We believe Agile is the best way to solve hard problems as a team and that we need teams to solve hard problems. Agile practices have historically focused on software but the principles underlying these practices can be applied to any hard problems. You are all working on hard problems in your business and are guiding teams that are helping to solve these problems. The concepts in this talk will give you insights into how to make your work and your teams’ work more effective. Learn how others have made 4x improvements in visibility, productivity, quality, or time to market for their solutions to hard problems. We will look at several models underlying Agile practices.

1. Using Agile Principles to Solve Tough
Problems in Your Business!

2. Rachel

3. Zach

9. Using time boxes!
Testing while building!
Work specified and detailed as needed!
Voice of the customer on the team!
Work is stack ranked by value!
Work is estimated by the delivery team!
Work progress is visible to all!
Protecting the teamʼs commitment!
Delivery team is self organizing!
Continuous improvement!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurapthomas/4107702172!

10. Following Being
the the
Recipe Chef
VS

11. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dichohecho/3713802986!

12. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdickert/247724515! http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/3768742468/!

13. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lablasco/5172868526! http://www.flickr.com/photos/sketch22/3386524720!

14. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wordridden/4562996266/! http://www.flickr.com/photos/gudlyf/4275337802/!

15. Hard problems
are hard
because the
practices don’t
obviously apply

16. How do we
improve when
the causes are
unknown?

17. What hard
problems are you
solving?

18. Make your work
more effective

19. Using time boxes!
Work specified and detailed as needed!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurapthomas/4107702172!

20. What’s
unique
about hard
problems?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/horiavarlan/4298997922/!

21. What you don’t
know is unknown

22. Frank H. Knight

23. David Snowden Cynthia Kurtz

24. Unordered Ordered

25. Unordered Ordered

26. Unordered Ordered
Chaotic Complex Complicated Simple

27. An example
Unordered Ordered
Chaotic Complex Complicated Simple
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ksionic/383240468!

28. Complex Complicated
Chaotic Simple

29. Complex Complicated
Chaotic Simple

32. Voice of the customer on the team!
Work is estimated by the delivery team!
Work progress is visible to all!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurapthomas/4107702172!

33. Wise teams

34. An experiment

36. Using time boxes!
Testing while building!
Work specified and detailed as needed!
Voice of the customer on the team!
Work is stack ranked by value!
Work is estimated by the delivery team!
Work progress is visible to all!
Protecting the teamʼs commitment!
Delivery team is self organizing!
Continuous improvement!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurapthomas/4107702172!

37. Software
Engineering is a hard
problem

38. How have we coped?

41. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_model!

42. http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-soa-term2/!

43. Iterative Feedback

44. Scrum Model
“What is Scrum” Scrum Alliance, Inc. 2003-2008. !
http://www.controlchaos.com/about/!

45. http://codebetter.com/blogs/david_laribee/archive/2008/08/24/introducing-kanban-at-xclaim.aspx!

47. Testing while building!
Work is estimated by the delivery team!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurapthomas/4107702172!

48. Seeing the
Whole

49. SYSTEM
THINKING

50. What is a system?

52. From the mutual interaction of the
parts of a system there arise
characteristics which can not be
found as characteristic of any of
the individual parts.
Gene Bellinger, systems-thinking.org, 2004!

53. DOLLAR
AUCTION

54. The Rules
The dollar goes to the
highest bidder, who pays the
amount he bids.
The second-highest bidder
also must pay the highest
amount that he bid, but gets
nothing in return.

55. Bidder 1! Bidder 2!
Bid: 0.01!
Profit: 0.99!
Bid: 0.02!
Profit: 0.98!
Potential Loss: 0.01!
Bid: 0.03!
Profit: 0.97!
Potential Loss: 0.02!
Bid: 0.04!
Profit: 0.96!
Potential Loss: 0.03!
Bid: 0.04!
Profit: 0.96!
Etc.!

56. Bidder 1! Bidder 2!
Potential loss: 0.97!
Bid: 0.99!
Profit: 0.01!
Potential Loss: 0.98!
Bid: 1.00!
Profit: 0.00!

57. Bidder 1! Bidder 2!
Potential loss: 0.97!
Bid: 0.99!
Profit: 0.01!
Potential Loss: 0.98!
Bid: 1.00!
Profit: 0.00!
Should they stop? Will they stop?

58. Bidder 1! Bidder 2!
Potential loss: 0.97!
Bid: 0.99!
Profit: 0.01!
Potential Loss: 0.98!
Bid: 1.00!
Profit: 0.00!
Potential Loss: 0.99!
Bid: 1.01!
Profit: -0.01!
Potential Loss: 0.98!
Bid: 1.02!
Profit: -0.02!
Etc.!

59. “Escalation”

60. “Shifting the Burden”

61. “Unintended
Consequences”

62. “Accidental
Adversaries”

63. “Fixes that Fail”

65. Delivery team is self organizing!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurapthomas/4107702172!

66. TUCKMAN’S
TEAM MODEL

67. Teams can make
decisions many ways

68. Conflict and Pain

69. Conflict + Facilitation =
Collaboration

70. Forming

71. Storming
Forming

72. Norming Storming
Forming

73. Norming Storming
Performing Forming

75. Continuous improvement!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurapthomas/4107702172!

76. Applying
Lean and
Agile Sustainable shortest lead time, best quality and value (to people
and society), most customer delight, lowest cost, high morale, safety
principles Respect
for People
- don!t trouble
your "customer!
Product Development
- long-term great engineers
- mentoring from manager-
Continuous
Improvement
- Go See
engineer-teacher
- cadence - kaizen
- “develop people, - spread knowledge
- cross-functional
then build products” - small, relentless
- team room + visual mgmt
- entrepreneurial chief - retrospectives
- no wasteful work - 5 Whys
engineer/product mgr
- set-based concurrent dev - eyes for waste
- teams & individuals * variability, over-
- create more knowledge
evolve their own burden, NVA ...
practices and (handoff, WIP,
improvements 14 Principles info scatter,
long-term, flow, pull, less delay, multi-
- build partners with variability & overburden, tasking, defects,
stable relationships, Stop & Fix, master norms, wishful thinking..)
trust, and coaching simple visual mgmt, good
in lean thinking tech, leader-teachers from - perfection challenge
within, develop exceptional
- develop teams people, help partners be - work toward flow
lean, Go See, consensus, (lower batch size,
reflection & kaizen Q size, cycle time)
Management applies and teaches lean thinking,
and bases decisions on this long-term philosophy
Summary of the Toyota Way (Lean Thinking) House
http://www.craiglarman.com/wiki/index.php?title=Lean_Thinking_house! by Craig Larman and Bas Vodde. 2009

77. Kids Are
Built to learn

78. Adults Require
Reflection and structure to learn

79. Capturing
Learning

80. Feasibility!
Desirability! Viability!
Tim Brown – Change by Design!

81. 1. Current Situation
2.
5. Act Hypothesis
Adjust Plan
Check Do
3.
4. Measure Implement
81!

84. Voice of the customer on the team!
Work is stack ranked by value!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurapthomas/4107702172!

85. DIVERGENCE
CONVERGENCE

90. Sustainable decisions use the
“Groan Zone”
Source: "Facilitator's Guide To Participatory Decision-Making, by Sam Kaner and others.
Used with permission from Sam Kaner, 415-641-9773 ."
.

92. Protecting the teamʼs commitment!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurapthomas/4107702172!

93. CONSENSUS
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leftymgp/1512421814/!

94. What is consensus?

95. A general agreement.!
!
The judgment arrived at by most
of those concerned.!
Merriam-Webster, m-w.com!

96. 5: Wild, unbridled support.
4: I think it’s a great idea. I wish I would have thought of it.
3: I can live with that and support it.
2: I have some reservations that I’d like to talk about.
1: I am very opposed and we shouldn’t move forward.

98. Apply agile
principles to solve
hard problems

99. Pick one of these
concepts and
apply it to your
work

100. 4x the visibility,
productivity,
quality, or time to
market

101. Using time boxes!
Testing while building!
Work specified and detailed as needed!
Voice of the customer on the team!
Work is stack ranked by value!
Work is estimated by the delivery team!
Work progress is visible to all!
Protecting the teamʼs commitment!
Delivery team is self organizing!
Continuous improvement!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurapthomas/4107702172!

102. Following Being
the the
Recipe Chef
VS

104. Q&A