Objective Agility - what does it take to be an Agile company? A look at Agile beyond software and operations/

1. SIGIS
T
Con
Marc ference
h
201
2
Objec&ve
Agility
What
does
it
take
to
be
an
Agile
company?
allan
kelly
Twi8er:
@allankellynet
h8p://www.allankelly.net
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk

2. Allan
Kelly
• Training
&
Coaching
for
Agile
adopGon
and
deepening
• Author:
– Changing
So8ware
Development:
Learning
to
be
Agile,
Wiley
2008.
97
Things
Every
Programmer
Should
Know
Henney,
2010
Context
EncapsulaGon
in
PaHern
Languages
of
Program
Design
Volume
5,
2006
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
2

3. Business
Patterns for
Software
Developers
Out now!
John Wiley &
Sons
ISBN:
978-1119999249

4. Agile,
Agile
methods
&
Agile
toolkit
The
State
of
Agile
•
Quick
on
our
feet
(our
objecGve)
•
Deliver
quickly
•
Respond
to
change
rapidly
•
Seize
opportuniGes
Kanban
Agile
Methods
...
DSDM
Promise
to
create
the
state
of
Agile
Scrum
XP
•
Test
Driven
Development,
Refactoring
The
Agile
•
IteraGons,
Time
boxing
Toolkit
•
User
Stories,
Feature
injecGon
•
RetrospecGves,
....
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
4

5. Agile
in
context
More
XP
prescrip&ve
Scrum
…
More
philosophical:
Agile
value,
idea
based
Lean
thinking
Organiza&onal
Learning
Applicability
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
5

6. Where
do
you
find
Agility?
• Sprinkling
Agile
dust
does
not
make
everything
right
• Agile
paints
a
picture
of
sweetness
and
light
– An
aspiraGon
• Agile
is
a
reverse
engineered
term
– A
term
used
to
describe
where
we
want
to
be
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
6

7. Where
is
Agile?
The
future
is
Agile
is
already
already
here
-­‐
it
here
-­‐
it
is
just
is
just
unevenly
unevenly
distributed.
distributed.
William
Gibson,
author,
Allan
Kelly,
2010
NPR
interview
1999
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
7

8. Agile
is
already
here
(
)
-­‐
it
is
just
• Many
companies
exhibit
unevenly
some
Agile
characterisGcs
distributed.
– Easier
for
small
companies
to
be
Agile
• Large
companies
– Agile
in
some
ways
– Maybe
not
in
others
All
logos
and
trademarks
acknowledged
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
8

9. Defining
Agile
Professor
Donald
Sull
of
the
London
Agile
is
what
both
the
latest
business
Business
School
…
defines
[Agility]
strategy
and
as
a
company’s
ability
so@ware
consistently
to
idenGfy
and
development
seize
opportuniGes
more
methodology
aspire
quickly
and
effecGvely
than
to
be.
rivals.
Repeatedly
demonstrate
Financial
Times,
20
November,
2007,
“Agility:
Flexibility
takes
over
from
planning”
agility
-­‐
not
a
one
off
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
9

10. Why
be
Agile?
What
is
Agile
to
you?
• Fashion?
– Everyone
else
is
doing
it?
• Reduce
costs?
• Today:
• Improve
ROI?
– Agile
means
be8er
– Which
means?
– Be8er
IT
delivery
• Avoid
failure?
• Tomorrow
– Agile
creates
new
opportuniGes
– CompeGGve
advantage
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
10

11. I
can’t
think
of
anything
more
important
than
building
an
agile
company,
because
the
world
changes
so
quickly
and
unpredictably
[Agility]
comes
in
different
forms,
but
basically
it’s
the
ability
to
quickly
adapt
to
or
even
anGcipate
and
lead
change.
Agility
in
the
broadest
form
affects
strategic
thinking,
operaGons,
technology
innovaGon
and
the
ability
to
innovate
in
products,
Michael
A
Cusumano
processes
and
business
models.
DisGnguished
Professor
of
Management
at
the
MIT
Sloan
School
of
Management
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
11

12. Strategy,
Porqolio
&
OperaGonal
Strategic
•
PaGence:
wait
for
right
opportunity
•
Boldness:
to
act
Agility
•
Small
probes:
small
acquisiGons,
alliances,
minority
stakes
PorFolio
•
CulGvate
new
opportuniGes;
cull
failing
ones
•
Tools
to
evaluate
projects;
make
difficult
Agility
decisions
•
Develop
internal
staff
and
managers
Opera&onal
•
Exploit
opportuniGes,
cut-­‐costs
faster
than
compeGtors
Agility
• Spot
opportuniGes:
systems
to
gather
and
share
informaGon
•
Act
on
informaGon:
processes
to
make
decisions
Donald
Sull,
McKinsey
Quarterly,
December
2009,
h8ps://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/
Strategy/Strategic_Thinking/CompeGng_through_organizaGonal_agility_2488
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
12

13. Today
-­‐
OperaGonal
Agility
•
Exploit
opportuniGes,
cut-­‐costs
faster
than
compeGtors
Opera&onal
• Spot
opportuniGes:
systems
to
gather
and
share
Agility
informaGon
•
Act
on
informaGon:
processes
to
make
decisions
Where
we
are
today
•
IT
centric
Tension
with
non-­‐Agile
•
Scrum
for
Project
Management
•
Porqolio
•
XP
for
Engineering
•
Strategy
•
Lean
for
Improvement
Are
we
there
yet?
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
13

14. Porqolio
Agility
(the
next
challenge)
•
CulGvate
new
opportuniGes;
cull
failing
ones
PorFolio
•
Tools
to
evaluate
projects;
make
difficult
decisions
Agility
•
Develop
internal
staff
and
managers
• Apply
Agile
principles
– Time
box
/
Regular
rhythm
– Decide
as
late
as
possible
– Decide
on
value
– Embrace
change
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
14

15. Porqolio
Agility
•
CulGvate
new
opportuniGes;
cull
failing
ones
PorFolio
•
Tools
to
evaluate
projects;
make
difficult
decisions
Agility
•
Develop
internal
staff
and
managers
• End
annual
planning
cycle
– Embrace
experimentaGon
• IteraGve
Porqolio
review
– Regular
schedule
–
monthly,
quarterly
• Projects
&
Teams
demonstrate:
RIP:
14
September
2008
– Value
added
v.
Cost
• Align
with
– Strategy,
Risk
profile,
Resourcing
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
15

16. Remember:
Agile
is
Empirical
• Can’t
know
– How
long
it
will
take
unGl
you
start
doing
– How
many
people
you
need
unGl
you
start
doing
• Teams
have
responsibility
– Give
them
the
tools,
give
them
the
problem
Do
a
li8le
–
Measure
-­‐
Adjust
Deming
/
Shewhart
cycle
Eric
Ries
–
Lean
Start-­‐Up
PDCA:
Plan,
Do,
Check,
Adjust
Build-­‐Measure-­‐Learn
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
16

17. Simple
Porqolio
recipe
• 10th
of
each
month
– Management
by
rhythm
• Each
team
15
minutes
– Benefits
delivered
/
opGons
created
this
month
– Cost
this
month
– What’s
next?
– Alignment
to
strategy
(why
do
this?)
– Requests,
impediments,
new
opportuniGes
• AcGon:
Status
Quo,
Grow,
Shrink,
Close
• Balance
company
resources,
risk,
innovaGon.
etc.
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
17

18. Strategy
•
PaGence:
wait
for
right
opportunity
Strategic
•
Boldness:
to
act
Agility
•
Small
probes:
small
acquisiGons,
alliances,
minority
stakes
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
18

19. Strategy
Strategy
OperaGonal
Structure
&
Decisions
Form
Strategy
realized
in
OperaGonal
Decisions
and
the
Structure/Form
of
organizaGon
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
19

20. Strategy:
OperaGonal
Decisions
• Thousands
of
small
decisions
make
difference
– Between
Agile
or
not
– Between
strategy
alignment
or
not
• Know
the
decisions
you
can
delay
– And
those
you
cannot
– Avoid
early
commitment
– Recognize
value
in
opGons
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
20

21. Strategy:
OperaGonal
Decisions
• Fail
fast,
fail
cheap
– ExperimentaGon
over
planning
– Modern
tools
(+
Agile
methods)
=
cheap
to
try
– Only
way
to
know
is
to
try
• Know
thy
customer
– Who
are
they?
– What
problems
to
they
have?
– What
problem
do
you
solve?
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
21

22. Strategy:
Structure
&
Form
• Resource
strategically
– Keep
teams
together
– Start
small,
grow
slowly
– Shrink
to
close
• VerGcal
teams
with
responsibility
– End-­‐to-­‐end
delivery
• Balance
Managers
to
workers
– Avoid
too
many
Chiefs
and
too
few
Indians
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
22

23. Strategy:
Structure
&
Form
• Limit
Work
In
Progress
– End
salami
slicing
people
between
projects
– More
WIP,
Less
delivered
– WIP
makes
it
hard
to
see
issues
– Task
switching
is
expensive
• Focus
on
outputs
– Not
inputs
– Value
add
over
cost
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
23

24. Strategy:
Structure
&
Form
• Succession
planning
for
Knowledge
– Grow
your
own
experts
– Outsourcing
can
hollow
out
knowledge
• Short
planning
horizons
with
feedback
– Railway
Gmetable
Porqolio
reviews
– Plan
early,
plan
o@en,
include
feedback
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
24

25. What
does
this
mean?
Build
effecGve
delivery
machine
Then
Move
outwards
and
upwards
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
25

26. Move
on
up…
Only
about
20%
of
features
&
funcGons
• Know
your
customer
in
typical
custom
– Segment
so@ware
are
used
– Target
Mary
&
Tom
Poppendieck
• Say
No
ImplemenGng
Lean
So8ware
Development
2007
– Saying
Yes
is
easy
– Saying
No
is
real
strategy
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
26

27. Push
Up
to
Push
Down
Pushing
Pushes
Agile
up
Agility
to
down
by
Porqolio
devolving
&
decisions
Strategy
• Employees
make
decisions
when
&
where
they
are
needed
• More
informaGon,
more
Gmely
• Be8er
decisions
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
27

28. Use
Agile
to….
• Validate
the
market
in
the
market
Agile
+
Modern
tools
=
Cheap
to
Try
=
Cheap
to
Fail
• Try:
fail
fast,
fail
cheap
– Know
when
to
try
– Know
when
to
stop
• Keep
it
Simple
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
28

29. The
Agile
Advantage
• Agile
Strategy
Live
or
Die
– Try
lots
of
stuff,
see
what
works
Agile
• Agile
Porqolio
– Keep
experiments
flowing
Think
Agile
– Stop
the
stuff
that
doesn’t
work
• Agile
OperaGons
– Keep
it
fast
Agile
Toolkit
– Keep
it
cheap
&
Methods
– Keep
quality
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
29

30. Thank
you!
allan
kelly
So@ware
Strategy
Ltd.
www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
QuesGons?
www.allankelly.net
allan@allankelly.net
Twi8er:
@allankellynet
(c)
Allan
Kelly
h8p://www.so@warestrategy.co.uk
30