'Nexus: How We Do Scrum with 150+ People' by Artem Kolyshkin & Konstantin Razumovsky

Nexus is a framework for scaled Scrum developed by Scrum co-creator Ken Schwaber and Scrum.org community. It addresses the most painful problems of scaled development – dealing with dependencies and building 'Done' integrated software every iteration. In our short talk, we are going to explain the key concepts of Nexus and illustrate them with our own case study where 150+ people successfully do Scrum to build software for a big North American retail company using Nexus.

Transcript

1. 7/12/2017
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   CONFIDENTIAL
   NEXUS:
   HOW WE DO SCRUM WITH 150+ PEOPLE
   ARTEM KOLYSHKIN
   KANSTANTSIN RAZUMOUSKI
   7 July, 2017
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   CONFIDENTIAL
   • Artem Kolyshkin
   – Senior Delivery Manager
   • Kanstantsin Razumouski
   – Agile Coach
   ABOUT US
   

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   CONTENTS
   The Pain
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   Nexus Framework
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   Our Experience with Nexus
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   Nexus+
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   THE PAIN
   

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   • 100% re-engineering of existent warehouse system that runs on the AS/400
   (iSeries Server).
   • The product is used by stores for day-to-day operations: ordering, inventory
   management, shipping and receiving, reporting, and much more.
   • Accessed through either “dumb terminals”, thin clients or using a PC. The
   “dumb terminals” are “Green screen” interface, rather than
   Windows/Graphical Interface. Also, keyboard-driven, little or no mouse use.
   CUSTOMER & PRODUCT
   Customer
   Product
   • A big retail company in North America, that offers a broad range of retail
   products, home and financial services.
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   THE PROJECT:
   FROM GREEN SCREEN TO WEB BROWSERS
   

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   • Which process to use?
   THE QUESTION
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   THE NEW PAIN: DEPENDENCIES
   Data Management
   Claims &
   Settlements
   Order Management
   Deal Management
   APO
   Placing &
   Seasonal
   Signage
   Reporting
   Employee
   Purchase
   Workforce
   Management
   Security
   Inventory Management
   Shipping & Receiving
   Store Analysis
   Management
   Reporting
   Operational
   Reporting
   System Utility
   Daily Sales
   Fast Find
   Inquiry
   Returns
   Management
   Price
   Management
   Search
   Multi-Store
   Functions
   APAP
   AIM
   Merchandising
   Regular
   Order
   

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   NEXUS FRAMEWORK
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   • Created by Ken Schwaber and Scrum.org
   • Fully defined in 11 page Nexus Guide
   • Heavily focused on dependencies
   NEXUS FRAMEWORK: OVERVIEW
   Nexus (noun) - a relationship or connection
   between people or things
   

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   NEXUS
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   “We need multiple-teams Scrum,
   not multiple Scrum teams.”
   Craig Larman
   #ScaledScrumIsStillScrum
   cbn Group work by Eldan Goldenberg
   “Nexus is an exoskeleton of scaled Scrum”
   Ken Schwaber
   

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   OUR EXPERIENCE
   WITH NEXUS
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   ORGANIZING TEAMS
   

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   IDENTIFYING DEPENDENCIES: THEORY
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   IDENTIFYING DEPENDENCIES: OUR PRACTICE
   

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   IDENTIFYING DEPENDENCIES: OUR PRACTICE
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   ROADMAPPING
   

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    HOW WE DO THIS?
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    INTEGRATED INCREMENT MUST BE “DONE”
    

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    • Accountable for Nexus integration
    • In normal mode acts like a virtual team
    • Raises awareness of dependencies
    • Ensures integration tools and practices are
    known and used
    • Serves as consultants, coaches, and
    communication links
    • Facilitate shared architecture
    NEXUS INTEGRATION TEAM: THEORY
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    • Facilitating cross-location communication and decision
    making issues
    • Facilitating grooming sessions for dependencies
    identification
    • Ensuring Nexus rules are understood and followed, e.g:
    – Integrated Increment meets DoD and deployed to STG env
    – Sprint-related information is transparent for all stakeholders
    • Continuous deployment process runs like clockwork
    • Common engineering excellence practices are in place and
    supported by all teams
    NEXUS INTEGRATION TEAM: OUR PRACTICE
    Product
    Owner
    Solution
    Architect
    DevOps QA
    Delivery Manager
    Project Manager
    BA
    

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    TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE IN NEXUS: THEORY
    “Many software development practices are
    needed to create an Integrated Increment.
    Most of these practices require automation.
    The automation helps manage the volume
    and complexity of the work and artifacts
    especially in scaled environments.”
    Nexus Guide
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    TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE: OUR PRACTICE
    Auto
    Manual
    Automated tests cover
    97% of requirements
    

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    NEXUS DEFINITION OF ‘DONE’
    DoD
    • All acceptance criteria are met
    • All required types of auto-tests are created
    • Story tests are all green
    • The story is in the QA environment
    • All smoke tests are green
    • Regression tests are more than 85% green
    • Code review is done before merge and all review
    issues are resolved
    • Non-functional requirements are implemented
    • Architectural, developer's guidelines, standards
    conventions must be obeyed
    • REST API is documented
    • There is no new sonar ‘major’ issues
    • Git branch is deleted after merge
    • PO has accepted the story
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    NEXUS+
    

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    1. Low cohesion between some parts of the Nexus.
    2. Complexity of long-term scaled planning.
    3. Monotony of scale.
    4. Difficulty/cost of changes.
    5. Keeping up engineering excellence (moving to level 4).
    NEW CHALLENGES
    As we grow and have reached 150+ size we have faced some new challenges:
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    AT SCALE YOU ARE UNIQUE (TRIBUTE TO JURGEN APPELO)
    Product
    Backlog
    https://medium.com/agility-scales/stop-your-agile-transformation-right-now-6cf2ef2fa1a#.vbk4oydgh
    

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    OUR BARBAPAPA (TODAY)
    APO Area
    (9 squads)
    Original Nexus (now 12 teams)
    Integration Area
    (5 squads)
    Product
    Backlog
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    NEXUS POINTS OUT FAULTS AT ENTERPRISE LEVEL
    cbn Group work by Eldan Goldenberg
    “Scrum is like your mother-in-law,
    it points out ALL your faults”
    Ken Schwaber
    © Mountain Goat Software, 101 Inspiring Quotes about Agile
    

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    1. Nexus helps to capitalize on your existing Scrum experience.
    2. Nexus (scaled Scrum) is still Scrum.
    3. New roles/artifacts/rules address the pain of dependencies and integration.
    4. Automation and technical excellence are crucial at scale.
    5. Nexus+ recognizes uniqueness at scale and only provides guiding principles.
    6. Nexus is a catalyst for business agility, but not a silver bullet.
    LESSONS LEARNED
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    REFERENCES
    

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    REFERENCES
    www.scrum.org/Nexus Scaled Professional Scrum, 2 day course
    Nexus + 50 scaling practices
    =
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    • Artem Kolyshkin
    – Artem.Kolyshkin@gmail.com
    – linkedin.com/in/akolyshkin
    • Kanstantsin Razumouski
    – www.proscrum.by
    – linkedin.com/in/razumovsky
    QUESTIONS?
    

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