The document discusses the implementation of agile principles to enhance project delivery and business value, addressing common issues such as failed project delivery and unclear objectives. It introduces 'business value teams' to improve decision-making and communication, ensuring that agile methodologies deliver tangible business results. The document also outlines the agile project lifecycle, emphasizing the importance of structured initiation, development iterations, and program closure.

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Using Agile Principles to
Deliver Real Business Value at Scale

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Topics
• Introduction
• The Problem
• Our Solution
• Business Value Teams
• Agile Lifecycle
– Program Initiation
– Development Iterations
– Program Close Down
• Questions
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Joe Hilger
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Recent Project Experience
• GSA – Led a team developing an Enterprise Document
Management strategy business case to support the
strategy.
• HHS – Worked with a group of content management
SMEs to create a recommendation and roadmap for a
new Web Content platform for HHS.
• Wolters Kluwer Law and Business - Led a team in the
development of a new product integrating SEC filings
with SEC rules and regulations.
• Library of Congress – Led a team commissioned by LoC to
improve the way the capture and present Legislative
content.
Recent Presentations/Publications
• Big Data Meet-up – An Introduction to Big Data –
Washington, DC September, 2013
• Webinar – Cultivate your Taxonomies and Content
Management – June 2011
• Enterprise Search Summit – Search for Customer
Satisfaction at Standard & Poors – February, 2010
• KM Institute – Enterprise Search: Turning Find into
Act – September, 2008
• Shared Insights – Portals, Collaboration, and
Content Management Conference – Creative Uses
of Enterprise Search – Orlando, FL – April, 2006
• 23 years consulting experience with a focus on knowledge
management tools since 2002.
• Agile consultant and Certified Scrum Master.
• Consulted to over 50 clients in both public and private industry.
• Developed search workshop and led over 30 workshops for clients
in a wide range of industries.
• Co-authored EDS’s portal development methodology.

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Mark Shima
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Recent Project Experience
• Fannie Mae – developed business case and road mapped
transition to grid computing for statistical analytics
• Fannie Mae – organized team structure for systems
development architects to coordinate across divisions
• DHS/ICE – modeled agency wide desktop virtualization
approach, plans, and business case
• CSC – coordinated development team and processes for
enterprise program monitoring system
• Shell Oil Company – automated forecasting system and
processes for all US oil and gas production engineers
Recent Presentations/Publications
• CIO Accelerators Blog Series – outlining methods
to use scrums in extraordinary use cases, 2014
• Business Case for Fannie Mae Business Analytics
Platform Modernization – co-authored, 2013
• 37 years of consulting, systems development, project management
and architecture experience
• Certified Project Manager, ITIL practitioner, and process engineer
• Experienced in government and a broad range of industries
• Designed training programs and trained thousands of corporate
students in programming, database design, and applications
• Developed business cases and managed programs to implement
systems improvements leading to many millions of dollars savings

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The Problem
• Failed Project Delivery
• Communication Gaps
• Unclear / Transient Objectives
• Inability to Prioritize
• Methodology Wars
• Lack of business engagement
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Our Solution: Agile Development with a Twist
• Agile succeeds three times more often than Waterfall.
• 49% of businesses say most of their company is using
Agile development.
• 52% of customers are happy or very happy with Agile
projects.
• The use of Agile project management tools has
jumped by 8%.
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Agile development works. Development teams feel
empowered, stakeholders are getting what they
want, and business value is being delivered sooner.

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The Good
• Projects deliver value
sooner
• Development teams feel
empowered
• Risks and issues are
identified sooner in the
project
• Project success rate is much
higher (but not good
enough!)
The Bad
• Agile continues to be
misunderstood
• Agile can be difficult to
scale
• Projects frequently lack
direction
• Product Owners feel
overwhelmed
• Many projects fail to end
gracefully
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Agile helps, but problems remain

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The Twist: Business Value Teams
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“A Business Value Team is a group of representatives
(stakeholders) who help the Product Owner make
decisions about the value of features and
functionality for each product.”

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Proscription Prescription Path Forward
• Business Value Teams solve problems with past Agile
development programs
• Business Value Teams help manage product
ownership and deliver real business value
– Keep “as few rules as possible” per the best Agile practices
– Improves communication with the program management
office
– Allows Agile projects to scale for larger initiatives.
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The Agile Project Lifecycle
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Development
Iterations
Program
Initiation
Program
Close
Down

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Program Initiation
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Development
Iterations
Program
Initiation
Program
Close
Down

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Initiation Activities
• Develop the mission and vision statements
• Confirm the business case
• Finalize and confirm budget
• Select and form the development team
• Create the initial roadmap
• Develop and prioritize initial product backlog

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Enhanced (Twisted) Agile Program Initiation
The Business Value Team helps the Product Owner identify
and prioritize business objectives and risks in enough detail to
provide program structure
• Product Owner assigns Business
Value Team
• Business Value Team
– Identifies business values of required
objectives
– Assigns value metrics
– Product Owner synchronization
• Roadmap Development
– Graphical representation of intrinsic
milestones
– Business Value Team creates and
maintains updated roadmap
– Risks are listed and ranked
• Agile Development Teams
– Assigned by Product Owner based on
Business Value and Risks

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Development Iterations
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Development
Iterations
Program
Initiation
Program
Close
Down

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Twisted Agile Development Iteration
Roadmap1
Backlog1a
Business
Value
Team
Product
Owner
Development
Teama
Business
Value
Team
Sprint
Backlog1b
. . .
Backlog1n
Roadmap2
Backlog2a
Backlog2b
. . .
Backlog2n
Development
Teamb
Development
Teamn
Iterate . . .
The business value team helps the Product Owner steer
development teams throughout the program lifecycle
• Roadmaps graphically track
progress
• Roadmaps serve as a master
communication tool for the
Product Owner and Teams
– Additional artifacts are used as
needed
– For example, architecture
blueprints
• Roadmap and Backlog
assignments are updated after
sprints as more details
develop in program execution

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Development Iteration Drill Down
• Staggered meetings ensure rapid decision making and
effective communication.
• Roadmap and architecture artifacts carry forward with
ongoing business value team involvement and Product
Owner oversight
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Program Close Down
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Development
Iterations
Program
Initiation
Program
Close
Down

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Program Close Down
• Program Closure
– Business Value Team defines minimal acceptable
capabilities
– Business Value Team confirms project closure
– Business Value Team can allow for early buy outs
• Ongoing cycle of enhancements
– Business Value Team identifies value of additional features
that warrant ongoing enhancements
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Twisted Agile Program Close Down
The Business Value Team helps the Product Owner assess
program attainments and choose close down when beneficial
• Product Owner reviews
progress vs. Mission / Goals
• Business Value Team
– Works with Product Owner to
confirm total business value of
attained objectives
– Updates Missions and Goals
– Provides recommendation
• Product Owner Decides
– Early Buy Out if 80+% Done
– Initiates Closure
– OR continues development
iteration

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Agile Tips and Tricks
• Transparency
• High Value / High Risk early
• Maximum Diversity
• Ameliorate the Anchors
• Keep the team together
• Agile teams doing more than code development
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The Twisted Agile Path . . . Continues
• Non-Traditional Uses of Agile Methods
– Business Value Teams
– Requirements Definition Teams
– Engineering Teams
– Research and Development Teams
• TRIZ Method Teams
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QUESTIONS?
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Our Contact Information
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Joseph Hilger
Principal Consultant
Enterprise Knowledge, LLC
Phone: 571.436.0271
Email: jhilger@enterprise-knowledge.com
Mark Shima
Managing Director
CIO Accelerators
Phone: 703.980.9065
Email: mark3shima@gmail.com