History of Scrum at Bluefly, Part 1

History of Scrum @ Bluefly, Part 1 Matt Raines Vice President of Technology Bluefly [email_address] @matthewraines

About Bluefly
Pure play online retailer of high-end designer closing and accessories
Launched in Sept 1998
~$100mm in net revenue
Tech team of 18 plus outsourcing team / consultants

Agenda

Dawn of Man (circa pre-2006)
Unpredictable track record for project delivery
Poor communication and integration with business stakeholders
Struggled to meet expectations and deadlines
Delivered product was not always what the business wanted and it was too late to change it
Big platform migration project to implement
Business users overwhelmed with requirements - at least 6 months to define requirements
Lack of business users to define business solutions due to turnover
No thorough understanding of the new platform – hard to design, hard to define business solutions

The Old Testament (circa dec 2006)
Tech mgmt made decision to implement Scrum
Limited number of people (managers) went to training
Engaged a Scrum Process Mentor to facilitate transition
Reorganized teams into Scrum teams
Applied this methodology to a platform migration project

The Roman Empire (2007-2008)
Forced implementation during the largest project in the company’s history
New eCommerce platform
Multiple teams w/ multiple disciplines
Augmented with consultants
Product owner not trained to be a good product owner
Prioritization of backlog
Didn’t test the finished features
Level of engagement ended at the Review meeting
IT management was struggling to understand their new roles

The Spanish Inquisition (2007-2008)
Team reorganization
Role ambiguity = F.U.D.
Reorg was not voluntary, rather it was “imposed” from top down
Loss of identity – my team doesn’t exist anymore
Co-location
Why do I have to move from where I am.
My communication is fine.
Who do I report to?
Feels like I report to 7 managers (team members)
Self organize, Dammit!
Why don’t you love Scrum?

The French Revolution (present day)
Adapted Scrum to Bluefly
Integrated Sys Ops team to Scrum
Added outsourcing partner
Upgraded tools along the way
Design reviews
Project / product roadmap planning

Preview of Coming Attractions (10 lessons learned)
Grossly overestimated our team’s tolerance for change
Thought people would love Scrum – they didn’t
Insufficient training, mentoring & coaching
Democratic decision making can lead to mediocre solutions
Fine line between discussion and argument
Reluctance of individuals to make a decision
Not setting any boundaries for “team makes decisions”
Must have leaders – the stronger the better
Thought that short iterations meant we would be faster
Challenge of team vs. individual performance
impacts on performance reviews
Must plan at least 2 quarters ahead
It’s not about the tools you use
Scrum is a framework that you must adapt to your environment to be successful

Roll the Credits (Wins)
Teamwork
Finishing stories, carry each other through the sprint
Confidence in what we can be achieved
Increased ownership across functional boundaries
Teams seek improvement in process
Consistent story completion percentages
Genuine partnership with product owners
Non-stop conversation about roadmap and prioritization
Engaged at the idea phase of business planning vs implementation
Releases included all expected features
Increased communication
Improved Engineering practices
Continuous integration, Automated Testing
Better prepared to handle the “audibles” that get called by the business – these happen a lot!

Matt Raines Vice President of Technology Bluefly [email_address] @matthewraines

History of Scrum at Bluefly, Part 1

by Matt Raines on Sep 15, 2010

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History of Scrum at Bluefly, Part 1 — Presentation Transcript