Dark Agile inhibits business agility. The document discusses dark agile, which is the antithesis of agile values and principles resulting in an inability to align the agile ecosystem. It introduces nine focus areas to overcome dark agile, including hyper-performing teams, team motivation, emotional intelligence, optimized flow, innovation, and product discovery/delivery synchronization. The document also provides examples of agile transformations at IBM and an insurance company that implemented agile development centers.
3. Gervais Johnson Profile
3
• Advises, leads, trains and coaches: teams, organizations and
companies in Agile Adoption and Transformation
• Agile Leader with Product experience across industries
including Financial Services, High-Tech-Software,
Manufacturing, Education, Retail, Pharm/Bio, Space-NASA
and US Department of Defense
• exIBMer - 16 Year Veteran, and Practice Leader for
Agile/DevOps and Enterprise Architecture. Led many
successful Agile journeys for IBM clients and IBM internal
organizations
• 31 years leading: organization and business change, large scale
complex programs, first of a kind applications, database
engineering solutions, Cloud/Mobile/Big Data solutions,
product discovery and delivery adoptions, and software
engineering innovations
• Founder of Dark AgileTM , Agile EcosystemTM , and TestOpsTM
MATRIX VP Agile Strategy and Innovation
Relevant Certifications:
PMP, ACP, CSM, CSP, CSPO,
SAFe SPC4, LeSS, SDC,AEC
ICAgile –Team/EnterpriseCoach
Dark Agile and Agile
EcosystemTM
B.S. Information Systems, SDSU
Stanford University
4. Our Objective
4
• Learn about Dark Agile
• Learn How to Overcome Dark
Agile
• Share Agile Transformation
Examples
14. Dark Agile Avoidance Therapies
14
Agile is Dead
Dark Scrum
Scaling Agile Does Not Work
Rise of Zombie Scrum
50% Failure Rate
15. Agile… is an attitude, not a technique with
boundaries. An attitude has no boundaries, so
we wouldn’t ask ‘can I use agile here’, but
rather ‘how would I act in the agile way here?’
or ‘how agile can we be, here?’"
- Alistair Cockburn
21. Dark Agile Avoidance Therapies
21
Technocentrics
Self-Absorbed
Augmented Reality
Laissez-Faire
Grand Unified Theory
22. Technocentrics Avoidance Therapy
22
Too much Focus on Agile Practices and
Tools
Individual Collective (Limited) Interior
Include: Business Leadership, CoP, Change
and Culture Business Development, More
Product Discovery, More Organization
Changes, additional focus Internal and
External stakeholders and suppliers
education….incremental needle
movement, small set of teams
23. Self-Absorbed Avoidance Therapy
23
Too much Focus on Agile Practices Your
Career, and Tools + Agile Humanity, All
Individual Interior
Include: Leadership Education, Change
and Culture Learning, some Organization
Changes and External stakeholders and
suppliers education and
alignment….incremental needle
movement, small set of teams
24. Augmented Reality Avoidance Therapy
24
No or to little focus on cultural and
organization changes
Include: Leadership Education, CoP,
Change and Culture Roadmap, More
Organization Changes, More inclusion of
External stakeholders and
suppliers….incremental needle
movement, small set of teams including
software and professional services
vendors
25. Laissez-Faire Avoidance Therapy
25
No or to little focus on any or all
domains, no traction, so programs to
extend or create “stickiness
Include: Leadership, CoP, Change and
Culture Activities, More Organization
Changes, More inclusion of External
stakeholders and suppliers….incremental
needle movement, small set of teams
including software and professional
services vendors
26. Grand Unified Avoidance Therapy
26
Too much, more than needed execution on
all domains, but no traction
Include: Leadership Education and Agile
Adoption Roadmap, CoP, Change and
Culture Activities, Less Organization
Changes, Less inclusion of External
stakeholders and suppliers….incremental
needle movement, small set of teams
including software and professional
services vendors
27. An Agile Ecosystem is needed for today’s demands
27
Providing a flexible, dynamic and
holistic approach that is coherent,
comprehensive, concise, and cogent.
Change Leadership, Agile Leaders
Organization Change
Culture Ethnography
Agile Crafted Framework
Agile Supply Chain
28. Dark Agile Avoidance Check List
28
Focus #1 Hyper-Performing Team, Organization Change
Focus #2 Team Motivation
Focus #3 Team Emotional Intelligence
Focus #4 Low Batch Size and Flow Optimization
Focus #5 Team Interaction/Reduce Dependencies
Focus #6 Vigilant Waste Reduction
Focus #7 Monitor Team Health
Focus #8 Product Discovery/Delivery Synchronization
Focus #9 Innovate and Change the World
29. Focus #1: Agile is All About Hyper-Performing Teams and
Organization Structural Changes
29
• High Performing
• Good communication patterns
• Face each other and energetic
• Connect with each other
• Side conversations and connections
• Explore and bring back
• Hyper-Performing
• Excellent Communication Patterns
• Empathetic to each other and
infectious
• Connect with each other and
outside team
• Side and community connections
• Explore and bring back
• Continuous learning and application
Alex “Sandy” Pentland, MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory
Energy + Engagement + Exploration (Innovation)
Synchronized Product Discovery and Product Delivery
Energy + Engagement
30. Teams Size
30
What Limits
Team 3—10 people
Scrum Master Supports up to 3 Teams
Team Product
Owner
Supports up to 3 Teams
Program
Manager
Collaborates with up to 5 Scrum
Masters
Product
Manager
Collaborates with up to 5 Team
Product Owners
Focus 1 Example
31. Team Dynamics
31
Perception misalignment and world view
Balance between harmony and disharmony, every teams needs a deviant
John Holland – Process of Inference, Learning, and Discovery and J Richard Hackman, the Edgar Pierce Professor of Social and Organizational
Psychology at Harvard University
Teams are Real
Compelling Direction
Enabling Structures
Supportive Organization
Expert Coaching
Focus 1 Example
32. Hyper-Performing Teams: IBM Study Results
32
Hyper-Performing Teams over Individuals
Best Team = Complete 1 Week
Slow Team = Complete in 2000 Weeks
Mediocre Team = Complete in 1000 Weeks
Teams characteristics:
• Transcendent
• Autonomous
• Cross-Functional
New New Product Game by Takeuchi and Nonaka
Focus 1 Example
35. Feature Teams Align to Solution Delivery Architecture
35
Department / Expertise Billing Catalog Subscription
Engineering Bob,
Carson
Frank,
Sanjay
Sandy, Jack
Quality Assurance Sue, Carlos Charles,
Martin
Bernice, Henry
Database Design Ted Ted Giles
User Experience Mark Julio Mark
Technical Publications Yvette
Good
Bad
Value Stream Mapping
Focus 1 Example
36. Teams / Skills / Capacity
36
Stable Crews
Tribes, Guilds, Chapters
Competency Centers
Revolving Experiences
T – Shape vs M-Shape People
Reduce Context Switching & Unrealistic Work Loads
Focus 1 Example
37. Focus #2: Team Motivation
37
IDG Research and Motivation Factor
Energy + Engagement + Exploration
M Factor
External Internal
Self Identifying
M Factor
45%55%
Dan Pink: Drive AND http://readingraphics.com/how-to-increase-motivation/
“Extrinsic motivators kill creativity”
38. Leadership and Team Exercise
• Leadership Behavior
• Requirements Translation and Transition
• Product Management
• Early Feedback Loop / Allow Pivot
Adaptation
• Self Sustaining and Autonomous
Individuals in Team
Lean Agile Intelligence
Agility Health Radars
39. Focus #3: Team Emotional Intelligence
39
EI = Self Awareness + Self Management
SI = Social Awareness + Social Skill
Leadership That Gets Results by Daniel Coleman
44. Focus #5: Team Interaction + Reduce Dependencies = Optimized
Flow
44
• Collaboration within a Team is easy
• The Team has its own plan and priorities
• Members of the Team collaborate to execute their plan
• Collaboration within the Team is easy and informal
• Adjusting to changes in scope or schedule is relatively
simple, and usually requires no more than a short
discussion
• Collaboration between Teams is harder
• Collaboration requires planning to ensure dependencies
are addressed
• Changes in scope or schedule that impact cross-Team
dependencies require re-planning the schedules of both
Teams
Define Teams to minimize interfaces
Have representation of QA ? / Release
Management in the release planning phases
Strategies
1. Feature Teams
2. Platform / Feature Teams
3. Component / Platform Teams
Cost of interaction increases with the number of interfaces!
47. Leadership and Team Exercise
• Leadership Behavior
• Requirements Translation and Transition
• Product Management
• Early Feedback Loop / Allow Pivot
Adaptation
• Self Sustaining and Autonomous
Individuals in Team
Lean Agile Intelligence
Agility Health Radars
49. Product Discovery and Product Delivery in parallel based on
customers needs and innovation ideas
49
Focus 8 Example
50. Innovation and Design Thinking
50
Problems that a r e ill-defined: both
problem a n d solution a r e unknown a t
the beginning. A l a rge p a r t of the
problem solving is actually defining the
problem.
And/or tricky: it involves quite a
bit of risk, a s you a r e leaving the
comfort zone of the organization.
D e s i g n thinking (creative, intuitive,
emotional) is not the a n s we r to
every single problem.
52. The Product Discovery cycle is similar but additive to Design
Thinking and Design Sprints
53. Google Ventures accelerates Design Thinking execution using Design
Sprints
53
Design Sprints are 2 – 5 Days used to
determine the product feasibility or
product requirements.
The goal is to answer critical business
questions using design, prototyping, and
testing ideas with customers.
Uses a mix of Agile and Design Thinking
55. Focus #9: Innovate and Change the World
55
I found that every innovation strategy
fails eventually, because innovation is,
at its core, about solving problems —
and there are as many ways to innovate
as there are types of problems to solve.
There is no one “true” path to
innovation.
https://hbr.org/2017/06/the-4-types-of-innovation-and-the-problems-they-solve
Facebook Hacker Week
Google Innovation Think Day
Intuit Innovation Day
Multiple Company Innovation Centers
56. Innovation from Customer Collaboration and Validation
56
Customer Development is a four--stepframework developed by Steve
Blank to discover and validate that you have identified the market for
your product, built the right product features that solve customers’
needs, tested the correct methods for acquiring and conver5ng
customers, and deployed the right resources to scale the business.
https://kickbox.adobe.com/
Facebook Hacker Week
Google Innovation Think Day
Intuit Innovation Day
Multiple Company Innovation Centers
Focus 9 Example
60. 2015
2016+
2013
Roadmap &
Alignment
2013
Roadmap &
Alignment
Optimization
& Agility
Leverage
& Elevation
2014
Integration &
Standardization
ValueCapability&EnablementValueCapability&Enablement Customer Driven Focus & Value SustainabilityCustomer Driven Focus & Value Sustainability
Become More Agile
Leverage our Scale
Extend The Global Network
The journey begins with the PECs
alignment on an Integrated PepsiCo
Operating Model (POM)
Holding / Hybrid
(Loosely Related)
Divisional
(Closely Related)
Organizational Structure
2012
Foundation &
Commitment
2012
Foundation &
Commitment
Design Ideas
61.
62. A Development Center approach successfully allowed a large multi-line Insurance Carrier to scale Agile across the
enterprise
IBM Agile Experiences
Agile Development Center
The Solution
A significant Development Center construct where work comes to standing teams
§ Insurance Business SMEs
§ Application knowledge
§ Executive sponsors and champions
§ Agile Development methodology and processes
§ Development Center management
§ Agile experience resources
§ Rational Team Concert experience resources
§ Reduce development time, Agile needs to scale and transform
§ Solutions need to be faster to market
§ Reduce development costs
§ IBM to provide strategy and staff
§ Develop scalable Development Center
The Challenge
§ Time to market for all projects solution reduced by 31%
§ Alignment significantly improved between Business and IT
§ Defects reduced to an average of 14 defects per Release
§ Centralized development through a comprehensive Development Center
§ Institutionalized Agile Method across the enterprise
§ Business and IT Executive management heavily involved as a critical success
factor
Results/Accomplishments
Client
63. Listen:
Steve Farley @ IBM Innovate 2014 (start @
1:09:40)
Carmen DeArdo @ DevOps Enterprise
Summit 2014 (start @ 11:30)
Steve Farley and Carmen DeArdo on Agile and
DevOps @ Nationwide
Steve Farley, VP Application
Development Center, Nationwide
Insurance
Carmen DeArdo, Director, Build
Technology Leader, Nationwide
Insurance
64.
65. A large multi-line Insurance Carrier implemented Agile practices across Systems
Agile and Kanban Usage
The Solution
A significant PMO and Governance construct necessary for large and complex
programs
§ Insurance Business SMEs
§ Application knowledge
§ Executive sponsors and c
§ Agile Development methodology and processes
§ Agile experience resources
§ PMO expertise
§ Reduce development time, Agile is used in a flexible manner
§ Solutions faster to market
§ Improve social dynamics of software development
§ External SMEs provide staff as necessary
§ Large and complex scale of programs and projects
The Challenge
§ Time to market for all projects solution reduced by 21%
§ Defects reduced to an average of 21 defects per Release
§ De-centralized development through accelerators and coaches
§ Additional governance and control through large PMO
Results/Accomplishments
Client
66. Amex Case Study
Agile Prep
3 Weeks**
Agile Project Selection
Business Case, ROI
Define
•Reference
Architecture
•Tech Story
Cards
•UI/UX
Design
•Test Strategy
•Test/Prod
Specification
•PGB
•Sprint 1
Planning
Sprint 0 Sprint 1…N
Sprint Planning
Product Backlog
Story Cards
Design, Develop,
Test
Show and Tell
Business
Approval
Retrospective
Details on Next Page
Release
Testing
•PT
•SIT
•UAT
•Admin
Setup
•Data
•Migration
•Deploy
Deployment Warranty
•Defect
Fixes
3 Weeks**
2 Weeks**
Sprints at 2 Weeks
Each**
4 Weeks** 2 Weeks** Period:
TBD by SDLC
Elaborate, Design, Build, Test
Project Management: Metrics, Tracking, Status, Financial Management, Risk/Issue Management
Infrastructure Management: Dev, Test, Production Environment, Deployment
Business Operations: End-User Training, Administrator Prep, Org Readiness
** Can vary based on
project complexity
•Agile
Training
•PMF
Training
•Infrastructu
re Planning
•Resource
Model
• Resource
Mobilization
•Strategy
•Vision
•Road Map
•Scope
•Project
Setup
•Release
Plan
•Product
Backlog
67. A large Credit Card company implemented Agile practices across Systems
IBM Agile Experiences
The Solution
§ Optimize the solution development process in a mature organization where:
§ Project Management and Systems Engineering disciplines are well
established
§ CMM level 5 has been achieved
§ Business and IT Teams are geographically dispersed, in multiple countries
§ Accelerators are not universally applicable to all teams
§ Multiple parallel initiatives, i.e. global testing processes rolllout, reuse,
offshore migration, etc.
The Challenge
Results/Accomplishments
§ Projects that have utilized at least one of the accelerators have also demonstrated incremental
improvement (over 300 development and enhancement projects to date)
§ Leveraged Global Resources and an XP like model for IBM.com monthly releases
§ Grew into a large Agile Transformation Program in 2007
§ Piloted Agile techniques on multiple initiatives
§ After success, trained project managers and architects across the organization
§ For each project over 500 hours, accelerator usage is now tracked and the use is scored and combined
with other project metrics
§ Metrics are assessed and improvement is encouraged via targets and management monitoring
§ Monitor team effectiveness vs. use of accelerators
§ Introduced Virtual Teaming accelerator (net meetings, video and travel to bridge lack of co-location)
Institutionalize the planning and use of applicable accelerated techniques
§ Projects that have used all accelerators have demonstrated the following improvements:
§ Improved productivity 50-70%
§ Improved cycle time 25%
§ Substantially reduced defects
§ Higher customer and team satisfaction
68. Listen:
Snehal Antani @ IBM
Innovate 2014 (start @
0:30)
Gareth Wharton, CTO,
Hiscox
Snehal Antani,
CIO CDF & CIO EA,
GE Capital Americas
“We built software and apps, such as our
award-winning bank
– GECapitalBank.com – from scratch in
weeks to months – instead of months to
years.”
Listen:
Gareth Wharton @ IBM
InterConnect 2015 (start @
16:45)
68
69. Agile Transformation Roadmap Experience
69
1. Learning Journey
2. Dedicated Agile Adoption / Transformation Team
3. Simple vision aligned to organization needs
4. Senior leadership sponsorship and involvement
5. Visual communications, Journey Map
6. Think big, start small and smart, and practice through
iteration and incremental rollout
7. Learn from others, get out of company culture and bias
8. Determine success meaning and measure and adjust
9. Storyteller and the narrative is critical
10.Create a safe environment for leaders to change and
influence choices