Our Journey to Agile in the Microsoft Developer Division

AT9
Concurrent Session
11/12/15 1:30pm

“Our Journey to Agile in the Microsoft
Developer Division”

Presented by:
Gregg Boer
Microsoft

Brought to you by:

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Gregg Boer
Microsoft
Gregg Boer is a Principal Program Manager at Microsoft with 25 years of experience in
software. Over his career, Gregg has worked as a Project Manager, Program Manager,
Requirements Lead, Software Engineer, Analyst, QA Lead, and Software Designer. Most of his
experience is focused on leading small to medium software development teams (10-15 people).
Over the years Gregg believes he has made many mistakes, learned many lessons, and
worked with many smart people to develop great software. He loves the software industry, and
considers himself a lucky man to have been a part of it for so long. Gregg joined Microsoft in
2005 because he believed in the vision of Team Foundation Server. He truly believes that the
right set of collaborative tools could help make the lives of software engineers better. Most
recently at Microsoft, Gregg is working on the team developing a set of world-class Agile Tools
built on top of the TFS Platform.

Agile Development, Better Software, and
DevOps Conference East
November 12, 2015
1
Iowa farm boy
Married 27 years. 3 sons.
Grandfather
Home office is a tree house
Enjoy Beer

November 12, 2015
2
There is no single way Agile is done at Microsoft
This is the Developer Division’s story
• 3 week sprints
• Scrum at the team level
• Emphasis on self-managed teams
• Top-down and bottom-up
2 years

November 12, 2015
3
Planning M1 M2
Planning M1 M2
Specs
We knew exactly what to build,
and we knew it was right!

November 12, 2015
4
Planning M1 M2
Specs
We knew exactly what to build,
and we knew it was right!
Planning M1 M2
We had a perfect schedule and knew
exactly when it would be ready!

November 12, 2015
5
Code Test & Stabilize Code Test & Stabilize
Code
Complete
We wrote all the code months before
we shipped a release.
A: We were successful. But…
Q: How did it work?

November 12, 2015
6
Diego Lo Giudice and Dave West, Forrester
February 2011
Transforming Application Delivery
“Firms today experience a much
higher velocity of business change.
Market opportunities appear or
dissolve in months or weeks instead
of years.“
• Roles
• Organization
• Teams
• Cadence
• Plan
• Practices
Alignment
Autonomy
Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose

November 12, 2015
7
http://vimeo.com/85490944
Program Manager – Responsible to ensure we’re building the right
thing.
Engineer – Responsible to ensure we’re building products that are fast,
reliable, and well engineered.

November 12, 2015
8
Program Management Engineering
Program Management Engineering

November 12, 2015
9
• Cross discipline
• 10-12 people
• Self managing
• Autonomous backlog
• Intact for 12-18 months
• Physical team rooms
PM Engineering

November 12, 2015
10
• Yes, we do have some remote individuals. It’s
the exception, not the rule.
• We aim for remote teams, not remote
disciplines.
Sprint
3-week sprints
Season
6 month season
Vision
18 month vision

November 12, 2015
11
3 weeks
• Common Sprint Cadence

November 12, 2015
12
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3Week 2 Week 3
Sprint 69Sprint 68 Sprint 70
Deployment
Sprint Planning Done!
What we accomplished
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3Week 2 Week 3
Sprint 69Sprint 68 Sprint 70
The sprint plan

November 12, 2015
13
Plan Accomplished
• Organization defines information needed
• Team decides how to provide that information

November 12, 2015
14
Code Test & Stabilize Code Test & Stabilize
Code
Complete

November 12, 2015
15
• Organization defines quality bar
• Team decides how to meet it
Sprint 69

November 12, 2015
16
Things we don’t watch
• Team burndown
• Team velocity
• Original estimate
• Completed hours
• Team capacity
• # of bugs found
Things we watch
• # of bugs
• Unit test coverage
• Rolling build quality
• Organization tracks features / quality / debt
• Team tracks … whatever it wants

November 12, 2015
17
Sprint
3-week sprints
Season
6 month season
Vision
18 month vision
SpringFallSpring Fall

November 12, 2015
18
3 weeks
3 weeks

November 12, 2015
19
3 sprints
TODAY
1. What’s next on your
backlog?
2. What’s your debt
situation?
3. Any issues?

November 12, 2015
20

November 12, 2015
21
3 sprints
TODAY
A plan, not a
commitment
• Organization sets 6-month plan
• Teams create sprint plans that align

November 12, 2015
22
Experience
Review
• Storyboard of what you’re going to build
• High level execution plan
• Talk about sprints, not hours
• Feedback, feedback, feedback

November 12, 2015
23
Sprint
3-week sprints
Season
6 month season
Vision
18 month vision
6 month plan
Experience
Reviews
18 month vision
Scenario
Review

November 12, 2015
24
Done!
What did we learn over the last 6 months?
What did customers tells us?
What changed in the marketplace?
6 month plan
Experience
Reviews
18 month vision
Scenario
Review
Done!Done!

November 12, 2015
25
Initiative
Epic
Features
Stories
Tasks
Initiatives
Epics
Features
Stories
Tasks

November 12, 2015
26
• Becoming a “data-informed” business
• DevOps: Continuous deployment… continuous
everything.
1. Less is more
2. Get out of your teams’ way
3. Autonomy, mastery, purpose
4. Plan & learn
5. Have fun

November 12, 2015
27
http://aka.ms/engineeringstories

Our Journey to Agile in the Microsoft Developer Division

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