Even today, to the detriment of agile success, most organizational cultures remain delivery date-driven—resulting in delivery teams that are not focused on creating value for the customer. So how can we redirect stakeholders, the business, and the project team to concentrate on delivering the greatest value rather than simply meeting dates? Pollyanna Pixton describes the tools she has used in collaboration sessions to help participants begin the process of adopting customer-centric agile methods. These tools include laying out an end-to-end customer journey, forming reusable decision filters to help prioritize backlogs, converting features into actionable user stories, and developing a solid process for making group decisions and communicating those decisions. Pollyanna shares questions that product owners and managers can use to define the problem while making sure they don't solve the problem. After all, that is the responsibility of the delivery team.

1.
AW1
Session
6/5/2013 10:15 AM
"Leading the Creation of an Agile
Culture"
Presented by:
Pollyanna Pixton
Accelinnova
Brought to you by:
340 Corporate Way, Suite 300, Orange Park, FL 32073
888‐268‐8770 ∙ 904‐278‐0524 ∙ sqeinfo@sqe.com ∙ www.sqe.com

2. Pollyanna Pixton
Accelinnova
An international leadership expert, Pollyanna Pixton developed the models for collaboration
and collaborative leadership through her thirty-eight years of working inside and consulting with
many organizations. She helps companies create workplaces where talent and innovation are
unleashed—making them more productive, efficient, and profitable. Pollyanna is a founding
partner of Accelinnova, president of Evolutionary Systems, and director of the Institute for
Collaborative Leadership. She writes and speaks on topics of creating cultures of trust, leading
collaboration, and business ethics. Her models are found in her book, Stand Back and Deliver:
Accelerating Business Agility. Pollyanna co-founded the Agile Leadership Network and has
chaired Leadership Summits in the US and England. Contact her at ppixton@accelinnova.com.

3. leading the creation
of an Agile culture
Trustworthiness
what do we want ?
amazing products
delighted
customers
great profit

4. amazing products
and delighted customers?
use Agile!
great profit?
create highly efficient and
effective teams

5. we need a culture that is ….
an active enabling force in
energizing teams
to achieve
organizational goals
such a
culture has….
Get
G t more d
done b d tr st
by doing less
i
l
trust
ownership
integrity
alignment

6. trust/ownership model
Leadership
& Business Process
Trust
Control
Low
Energy &
Abdication I
Abdi ti
Innovation
ti
No One Cares
Micromanagement
g
Team Does as Instructed
No Ownership
Leader / Process
is Bottleneck
Team Trusted
Team Accountable
Leader Freed
Conflict
Team Demotivated
Mired in Bureaucracy
& Wasted Effort
Team/Individual Ownership
Trust
trust and integrity
g y
Integrity is
honestly dealing
with ambiguity
ith
bi it
High

7. ownership and
alignment
team purpose
must be aligned
with b i
ith business goals
l
assessment

8. where does your team think it is?
Leadership
& Business Process
Trust
Control
Low
Abdication
Abdi ti
Energy &
Innovation
No One Cares
Team Trusted
Team Accountable
Leader Freed
Micromanagement
g
Conflict
Team Does as Instructed
No Ownership
Leader / Process
is Bottleneck
Team Demotivated
Mired in Bureaucracy
& Wasted Effort
Team/Individual Ownership
High
where does your leader think your team is?
Leadership
& Business Process
Trust
Control
Low
Abdication
Abdi ti
Energy &
Innovation
No One Cares
Team Trusted
Team Accountable
Leader Freed
Micromanagement
g
Conflict
Team Does as Instructed
No Ownership
Leader / Process
is Bottleneck
Team Demotivated
Mired in Bureaucracy
& Wasted Effort
Team/Individual Ownership
High

9. deals honestly with ambiguity?
Yes
No
Your Organization?
Your Team?
Your Leader?
In what way?
business purpose and goals
Yes
No
Does your organization understand its
Does your organization understand its
business purpose?
Does your leader understand and align with
the business purpose of the organization?
Does your team understand and accept the
Does your team understand and accept the
business purpose of your leader?

10. business goal
alignment
and
understanding
p
product inception
p
planning
from many meaningful thoughts,
one valuable vision.

11. objectives
Clear and compelling vision
Shared understanding across
Sh
d
d
t di
team
Prepare to actively design and
build
Who owns what, who is
responsible for what
Form a product/project team
customer journey
and
touch point mapping
(alignment and understanding)
(alignment and understanding)

12. four important questions
The business should provide the
problem – not the solution
solution.
1. Who do we serve?
2. What do they want and need most?
3. What d
3 Wh do we provide to help them?
id
h l h
?
4. What is the best way to provide
this?
customer journey

13. example: online postage
We go to the post office a lot
and waste time in line.
Customer support
Maintenance
Prove value
Installation
Printer setup
Billing options
Set up account
Search online,
Compare,
Read reviews
Sign up for trial
Buy decision
what parts of
your product touch the
customer?

14. online postage touch points?
We go to the post office a lot
and waste time in line.
Customer support
Maintenance
Prove value
Search online,
Compare,
Read reviews
Installation
Printer setup
Billing options
Sign up for trial
Set up account
Buy decision
articulate
the
vision

15. the
“billboard” test…
“To be
the low cost airline.”
‐ Southwest Airlines

16. online postage billboard?

17. decision filters
d i i filt
focus on vision
“Will this
help
p
us
be
the low cost airline?”
‐ Southwest Airlines

18. decision filters:
make daily
a e da y
decisions
schedule projects
what to develop
cascade decision filters
g
throughout the
organization

19. decision
filters for
online
postage?
brainstorm
product ideas

20. create epics
do they ALL pass
t e decision te s
the dec s o filters?
Transaction
Costs

21. prioritize
based on
business
value
now….

22. how d we h
h
do
honestly
tl
deal with ambiguity?
leaders want certainty
“I need it now!”
“It ALL must be done in 3
months!”
“What is it going to cost?”
“How long will it take?”
How
take?
“Can you do it in less?”

23. Leadership Role
You can t defy gravity!
can’t
- Paul Gibson
ambiguity…
an estimate is an
estimate,
range,
not an exact
a
number

24. group
group
estimates
are
better
chance of getting it right
‐ NASA

25. we don’t know
what we don’t know
leaders want certainty…
and reality is …
there isn’t any

26. we need some help!
accept reality
prepare for change

27. continuous feedback!
don’t over commit to the market
use 60/40 rule!
team only
commits to
60% of time
available

28. don’t make Agile
Leading
compromises
Collaboration M d l
C ll b
ti
Model
Collaboration Process
without business
buy-in
stand by your estimates
don’t cave or pad them!

29. when
change
happens
ask why?
customer relevance?
importance to other
commitments?
what can be done
later?

30. show
h
progress
minimal viable product

31. mitigate risks
entire team
identifies risks
together
uncertainty
market
uncertainty
technical
uncertainty
project duration
number of
customers
dependencies
scope

32. complexity
team size
culture
mission criticality
team l
location
time zones
team maturity
domain
knowledge gaps
dependencies
lack of trust
Market Uncertainty
10
9
8
7
Scope Flexibility
6
5
4
Technical
Uncertainty
3
2
1
0
Project
Duration
Dependencies
Number of
Customers

33. risk mitigation progress
10
9
8
Acceptable Risk
7
6
Iteration 3
Iteration 3
5
4
3
2
1
0
Iteration 2
Iteration 1
when all risk inside
acceptable risk
then commit

34. summary
trust and ownership model
Leadership
& Business Process
Trust
Control
Low
Abdication
Abdi ti
Energy &
Innovation
No One Cares
Team Trusted
Team Accountable
Leader Freed
Micromanagement
g
Conflict
Team Does as Instructed
No Ownership
Leader / Process
is Bottleneck
Team Demotivated
Mired in Bureaucracy
& Wasted Effort
Team/Individual Ownership
High

35. Trust
trust and integrity
g y
Integrity is
honestly dealing
with ambiguity
ith
bi it
ownership and
alignment
team purpose
must be aligned
with b i
ith business goals
l

36. tools that help
product inception
planning
accept reality
minimal viable
product
incrementally reduce
risk
continuous
customer
feedback

37. learn more
Coming Soon!
g
Agile Culture Change
Our new book
due November 2013
ppixton@accelinnova.com
www.accelinnova.com
Text: 801.209.0195
Blog: pollyannapixton.com