Agile is so much more than rituals and buzzwords, but often the real value is lost as organizations focus more on adhering to processes than the reasons behind them. Teams all too easily fall into the trap of following a prescribed method and deviate little from that original template. A continuous improvement approach implies a team is regularly questioning, tweaking, and iterating on its own version of Agile. Today's set of practices and processes should not be identical to those from a year ago.

4. Quick Retro
What is your favorite part of the conference thus far?
What is your least favorite part of the conference thus far?
What do you hope to gain from this session?
Introduction
AAB 2015 Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade Wachs

6. Blake Nyquist
Agile Coach
Recovering developer
Amateur bowler
Classical music snob
@blanyq
Introduction
AAB 2015 Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade Wachs

7. Wade Wachs
Agile Coach
Testing aficionado
Critical thinker
Avid juggler
@WadeWachs
Introduction
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

8. Started in 1997
We are the Internet
Heroic Support
~40 R&D team members
We’re hiring!
Liquid Web
Introduction
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

9. Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade Wachs

10. 1970 - Waterfall
Dr. Winston Royce, Lockheed
“Managing the Development of Large
Software Systems”
Mistakenly lifted as Waterfall Model
History
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

11. 1970 - Waterfall
History
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

12. New Practices Emerge
1993 - Scrum
1994 - Rational Unified Process
1996 - Extreme Programming
1998 - Crystal Methodology
History
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

13. 2001 - Agile Manifesto
17 Signatories
4 Value comparisons
12 Principles
agilemanifesto.org
History
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

14. Modern Day
88% using some Agile
PMI-ACP, CSM, PSM, SAFe
Lean / Kanban
Conferences, training, consulting
History
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

15. Constant Evolution
Still not a silver bullet
Keep iterating on process
Sleep aid: we wrote a paper on this!
“Origins of Teams” - Agile 2014
Are you going through the motions?
History
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

16. Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade Wachs

17. Adapting to Change
Principal of the Manifesto
Evolution is important
Risk stagnation without
Experiment!
Continuous Improvement
At regular intervals, the team
reflects on how to become
more effective, then tunes and
adjusts its behavior accordingly.
http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

18. Retrospectives
Most important Agile practice
NOT post-mortem!
3 questions:
- What went well?
- What could we improve?
- What are our actions?
Continuous Improvement
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

19. Retrospective Pitfalls
Contemplate and Discuss
What’s your team’s greatest
retrospective pitfall? Why?
Continuous Improvement
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

21. Retrospective Pitfalls
blaming
defensiveness
no follow through
wrong people
not happening
Continuous Improvement
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015
not engaged / fake participation
anonymity / ineffective
repetitive issues
secrecy, filters, lack of honesty
no facilitation

22. Retrospective Pitfalls
No actions
Actions not what team wants
Not done frequently
Blame / witch hunting
Continuous Improvement
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade Wachs
Management dominated
Suppress feelings
Treated as routine
Focus on change outside team
AAB 2015

23. Retrospective Actions
Contemplate and Discuss
What action can YOU take to improve
your next retrospective?
Continuous Improvement
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

25. Retrospective Actions
pre-record thoughts, include quieter team members
focus on actions, actions have owners, represent as a work item
reflect on yourself, share with the team
rewards for owning actions
hire consultant, bring in effective facilitator
use lean coffee
Continuous Improvement
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

26. Retrospective Actions
living retrospective board
take things offsite, change scenery, eat food
focus on improvement
aging of actions, reminder to take action, review action items
model the desired behavior, be the shining example
make the actions visible
Continuous Improvement
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

27. Retrospective Tips
Create safe environment
Help introverts participate
Vary formats
Track and check prior results
Continuous Improvement
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade Wachs
Guide with questions
Bring food
Allow team vote for actions
Make it fun!
AAB 2015

28. Team Improvement
Actual goal of improving retrospectives
The past doesn’t matter… it’s how you move forward
Continuous Improvement
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

29. Team Improvement
Contemplate and Discuss
What is your greatest team pain?
What can you bring to your next retrospective
to improve that situation?
Continuous Improvement
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

31. Team Improvements
overly aggressive PdOs - not invite to retro
change mindsets, estimates - invite to reduce blame, self reflect
plansforrestropectives.com / innovationgames.com
lack of trust and safety - anonymity, fishbowl, healthy questions
Continuous Improvement
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

32. Team Improvements
Increase team ownership
Team building
Remote office engagement
Share appreciations
Continuous Improvement
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade Wachs
Stronger trust
Cross-functional growth
Early delivery
Stakeholder relationships
AAB 2015

33. Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade Wachs

34. Other Activities
Themed iterations
Promiscuous pairing
Team/Squad Health Check
Brown bags
Pre-mortems
Continuous Improvement
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015
Utilize experiments
Open prioritization
Book clubs
Visit/network with others

35. Write Your Own Book
Creating a culture, not a process
Avoid complacency
Even good teams can become better
The right way is the way that works
best for the team
Go beyond!
Continuous Improvement
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade WachsAAB 2015

37. Thank you!
Blake Nyquist
blaken@gmail.com
@blanyq
The End
Agile NOT by the Book - Blake Nyquist & Wade Wachs
Wade Wachs
wadewachs@gmail.com
@WadeWachs
AAB 2015