The ideal Agile world describes dedicated Teams that implement a negotiable scope in fixed iterations to meet a moving target. The real world is usually more complex, and often requires interaction with projects and processes that have very different and “non-Agile” characteristics. This webinar describes the conduct of Agile governance for hybrid projects that contain very different types of processes. We will review the very real drivers that lead to these hybrid environments, and look at practical techniques for making hybrid projects successful.

1. SM
RAGE
Agile Governance for
Hybrid Programs
Kevin Thompson, PhD, PMP, ACP, CSP, CSM
The leader in training and consulting for project management and agile development

2. Who cPrime?
Who isis cPrime?
ENGAGED FOR YOUR SUCCESS
Copyright 2013, cPrime Inc.
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3. Who Are You?
1) Have you read the RAGESM paper, Recipes for Agile
Governance in the Enterprise: The Enterprise Web?
2) What fraction of your business initiatives involve hybrid
programs?
3) Which of these best characterizes the products you develop?
4) Are you a member of PMI or the Scrum Alliance?
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4. Start Communicating!
• View our previous RAGESM webinars:
• ―Principles for Agile Governance in the Enterprise‖
• ―Introduction to Agile Portfolio Governance‖
• Download the white paper “Recipes for Agile
Governance in the Enterprise (RAGE): The Enterprise
Web.”
• Email: agileexpert@cprime.com
• Social media: #RAGEwebinar
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5. After the webinar…
• We will send directions to collect the PDU you will
earn from attending this webinar
• We will also send links to the recorded webinar and
all RAGESM resources
• Please hold your questions until the end of the
presentation
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6. About Our Presenter
Kevin Thompson
Kevin Thompson, Ph.D., has a doctorate in Physics from
Princeton University, and extensive background in
managing software development projects. He specializes
in training individuals, teams, and organizations in agile
development. Dr. Thompson helps companies make the
challenging transition to agile development by working
with development teams and business stakeholders to
identify their needs, define the right process for the
business, determine the steps needed to implement the
process, and work through the steps successfully. Dr.
Thompson has Project Management Professional (PMP),
Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP), Scrum Master (CSM),
and Scrum Practitioner (CSP) certifications.
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7. What will You Learn Today?
• Fundamentals of planning & executing hybrid
programs
• How to create a Release Plan
• How to manage dependencies and changes
• How to evaluate progress towards objectives
• This approach incorporates Principles of Agile
Governance
• Download ―Recipes for Agile Governance: The Enterprise Web‖
from www.cprime.com for much more detail
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8. Review: Agile Governance
Governance: The formalization and exercise of
repeatable decision-making practices
• Governance = how to decide what to do
• Agile Governance is an Agile style of governance
• Enables rapid decisions, based on lightweight artifacts
developed with minimum effort
• Applicable to any process (Agile, Plan-Driven, Hybrid, etc.)
Governance Recipe: A mildly prescriptive and
customizable technique for making a specific type
of decision
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9. Review:
How the Principles Work Together
Recipes have Standard Elements, including
Common Role Types and Categories of
Governance Points. We organize deliverables at
each level into a small number of coarseGranularity items, which we rank by value, and for
which our estimates for effort, value, etc. should be
Good Enough for the current need, and no better.
Work is always completed to a Definition of Done,
and the Handoff from source to receiver is
accomplished through sustained interaction over
time.
Download Recipes for Agile Governance: The Enterprise Web
from www.cprime.com for much more detail
Copyright 2013, cPrime Inc.
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10. Review: Levels of Governance
• Classic perspective
• Project: Temporary endeavor to deliver a fixed scope
• Program: Collection of linked projects
• Portfolio: Group of Programs/Projects to be managed together
• Classic definitions don’t map well to Agile world, but…
• Hierarchical organization is still relevant.
• Our levels for Agile Governance
• Project Level: Refers to work of a single Team, which is a persistent
grouping of people
• Program Level: Refers to the collaboration between Teams
• Portfolio Level: Refers to the development and management of
business Initiatives that lead to program- and project-level work
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11. Levels of Governance
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12. The Teams in the Program
• Two Software Teams
• They write software, to be deployed in Production
environment
• They mostly interact with each other
• They depend on IT for key milestones in next Release
• IT Department
• Manages procurement, configuration of hardware and
software products
• Supplies hardware, software, services to software
development Teams
• Builds, maintains, deploys applications to Production
environment
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13. The Processes
• Software Teams follow Scrum process
• Work must be planned against a calendar
• Work can be divided into short cycles
• Teams can start and finish deliverables in each cycle
• IT follows a plan-driven process
• Work must be planned against a calendar
• Unique, one-off projects are common and have varying lengths
• Work cannot be divided into short cycles in which deliverables
are started and finished
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14. The Objective
• Deliver first release of Web application for an onlinedating service
• First release has minimum-marketable feature set
• Time to market more important than feature richness
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15. Program Governance Summary
•
Requirements Development
•
•
Release Planning
•
•
The Program Manager facilitates the Release Planning meeting for the Scrum Teams
and IT personnel, who develop an initial Release plan for the Stories and IT
milestones.
Execution during the Release Cycle
•
•
The Area Product Owner defines the Release goals. Team Product Owners and Team
Members write Stories to define the specific deliverables, review them in Backlog
Grooming meetings, and revise after. An IT Project Manager meets with the Teams
over time to understand the deliverables IT needs to deliver for the Release.
The Program Manager facilitates twice-weekly Scrum-of-Scrums meetings, where
ScrumMasters and the IT Project Manager identify and respond to cross-Team issues
as they arise.
Validation for Release to Production
•
The Area Product Owner facilitates the Release Review meeting at the end of the
Release cycle, to work with the Team Product Owners, Program Manager, and IT
Project Manager to confirm that the Release candidate satisfies the Release Definition
of Done.
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16. Backlog Grooming Meeting
• Purpose: Ensure Product Backlog is ready for planning
•
Team Product Owner facilitates
• When: 1—2 hours per week
• Who: Team, Team Product Owner
• Actions in meeting
• Provide feedback on clarity, quality, acceptance criteria,
dependencies, ranking of Stories
• Identify ―holes‖ (esp. technical) for which Stories must be written
• Break Epics into Stories
• Do long-term technical (architecture / infrastructure) planning
• Follow-up actions
• Team, Product owner write or revise Stories, as needed
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17. Release Planning Meeting
• Purpose: Develop Initial Release Plan
• Program Manager facilitates
• When: 1—4 weeks before start of Release cycle
• Who: Program Manager, Area Product Owner, Team Product
Owners, ScrumMasters, Team Members, IT Project Manager,…
Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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7.
Teams lay out Stories, Epics (―Items‖) in preferred sequence
Teams quickly provide adequate estimates for Items not yet
estimated (e.g., Planning Poker, Affinity Estimation)
Teams map Items to Sprints
– Stories do not cross Sprint boundaries, but Epics may
Teams collaborate to identify, sequence dependencies
Teams collaborate to identify missing Items, create, and
incorporate them into the plan
IT Project Manager collaborates on timing of IT milestones
All agree on ―Definition of Done‖ (exit criteria) for Release
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18. Example: Release Definition of Done
• No P0 or P1 defects
• No more than 15 P2 defects
• Value of Release candidate justifies a Production
deployment
• Prerequisites for handoff to IT are confirmed by IT
and Engineering to have been satisfied
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19. Stories and Milestones
Blue Team Stories
Size
User Creates Account
5
User Personal Info
5
User Logs In
5
User Search Profiles
5
CC Gateway
8
User Message to Profile
8
User Gives CC Info
3
User Reads Message
3
CC Data Secure Storage
8
User Replies to Message
8
User Logs Out
3
User Emailed re: Msg
3
Total
Green Team Stories
32
Milestones for IT Department
Size
Total
39
Day of Release
Cycle
Reconfigure Firewall to enable access to
CC Gateway for development
0
Deliver DB Server
8
Deliver Mail Server
12
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20. Initial Release Plan
Blue Team: CC Gateway is new and high-risk, so put at front of Sprint 1 to allow time to deal
with issues. Enable account creation and access next, to make work easier for Green Team.
Sprint 1
CC
Gateway
User
Personal
Info
Reconfigure
Firewall
Sprint 2
User
Creates
Account
User
Logs In
User
Search
Profiles
User
Message
to Profile
Deliver
DB
Server
Deliver
Mail
Server
Sprint 3
User
Logs
Out
User
Emailed
re: Msg
CC Data
Secure
Storage
User
Gives
CC Info
User
Reads
Message
User
Replies to
Message
Green Team: Ranking by workflow is
natural, and gives IT time to deliver the
Mail Server before it is needed. Will
mock user-account objects at start.
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21. Scrum-of-Scrums Meeting
• Purpose: Identify and address cross-Team issues
• Program Manager facilitates
• When: Twice weekly (more or less often, as needed)
• Who: Program Manager, ScrumMasters, IT Project Manager
Agenda
• Each person describes
 What my Team is doing that may affect other Teams
 What issues my Team needs help to resolve
• Resolve issues in meeting, if possible
• Identify follow-up actions and owners
• Follow-up actions
• Resolve problems, revise schedule as needed
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22. Revision at Start of Sprint 1
Blue Team: IT can’t reconfigure corporate firewall to enable development access to credit-card
gateway before Sprint 1. Defer ‘CC Gateway’ to Sprint 2.
Sprint 1
User
Creates
Account
Sprint 2
User
Logs In
User
Personal
Info
CC
Gateway
User
Search
Profiles
User
Message
to Profile
Reconfigure
Firewall
Deliver
DB
Server
Deliver
Mail
Server
CC Data
Secure
Storage
User
Emailed
re: Msg
Sprint 3
User
Logs
Out
User
Reads
Message
User
Gives
CC Info
User
Replies to
Message
Green Team: No change
needed. Actually more
convenient to have Login
earlier than for original plan.
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23. Burn-Up Chart: End of Sprint 1
Sprint 1
Sprint 2
Sprint 3
No
guarantee,
but progress
is consistent
with
completion
of planned
Release
scope
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24. Revision at Start of Sprint 2
Blue Team: Firewall fixed, but IT will be late delivering DB server for CC data storage. Defer
‘CC Data Secure Storage’ to Sprint 3.
Sprint 1
Sprint 2
Sprint 3
User
Logs In
User
Creates
Account
User
Personal
Info
CC
Gateway
User
Gives
CC Info
CC Data
Secure
Storage
User
Logs
Out
User
Search
Profiles
User
Message
to Profile
User
Reads
Message
User
Replies to
Message
User
Emailed
re: Msg
Reconfigure
Firewall
Deliver
DB
Server
Deliver
Mail
Server
Green Team: IT delivery of
email server will be late. Defer
‘User Emailed re: Msg’ to
Sprint 3.
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25. Burn-Up Chart: End of Sprint 2
Sprint 1
Sprint 2
Sprint 3
The trend
looks good.
Completion
of planned
Release
scope is
likely.
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26. Final at Start of Sprint 3
Blue Team: No change needed.
Sprint 1
Sprint 2
Sprint 3
User
Logs In
User
Creates
Account
User
Personal
Info
CC
Gateway
User
Gives
CC Info
CC Data
Secure
Storage
User
Logs
Out
User
Search
Profiles
User
Message
to Profile
User
Reads
Message
User
Replies to
Message
User
Emailed
re: Msg
Reconfigure
Firewall
Deliver
DB
Server
Deliver
Mail
Server
Green Team: No change
needed.
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27. Burn-Up Chart: End of Release Cycle
Sprint 1
Sprint 2
Sprint 3
The planned
Release
scope was
completed
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28. Release Review Meeting
• Purpose: Ensure product is ready for release to Production
•
Area Product Owner facilitates
• When: End of Release cycle
• Who: Area and Team Product Owners, Program Manager, IT
Project Manager
• Actions in meeting
• Review Release Definition of Done to confirm release readiness
 Review business objectives to confirm value justifies release
 Quality is sufficient
 Technical pre-requisites for deployment have been satisfied
• Area Product Owner makes Go/No-go decision
• Follow-up actions
• Program Manager communicates decision, initiates handoff, to IT
department, as appropriate
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29. Summary of Cross-Team Roles
Area Product Owner
• Defines Release Goals
• Minimum Feature Set
• Works with Team Product Owners to
clarify requirements
Program Manager
• Ensures cross-Team planning,
collaboration are done well
• Runs Release Planning,
Scrum-of-Scrums meetings
Project Manager (IT)
• Brings Scrum Teams’ requirements to IT Department
• Creates and updates IT work schedule
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30. Summary of Scrum Team Roles
ScrumMaster
• Does whatever is needed to make
Team as productive as possible
• Acts as Servant Leader
• Owns process (enforces, tracks,
expedites problem resolution)
• Runs Daily Scrum, Sprint Planning,
Retrospective Meetings
• Often a Project Manager
Team
• Self-organizes crossfunctional members to
implement, test features
• Software & test engineers,
database architects, UI
developers, etc.
• Owns estimates, tasks,
assignments
Team Product Owner
•
•
•
•
•
Is Team’s sole source of truth for requirements and priorities
Owns requirements (new features, bug fixes) and ranking
Works with Area Product Owner to define & rank user-facing features
Collaborates with Team to ensure proper implementation
Often a Product Manager, Business Analyst
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31. Summary of Recipes
Recipe
Participants
Decisions & Actions
Backlog
Grooming
Meeting
Team Product Owner,
Team
Identify changes required for the
Product Backlog (revise, add, delete
Stories)
Release
Planning
Meeting
Area & Team Product
Owners, Program
Manager, IT Project
Manager,
ScrumMasters, Teams
Program Manager facilitates. Teams
and IT Project Manager devise
Release Plan that satisfies Release
goals and dependencies.
Scrum-ofScrums
Meeting
Program Manager,
ScrumMasters, IT
Project Manager
Each describes possible impact of
Team’s work, impacts discovered
that require assistance. All identify
how to address impacts.
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32. Summary of Recipes
Recipe
Participants
Decisions & Actions
Release
Readiness
Review
Meeting
Area & Team Product
owners, Program
Manager, IT Project
Manager
Area Product Owner facilitates
review to confirm product satisfies
Release Definition of Done, make
Go/No-go decision for deployment.
Release
Definition of
Done
Area Product Owner,
Program Manager, IT
Project Manager
Defines requirements that must be
satisfied before product can be
released for production deployment.
Guides development, and is used in
Release Readiness Review meeting.
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33. Which Agile Governance
Principles are Used?
Most of them!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Standardization of Recipe Elements
Common Role Types
Categories of Governance Points
“Good Enough” is Good Enough
Granularity
Definition of Done
Handoffs
Copyright 2013, cPrime Inc.
Download ―Recipes for Agile Governance: The Enterprise Web‖
from www.cprime.com for much more detail
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34. Conclusion
• Program-level governance for hybrid processes means
• Developing, planning requirements across all Teams and processes
• Adapting to issues that arise during development
• Our hybrid Program governance is conducted with
• Roles: Area & Team Product Owners, Program Manager,
ScrumMasters, Teams, IT Project Manager
• Ceremonies: Backlog Grooming, Release Planning, Scrum-ofScrums, Release Readiness Review Meetings
• Artifacts: Stories, Release Definition of Done
• Tracking and Metrics: Burn-Up Chart
• Key insights
• Breaking scope into small deliverables (Stories) is key to our ability
to adapt to unexpected changes
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35. Question & Answer
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