A simple agile transformation roadmap - how to get teams to understand the big picture and plan a roadmap to help them succeed.

1. D e - b r i e f S e s s i o n 1 – D e c 2 0 1 6
Agile Transformation
Monisha Menon
Dec 7, 2016

2. Teamwork divides the
task and multiplies
success – the essence
of agility
Agile first approach
Serve business needs with faster
time to market but with business
value and empathy for the business
Quality embedded in everything –
Test driven design and development
Pursue continuous improvement in
the journey of Agility
O u r b e l i e f s
Our Vision
Commitment
Accountability
Trust
Results
A great team will deliver great
products – promote learning,
innovation, and business values
Values

3. The New Triangle
Focus on value to the customer, sustainability and return on
investment rather than budget, schedule and scope. Embed
economic justification for selecting ventures rather than
extensive processes.
Agile Umbrella
Employs a number of different methods (Scrum, Kanban,
Extreme programming, Scrum Ban, Dev Ops and Continuous
delivery.
People Engagement and New
Leadership models
People are core to Agile, they are self-sustaining and self-
adjusting, empowered and learning from their work
constantly. Explore new models like SCARF (Status, Certainty,
Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness)
Product over processes or project
Product Engineering Vs project management
Build Teams around products, focus on discovery together
Balance between big picture and details
B i r d s - e y e v i e w
Executive Summary
01
02
03
04
Investing Vs Budgeting
Incremental investments and measurement of business
value Vs one time budgeting and actuals
05

4. Differentiate requirements and
product engineering, analyze
needs using “Problem Pyramid”
Product Developers Vs Software Engineers
Culture (Passion + People,
System, Practices (Ceremonies,
roles and artifacts)
Transformation equation
Daily scrums and retrospectives
are opportunities to correct
course and celebrate did-wells.
Continuous improvement
Product Owner owns Product Backlog
Scrum master owns the sprint backlog (subset of product backlog)
Both Coach and mentor the Scrum team and let them decide the “How”
Automate repetitive tasks –Automation is imperative
Release Planning
01
02
03
04
05
A g i l e U m b r e l l a
Language of Agile
Reduce “TECHNICAL DEBT”
(Rework, refactoring)
Evaluate through INVEST
(Independent, negotiable,
valuable, estimable, small,
and testable)
Big Picture (Product holistic view
– Epics and releasable units)
Requirements discovery
Define “Done”
Perform Backlog
Grooming
Understand the human
role of the user

5. A g i l e U m b r e l l a
Agile Ecosystem
PRODUCT OWNER
SCRUM MASTER SCRUM TEAM
C
BA
ABC
Empathy for business and
understanding of technology,
Staggers Product Backlog –
indicates what % is likely to
change, Enforces work in
progress limits, Team Mentor
Trade-offs Vs Expectations
Empathy for business, Size
stories, understand stories, work
together on “how” to build story,
decide releases, learn, test
hypothesis, raise issues early,
reduce technical debt, self-adjust
Adaptive Cruise
Engage in Sprint planning, coach
and mentor the Scrum team &
work with Product owner
Build the right thing
Focus: Product discovery, bridge
between business and the team
Focus: Works with Product owner,
assists in selection of sprint
backlog items, team coach
Focus: Provide skills, versatility,
determine the how of the product
and build the product
Incremental builds every sprint
Right product, Big on business value
Smart trade-offs and empathy

6. I t ’ s a t o u g h c l i m b
Journey of Agile transformation
Base Camp 101
Train, Learn from Organization, Prepare a charter, Select Pilot
Candidates, Determine success criteria, Monitor /Evaluate
Base Camp 202
Team skills assessment, Knowledge Exchange, Learn from
Pilots, Begin Implementation Phase, Measure and adjust
Base Camp 303
Continuous improvement, Agile is in the DNA, keep
learning from measurements, knowledge exchange
Summit05
Scrum of Scrums, Agile communities of practice, Continuous
integration & delivery
Base Camp 404
Automated testing, Continuous improvement, Agile is in
the DNA, keep learning from measurements, knowledge
exchange

7. B u i l d i n g a t e a m
Agile Leadership
4 Unexpected learning
3
Embracing differences
1
Compelling purpose
2
Shared leadership
Creativity is the key
Creativity is the key
8 Great Results
7
Strengthened
relationships
5
Full engagement
6
Just enough structure
“Leadership defines what the future
should look like, aligns people with that
vision, and inspires them to make it
happen despite the obstacles.”
Stable teams that deliver goods
Give guidance when needed
Reach across org charts
Working software every sprint
New models like SCARF, Quality
enablement

8. Product
B u i l d i n g a t e a m
People engagement and leadership model
Scrum
Master
Product
Owner
Business
Sponsor
BA/QA
Developer
Support
Developer
Solution
Architect
Platform
expert
01
People are arranged to bond around products and
services. Embrace thinking around product. Team
focuses on product discovery , business value, impact
and quality of service.
02
Product Owner serves as the bridge between team
and business. Mentors and coaches team to
understand business value of features and priorities.
03
Scrum Master works closely with product owner to
understand what would fit in to the sprint backlog,
mentors the team in sprint planning and coaches
them to do their best.
Sample arrangement of roles centered around
product. A Product owner/ Scrum Master can span 3-
4 teams. Max team size 3-9.
04
Scrum Team – Self contained (has all skills
necessary), Self-adjusting (determine the stories
that can be delivered and the how), train and help
each other, constantly learn from past experience
and raise issues early.
All roles centered around the product and each skill is
available in the team configuration to make it faster,
empowered and self-adjusting.
Ops

9. Stimulating work
environment
Tools
Automation
O r c h e s t r a t i o n o f s u c c e s s
The Ladder to greatness
It is easy to tie SDLC process groups to Agile and hence
easy to adapt to. Agile is classic process tailoring on
the go.
Execute Pilots (Coach,
Measure) = Proof of concept
Create toolkits for product
development pathways
Continuous business
engagement
Skill assessment and Multi-
skilling
Beware of the watermelon
status
Encourage raising issues
Conduct Retro – retrospective is
a live document
Conduct Scrum of Scrums
(knowledge sharing between
teams)
Train. Coach. Learn
Measure throughput and see
how we can get better
Initiation
Planning
Monitor
Closing – Support
Execution
Product to be built?
Sprint length, team size,
number of teams, team
determines initial throughput
Requirements engineering
method (use case, story
points, components,
microservices et al)
Forecasting model for product
backlog
Backlog grooming
Pick one – Test/User/Design
driven development /Code
hackathons / Extreme
programming/ Pair
programming / Innovation
labs
Understand scrum teams
realistic capacity.
Go for the daily scrum and
raise issues early
Understand the impact and
business value of story
selected for release
Manage the queue. Backlog
grooming
Think it. Build it. Ship it.
Tweak it. Each MVP adds
value. Aim for potentially
shippable product.
Build self service modules –
features toggle on and off
Ask the question – how can I
help my team achieve its
goals?
Kanban Pull for operations
Teams go on to support their
products
Teams spin off new teams
Adjust next steps based on
retrospectives
Awesomeness
Business
Value

10. K n o w y o u r m e t h o d s
One Method over the other
There is no one method greater than the other but weigh
the pros and cons and consider hybrids as well.

11. Q u a l i t y E n h a n c e m e n t F r a m e w o r k
Goal – Question - Metric
Measure systems not people, fewer metrics are better
Voice of
Customer
Determine
CTQ
Determine
Metrics
Risk
Management
Improve
Help the customer get
on board
White board
Rank customers
Focus on most
important
Maximize efficiency and
capacity in a cycle
Determine what is
critical to quality
Reduce defects
Decrease Effort
Shorten duration
Risk analysis
Failure modes and
effect analysis
Learn from measures
and track progress
Determine actual
metrics to baseline/track
# of Defects per unit of
functionality
# of developer hours
per unit

12. W h e r e a r e w e t o d a y ?

13. R e w a r d P a t i e n c e
Thank you
Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not
enough; we must do.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe