While agile methods have become mainstream, agile organizations have not. Perhaps several development teams have had great results from a method like Scrum, but as soon as you begin to scale the effort up, the inertia of a fundamentally waterfall-oriented organization becomes painfully apparent. This is where many companies find themselves today. This webinar will address some key tips to driving agility beyond technology groups and making an entire company more adaptive and responsive.

1. Three Steps to a More Agile Organization
Adopting Agility across an Enterprise

2. Meet your Presenter
Arlen Bankston
•
•
•
•
•
2
Co-Founder of LitheSpeed, LLC
User experience & product
development background
14 years of Agile experience
Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt
Lately 40% training, 20% each of
coaching, product development &
management

3. A
Common
Scenario
•
Several teams have
done well using agile
•
There is a feeling agile
could be applied more
broadly
•
But resource management, metrics, audit and compliance, team
structures, customer engagement model, HR practices, etc are all
aligned for waterfall delivery
•
And change management is not one of our core competencies
Where do we start?
3

4. Enterprise
Agile
Misalignment
Enterprise
Dimension
Misalignment
PMO
Too
many
simultaneous
projects.
A
Fewer
simultaneous
projects.
Lower
WIP
lot
of
spending,
not
a
lot
of
delivery.
to
reduce
delivery
Bme.
Resource
Management
Focus
on
uBlizaBon
by
allocaBng
individuals
across
too
many
projects.
Staff
are
members
of
a
single,
dedicated
team.
Real
Estate
Cubes
that
sBfle
communicaBon
Open
space
for
collaboraBon
HR
Not
hiring
for
agile
skill
set.
Team
based
performance.
Hiring
agile
Performance
management
not
aligned
skills.
with
agile
approach.
Funconal
Managers
Local
measures
and
opBmizaBon
Value
stream
opBmizaBon
Business
Partners
Big
requirements,
usually
late
and
inaccurate
Light,
real-­‐Bme
requirements
Compliance
Heavy
and
prescripBve
Focused
on
principles
and
conBnuous
improvement
4
Agile
Approach

5. PresentaBon
Agenda
Build your people
•
Build a career path
•
Train by role
Make your adoption agile
•
Educate align on goals
•
Establish accountable adoption
teams
•
Launch assess pilot projects
•
Expand adoption breadth depth
Focus at all levels
•
Tone your Portfolio
•
Release more
•
Let your teams flow
5

6. Build your People

7. Agile Team Development Process
Process
–
Assessing
current
pracBces,
comparing
to
Standard
Work,
and
team
experimentaBon
to
conBnuously
improve
pracBces
and
processes.
• People
–
Role
development
and
equipping
teams
with
the
skills
to
successfully
implement
Agile
pracBces.
• Product
–
Product
discovery,
execuBon,
measurement
and
learning.
•
Learning
Discover
Adjust
Standard
Work
Assessment
Standard
Work
ExperimentaBon
Leading
Doing
Teaching
Product
Delivery
Product
Role
Development
People
Determine
Standards
Standard
Work
Assessment
EvoluBon
Process
Learn
Build
Measure
Visual
Management
Systems
Lean
Management
Agile
Delivery
7
7

8. Developing People
Agile
Role
Progression
Learning
model
• Learning
–
Acquire
knowledge
by
being
a
student
and
mentee
• Praccing
–
Acquire
real-­‐world
experience
• Teaching
–
Prove
and
advance
experBse
by
teaching
others
People
Learning
Role
Development
• Provide
people
with
clear
paths
for
developing
skills
and
core
competencies
• Provide
career
progression
model
Leading
Doing
Teaching
8
8

9. Agile Role Progression
Establish
a
personnel
development
system
• De#ine
a
clear
career
progression
path
for
each
role
• Functional
managers
establish
and
maintain
• Facilitate
knowledge
sharing
and
a
collaborative
culture
Learning
Level
1
PracBBoner
Taken
all
required
training
9
Doing
Level
2
PracBBoner
PracBcing
within
their
specific
role
on
an
iniBaBve
for
at
least
six
months
Teaching
Level
3
PracBBoner
Leading
at
least
three
training
sessions
and
coaching
an
apprenBce
within
their
specific
role
Leading
Level
4
PracBBoner
Leading
at
least
10
training
sessions
and
coaching
at
least
three
apprenBces
within
their
role
9

10. Training by Role
All
Agile
Praconers
• Core
Training:
Agile
+
Lean
Overview
• Agile
Kickoff
Boot
Camp
ScrumMasters,
Project
Managers
Team
Leads
•
•
•
•
Agile
Management
Toolset
Training
CerBfied
ScrumMaster
+
PMI
ACP
Training
Coaching
Workshop
Kanban
workshop
Funconal
Departmental
Managers
•
Agile
Management
Governance
Agile
Team
Members
Developers:
Testers:
• Agile
Placorm
and
Tool
IntroducBon
• Agile
TesBng
Overview
• Agile
Engineering
Workshop
• TesBng
Tools
Roles
Product
Owners
Agile
Product
Managers
•
•
•
10
Agile
Tools
for
Product
Owners
Agile
Requirements
Workshop
CerBfied
Scrum
Product
Owner
10

11. Make your Adoption Agile

12. AdapBve
Execuve
Leadership
Adapting to Reality in Real Time:
Use
Agile
to
Implement
Agile
•
You will need to think holistically in order
to remove the broad barriers to adoption
• Discovery
of
problems
and
goals
•
But changing everything may take years
•
And you won’t get it right the first time
• OrganizaBonal
Release
Planning
•
Start with a wide path and get everyone
aligned with goals, principles, and a basic
approach
•
Evolve to more detailed, deeper levels of
alignment over time
•
Discover what needs to be done and adapt
to the actual problems at hand
•
Otherwise, you will end up being slow and
overly bureaucratic
12
• Incremental
and
iteraBve
implementaBon
• RetrospecBve

13. 1.
Educate,
Align
and
Assess
Before
you
begin,
take
a
week
or
two
to:
Educate
Align
on
Principles
Raonale
•
•
•
Educate wide band of organization on principles and practices of agile
Address senior management, middle management, and team leads
Address software dev, QA, BA, PMO, HR, Production Operations, etc
Assess
the
Impacts
•
•
•
•
Work with each of the groups, at each of the levels, to determine their
goals, concerns and possible solutions
Prep each group for the coming pilot projects
Plan for quick, simple first-cut solutions to a wide range of concerns
But don’t go too deep yet
13

14. 2.
Establish
Accountable
Adopon
Teams
Big changes require dedicated attention:
Execuve
Agile
Steering
Group
•
•
•
•
•
Set broad, organizational goals
Define measures of success
Communicate to middle management and staff frequently
Review progress regularly
Address organizational barriers to adoption
Agile
Working
Group
•
•
•
•
A cross-functional problem solving group
SW Dev, QA, Production, BA, PMO, Resource Managers
Anticipate, uncover, address tactical issues
Make recommendations to executive team
14

15. Some
Typical
Agile
Metrics
Product
(Led
by
Product
Owners
Managers)
External
Stakeholder
Sasfacon
• Quarterly
survey
• Assessment
score
Quality:
• %
Code
Coverage
• %
Scenario
Coverage
• %
Delivered
features
with
zero
criBcal
post
iteraBon
defect
count
Delivery
Cadence:
• Time
from
concept
to
cash
• Velocity
stability
10/31/13
15
Process
(Led
by
ScrumMasters
Coaches)
Standard
Work
Assessment
Process
Adopon
• #
of
Agile
teams
• #
of
cerBficaBons
Process
Improvement
• Change
in
Assessment
scores
• Updates
to
standard
work
• RetrospecBve
acBons
impacts
People
(Led
by
FuncBonal
Managers)
Associate
Engagement
/
Happiness
• Assessment
Score
Learning
Organizaon
• #
of
Agile
PracBBoners
at
various
levels
Collaboraon

16. Incremental
Rollout
Strategy
Expanded
Pilots
-­‐
Projects
Using
combinaBon
of
Experienced
Associates
and
Trained
Associates
with
Agile
Coaches’
oversight
across
MulBple
Projects
Inial
Pilots
-­‐
Pilot
Projects
With
Day-­‐
to-­‐Day
Oversight
by
Agile
Coaches
16
Enterprise
Rollout
-­‐
Autonomous
agile
capability
using
experienced
and
trained
associates.
Occasional
Agile
Coaches’
involvement
on
an
as-­‐needed
consultaBve
basis

17. 3.
Launch
and
Assess
Pilot
Projects
Your first projects need:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Product Owner involved,
accountable empowered
to control scope schedule
ScrumMaster empowered
to control process
Dedicated, integrated team
Executive support for
learning and exploration
Short term initial release timeline ( 3 months)
Potential for measurable business results and impact
17
Thanks
to
Mike
Cohn
for
the
image:
hmp://blog.mountaingoatsonware.com/four-­‐amributes-­‐of-­‐the-­‐ideal-­‐pilot-­‐project

18. 4.
Expand
AdopBon
Breadth
Depth
After some initial wins, you can grow and
mature:
•
Expand Agile to encompass agile engineering
practices that will allow teams more agility:
–
–
–
–
–
•
•
Daily build capability and continuous integration
Automated testing: unit, system and acceptance testing
Test-Driven Development
Emergent architecture and design
Pair-programming
Use Agile for outsourced or off-shored projects
Use Agile on larger, more complex projects
18

19. Focus at all Levels

20. Interacve
Layers
of
Planning
Product
PorVolio
Company
Vision
What
is
our
value
proposiBon
and
how
do
we
differenBate?
What
is
our
mix
of
products?
Product
Visions
Integrated
Roadmap
Vision
Statement
Product
/
Project
Iteraon
/
Sprint
What
business
objecBves
will
the
product
fulfill?
What
specifically
will
we
build?
User
Stories
Scenarios
Product
Roadmap
Product
Goals
Product
Charter
/
Lean
Canvas
Vision,
Unique
Value
ProposiBon
How
will
this
Sprint
move
us
toward
release
objecBves?
Sprint
Plan
Development
Tasks
Release
Story
(Backlog
Item)
How
can
we
release
value
incrementally?
Release
Roadmap,
Story
Map
What
user
or
stakeholder
need
will
the
story
serve?
Story
Details
How
will
it
specifically
look
and
behave?
What
subset
of
business
objecBves
will
each
release
achieve?
Release
Plan
What
user
consBtuencies
will
the
release
serve?
Low-­‐fi
Prototypes
Wireframes
How
will
I
know
it’s
done?
Personas,
Stakeholders
Acceptance
Tests
What
general
capabiliBes
will
the
release
offer?
Epics,
Features
20

21. Focused
PorVolio
•
•
•
•
•
Terminate sick projects
LiZle’s
Law
Split large projects in smaller ones
Cycle
WIP
Time
=
c
ompleBon
rate
Prioritize projects by business value,
at least within business unit
Limit development timeframe to months
Re-prioritize projects regularly
Business
Goals
Strategy
4
Backlog
21
Development
3
2
1
Producon
Sunset

22. Focused,
Stable
Teams
•
•
•
•
Multiple, stable teams each
focused on one thing at a time
Dedicated to platforms or lines
of business
Platform owner prioritizes next
project
Result:
– Support multiple lines of
business simultaneously
– Focused effort results in quick
delivery for individual projects
– Clear accountability
– Stability and predictability
Source:
The
Lean-­‐Agile
PMO,
Sanjiv
AugusBne
and
Roland
Cuellar
(Cumer
ConsorBum
2006)
22

23. Focused
Releases
R1:
Guided
Retrospecve
(MVP)
Benefit:
A
guided
retrospecBve
that
tracks
improvement
works
for
remote
teams
too.
Features:
-­‐ Moderate
retros
locally
or
remotely
-­‐ Facilitates
and
tracks
retros
-­‐ Plan
and
review
acBons
and
their
results
R3:
Progress
Tracking
Benefit:
Powerful
beauBful
improvement
visualizaBon
reporBng.
R2:
Retrospecve
Customizaon
Benefit:
Make
and
share
your
own
retros.
Features:
-­‐ More
built-­‐in
retro
flows
visualizaBons
-­‐ Customizable
quesBons
and
flow
-­‐ Tips
for
moderators
Features:
• Visualize
Sprint
RaBng,
Happiness
Index,
AcBon
Results,
Customer
SaBsfacBon
more.
• Custom
metrics
• Track
and
trend
mulBdimensional
improvement
23

24. Scaling
Agile
Teams
Generalizing
Specialist
Productive, independent, selforganizing teams:
• Independent, cross-functional
• Grow poly-skilled individuals
• Size limit of 5-7 people, ideally
• To scale, create new integrated
Agile teams
• Coordinate among teams via an
Agile PMO
24
Holistic
Team
Multiple
Holistic
Teams

25. Parting Thoughts

26. Some
Final
Tips
•
Refer
to
frameworks,
but
don’t
rely
on
them.
SAFe, DAD, LeSS… good stuff, but agile is about
adaptation, not uniformity.
•
Don’t
forget
to
support
innovaon.
Lean Startup, incremental funding, modular contracts,
dynamic portfolio management, capitalization rules…
•
Create
collaborave
environments.
Collocation, team rooms, collaboration tools, fun spaces...
•
Use
tools
that
support
scaling.
VersionOne, AgileCraft, LeanKit Kanban… you will need
portfolio management capabilities in time.
26

27. Contact
Us
for
Further
InformaBon
Arlen Bankston
Vice President
Arlen.Bankston@lithespeed.com
Sanjiv Augustine
President
Sanjiv.Augustine@lithespeed.com
www.lithespeed.com
I
only
wish
I
had
read
this
book
when
I
started
my
career
in
sonware
product
management,
or
even
bemer
yet,
when
I
was
given
my
first
project
to
manage.
In
addiBon
to
providing
an
excellent
handbook
for
managing
with
agile
sonware
development
methodologies,
Managing
Agile
Projects
offers
a
guide
to
more
effecBve
project
management
in
many
business
sesngs.
John
P.
Barnes,
former
Vice
President
of
Product
Management
at
Emergis,
Inc.
27