Agile is about self-organizing, empowered teams. More freedom is expected than what traditional project management offers. Leaders have a challenge to balance this freedom with need for predictable outcomes. Rules are mandatory; strategies are optional. Rules provide stability & continuity, while strategies help adapt to different situations. Too many or wrong rules diminish freedom. Too few and we are in danger of losing control. The session introduces concept of Structured freedom and explains with examples how the right balance between rules and strategies can be achieved.

1. Structured Freedom
with Rules & Strategies
Prabhakar Karve

2. In Our Session Today..
Your expectations
 Help meet challenges of agile leadership
 Simple generic solutions - not tips & tricks
Outline
 Introduce rules & strategies
 Agile success factors - Leadership challenges
 Manage rules - support strategies
 Organizational structures & effect on freedom
 Q&A
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3. Rules and Strategies
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4. Rules and Strategies
Rules
 Created by few – Followed by many
 Follow – or face the consequences
 Purpose or reason of creating any specific rule
 Welcome – or oppose
 Beliefs/ Preconceived notions
Strategies
 Created by all – For themselves
 No direct consequences
 Specific situation or context
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5. Rules and Strategies
Rules -> Strategies
 To subvert rules
 To replace rules
 Can co-exist with rules
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6. Priorities For This Decade
Key success factors for agile movement
 Demand technical excellence
 Promote individual change and lead organizational change
 Organize knowledge and encourage education
 Maximize value creation across the entire process
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7. Leadership Challenges
 Enhanced quality
 “Done” within short iterations
 Specific roles & responsibilities
 Significantly different vis-à-vis traditional methodology
 Self-organizing Culture
 Supported by self disciplined teams
How are we doing so far?
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8. Manage Rules
Support Strategies
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9. Quality
“Done” within short iterations
 Scrum as a container for best practices
 Requirement readiness
 Change in code - test sequence
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10. Roles & Responsibility
Clear-cut responsibilities and authority
 As rules for incumbents
 Who support each other
 Need strategies for all others
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11. Self-organizing Culture
Needs self-disciplined Teams
 “Can do” belief
 Progressive empowerment
 Collaborate, learn and share
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12. General Guidelines
Rules
 Avoid too many rules
 Scrum rules & org rules
 Periodically review for relevance
Strategies
 Document the context
 Build a good repository
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13. Structures and Freedom
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14. Structures
Assumption - What works today will work in the future
 Structures evolve by repeated use
 Habit forming
 Once formed difficult to change
 Useful structures help streamline work
 Harmful structures create roadblocks
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15. Structure Types
 Hierarchical Structures
 Power structures
 Communication channels
 Legal Structures
 Policies procedures & standards
 Automation & tools
 Cultural Structures
 Traditions and conventions
 Peer pressure
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16. Freedom
 Agile teams need greater freedom
 Structures help as well as hinder freedom
 Mature self-disciplined individuals
 Need and handle greater freedom
 Progressive empowerment
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17. Agile leadership
Scrum teams
 Work closely with Scrum masters
 Progressively transfer control to the teams
 Strategies to integrate other stakeholders
Organization
 Repeat strategies to create processes
 Watch structures - calibrate rules
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18. Questions
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19. Thank you