Jerry Walker presented at the Scrum Day TC 2015 on responding to change over following a plan. He discussed how this fourth Agile value makes people uncomfortable but is important for adapting to today's complex environment. Walker explained that plans should focus on near-term details and overall vision, allowing flexibility. True adaptability requires both empowered teams and central communication forums. Following Agile principles like frequent collaboration and reflection helps teams respond effectively to changing needs.

1. Scrum Day TC 2015
WITHOUT A PLAN, I HAVE NOTHING FROM WHICH TO DEVIATE
SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

2. Introduction
Jerry Walker, Mgr. Enterprise Agile Office
◦ Thrivent 8 years
◦ Hartford Life 9 years
Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash, Mary and Tom
Poppendieck, 2006
◦ ReliaStar – ING – Voya 8 years
◦ 2013 pivot to Scrum at Thrivent
One division all-in early 2013, Agile Adoption business case late 2013
Now approaching 30 teams across Thrivent Financial
◦ Guide team startup. Provide training and coaching. Consult with leaders to assess best fit.
Facilitate COPs. Track measures. Communications planning. Vendor support. Problem
solving. Scrum capability development.
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3. Agenda
During our time today I want to explore the following ideas with you:
◦ Why does the 4th value of the Agile Manifesto make many of us
uncomfortable?
◦ Why is this value important?
◦ What can I use back at the office?
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4. Revisit the manifesto1
We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more
The 4th value, “Responding to Change over following a plan”, really changes things!
1Agile Manifesto http://www.agilemanifesto.org/
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5. Why does this feel uncomfortable?
•We all learned that a good plan is the next thing to godliness
•“Would a man build a tower and not count the cost?” Luke 14:28
•It’s familiar to us…we plan our lives, the weekend, our home projects
•Good plans demonstrate responsibility and maturity
•Our SDLC tells us we need a plan that maps dependencies, is resource balanced,
and baselined. It’s the “right way” to do things.
•Carnegie Mellon – SEI, CMMI
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6. Questions I get from leaders
•How can you start working on a project without a plan?
•Where are your requirement documents, how can you have a plan without requirements?
•You can’t just let the business change their mind anytime they want!
•Would you build a house without a plan? Then why are you building software without a plan?
•You can’t always give business users what they want. If they asked for a second floor bathroom as
their top priority is that what you would do?
•How can you give me a budget if you don’t have a plan? I can’t approve your funding without a plan.
•I won’t allocate my resources to you if can’t show me a plan and the tasks for my team.
•Just follow the SDLC and you’ll stay out of trouble.
•I’m taking my people back until you can show me the requirement documents, design docs, and a
detailed plan. I hold you personally accountable for the success or failure of this project.
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7. What is a “plan?”
Work breakdown
Service agreement
Roadmap
Gantt chart
MS Project plan
Excel spreadsheet
Visio diagram
Sprint map
Story map
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8. SEI and DoD
This technical note is part of the Software Engineering Institute’s series on Agile in the Department
of Defense (DoD).
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9. Traditional vs Agile2
Traditional Principles Agile Instantiation
• Plan the work—especially the
budget, schedule, and
deliverables—to the maximum
extent possible before beginning any
design or code.
• Near-term plans contain more detail, while plans further out
on the time horizon contain fewer details.
• The overall vision is broken down into a roadmap, which is
further broken down into release plans, which are further
broken down into sprint or iteration plans, which are further
broken down into daily plans.
• Requirements are prioritized.
• Cost and schedule estimates are prepared for each capability
at a high level. Relative estimation versus absolute estimation
is employed.
• Frequent planning sessions (at the beginning of each
iteration) result in detailed, high-fidelity plans.
• Risks are assessed and risk mitigation influences planning.
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2CMU/SEI-2013-TN-021 Software Solutions Division, pg. 31

10. Insight 1
“Responding to Change over following a plan”
Most of us focus on the word plan when we read the 4th value.
I think the authors intended the attention to be on the word
following rather than the word plan.
The point is that we should expect change so lets not stubbornly
follow a plan that’s invalid.
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11. Responding to change
Agile Manifesto – Principle #2*
Welcome changing requirements, even late in
development. Agile processes harness change for
the customer's competitive advantage.
We understand a fixed plan is not desirable….but can we really allow
this much flexibility?
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*See the appendix for a full list of the Agile Principles

12. Why adaptability over a plan?
Because too many projects are delivering functions that don’t meet
the need of the business.
Perhaps the authors of the manifesto were frustrated by looking
good on the project scorecard, but failing from the customer’s point
of view.
Over half of large IT projects are failing to deliver predicted business
value. 45% are over budget and 7% over schedule. McKinsey & Co.
with Univ. of Oxford2 2012
2 http://www.mckinsey.com Delivering Large Scale IT projects on time, on budget, and on value.
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13. Why do leaders keep changing their
minds?
Because the product cycle times are faster every year
By the time our customers get what we developed, they no longer
need it
The big problem they wanted to solve 3 months ago is no longer the
biggest problem
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14. Why can’t we move faster?
News flash… we don’t live on an island.
We are interconnected. Our customers expect that we know them
and they expect our systems “talk” to each other.
Customer expectations are very high.
We live in an “always on” culture.
System response is measured in “Google time”.
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It’s not just that things are complicated, they are complex
and growing more complex every year.

15. What’s the connection to Value 4?
Most of us grew up in a world that was dominated by complicated stuff.
Machines are complicated. Watches are complicated. TVs are complicated.
We can decompose complicated systems or products into discrete steps and
parts.
We have learned management practices to measure and manage complicated
systems.
Complex systems are volatile and unpredictable. Where as complicated systems
can be managed and have a level of predictability.
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16. Complicated vs Complex
General Stanley McChrystal3, in his new book “Team of Teams: New
Rules of Engagement for a Complex World” makes a clear distinction
between complicated problems and complex problems.
“Complexity produces a fundamentally different situation from the
complicated challenges of the past; complicated problems required
great effort, but ultimately yielded to prediction. Complexity means
that, in spite of our increased abilities to track and measure, the
world has become, in many ways vastly less predictable.” pg. 74
3General McChrystal took command of the Joint Special Operations Task Force in 2004, in Iraq to battle Al
Qaeda.
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17. Adaptability
“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right thing.” Peter
Drucker4
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4 Peter Drucker, (1909-2005) Management consultant, educator, and author. Coined “knowledge worker”

18. Adaptability
“If you know with certainty what the “right thing” is in advance, then efficiency is
an apt proxy for effectiveness. In the wayward swirl, however, the correlation
between efficiency and effectiveness breaks down. The Task Force was very good
at doing things right, but too inflexible to do the right thing.”
McChrystal “Team of Teams” pg. 81
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19. Insight 2
Information and speed are the modern day currency.
In the old world efficiency was the focus to achieve competitive
advantage. To squeeze the most value from every input.
Today the primary competitive advantage is adaptability and speed.
The quicker your response to a change the better chance you have to
win.
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20. Is adaptability enough?
“At the core of the Task Force’s journey to adaptability lay a yin-
and-yang symmetry of shared consciousness, achieve through
strict, centralized forums of communication and extreme
transparency, and empowered execution, which involved the
decentralization of managerial authority.”
McChrystal, pg. 251
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21. Parallels to Scrum
We follow these principles:
Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support
they need, and trust them to get the job done.
The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a
development team is face-to-face conversation.
Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and
adjusts its behavior accordingly.
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22. Conclusion
1. Value #4 is not so much about plans as it is about inflexible
plans.
2. The shift to Agile and Scrum is a response to a world that is
dominated by complexity and unpredictability.
3. You can have confidence in a development / management
strategy that is adapted to the modern world, gives us a
framework to better support our business customers, and is
even helping our military win on the battlefield.
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23. Contact Info
Jerry Walker
Email: Jerrold.Walker@Thrivent.com
jswalker4@gmail.com
Office: 612-844-4288
Mobile: 612-723-7607
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24. Appendix
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Principles behind the Agile Manifesto
We follow these principles:
1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive
advantage.
3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace
indefinitely.
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
10.Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.
11.The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
12.At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.