This document provides an overview of a manager's perspective on implementing Agile practices in an enterprise setting. It discusses how the company got started with Agile through coaching, choosing tools through dot voting, and emphasizing starting small and limiting work in progress. The presentation then covers how the team has grown, their current structure using Kanban and timeboxing, and their high-level process of progressive elaboration, story mapping, and delivery. It ends by discussing challenges of Agile at scale, advice for large companies, and considerations around not losing sight of outcomes and questioning practices.

1. A Manager’s Perspective on Agile in an
Enterprise
Dennis Somerville
Sr. IT Manager
September 12, 2018
Cleveland Agile Group (#CleAg)
tw: @densomerville
li: https://linkedin.com/in/densom

3. • About
• Getting started with agile
• Our process
• Enterprise challenges
OVERVIEW

4. • Let’s keep this interactive
– If you have an experience to share, please do
– Questions, comments, debates…all are
welcome
PRESENTATION FORMAT

5. CULTURE
“Quotem” Pole

6. TECHNOLOGY AND CRAFTSMANSHIP
Plan Code Build Test Release Monitor
Environment
PPM

7. DEVICES
Dispensers
Scales
Spectrophotometers

8. • The “infinite loop”
– Waterfall project / requirements gathering
– Every question answered raised 2 more
questions
• Losing trust
HOW DID WE GET STARTED?

9. • LeanDog engaged for agile coaching
• “Agile Explained”
• Let the team choose the tools (dot voting)
– TDD, ATDD, Pair Programming
HOW DID WE GET STARTED?

10. • Start with physical tools
• Start small
• Visualize your work
• Limit your WIP
• Become predictable
• Empower your business / make
them part of the team
RECOMMENDATIONS – FIRST STEPS
Tools
Process
People

11. • Innovation
• Appreciation
• Shared values
• Keep teams together
CULTURE

12. • Team has grown 3x original size
– At first ,splitting teams, but still behaving as single team
– Eventually gained team independence
• More developers != more capacity
– Example: UX plays a key role in velocity
– Example: POs play a key role in velocity
• Practices that work well in small teams may not necessarily work
well in large teams
– Physical tools
– Meeting norms
• Cross-team communication
GROWTH

13. • 3 Delivery Teams
– QA, Dev, PO (shared), IM (shared), UX (shared)
• Kanban
• “Fantastic 4”
• Timeboxing used for planning
• Pair programming
• ATDD/TDD
• Retrospection
CURRENT STRUCTURE – US TEAM

14. • Business manages work request intake
• Kanban program planning board
– Progressive elaboration
– UX “head start” on discovery/prototyping
– Ensuring dependencies are planned
• Order-of-Magnitude sizing / Feature Breakdown
• Delivery team intake / Story mapping
• Implementation
• Business Readiness
• Delivery
HIGH-LEVEL PROCESS OVERVIEW

15. STREAMS OF WORK
• Projects (Epics & Features)
• Enhancements (Small /
Unplanned)
• “Keep the Lights On” (KLO)
• Innovation
• 1% - Support
70%
10%
10%
10% 1%
Projects Enhancements
Innovation KLO
Support

16. TEAM BOARD - PHYSICAL

17. TEAM BOARD - DIGITAL

18. PLANNING - PHYSICAL

19. PLANNING - DIGITAL

20. PLANNING - DIGITAL

21. • Factors to consider
– Long-range planning
– Budgeting
– Delivering “on time”
– Shared services
– Operating at scale
AGILE IN THE ENTERPRISE

22. • Accountability
– Sustainable pace, but still a sense of urgency
– Set many small goals
– Have a desire to win!
ADVICE FOR THOSE IN A LARGE COMPANY

23. • Focus on desired outcomes (not features)
– Critical to align with the business on this
– Do not lose sight of the outcome along the
way
ADVICE FOR THOSE IN A LARGE COMPANY

24. • Systems
– HP PPM
– BMC Remedy
– OIM/OAM/SSO
– ERP
• Traditional annual budgeting process
• It’s all about co-existence
OTHER ENTERPRISEY STUFF

25. • Question everything!
• Agile for the sake of agile
– Think outside the box
– Be pragmatic
– Get feedback from outside of the team
• Status quo
• Leadership and accountability…if everyone is
accountable, then nobody is accountable
• Communicate upward, put things in writing
DON’T LOSE YOUR WAY