Modern agile is rubbish
We are all doomed
Save yourself (with devops)
The presentation argues that modern agile practices are ineffective, organizations applying them are doomed to fail, and the only way to save oneself is by adopting devops.
33. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
The Alignment Trap
● Published in 2007
● Investigating corporate
IT performance
● Based on surveys of more
than 500 senior business
and technology
executives world-wide
34. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
In the path to IT-enabled
growth, the first move is
critical….
35. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
Maintenance Zone
● Majority of responses in
this category
● Spending focuses on
“keeping the lights on”
activities
36. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
Well-oiled IT
● IT not aligned with
business goals
● Cheaper and more
effective than average
37. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
IT-enabled Growth
● The pinnacle
● IT -> Business
Performance
38. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
The Alignment Trap
● Business alignment traps
the IT from investing in
improvement
● companies ... almost
always find it better to
move downward and
rightward into “well
oiled” terri-
39. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
The Alignment Trap
● Business alignment traps
the IT from investing in
improvement
● companies ... almost
always find it better to
move downward and
rightward into “well
oiled” terri-
41. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
“Aligning a poorly performing IT organization
to the right business objectives still won’t get
the objectives accomplished”
Richard F. Connell, CIO of Selective Insurance Group
42. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
“Aligning a poorly performing IT organization
to the right business objectives still won’t get
the objectives accomplished”
Richard F. Connell, CIO of Selective Insurance Group
43. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
Modern agile is rubbish
We are all doomed
44. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
Modern agile is rubbish
We are all doomed
Save yourself
45. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
Modern agile is rubbish
We are all doomed
Save yourself (with devops)
46. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
● Annual survey of thousands of IT
professionals
● Questions designed to test various
hypotheses about DevOps
● Statistical analysis published in free
report, and follow-on peer-reviewed
journals
● Authors: Puppet & DORA
Data Gathering
48. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
Establishing Cause and Effect
with Performance Drivers
https://puppet.com/resources/whitepaper/state-of-devops-report
Transformational
Leadership
Lean Product
Management
Test and deployment automation
Continuous Integration
Trunk-based development
Shifting left on security
Loosely-coupled architecture
Empowered teams
Continuous Delivery
Deployment
Pain
IT
performance
Organizational
performance
Non-commercial
performance
Personal Recognition
Supportive Leadership
Intellectual stimulation
Inspirational communication
Vision
Team experimentation
Working in small batches
Gathering and implementing
customer feedback
49. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
Establishing Cause and Effect
with Performance Drivers
https://puppet.com/resources/whitepaper/state-of-devops-report
Financial
Outcomes
Practices and Tools
Transformational
Leadership
Lean
Continuous Delivery
61. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
In the title, I refer to people
as “components”. That is
how people are treated ...
The mistake in this
approach is that “people”
are highly variable and
non-linear, with unique
success and failure modes.
63. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
Problem 1. The people on
the projects were not
interested in learning our
system.
64. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
Problem 2. They were
successfully able to ignore
us, and were still delivering
software, anyway.
65. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
● Almost any methodology can be
made to work on some project.
● Any methodology can manage to
fail on some project.
● Heavy processes can be successful.
● Light processes are more often
successful...
66. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
...in front of us all the time,
which we are not seeing:
people. People’s
characteristics are a
first-order success driver,
not a second-order one
67. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
Defence Innovation Board: Competence trumps process
https://media.defense.gov/2018/Oct/09/2002049591/-1/-1/0/DIB_DETECTING_AGILE_BS_2018.10.05.PDF
68. Avoiding the Agile Alignment Trap @meekrosoft
https://media.defense.gov/2018/Oct/09/2002049591/-1/-1/0/DIB_DETECTING_AGILE_BS_2018.10.05.PDF