2 Team Leaders = 1.5 Million per Qtr
12 – 20 People, 16 people ideal
20 Units per quarter

31. Release Planning
20 Units Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Per Year 5 Units 5 Units 5 Units 5 Units
Per Team
4 Units 2 Units
8 Units 4 Units
1 Unit 1 Unit

32. Budgets Are Done…Deliver!

33. It’s not that simple, so let’s paint a real picture…
Visualize what you manage
• Application Assets
• People
• Leadership
• Standard Work / Process
• Financials, Operations, etc.
PMO Re-factored
Speak in Stories

34. Step 4: Application Assets

35. Visualize the Application Assets and Technology soup
Biz A Biz C Oracle C# COBOL
Biz B Biz D SQL Server Java Other

36. Order Assets By Business Value/Severity
Level 3 Level 2 Level 1
Biz A Biz C
Biz B Biz D

37. Visualize Your Assets Management in Severity Order
Road Map
Current State Future State Plan To Get there
128 Units Severity
Technical Debt Production 1 Sev 1
Defects
12 Sev 2
40 Sev 3
Frequency
jUnit Test Automated Regression Performance
82%
Coverage Test Coverage 74% 91%/10
Other things you could track: Lines of Code, Code Change Risk Analyzer, JDepend,
Cylcomatic Complexity, Panopticode, Chidamber & Kemer Object-oriented metrics

38. Score Your Assets, Asset Management
Level 3 Level 2 Level
1
Road Tech Test
Map Defects Debt Coverage
< 25
Great Solid <5 Units
> 80%
Good
OK
Biz A Biz C
Biz Biz D Rotten
B

39. Step 5: People
(Assets & Liabilities)

40. Visualize Your Org Chart, Post-IT note color = Primary Role
Dev QA Mgr Admin BA Other

41. Define Core Competencies, Matrix & Ownership
Eric Susan Jon Mary Jim
Craft Owners Mgr BA Dev QA Admin Other
Master
Teachers, Passion For Craft
Journeyman Practice, Rinse, Repeat
Apprentice New, Please Mentor Me
What does Learn from industry Form a community Feedback loops
best practices for the craft on the craft
ownership mean?

42. Apply Craftsmanship Levels M = Master
J = Journeyman
M A = Apprentice
M M J J J
M J J J M
A A M M A A A M A A J J M J J
J M A J A J J J J J M J A A J
A A J J M J M A A J M A
J A J A A
J J
A J J J J A M M
A A J
Dev QA Mgr Admin BA Other

43. Score the Competencies
Eric Susan Jon Mary Jim
Mgr BA Dev QA Admin Other
Master
8 Units 4 3 3 4 1 1
Journeyman
4 Units 7 1 12 9 2 1
Apprentice
2 Units 0 3 16 3 0 1
Could Apply (4x8)+ (3x8)+ (3x8)+ (4x8)+ (1x8)+ (1x8)+
$ Per Unit & (7x4) + (1x4) + (12x4) + (9x4) + (2x4) + (1x4) +
Look at (0x2) (3x2) (16x2) (3x2) (0x2) (1x2)
Ratio’s 60 UNITS 34 UNITS 104 74 UNITS 16 UNITS 14 UNITS
UNITS

44. Apply Tech Skills to Devs
M
M M J J J
M J J J M
A A M M A A A M A A J J M J J
J M A J A J J J J J M J A A J
A A J J M J M A A J M A
J A J A A J
J
A M M
A J J J J Admin
A A J
SQL
Oracle C# Java COBOL Other
Server

45. Score the Competencies By Tech Skills
Eric Susan Jon Mary Jim
Mgr BA Dev QA Admin Other
Master
8 Units 4 3 3 4 1 1
Journeyman
4 Units 7 1 12 9 2 1
Apprentice
2 Units 0 3 16 3 0 1
Could Apply (4x8)+ (3x8)+ (3x8)+ (4x8)+ (1x8)+ (1x8)+
$ Per Unit & (7x4) + (1x4) + (12x4) + (9x4) + (2x4) + (1x4) +
Look at (0x2) (3x2) (16x2) (3x2) (0x2) (1x2)
Ratio’s 60 UNITS 34 UNITS 104 UNITS 74 UNITS 16 UNITS 14 UNITS
You Get the Idea…

46. Map People to Business Knowledge
M
You Get the
Idea
M M J J J
M J J J M
A A M M A A A M A A J J M J J
J M A J A J J J J J M J A A J
A A J J M J M A A J M A
J A J A A J
J
A M M
A J J J J Admin
A A J
Biz A Biz C
Biz B Biz D

47. Specialists that support Agile & Waterfall
• Architecture
• Infrastructure
• Security
• User Experience
• DBA’s
• PMO
• Operations
Circle them, make note of them, SPECIALIZATION is another type
of constraint.
Do the specialists want to control or contribute to delivery?

48. Candidate Waste: Latent Skill
Organizations employ their staff for
specific skills that they may have. These
employees have other skills too, it is
wasteful to not take advantage of these
skills as well. "It is only by capitalizing on
employees' creativity that organizations
can eliminate the other seven wastes and
continuously improve their performance.”
Source Liker(2004) – The Toyota Way (p.28)

49. Wasteful Craft Patterns in MOST Organizations
“I am expert at the system “I know the business, so therefore
therefore I am in I am the customer, I am the
Quality Assurance” business analyst.”
Root: I can break stuff. Root: I can’t admit I changed
professions.
“I got a BS degree in Computer
Science, but I only do Java”
Root: I know enough technology.
“If it wasn’t created here, I “Study my craft? I quit
don’t buy it.” studying when I left school”
Root: “Not Invented Here” Root: I don’t get paid to
syndrome & self preservation. study. Homework sucks.

50. Step 6: Process/Standard Work

51. Standard Work
• Each step in the process should be defined and
must be performed repeatedly in the same
manner.
• Standard Work will define the most efficient
methods to produce product using available
equipment, people, and material. The Standard
Work depicts the key process points, operator
procedures, production sequence, safety issues,
and quality checks.
Source: http://www.gatlineducation.com/leandemo/
rulestandardwork.htm

52. Sustaining the Discipline
• Maintain and review standards.
• While thinking about the new way, also be
thinking about better ways.
• Suggested improvements can be tested.
• If truly better, don’t be different just to be
different.
• Be different if results are the same & is the
least waste method (ie: story card tracking).

53. Standard Work: Tools Teams
Code Red Fish, Policy Code Lean
Project Management Rats Blue Fish Admin Monkeys Dogs
Time Reporting NA NA
Agile Project Tracking NA
Waterfall Project Tracking NA NA NA NA
Development Java IDE NA NA NA
C# IDE NA NA
TDD
Continuous Integration
Testing

55. Standard Work: Agile Practices
Teams
Code Red Fish, Policy Code
Rats Monkeys LeanDogs
Project Management Blue Fish Admin
Daily Standup
Retrospectives
Story Mapping
Development TDD
Pair Programming
BDD
Continuous Integration
Always Sometimes Never Not Necessary

56. Mapping of PMBOK Waterfall/
Traditional to Agile by Michele
Sliger & Stacia Broderick

57. Standard Practices: Waterfall Projects
Project A Project B Project C Project D Project E
Project Phase Executing Closing Initiation Planning Monitoring
Integration Mgmt
Scope Mgmt
Time Mgmt
Cost Mgmt
Quality Mgmt
Human Resource
Communication Mgmt
Risk Mgmt
Procurement Mgmt
Good Caution Fail

58. Step 7..X: Financials, Operations,
Procurement, … Keep Going
 There isn’t one way to do this, do
what makes sense to your
organization.
 Add & remove information
radiators based on value and insight
needed.
 If they are not being maintained,
that is a sign that they aren’t
radiating value – Adapt!

59. Leadership Practices

60. Transparent Leadership
• Doesn’t mean you have all the answers
• Control is not something you can have over a
complex system
• Set a larger vision for the organization
• Allow the creativity of their people to emerge
• Visualize the problem, allow teams to solve
• Shift the way you [lead] organizations, loosen
control to encourage more creativity. A culture of
care will emerge, as opposed to a culture of
command and control, and your company will be
more creative and productive, too.
Excerpt from “http://www.enterprise-architecture.info/Images/Extended%20Enterprise/Extended%20Enterprise%20Architecture3.htm”

61. Daily Stand Up Meetings
 Team communicates on a daily basis
 Team members report:
What they did yesterday
What they are going to do today
Any concerns or road blocks they are facing
 Each update is very brief
 15 minutes for whole team

62. Escalating Road Blocks Management
Removes
CIO Impediments
WiFi for All
60
2/1/10
Days
Director
Management
Born Supports
On 45
Date Days
Middle
Manager
30 Trust, but verify
Days by visualization
Line
Manager

63. Retrospectives
 Designed to help a team find ways to improve
what they do
 Should be held at least every 2 weeks
 What worked? What didn’t work?
 Team votes if items discussed during the
retrospective should become cards to be played
in the coming iteration
 XP Values: Courage, Communication,
Feedback, Respect

64. WIP + Kaizen
IF WIP takes all A congested highway does not
the demand flow efficiently!
THEN there is no
room for
continuous
improvement
We must support
this and allow
room for
improvement!

65. Inspect Via Visualization & Conversations
Retrospective Road Blocks
Could Not In
Worked Be Started Progress Done
Better
•

66. “Fly By The Seat of Your Pants”
Decide a course of action as
you go along, using your own
initiative and perceptions
rather than a pre-determined
plan or mechanical aids.
Aircraft initially had few
navigation aids and flying
was accomplished by means
of the pilot's judgment (the
vibration in the seat of their
pants).
Management is a craft that
requires more
communication than
instrumentation.

67. Pair Management

68. Re-factor the PMO

69. Re-factor PMO to MSO
Manifesto
Support
Office

70. Manifesto Support Office Principles
• Information Radiators are Good!
• Throughput Focus, Limit WIP, Pull Value
• Align Continually (backlog honing with peers)
• Support Kaizen & Crafts
• Identify, Alleviate, Elevate Constraints
• Standard Work + Self Organization :=Good
• “See the Whole”: Communicate Strategic
Intent

71. Step 9: Speak in Stories
• Stories are statements of value
• Stories start a conversation
• Allows us to manage our own WIP more effectively
• Solve the problem in the lightest way possible
• Don’t use a tool when you need a conversation

72. Project Management Dashboards

73. Write Story Cards for Supporting Organizations
Examples:
• PMO
• Operations
• Architecture
• Human Resources
• Backlog that is reviewed by Delivery Teams who are
tied to delivering business value

74. As a Customer…
I want to understand who is working on my
project, so that I can make sure they are
working on the right priorities for the business.
I want to understand who I need to talk to when
I need more information.
I want to see when my requests are going to
need my collaboration so that I am available
to the team.

75. As a CIO…
I want new resources coming into IT to be able to
understand what this company is about and how their job
is connected to the goals of the company.
I want to understand the state of work on each team,
so that I can better understand the status.
I want to understand where work is in the demand
management funnel, so that I can communicate
effectively with the cabinet.

76. As an Application Delivery Director…
I want to understand what risks we are facing,
so that I can help mitigate them.
I want to understand how effective we are at
continuous deployment, so that I can help
manage this.
I want to understand how effective we are at
reusing components such as port lets, so I can
reduce our time to market and overall project
costs.

77. As an Application Delivery Director…
I want to understand the level of engagement I have with
my IT teams, so that I can make sure they have a
productive, positive, fun and transparent work
environment.
I want to understand the depth of craftsmanship across my
teams, so that I can ensure a well-balanced organization.
I want to level of standard work across my teams, so that I
can ensure we are upholding the value of not being
different unless necessary.
I want to understand my cost per unit of software,
so that I can better understand our effectiveness.

78. Application Assets and Technology Soup
Backlog Road Blocks

79. The End Game
• Be ADAPTIVE
• Be TRANSPARENT
• Seek to eliminate WASTE
• Value PEOPLE above all
else
• Live the VALUES
• Lead by EXAMPLE!
• Sustaining behavior will
lead to a sustainable
organization

80. Implement 4 Themes, See The Mind Map
• Information Radiator Room: 8+ Domains
– Values, Business, Application Assets, People,
Leadership, Standard Work/Process, Financials,
Operations…
• Leadership: 3 Practices
– Daily Stand Up’s, Retrospectives, Visible Escalating
Roadblocks
• Re-factor the PMO -> MSO
• Story Cards for Supporting Organizations

81. Questions,
Comments?
440.527.1183
jon.stahl@leandog.com
@jonRstahl

84. What Did You See That Was Agile?
• What is amazing is how long we put up with things that do not work
• Build a culture and a process, that's what companies really want
• Not actually experts in any area, they are experts in a process
• No titles, no permanent assignments
• Project leader because he's good with groups
• In an very innovative culture you can't have a hierarch
• Hire people who don't listen to the boss
• Find experts to learn quickly instead of trying to learn it by yourself
• Many bosses, measure whether their people are performing are the ones at
their desk all the time, couldn't be more wrong, the really good people are out

85. • Each team is going to demonstrate communicate and share everything that
they are learning today
• Enlightened trial and error succeeds over the planning of the lone genius
• People are encouraged to build their own work areas
• Open mind is critical and the boss demands great deal of team work
• Fail often in order to succeed sooner
• Trying stuff and ask for forgiveness instead of asking permission
• Fresh ideas come faster in a fun environment
• Being playful is a huge importance for being innovative
• Status is who comes up with the best ideas, not who's been at the company
longest
• The boss is always going to have the best ideas, not likely
• If everybody only came up with sane things, there wouldn't a point to build
off of
• One conversation at a time, stay focused on topic, signs everywhere