The document discusses how companies need to rethink their approach to resource management in today's disruptive age. Some of the key points made include: (1) adopting agile project management with smaller batches delivered in shorter iterations, (2) utilizing stable teams to improve productivity, responsiveness, and predictability, (3) limiting work in process and multitasking to improve flow, and (4) taking a team-driven approach to capacity planning. The document advocates focusing on customer interaction, differentiation through enabling thinking time, and finishing work quickly to realize value.

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Think Differently
Catherine Connor
Re-imagining Resource Management in a
Disruptive Age

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Catherine Connor
Rocky Mountain PMI
Product Manager, Lean / Agile Portfolio Solutions
I work with companies looking for capacity planning
solutions after having adopted stable teams.

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We Live in a Disruptive Age

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At the Current Churn Rate, 75% of
the S&P Will Be Replaced by 2027
Data: INNOSIGHT, Richard N. Foster, Standard & Poor’s
Average company lifespan on S&P 500 Index (in years)
Year (each data point represents a rolling scale 7-year scale average of average lifespan
Projections based
on current data

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We Must Change Our Mindset
FROM: Plan-based TO: Adaptive
• Value-focused
• Incremental funding
• Continuous steering
• Plan to re-plan
• Team capacity
• (mostly) Fixed capacity
• Flow features through teams
• Program = a group of teams
• Schedule-focused
• Annual budgets
• Large upfront planning
• Track to plan
• Individual capacity
• Elastic resource pool
• Assign FTEs to projects
• Program = a group of projects

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Age of Disruption: New Iron Triangle
"It’s 2013, and we’re still navigating by the stars"
Margo Visitacion & Kurt Bittner, Forrester Research: Map your journey to the future with
next-gen portfolio management, July 2013
Quality
CapacityCapacity
Time to
Market
Value
Quality
Time to
Market ResourcesSchedule
Scope

7. Value

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What Is Value?
Customer Interaction
Differentiation
Focus

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(Continuous) Customer Interaction
Resource the “Product Manager” role: define the right thing
to build, incrementally and as customer needs change

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Differentiation: Enable Thinking Time
Knowledge workers need time
to think to solve problems and
generate creative ideas. This
differentiates your solutions
from others.

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Focus: Stop Starting, Start Finishing
Focus on finishing things before you start more.
Value is only realized when delivered to customers.
Cycle Time
Faster Time to finish Line Wins

12. Time to Market

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Time to Market
Smaller batches
Deliver faster
Fewer handoffs and
dependencies

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Smaller Batches: Agile Projects
Agile projects build software incrementally, typically using short
iterations of 1-4 weeks to keep development aligned with
changing business results.
So, instead of a single pass, 6-18 month release
that predicts all requirements and risks up front …
Agile adapts to frequent feedback by delivering working,
tested code every 1-4 week iteration

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Deliver Faster with Stable Teams
Stable teams are more likely to deliver faster than new teams.

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Facts About Stable Teams
Software Development Performance Index, Rally Software, 2013
Stable teams yield up to:
• 60% better productivity
• 60% better
responsiveness
• 40% better predictability

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Fewer Handoffs and Dependencies
Move from silos, lack of communication, and multiple handoffs to cross-
functional roles, high collaboration, and results-oriented work

18. Capacity

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Capacity
Limit Work in Process (WiP)
Limit multitasking
Be team-driven

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Limit Work in Process
Encourage Pull vs Push
• Don’t add another until there is room to flow
• Pull one from the “on-ramp” when one is finished

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Don’t Overload Capacity
• The more work in process, the longer each item takes to
complete
• Stop-n-go traffic causes less throughput
Source: Little’s Law

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Would You Treat Your Servers This
Way?

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Limit Multitasking at All Costs
Source: Rally Software Development Performance Index, 2013

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Team-driven Capacity Planning
Delivery Groups
• Groups of teams organized by business capability
Delivery Teams
• Cross-functional Agile team
• Group of specialists
Expertise
• Company assets / domain expertise
Skillsets
• Software skills on a knowledge worker resume (Java, CSS)

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Summary
Think differently! Re-imagine your resource management.
• Product manager role
• Allow for thinking time
• Stop starting and start finishing
• Agile project management
• Stable teams
• Cross-functional teams
• Limit Work in Process
• Limit multitasking
• Be team-driven in capacity planning

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Next Step: Take Action
• Learn from your peers: read Rally’s case studies
• Share proven facts about stable teams
• Partner with Rally to go from thinking to action

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Thank you!
Rocky Mountain PMI
cconnor@rallydev.com