Agile Teams at Scale: Beyond Scrum of Scrums

1. Agile Teams at Scale:Beyond Scrum of ScrumsEsther Derbyesther@estherderby.com+1 612 239 1214@estherderbywww.estherderby.com

2. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyOne team or a handful of teams may be able to deliversmall systems. Large complex systems require teams ofteams to deliver signiﬁcant features.How can companies beneﬁt from “the team effect” atscale?

3. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyThree main challenges in scaling teams:coordinating work across teamsintegrating work across teamsmaintaining technical integrity of the system

4. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyPrinciples: Guide stars for scaling team-based work.Practices: Social and technical practices that enable team-based work.Pathways: Steps to get from here to there.

5. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyPrinciples to AddressCOORDINATION• Organize people and work to reduce coordination overhead• Analyze demand• Context teams over component teams• Minimize product dependencies• Aim for ﬂow• Build in slack and redundancy

6. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyTeams share...a compelling work goalresponsibility and accountabilityan approach to workteams have...complementary skillsﬁve-seven membershistoryTeams are one sort of goal-oriented social unit.Teams can form the building blocks for larger goal-oriented social units.

7. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyTeams offer possibilities that functional or componentwork groups do not.ﬂexibilitylearningengagementresponsibility

9. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyScrum of Scrums can work with a small number of teams workingwithin the same context.

13. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyA large system may have several contexts. (Think of context as a featuregroup, for example “Student Financial Aid” in a system to track ﬁnancialaspects of students registered at a university.)Form cross-functional, multi-skilled teams within contexts.

15. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyPrinciples to AddressINTEGRATION•Make cross team and cross context communicationexplicit•Teams that integrate together plan together•Lateral links•Design for early learning

16. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyMake communication across context boundaries explicit. Useintegrating linkers to agree how to handle the interface and integrationbetween contexts. Integrating linkers should also agree on and writeacceptances tests that conﬁrm integration across boundaries.

17. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyPrinciples to AddressTECHNICAL INTEGRITY•Global and local standards•Technical stewards•T-shaped people

18. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyWhen several teams touch the code for services or component, addComponent Stewards or Component Steward Teams.Component Stewards work to maintain the integrity of components.Theyreview code, coach, mentor, develop standards and provide guidance to teams.

20. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyTech Councils, made up of integrating linkers, component stewards,and test experts attend to the integrity of the whole system.Product Councils look after product integrity.Deﬁne decision boundaries for each sort of group.

21. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyTechnical PracticesContinuous integration (CI) within contextIntegration across contexts at some other interval (keeping inmind “avoid late learning”)Mutually agreed upon and developed automated test acrosscontext boundariesArchitectural, UI & coding standardsTechnical reviews

22. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbySocial PracticesScrum of Scrums within context to surface impedimentsIntegrating links (keeping in mind “avoid late learning”)Decision boundariesComponent stewards or teamsTech councilsProduct councilsPlanningStory MappingCentral AND Local

23. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther Derby•Lateral structures handle coordination and integration.People close to the issues have both the knowledge andmeans to make decisions.•Scrum of scrums handles impediments.•Information ﬂows across and through, rather than up anddown.

24. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyHow do we get there?Mid-level planningDemand analysisRemoving technical dependenciesSmaller chunksPathways

28. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyIt’s not simpleIt’s not easyThere is no one right wayThere is no prescriptive planYou won’t get there in one giant leap

29. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbyIt is possibleYou will get there by adapting, iterating, learningYou will create a more ﬂexible organizationYou will increase the speed and ease of communicationYou will unleash potential

30. +1 612 239 1214 || esther@estherderby.com || www.estherderby.com || twitter: @estherderby || (c) 2013 Esther DerbySome useful resources from within the software domain:Domain Driven Design by Eric EvansPractices for Scaling Lean & Agile Development by Craig Larman and BasVodde...and from the ﬁeld of Organization Development and DesignImages of Organization by Gareth MorganDesigningTeam-Based Organizations by Mohrman, Cohen, and MohrmanCreating Strategic Change by William PasmoreLeadership and the New Science by Meg WheatleyResources and References