An attempt to answer the question "Does Agile work outside of software development?" Presentation to Agile on the Beach 2014 conference.

1. Agile on the Beach
September 2014
Does Agile work
outside of software?
allan kelly
Twitter: @allankellynet
http://www.allankelly.net

2. Allan Kelly…
 Consulting on software
development & strategy
 Training for Agile
Author
– Changing Software Development: Learning to be
Agile (2008, Wiley)
– Business Patterns for Software Developers (2012,
Wiley - ISBN: 978-1119999249)
– Xanpan: Reflections on agile (work in progress)
https://leanpub.com/xanpan
Chapters in…
• Business Analysis and Leadership, Pullan & Archer
2013
• 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know, Henney,
2010
• Context Encapsulation in Pattern Languages of
Program Design, vol#5, 2006

3. Is Agile only for
Software
Development?
Lets see if I can answer this question…

4. Coming full circle
Agile Manufacturing
~1994 Lightweight software
development
1996->2000
Agile Software Development
2000-2001
Agile
business?
Can we have….
Looks good…
Agile Competitors and Virtual
Organizations - Strategies for
Enriching the Customer
Goldman, Nagel & Preiss, 1995

5. What do we expect from the Agile
company?

6. I can’t think of anything more important than building
an agile company, because the world changes so
quickly and unpredictably
[Agility] comes in different forms, but
basically it’s the ability to quickly adapt to
or even anticipate and lead change.
Agility in the broadest form affects strategic
thinking, operations, technology innovation
and the ability to innovate in products,
processes and business models.
Michael A Cusumano
Distinguished Professor of Management at
the MIT Sloan School of Management

7. Agile: What do we want?
Agile Strategy
Agile Tactical
Agile Operations
Adaptability
Listen to customer
Lead the market
Use change competitively
Experiment
“Expeditionary Marketing”
Live in the now
Prepare for the future
Deliver fast
Deliver quality
Deliver value

8. Is Agile only for Software
Development?
• Answer in 3 parts
– Practices
– The Roots
– Case studies

9. Practices

10. Agile Umbrella
Scrum
Kanban ASD XP
DSDM
Lean SD
Xanpan
Stand up
meetings
TDD
BDD
Boards ATDD
WIP limits
Iterations
CI
Retrospectives
Planning poker

11. Many practices originated outside of
software development
Stand up meetings NATO, Japanese local government, bar
staff, oil-rig
Retrospectives Lessons learned, Post mortem
US Marines “After Action Review”
WIP Limits Toyota Production System “Lean”
Pair programming Surgeons, Aircrew

12. Some Agile practices have been taken
back-ported to business
Test Driven Development
– Write the test before you write the code
– Don’t do more than you need
Is
– Lean Startup
– What do you want to learn?
– What is the minimum?

13. And some Agile tools may never be
used outside software
e.g. JUnit

14. Ask Not
“Will Agile work outside
software development?”
“Which Agile software
development practices can be
helpful in MY field?”
But Ask
Look inside the Agile Box
Choose what’s right for you

15. Roots

16. Agile
Lean
More
prescriptive
Organizational Learning
More philosophical:
value, idea based
XP
Scrum
…
Applicability
Manufacturing (Toyota),
Supply Chain(Amazon)
Healthcare, Construction
(Heathrow)
3M, US Marine Corp.
Royal Dutch/Shell,
HP (old), KAO Corp.
Toyota

17. Agile Software Development
Is
An application of Lean Thinking in the software
development arena

18. XP Scrum
…
Agile
Lean
TQM
System Thinking
…
Organizational Learning

19. Agile Software Development
Is
An application of Lean Thinking in the
software development arena

20. Lean Thinking
is
An application of Learning Organizations
in action

21. Lean
Organizational Learning

22. Lean
Organizational Learning

23. XP Scrum
…
Lean
TQM
System Thinking
…
Organizational Learning

24. Is Agile Are Learning
Organizations only for
Software Development?
No!
Amazon

25. But
‘‘In the accumulation of over 20 years
of studies, [organizational learning
writers] have not developed a
comprehensive view on what
constitutes ‘organisational learning’.’’
Nonaka & Takeuchi 1995
• “Learning organization” literature says little
about what to do
• Agile is very specific

26. Case Studies
Bad news
• Case studies of Agile Software
Development are much easier to come by
than case studies of Agile outside of
software.
• You are unlikely to find one that matches
your environment.

27. Case Studies
Good news
– There are some!

28. Lonely Planet – legal team!
Kate Sullivan
Agile on the Beach 2012
New Frontiers for In-
House Practice
Innovating Legal Affairs from a
Partner Model to being an Agile
service provider at Lonely Planet.
Kate Sullivan

29. Agile at Lonely Planet
• Whiteboards & cards
• Morning stand-up meeting
• Estimate size & cost
• Prioritization – highest first
• Weekly iterations
• Regular retrospectives
• Measure flow
New Frontiers for In-
House Practice
Innovating Legal Affairs from a
Partner Model to being an Agile
service provider at Lonely Planet.
Kate Sullivan
Taken from Kate Sullivan’s
Agile on the Beach 2012
presentation

30. Plymouth University
FdSc Computing
Martin Rowe, Agile on the Beach 2013
“Even badly implemented Scrum worked”
• Boards - Information Radiator – Visualize!
• Deadlines & time boxes (marking students!)
• Work “Product” Backlog + work breakdown
• Stand-ups (weekly)
Agile bound team together

31. Sullivan Cuff, Redruth (Sep 2014)

32. Customer Service

33. Shamrock Foods, Arizona
“Should you build
strategy like you build
software?”
Keith R. McFarland
MIT Sloan Management Review,
Spring 2008

34. Shamrock Foods
“Since adopting the new approach to
strategy, Shamrock has flourished.”
• Quarterly Strategy Scrum offsite
• Evaluate progress on previous actions
• Discuss learning & strategy modifications
• Create prioritized action list
Taken from
Keith R. McFarland,
MIT Sloan Management Review,
Spring 2008

35. GSMA
• Couponing & Loyalty project
– Weekly meetings (face-to-face)
– Visual board (electronic)
– Work stories
– Strict prioritization
– Deferred work
– Walking skeleton
– Retrospective

36. Try this at home…
1. Use a board & cards
2. Create a work backlog
3. Hold morning stand-up meeting
4. Do iterations: weekly planning meetings
5. Cards: -> Stories -> Vertical slices worth £££
6. Don’t bother with estimates (#NoEstimates)
7. Get a Coach

37. Conclusion:
YES!
• Agile will work outside software development
But
• Not all practices are applicable
– And you may need to find some new ones
• Not many case studies at the moment
(And … it becomes increasingly difficult to
differentiate Agile from Lean)

38. Your choice
For many companies Agile working is an
innovation therefore Agile working is a risk
Remember: Profit is the return for risk

39. Your choice, either…
Adopt Agile today
• Take a risk
• Act with incomplete
knowledge
• Gain an advantage on
competitors
Wait
• Play it safe
• Wait for more case studies
• Let others take the risk (and
get the advantage)
• Take the risk of playing
catch up with competitors

40. Agile Beyond
Software
We have the technology
(But we need some more
guinea pigs case studies)
allan kelly - Software Strategy Ltd.
www.allankelly.net -
allan@allankelly.net -@allankellynet