1. CONSIDERATIONS IN
AGILE ADOPTION AND ADAPTATION
A PRESENTATION TO THE AGILE KNOXVILLE
SOFTWARE GROUP
April 18, 2012 Meeting
Presenter: Alston E. Hodge, CSP, PMP
2.
3. AGENDA
• Agile vs. Scrum
• Principles vs. Practices
• Risks and consequences
• Case Studies in Adoption and Adaptation
• Summary
4. AGILE VS. SCRUM
• Agile – an umbrella term for all iterative and incremental
development approaches
• eXtreme Programming
• DSDM
• Crystal Orange
• Scrum
• Scrum – an Agile project management framework
• Over 70% of “Agile” companies use Scrum or Scrum/XP
6. PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES
Core Principles Core Practices
• Early and continuous delivery • 3 roles
• Short duration iterations • 4 ceremonies
• Business and developers together • Small cross-functional teams
• Empowered teams • Knowledgeable PO
• Face to face conversations • Senior level championship
• Working software is the metric • One project at a time
• Emergent architecture & design • Time-boxed
• Continuous improvement • Design-Build-Test-concurrently
7. ADOPT OR ADAPT?
Is it OK to adapt Scrum to fit our culture and work environment?
• Adopt the values and principles – these are foundational.
• Adapt the practices and techniques – make accommodations to
match current reality
But realize the work and our world are constantly changing, so we
need to change (adapt) our practices accordingly.
10. CASE STUDY:
NGO
• Introduced Scrum 4 years ago
• One 40-member team Five 8-member teams
• 16 offshore people (QA Testing, Production Support)
• Mini-waterfall (Scrum-lite)
• High turnover
• No acceptance criteria, no definition of done
• Stakeholders do not attend Demos
• Stories injected mid-sprint
• Most managers/leads work 60 hr weeks
• Frustrations at all levels, organization polarized
• CST refused to give certificates to participants in training
11. ADOPTION/ADAPTATION CHALLENGES:
NGO
• No ScrumMaster
• PO served as SM
• No one protecting the team
• No checks and balances
• No retrospectives
• Agile Champion = Theory X Vice President
• Highest number of HR complaints
• Injects stories without informing PO
• Threatens employees with termination
• Training incomplete
• Managers heckled trainer
• Trainer left after completing 75% of training
12. NGO:
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES VIOLATED
Core Principles Core Practices
• Early and continuous delivery • 3 roles
• Short duration iterations • 4 ceremonies
• Business and developers together • Small cross-functional teams
• Empowered teams • Knowledgeable PO
• Face to face conversations • Senior level championship
• Working software is the metric • One project at a time
• Emergent architecture & design • Time-boxed
• Continuous improvement • Design-Build-Test concurrently
13. CASE STUDY:
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES
• Fast-pace work environment
• Four Product Owners
• High-turnover
• Stories injected mid-sprint
• Mini-waterfall (Scrum-lite)
• Offshore QA testing
14. ADOPTION/ADAPTATION CHALLENGES:
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES
• Certified ScrumMaster replaced by IT director
• Uncomfortable with cultural diversity
• No lead Product Owner
• Business side not trained in Agile
• No retrospectives
17. EMS:
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES VIOLATED
Core Principles Core Practices
• Early and continuous delivery • 3 roles
• Short duration iterations • 4 ceremonies
• Business and developers together • Small cross-functional teams
• Empowered teams • Knowledgeable PO
• Face to face conversations • Senior level championship
• Working software is the metric • One project at a time
• Emergent architecture & design • Time-boxed
• Continuous improvement • Design-Build-Test concurrently
18. CASE STUDY:
VACATION OWNERSHIP COMPANY
• New to Scrum
• $24M program
• Director was senior developer promoted, XP experience
• PMO director ex-military officer
• Recent down-sizing then re-hiring
• Big-bang Agile implementation
• Big up-front requirements gathering
• Big up-Front design effort
• Highly specialized team members
• Off-shore testing
19. VACATION OWNERSHIP:
ADOPTION/ADAPTATION CHALLENGES:
• Lack of Scrum training
• SMs go to director for all issues and ideas
• Reluctance to start until all requirements known
• 60% contractors with different opinions of Scrum/XP
• 4 different contract companies working on one team
• Contracts dis-allow cross-functional development
• Command/Control leadership
• Leadership not on same page (IT, PMO, Business)
20. VACATION OWNERSHIP:
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES VIOLATED
Core Principles Core Practices
• Early and continuous delivery • 3 roles
• Short duration iterations • 4 ceremonies
• Business and developers together • Small cross-functional teams
• Empowered teams • Knowledgeable PO
• Face to face conversations • Senior level championship
• Working software is the metric • One project at a time
• Emergent architecture & design • Time-boxed
• Continuous improvement • Design-Build-Test concurrently
21. CASE STUDY:
HEALTHCARE SERVICES COMPANY
• Introduced Scrum 4 years ago
• Heavy offshore utilization
• Common practice to have 3 to 4 projects per sprint
• Only 55% of teams adopting Scrum
• Sprints vary from 2 to 10 weeks
24. Product
Owner 4
Product
Owner 3
Business PM
Product Scrum
Owner 2 Team IT PM
Scrum SME/Arch
Master
Product
Owner 1
25. Product
Owner 4
Product Owner
Product 3
Owner 2
Business PM
Lead
Product
Owner
Scrum
Team
Scrum Master
SME/Arch
IT PM
26. Sprint Models
Model S
DEV-SIT-UAT DEV-SIT-UAT DEV-SIT-UAT ….
Model DS-U
DEV + SIT UAT DEV + SIT UAT DEV + SIT UAT
Model D-D-D-S-U
DEV DEV DEV
…. SIT UAT
Model D-S-U
DEV SIT UAT
Defects Defects
DEV SIT UAT
Defects Defects
DEV SIT UAT
29. HEALTHCARE COMPANY:
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES VIOLATED
Core Principles Core Practices
• Early and continuous delivery • 3 roles
• Short duration iterations • 4 ceremonies
• Business and developers together • Small cross-functional teams
• Empowered teams • Knowledgeable PO
• Face to face conversations • Senior level championship
• Working software is the metric • One project at a time
• Emergent architecture & design • Time-boxed
• Continuous improvement • Design-Build-Test concurrently
30. WHY ADAPTATION OCCURS
• Scrum viewed as methodology rather than framework of
processes
• Reluctance to be truly transparent (risky)
• Reluctance to address organizational impediments (territorial)
• “That’s just how we do things here” (culture)
• Viewed as threat to hierarchical & command/control
organizations
• Difficult to transition from process to product mindset
31. ADAPT, BUT REMEMBER …
• The closer you follow true Scrum, the less risks
• Don’t rest on your laurels
• Always room for improvement
32. TIPS AND TRICKS
• “If at first you don’t adopt, try, try again.”
• Track impediments
• Conduct regular organizational retrospectives
• Create and promote a culture of continuous improvement
• Lean IT
• SixSigma
• Agile
• Community of Practice
Here’s a sampling of some of the companies I’ve assisted in the past. They represent a spectrum of Agile maturity and successes. Some are just starting in Agile adoption, and some have over 10 years of Agile experience.
From an organizational team structure, the scrum team is made up of a the core team, a product owner and a scrum master. With a small, cross-functional and dedicated team structure, and a dedicated SM and PO, the team is in a position to deliver regularly and with high quality. And at regular periods they stop, inspect their progress, identify impediments, and adapt their practice, making them even more productive in the next Sprint.By following this simple model and mindset, they have the potential of becoming a hyper-performing team.
Now, imagine a scenario at Humana where a team has 4 projects concurrently running in a sprint, each with its own Product Owner. Add to that an IT PM, an Business PM, and an SME or Architect.If you were a member of the team, who do you take directions from? Who has final decision power. Who trumps who?
From an organizational team structure, the scrum team is made up of a the core team, a product owner and a scrum master. With a small, cross-functional and dedicated team structure, and a dedicated SM and PO, the team is in a position to deliver regularly and with high quality. And at regular periods they stop, inspect their progress, identify impediments, and adapt their practice, making them even more productive in the next Sprint.By following this simple model and mindset, they have the potential of becoming a hyper-performing team.
Now, imagine a scenario at Humana where a team has 4 projects concurrently running in a sprint, each with its own Product Owner. Add to that an IT PM, an Business PM, and an SME or Architect.If you were a member of the team, who do you take directions from? Who has final decision power. Who trumps who?
The first issue to address is that of Product Ownership.With multiple product owners, the team MUST have a single point of contact. For this particular example, the Product Owners decided to form a Product Owner team with a single voice for the team.