Culture is the most widely talked in societies, religion, race, region and workplaces as well. Organizations are the Second Homes as people spend their better half of their time in their offices. Hence, Culture is an integral part (good or bad) for driving the happiness of clients and the colleagues, and success for the products/projects and growing / sustaining business. Agile Implementation is highly dependent upon the Culture of the Organization. How does a Manager transition to the Role of a Product Owner? What happens to a Product Owner who wants to retain his control on the team rather than working on the Product? Some developers think that Scrum, for instance, brings a lot of meetings and these meetings are a waste of time. The Scrum Master’s role is not a full time role in many companies. Leadership thinks Agile can solve most of their issues without even knowing the root causes of the issues. In this talk and we will discuss a selection of real-life experiences to tackle these cultural issues and the actual/suggestive steps taken to improve the culture of organizations. ---- I delivered this talk in Qcon Rio International Software Conference, Rio, Brazil: http://qconrio.com/presentation/smell-agile-culture

1. The Smell of Agile Culture
GURPREET SINGH
Disclaimer:Theseare my personal views & does not represent the opinions of my current/past clients or employers.
gp.singh.tech@gmail.com

2. •8+ Experience of working as an Agile Coach, Scrum Master and Product Owner
•Blogger by Hobby
•The Wet Scrum
•Agile Poem
•Golden Triangle
https://www.scrumalliance.org/community/profile/gsingh33
About the Speaker
@gpzee84

3. Sleep Check
@gpzee84

4. @gpzee84

5. @gpzee84

6. Agenda
@gpzee84
What we did?
Results
Lessons Learnt
Questions
5
6
7
8
Who were we?
Firm Wide Survey
The Wet Scrum
2
3
4
Culture & Structure
1

7. What is a Culture?
@gpzee84
Our Clothes
Our Mobile Phones
Our Cars
Our Jewelry
Our Bank Balance

8. What is a Culture?
@gpzee84
Our Clothes
Our Mobile Phones
Our Cars
Our Jewellery
Our Bank Balance
It is us –the People
Values
Behavior
Traditions
Norms

9. What is a Culture?
@gpzee84
Parents
Friends
Relatives
Siblings
Culture
Values
Behavior
Traditions
Norms

10. What is Organization Culture?
@gpzee84
Colleagues
Leaders
Eco-systems
Team
Culture
Values
Behavior
Traditions
Norms

11. Organization Culture& Mission
•To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Google
•To give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.
Facebook
•To be the fabric of real-time communication on the web.
Skype

12. Importance of Organization Culture
@gpzee84
People do not leave their companies;
they leave their Managers

13. @gpzee84
Culture & Structure
How does the Culture dependent upon the Structure of the Organization?

14. @gpzee84
Culture & Structure

15. Who were we?
@gpzee84

16. Who were we?
@gpzee84
15 Development Teams
1 QA Team
1 Release Management Team
1Team Lead per Team
3 Managers
1 Department Head

17. Who were we?
@gpzee84
Stakeholder
Manager
Team Lead
Team
Team 1
Team 3
Team 2Scary Waterfall Team

18. Firm Wide Survey
@gpzee84
Are we surpassing our Competitors?
Are our Employees happy & motivated about the job?
Are our Stakeholders happy about our Services?

19. Firm Wide Survey
@gpzee84
Stakeholders Unhappy
Teams Unhappy
Managers Unhappy

20. The First Step
@gpzee84

21. The First Step
@gpzee84
Team Leads became
Product Owners
Agile Methodologies
Multiple Stakeholders
Waterfall
TL
PO
Managers became
Scrum Masters
SM
M

22. Team Re-structure
@gpzee84
New Team
Cross –Functional Teams
Team 1
Team 2
Get the Right People on-board

23. The Process
@gpzee84
Dev Sprint 1
(2 weeks)
Dev Sprint 2 (2weeks)
Hardening Sprint
(2 weeks) Release(6 Weeks)

24. Reason for the First Steps
@gpzee84
•To Manage the Product Better
Multiple Stakeholders
•Being Agile
Team Leads became Product Owners
•Being Agile
Managers became Scrum Masters
•Being Agile
Cross-Functional Teams

25. Reason for shifting to Agile
@gpzee84
Agile enables Quick Deliveries
Agile can solve all the issues
Agile Teams are High Performing Teams
Agile Projects can not fail

26. Results
@gpzee84
Stakeholders Still Unhappy
Teams Still Unhappy
Managers Still Unhappy
The Efforts missed the target completely.
Any reasons?

27. The Culture was still Stinky
@gpzee84
Lack of Vision
Lack of Motivation
Constantly changing
Priorities
Agile Mindset missing
Support from
Leadership missing
Inertia
Command & Control
The Wet Scrum

28. The Second Step
@gpzee84
We hired an Agile Consultant
…to examine the
Current Situation

29. The Smell of Changes
@gpzee84
1. Multiple Stakeholders
Multiple Directions
Changing Priorities
Unclear Scope
Demotivated Team

30. The Smell of Changes
@gpzee84
Stakeholder 1
Scrum Master /Manager
Product Owner/
Team Lead
Team
Push Work
PO Bypassed
Stakeholder 2
Multiple paths of Work-Push Model

31. The Smell of Changes
@gpzee84
2. Team Leads became Product Owners
Push Work to the Team
Microscopic Management
Forced Sizing of Stories
No Team Aspect
Old Wine, New Bottle

32. The Smell of Changes
@gpzee84
Bypass
Product Owner
Forced Commitment
Command & Control
No Team Aspect
3. Managers became Scrum Masters
Old Wine, New Bottle

33. The Smell of Changes
@gpzee84
4. Cross Functional Teams
Lack of Trust

34. The Smell of Changes
@gpzee84
Lack of Accountability
4. Cross Functional Teams

35. @gpzee84
The Blame Cycle
Problem Arises
Analyze
Blame Occurs
Blame Deflected
Sadness Builds
Fades Away
The Smell of Changes

36. The Smell of Changes
@gpzee84
Lack of Direction
4. Cross Functional Teams

37. The Smell of Changes
@gpzee84
Cross Functional Teams
Lack of Empowerment

38. Sprint Ceremonies
@gpzee84
•30 minutes daily
Daily Standup
•Stakeholders missing & loads of unplanned work to be done
Backlog Grooming & Sprint Planning
•Mostly Not done. When done; no issues raised (totally ineffective)!
Retrospectives

39. Coaching at 3 Fronts
@gpzee84
Coach Stakeholders & Managers
Coach Product Owners
Coach Teams

40. The Third Step
@gpzee84
Stakeholder 1
Scrum Master /Manager
Product Owner/
Team Lead
Team
Push Work
PO Bypassed
Stakeholder 2
Coach Stakeholders/Leadership

41. Coaching Stakeholders
@gpzee84
Stakeholder 1
Scrum Master /Manager
Product Owner/
Team Lead
Team
Push Work
PO Bypassed
Stakeholder 2
Primary
Stakeholder
Primary Stakeholder as the Single Vision
for the Product

42. Primary Stakeholder -Benefits
@gpzee84
Single Vision for the Product
Responsible for getting Consensus
from Other Stakeholders
No Mismatch of Priorities

43. Coaching Stakeholders
@gpzee84
Emphasized the Presence of Primary Stakeholder
in Backlog Grooming/Planning Meetings
Minimal overlap of 70% of Stories of Backlog Grooming/Planning meetings
Aligning Business Value with the New Features

44. Coaching Managers
@gpzee84
The Toughest Nut to crack

45. Coaching Managers
@gpzee84
People will not work without the Control!
If People will work on their own, then what is my role?
Why do we need a change: we are already doing good?

46. Coaching Managers
@gpzee84
Emphasized the benefits of Servant Leadership over Command-n-Control
Workshops/Sessions to highlight Agile Values e.g. Sizing, Pull vs Push, Open Communication, etc
More Focus on Product Strategy &
People Development

47. Coaching Product Owners
@gpzee84
Pull Vs. Push Work Model
Requirement Gathering Techniques
(Writing Effective Stories)
Maintain Updated Product Backlog –in Real-time (Priority Management)

48. Someone was still missing
@gpzee84
1
•Managers were Not Good Scrum Masters
2
•15 Teams were too many to be Coached effectively by 1 Agile Coach
3
•Full Time Scrum Masters for each team were missing

49. Scrum Master –New Teams
@gpzee84
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Adjourning

50. The Biggest Step
@gpzee84
Scrum Masters got Hired!

51. Coaching Teams
@gpzee84
Trust
Discipline
Long Meetings
Bugs
Transparency/
Accountability
Motivation

52. Coaching Teams -Trust
@gpzee84
Working in Pairs (Mentor/
Mentee)
Open Communication

53. Coaching Teams -Discipline
@gpzee84
What would you do?
People come Late to meetings most of the time.

54. Coaching Teams -Discipline
@gpzee84
The Choco-late Meter
The Person coming late for a meeting needs to bring Chocolates for the Team.

55. Coaching Teams -Discipline
@gpzee84
Gurpreet
1
Jack
4
Jose
3

56. Coaching Teams –Meetings
@gpzee84
Backlog Grooming
4 hours >> 2 hours
Sprint Planning
3 hours >> 1.5 hours
Daily Standup
30 minutes >> 10 minutes

57. @gpzee84
Meetings are toxic
But we need to Live with Meetings

58. Coaching Teams –Meetings
@gpzee84
Backlog Grooming
4 hours >> 2 hours
Single Vision
Team asks Questions about Scope before the Meeting
Team Pulls work
Scrum Master checks Business Value with PO

59. Coaching Teams –Meetings
@gpzee84
Sprint Planning
3 hours >> 1.5 hours
70% of the Stories in Planning & Grooming are the same
PO manages the Priorities of Bugs and New Features
Blockers & Dependencies are discussed before hand

60. Coaching Teams –Meetings
@gpzee84
Daily Standup
30 minutes >> 10 minutes
What did I do yesterday?
What were the Blockers which I faced yesterday?
What will I be doing today?

61. Coaching Teams –Bugs
@gpzee84
A Bug is not a Developer’s Issue.
It is a Team’s Responsibility.
A Bug is a Feature with a Negative Value.
PO manages the Priorities of Bugs
and New Features in the Same Backlog
Catching /Resolving Bugs is not the End Goal

62. Coaching Teams –Transparency
@gpzee84
1. Share your Code
2. Discuss in Retros
3. Transparent Capacity
4. Celebrate Defeats

63. Coaching Teams –Transparency
@gpzee84
1. Share your Code
Code Reviews
Peer Checks
Pair Programming

64. Coaching Teams –Transparency
@gpzee84
2. Discuss in Retros
The Sad Face
The Glad Face

65. Coaching Teams –Transparency
@gpzee84
3. Transparent Capacity
Team, I am free now!
I can take more Work

66. Coaching Teams –Transparency
@gpzee84
4. Celebrate Defeats –Freaky Fridays

67. Coaching Teams –Accountability
@gpzee84
Team, I need help

68. @gpzee84
Modes of Motivation
Coaching Teams -Motivation
Creative Mode
Survival Mode

69. @gpzee84
The Happiness Meter
Coaching Teams -Motivation

70. Lessons Learnt
We do not need a Superman in the Team who does all the Work Alone
@gpzee84
1

71. @gpzee84
Lessons Learnt
We need a Spider Man who can connect with other People quickly
1

72. Lessons Learnt
Bottle-necks are at the Top of the Bottle
@gpzee84
2

73. Lessons Learnt
Ultimately, it’s all about the People
(Teams & Clients)
@gpzee84
3
Processes & Technology do help
And this is the
Organization Culture

74. Conclusion
@gpzee84
Happy, Empowered & Motivated Teams
Individuals & Teams are in Sync with Organization Goals
A Learning Self-Evolving Organization Culture

75. Questions?
@gpzee84

76. Thank You
@gpzee
http://lnkd.in/deRY9R8