Steps a PMO can take to help in an Agile Transformation

1. A LEANER PMO
IN THE
FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT

2. While we wait for the
session to start, meet your
neighbors and discuss …
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT excella.com | @excellaco
• Do you currently work in a PMO?
• Are you currently going through an Agile
transformation or are already in an Agile environment
• Is there a role for the PMO in an Agile environment?
Why or why not?

3. • Certified Scrum Trainer and
Coach with Excella
Consulting
• 15+ years of experience in
software development
• Founder of the DC
Software Craftsmanship
User Group
• Organizer of the DC Scrum
User Group
• @FadiStephan
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT excella.com | @excellaco
FADI STEPHAN

4. • Agile Project Manager and
Coach with Excella Consulting
• 14 years in software project
management
• PMP, PMI-ACP, CSM, CSPO
• ICAgile Certified Professional
in Agile Coaching
• @andybacon1
• andybacon.com
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT excella.com | @excellaco
ANDY BACON

5. A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT excella.com | @excellaco
AGENDA
• Role of PMO in an Agile Environment
• Areas the PMO can lead in
• Example of a PMO in the Federal Government

6. DOES A PMO BELONG
IN AN AGILE
ENVIRONMENT?
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

7. A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT excella.com | @excellaco
No to PMO
• Enforcing rigid waterfall practices
• Taking a command and control approach
to managing projects

8. A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT excella.com | @excellaco
Yes to PMO
• Aligning project selection to business
goals
• Providing project oversight
• Reporting to senior leadership
• Coordinating and guiding projects
• Training project teams

9. Why Agile?
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

10. Faster
Do more
with less
Better
Cheaper
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

11. Pain Points
Long concept to
deployment
cycles
Increasingly
long testing
cycles
Going
through painful
deployments
Solution that
doesn’t satisfy
our customers
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

12. GOAL:
“Continuously deliver customer value in a
sustainable way with improved lead time,
resilience and quality.”
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

13. Requirements
Design
Development
Test
DeployWATERFALL
APPROACH
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

14. Requirements
Design
Development
Test
Deploy
ITERATIVE &
INCREMENTAL
APPROACH
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

15. “Our highest priority is to satisfy the
customer through early and continuous
delivery of valuable software.”
“Deliver working software frequently,
from a couple of weeks to a couple
of months, with a preference to the
shorter timescale.”
- First and third of the Twelve Principles behind the Agile Manifesto
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

16. REQUIREMENTS
DESIGN
DEVELOPMENTTEST
DEPLOY
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

17. REQUIREMENTS
DESIGN
DEVELOPMENTTEST
DEPLOY
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

18. Days
Not
Months
REQUIREMENTS
DESIGN
DEVELOPMENTTEST
DEPLOY
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

19. HOW?
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

20. “How long would it take your organization to
deploy a change that involves just one single
line of code? Do you do this on a repeatable,
reliable basis?”
– Mary and Tom Poppendieck,
Implementing Lean Software Development
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

21. PUSH TO PRODUCTION
excella.com | @excellaco
Environmental Set-Up Identify
Dependencies Team Process
Agreement
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

22. AGILE ENGINEERING PRACTICES
excella.com | @excellaco
SOLID CODING PRACTICES (TDD)
AUTOMATED BUILDS
AUTOMATED CODE QUALITY CHECKS
AUTOMATED UNIT, INTEGRATION, ACCEPTANCE TESTS
CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION
AUTOMATED DATABASE MIGRATIONS
CONTINUOUS DEPLOYMENT
INFRASTRUCTURE AS CODE
CONTINUOUS DELIVERY
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

23. Building the
“RIGHT THING”
Building the
“THING RIGHT”
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

24. BUILD
LEARN MEASURE
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

25. Viable Feasible
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

26. excella.com | @excellaco
Viable Feasible
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

27. Viable Feasible
excella.com | @excellaco
SOLUTION
PAINFUL
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

28. excella.com | @excellaco
Viable Feasible
PAINFUL
SOLUTION
Usability
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

29. excella.com | @excellaco
Viable Feasible
PAINFUL
SOLUTION
Usability
DESIRED
SOLUTION
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Jeff Patton

30. MINIMUM
VIABLE
PRODUCT
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

31. excella.com | @excellaco
TARGET
ITERATIONSSTART MINIMAL VIABLE PRODUCT
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

32. TARGET
ITERATIONSSTART
excella.com | @excellaco
MINIMAL VIABLE PRODUCT
MVP
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

33. excella.com | @excellaco
TARGET
ITERATIONSSTART MINIMAL VIABLE PRODUCT
MVP
MVP
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

34. excella.com | @excellaco
TARGET
DESIRED
SOLUTION
ITERATIONSSTART MINIMAL VIABLE PRODUCT
MVP
MVP
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

35. LEAN UX
excella.com | @excellaco
Concept
Validate
internally
prototypeTest
externally
Learn from
user behavior
Days
Not
Months
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

36. LEAN DISCOVERY AND AGILE DELIVERY
HYPOTHESIS, EXPERIMENTS, AND INSIGHTS, MMF, MVP
DATA, FEEDBACK, AND INSIGHTS
excella.com | @excellaco
DELIVERED
MMF, MVP
PROPOSED
MMF, MVP
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

37. excella.com | @excellaco
VALIDATED LEARNING
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

38. HOW?
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

39. MINIMUM VIABLE
BUREAUCRACY
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

40. GATES
HYPOTHESIS, EXPERIMENTS, AND INSIGHTS, MMF, MVP
DATA, FEEDBACK, AND INSIGHTS
excella.com | @excellaco
DELIVERED
MMF, MVP
PROPOSED
MMF, MVP
1
2
3
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

41. excella.com | @excellaco
LEAN CANVAS
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

42. excella.com | @excellaco
Test Card
http://blog.strategyzer.com/posts/2015/3/5/validate-your-ideas-with-the-test-card
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

43. excella.com | @excellaco
MATRIX TEAMS
BA
Pool
Dev
Pool
Test
Pool
Other
Pool
Close out project
and return team
members to pool
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
New Team A
New Team BBusiness Opp
Initiate new projects
A and B and create
new Teams A and B

44. excella.com | @excellaco
STABLE TEAMS
Team
Pool
Expert
Pool
Close out project
and return team to
pool
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Stable Team A
Stable Team BBusiness Opp
Initiate new projects A
and B and use stable
Teams A and B

45. excella.com | @excellaco
PMO SUPPORT
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
http://www.infoq.com/news/2015/04/agile-pmo

46. excella.com | @excellaco
PORTFOLIO KANBAN
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Ideas Discovery
(4)
Delivery
(5)
Deployment
(2)
Delivered
1 2 3
G ABE
C
DF
H I
M
L N
OP
QR
6
2
1
1
K

47. A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT excella.com | @excellaco
PMO TAKES THE LEAD IN
1. Transitioning into a supportive role
2. Simplifying and Timeboxing Gate Reviews
3. Using Lean canvas and Test Cards
4. Setting up stable, cross functioning self organizing teams
5. Providing Agile training
6. Supporting the teams with Agile coaches
7. Incorporating Agile Artifacts
8. Collaborating with Product Owners
9. Breaking down silos encouraging close collaboration
between biz, dev, ops
10. Applying Kanban Portfolio Management
11. Focusing on flow, cycle time and throughput

48. Federal PMO
Example
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

49. excella.com | @excellaco
Organizational Content
- CIO shop supporting 1,500+ person organization
- Project-based with a matrixed design & development staff
- Separate divisions for design/development, engineering,
cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, data, privacy, etc.
- Varying project types (product development, infrastructure, COTS)
- PMO owns the process for project approval and execution
- Both Agile/Scrum and traditionally managed projects
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

50. Build a
solution the
customer wants
Build a quality
solution
Deliver it
frequently to
validate
OBJECTIVES
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

51. Requirements
Design
Development
Test
Deploy
ITERATIVE &
INCREMENTAL
APPROACH
excella.com | @excellaco
GATE GATE GATE
GATE
GATE
GATE
GATE
GATE
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

52. excella.com | @excellaco
Four Paths to Production
Projects Release
Management
Change
Request
Services
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

53. ROLES
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

54. excella.com | @excellaco
Team Product
Owner
Scrum
Master
PMO
Liaison
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

55. PMO Liaison
• Serves the PMO and the organization
• Guides the team through gate reviews and change requests
• Coordinates with external teams (i.e., cybersecurity, systems
engineering)
• Coordinates infrastructure and hardware needs
• Assists with 508 and privacy compliance
• Prepares security and ATO materials
• Works with the team and the scrum master to report risks and
issues to PMO
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

56. GATES
excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

57. GATE 0 GATE 1 GATE 2
excella.com | @excellaco
PLANNING EXECUTION DEPLOYMENT
PROJECT INTAKE & DISCOVERY
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

58. excella.com | @excellaco
Projects transition to release
management following Gate 2
Projects Release
Management
Change
Request
Services
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

59. GATE 0 GATE 1 GATE 2
excella.com | @excellaco
PLANNING EXECUTION DEPLOYMENT
PROJECT INTAKE & DISCOVERY
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

60. GATE 0 GATE 1 GATE 2
excella.com | @excellaco
PLANNING EXECUTION DEPLOYMENT
PROJECT INTAKE & DISCOVERY
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

61. excella.com | @excellaco
Project request form submitted to PMO
PMO reviews and “scores” project
PMO reviews project request with
resource representatives from
development, cyber, etc.
Gate 0 meeting
GATE 0
PROJECT INTAKE & DISCOVERY PLANNING
Approved
or
Returned to sponsor
Added to project backlog
Not Approved
Can we build this?
Should we build this?
What is the relative priority?
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

62. GATE 0 GATE 1 GATE 2
excella.com | @excellaco
PLANNING EXECUTION DEPLOYMENT
PROJECT INTAKE & DISCOVERY
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

63. GATE 1
excella.com | @excellaco
PLANNING EXECUTION
Define MVP
Understand
Problem
Learn
1-2 Sprints Approved
Can we build this?
Should we build this?
Do we know what we are building (MVP)?
Not Approved
Team continues to plan
Pivot
Stop project
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

64. GATE 0 GATE 1 GATE 2
excella.com | @excellaco
PLANNING EXECUTION DEPLOYMENT
PROJECT INTAKE & DISCOVERY
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

65. GATE 2
excella.com | @excellaco
EXECUTION DEPLOYMENT
Build MVP
Validate
Learn
4-6 Sprints Approved
Did we build the right thing?
Do we have an MVP?
Are we ready to deploy?
Not Approved
Team continues to build
Pivot
Stop project
UX Testing
Security Scans
Testing
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

66. GATE 0 GATE 1 GATE 2
excella.com | @excellaco
PLANNING EXECUTION DEPLOYMENT
PROJECT INTAKE & DISCOVERY
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

67. excella.com | @excellaco
DEPLOYMENT
Deploy MVP
Validate
Learn
1-2 Sprints
Release
Press Release
Training
ReleaseRelease
BUILD BUILD
X Sprints X Sprints
Production Operations
Release Management
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

68. GATE 1GATE 0 GATE 2
excella.com | @excellaco
PLANNING EXECUTION DEPLOYMENT
Define MVP
Understand
Problem
Learn
Build MVP
Validate
Learn
Deploy MVP
Validate
Learn
PROJECT INTAKE & DISCOVERY
1-2 Sprints 4-6 Sprints 1-2 Sprints
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

69. SUCCESSES
excella.com | @excellaco
Projects are brought to teams
Documentation is light
Simple gate process that supports the lean canvas approach
Everyone receives agile training, including product owners
Teams are cross functional
PM Liaison role is not a traditional command and control role
Coaching available to teams
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

70. WHAT’S NEXT
excella.com | @excellaco
Expand devops culture to cyber and systems engineering
Shift focus from utilization to cycle time and throughput
Limit WIP at the portfolio level
Continue to develop strong product owners
Fail faster
A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

71. A LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT excella.com | @excellaco
PMO TAKES THE LEAD IN
1. Transitioning into a supportive role
2. Simplifying and Timeboxing Gate Reviews
3. Using Lean canvas and Test Cards
4. Setting up stable, cross functioning self organizing teams
5. Providing Agile training
6. Supporting the teams with Agile coaches
7. Incorporating Agile Artifacts
8. Collaborating with Product Owners
9. Breaking down silos encouraging close collaboration
between biz, dev, ops
10. Applying Kanban Portfolio Management
11. Focusing on flow, cycle time and throughput

72. excella.com | @excellacoA LEANER PMO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
References
• http://www.slideshare.net/DigitalCatapultDevelopmentPractices/agile-
lean-pmo
• http://www.slideshare.net/barryoreilly/traditional-vs-leanagile-pmo-
organisations
• http://programmedevelopment.com/public/uploads/files/agile_pmo_-
_fact_or_fiction.pdf
• http://www.slideshare.net/mgaewsj/kanban-for-portfolio-management
• http://www.slideshare.net/pathf/lean-ux-agile-putting-it-all-together
• http://www.slideshare.net/jgothelf/lean-ux-getting-out-of-the-
deliverables-business
• http://www.slideshare.net/ThoughtWorks/when-enterprise-meets-devops
• http://www.slideshare.net/MartinCroker/dev-ops-primer-v15-external