The document discusses the University of Jyväskylä's (JYU) adoption of agile practices and the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) model to manage its digital transformation program. It describes JYU's challenges with siloed projects and priorities. The Digital Transformation Office (DUO) was established to facilitate agile planning and delivery across teams using SAFe. DUO implements 12-week program increments with planning sessions, prioritized backlogs, and transparency tools. Surveys found the new approach helped teams focus and clarify goals. Lessons learned include treating SAFe flexibly, building maturity gradually, and ensuring management support for change.

1. JYU. Since 1863. 1
Bend the knee and sprint
repeatedly - training a
university to become more
agile
Rikupekka Oksanen
University of Jyväskylä
Plone conference 2019
26.10.2019

2. Contents
1. Digitalization at JYU
2. Challenges
3. Our solution: DUO
4. In practice
5. Lessons learned
26.10.2019JYU. Since 1863. 2
https://www.jyu.fi/en
Rikupekka Oksanen
University of Jyväskylä, Finland, since 2001
Plone-user/site builder/trainer/foundation member
Team lead/agile enthusiast
Co-founder of AgiNotes

3. JYU and Digital Services in a nutshell
15 000 students
15 000 Open
university students
2500 employees
6 faculties
500+ serves in virtual
environment
2 datacenters
Yearly 30+ projects
Currently 60+ epics in
portfolio backlog
High customer
satisfaction (4.15/5)
50 000+ service
requests
11 MEUR budget
(excl. lab equipment)
7 300+
Workstations
(Windows, Mac,
Linux)
90+ IT specialists
in IT development,
maintenance and
service desk
32 000+
users
https://www.jyu.fi/digipalvelut/en

4. JYU Digital programme
Roadmap 2018–2022

5. Developing software at JYU
Internal development,
in-house systems
(Python, Java, JS.
Plone)
Integrations
Outsourced
development, off the
shelf -software
Microservices

6. The challenges (in 08/2018)
Projects Priorities
Outsourced
Project 4
Project
1
Project 2
Project
3Silo A
Silo C
Silo B
Really
important
Project X
Silos
What an earth could help?
”We need this!” ”I need this!”
”This is important!”
Different maturity in teams

7. Agile
8http://agilemanifesto.org/

8. What is agile?
• Continuously delivering value to the users
• Iterative, collaborative teamwork
• Adapting to change
• Agile manifesto, amen
9

9. Agile in a big corporation? What do we need?
• More than team level practices in one
organization unit
• A (clear) framework for the change
• Someone(s) who know what this all is about
• Someone to convince
the top management
• A mandate for change

10. Digital transformation management (DUO)
• DUO facilitates the JYU digital
journey as described in the JYU
Digitalization program
• DUO leads development of user
friendly and efficient digital
services for different JYU
stakeholders (e.g students,
employees, visitors)
• DUO supports and leads
change management to achieve
high user experience
26.10.2019
11

11. 12
DUO is based on SAFe® - Scaled Agile Framework
https://www.scaledagileframework.com/

12. SAFe?
13
https://twitter.com/agile_memes

13. SAFe?
14
https://twitter.com/agile_memes

14. SAFe?
15
https://productcoalition.com
/the-major-problems-with-
safe-1e797f7e48f8
https://twitter.com/agile_memes

15. SAFe positives
• There is Lean and Agile stuff in the heart of it
• Clear instructions on how to do things (like planning sessions)
• A comprehensive set of solutions for every imaginable scenario
• Easy to find consultants if needed
• Public website contains
all needed materials
16
https://dragilefant.com/2018/07/01/scaling-agile-safe-and-sound/

17. SAFe principles at JYU
08/2018

18. 19
DUO is based on SAFe®
https://www.scaledagileframework.com/
Main objectives:
• Increased quality
• Increased transparency
• Increased productivity
• Happier, more motivated
people
Program increment cycleCommunication
Business vision
Customer!

19. JYU Digital programme
Academically managed, participatory and successful
26/10/20
19
20
Identification of development needs and opportunities by business/service owners
in close interaction with the community
JYU Strategy
Concretising strategic themes from the perspective of clients, operation and
feasibility, considering the present state and future strategic intent
Digital Programme Steering Group
Planning
Evaluation Analysis Backlog
The criteria for
implementing the
development
need have been
met.
Implementa
tion
Ideas
DUO development train – a stop at every 3 months
Delivery
Education and
learning
Research
Intelligent digital
environments
Interaction within JYU
community at all levels of the
steering model to ensure
transparency and high user
experience
• Identification of new
development needs
• Service design and
planning
• Immediate feedback and
idea generation during
development
• Adoption and integration of
new services into regular
operations
• Feedback during service
use
• Feedback and
improvement during
service use
Production support, maintenance, interference and change management
Maintenance

20. DUO principles
• Prioritize and maintain development
backlogs organised accordingly
• Use time boxes that have clear content
and a fixed deadline
• Simplify
• Manage risks through preventive
actions
• Favour teamwork
• Improve operations continuously
• Eliminate waste and unproductive work
• Ensure fast feedback
21

21. DUO 12-week Program Increment
24
Digital
Programme
Steering Group
meets
• Program Increment (PI)
planning day(s):
• Thematic entity steering
groups present the targets
• Teams plan targets for the
next increment by iteration
• Dependencies and risks are
presented and considered
in increment planning
• Planning produces targets
for the next increment and
team/iteration-specific plans
Digital Programme Steering
Group:
• Release entity of the
previous increment;
lessons learned
• Issues prioritised further in
increment planning and
priorities of the next
increment
Thematic entity steering
group:
• Feedback received on the
previous increment
• Thematic entity priorities in
planning a future
increment
Dev teams and partners
• Development based on priorities
and plan
• Many releases during the
increment
• Maintenance and support
5+1 iterations
• 5 iterations for
development
• 1 iteration for planning and
innovation

22. Program Increment planning
• About 60 people from different units
• 1,5 days in the same room
• Digital vision and
IT architecture vision
• Product owners present their cases
• Face to face communication
• Plan and visualize work for every team
• Agree on the primary and secondary targets for the next
increment
25https://www.scaledagileframework.com/pi-planning/
PI planning, a routine, face-to-face event,
with a standard agenda that includes a
presentation of business context and
vision followed by team planning
breakouts—where the teams create their
Iteration plans and objectives for the
upcoming PI.

23. Shared vision and
mutual understanding of
priorities

24. Build team boards, together

25. Everyone on board (literally)

26. Program board –
make dependencies and deadlines visible

27. Common goals, major features agreed on,
possible risks identified

28. Planning tips
• Planning before PI planning is
needed
• Holidays are not a risk!
• Plan according to your yearly cycle
(e.g. Start of semester)
• Don’t worry so much about
guesstimating ->
priorities matter the most
• Serve pizza for lunch in PI planning :D
31

29. Tools
• Jira
– Features, epics, listings,
backlogs, etc.
• GitLab
– Issues, repos, version controls
• DUO Dashboard
– Transparency
• MS Teams
– Chat tool
• Flowdock
– Usable chat tool
33

31. DUO dashboard - transparency
35
Made with GatsbyJS
• Home-made,
Jira-integration
• Kanban board for
the increment
• Teams board
• Epics
• Themes
• Timelines
• Public!
https://docs.pages.kopla.jyu.fi/duo-dashboard/board/
What VALUE does
this feature bring

32. Does DUO work - YES
36
"You accomplish so
much more than
before!"
"This helps us to clarify
and prioritize our
goals."
”We want to adapt this
model to other areas of
business too!"

33. Does DUO work - YES
37
The dev teams can better
focus on the things that
have been prioritized.
No more surprise projects
out of the blue
Dev teams new to
agile or other
formal methods
have improved
their way of
working
The 3 month cycles are
easy to understand and
help the whole
organization to move at
the same pace
DUO makes the
amount of needed
work visible
--> helps in managing
”resources”

34. Does DUO work - maybe?
38
There are plans to implement a new
project portfolio management
system at university wide.
Everything is a project.  Maybe
easier to understand than agile and
SAFe?
We still develop as
fast and effectively
as before --> only the
transparency has
increased?
There feels to be
some overhead with
our tools + ”planning
before planning"?
Innovation and planning
iteration --> used often
mostly for planning and
buffer for finishing more
features than innovation?

35. Lessons learned
39
Having boundaries
and timeboxes helps
to focus and think of
other (innovative?)
ways of solving
problems
DUO forces product owners
and other groups to think
about their processes too:
Not just buy a new IT system
-> improve your process
instead
Treat SAFe as a
framework it is
– not a strict
rulebook
Some agile maturity
in some level of
organization is
helpful

36. Lessons learned
40
Professional
coaches/change
agents with a
mandate needed
Management buy-in
and support
is a key!
Repetition and iteration and
improvement with the process
Maximum transparency
in communication,
at all levels,
to every direction

37. SAFe key points at JYU
10/2019

38. Thank you!
Rikupekka Oksanen
rioksane@jyu.fi
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rikupekka/
@rikupekka
University of Jyväskylä, Finland, since 2001, digital services
Plone-user/site builder/trainer/foundation member
Team lead/agile enthusiast
Co-founder of AgiNotes
26.10.2019JYU. Since 1863. 42