Dealing With Outside Pressure

Transcript

1. Dealing With Outside Pressure - Staying Scrum ! Heather L. Rainey, PMP, PSM Craig Stuntz, just some guy Improving Enterprises Want this to be interactive.
2. Slides https://speakerdeck.com/craigstuntz 2
3. 3 We’re adopting agile. Going scrum. It works great and spreads. Software projects run more smoothly, morale is higher, more projects are kicked off, clients are confident. Didn’t it work this way for you? Why aren’t we getting these results?
4. • Agile software development framework • Iterative & incremental • Roles: Team Member, Product Owner, ScrumMaster • Specific artifacts: Product increment, product backlog, sprint backlog, burndown • Activities: Backlog refinement, sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint retrospective • Emphasizes self-organization, collaboration, and communication What is Scrum? 4 https://www.scrumalliance.org/why-scrum/core-scrum-values-roles I’m going to talk about Scrum because that’s what I know best. However, the need to deal with outside interference is common to all processes. Not just software!
5. 5 These are the core scrum principles. In your agile implementations, have you implemented all of these? Are all of these principles important or are some less important than others?
6. 6 Does agile manifesto talk about how to do things? Does it say we should do without documentation or a plan? Remember, especially, the first point. Important!
7. What is “Outside Pressure?” 7 The interesting thing about “outside pressure” is that it can mean (click) two entirely opposite things. (click) Also, we can better understand this by asking ourselves how other people might view our team. (click) What does your understanding of outside pressure say about your team and environment?
8. What is “Outside Pressure?” • “He’s interrupting my flow!” 7 The interesting thing about “outside pressure” is that it can mean (click) two entirely opposite things. (click) Also, we can better understand this by asking ourselves how other people might view our team. (click) What does your understanding of outside pressure say about your team and environment?
9. What is “Outside Pressure?” • “He’s interrupting my flow!” • “She is not doing her part!” 7 The interesting thing about “outside pressure” is that it can mean (click) two entirely opposite things. (click) Also, we can better understand this by asking ourselves how other people might view our team. (click) What does your understanding of outside pressure say about your team and environment?
10. What is “Outside Pressure?” • “He’s interrupting my flow!” • “She is not doing her part!” 7 What is “Inside Pressure?” The interesting thing about “outside pressure” is that it can mean (click) two entirely opposite things. (click) Also, we can better understand this by asking ourselves how other people might view our team. (click) What does your understanding of outside pressure say about your team and environment?
11. What is “Outside Pressure?” • “He’s interrupting my flow!” • “She is not doing her part!” 7 What is “Inside Pressure?” • “I’ve committed to something I don’t understand. I need help!” The interesting thing about “outside pressure” is that it can mean (click) two entirely opposite things. (click) Also, we can better understand this by asking ourselves how other people might view our team. (click) What does your understanding of outside pressure say about your team and environment?
12. What is “Outside Pressure?” • “He’s interrupting my flow!” • “She is not doing her part!” 7 What is “Inside Pressure?” • “I’ve committed to something I don’t understand. I need help!” • “Am I delivering value for the business?” The interesting thing about “outside pressure” is that it can mean (click) two entirely opposite things. (click) Also, we can better understand this by asking ourselves how other people might view our team. (click) What does your understanding of outside pressure say about your team and environment?
13. Software Teams: Still Not Special Snowflakes 8 https://www.flickr.com/photos/14486460@N00/3727474586/ Won’t win friends here, but… I’m first and foremost a developer. Proud. But question anyone who tries to tell you that software development is uniquely difficult work. Software pros are in demand, but other jobs are hard, too. Other jobs need flow.
14. 9 Why Scrum? Why do we change to Scrum? Something’s broken; Scrum seems to be helping other people. But real change harder than mere practices. Change is hard! People are complex and difficult!
15. 10 Process change often brings good results. However, it does not guarantee success.
16. What’s Holding Your Team Back? • ScrumBut • “Doing” Scrum without heart • Company culture 11 What is holding us back? ScrumBut (defined next slide). Doing scrum without heart? The big one is company culture. Organizations develop a culture, and it is very difficult to change. When an organization has been around for a long time, it is more difficult to change.
17. ScrumBut • ScrumButs are reasons why teams can’t take full advantage of Scrum to solve their problems and realize the full benefits of product development using Scrum • Syntax: (ScrumBut) (Reason) (Workaround) • Example: “(We use Scrum, but) (sometimes our managers give us special tasks,) (so we don’t always have time to meet our definition of done)” ! Source: Ken Schwaber, Scrum.org ! What “ScrumButs” do you have? 12 What is the problem with ScrumBut? Is it OK to compromise and when? What are the effects of ScrumBut? No special snowflakes. There is even a formal syntax! What are some of your ScrumButs?
18. Cherry Picking Practices “Scrum is like chess. You either play it as its rules state, or you don’t.” – Ken Schwaber ! • Scrum is easy to learn but difficult to master 13 Can’t change the way the bishop moves. Can add a timer without changing how the bishop moves. Can add but not take away. Scrum is very good at finding problems!
19. ScrumAnds 14 http://hingchanscrum.blogspot.com/2011/12/mes-deux-cents-planning-poker-et.html I invented this word. Scrum is small. Keep it that way. Compromise on non-Scrum practices. You probably can live without planning poker. Choose your battles.
20. 15 Shu Ha Ri (Hairy Shoe) comes from martial arts and pertains to software development as well. Going from novice learner to expert.
21. 16 In Karate Kid a boy is told to wax the car although he just wants to learn karate. Shu follows rules. Ha understands rules, starts to modify. Ri (master) fully incorporates and transcends rules. In order to “resist” outside pressure, you need to understand when you can compromise and what’s a healthy compromise.
22. Shu • Learning the process basics & team members • Growing rapport socially & professionally • Mimicking the practices • Learning to work together • Following the rules • Learning the process • A collection of skilled individuals learning their roles Ha • Starting to question practices • Understanding the practices and the importance of the principles & values • Coming to a deeper understanding of the art than pure repetitive practice will allow • Beginning to move beyond a collection of skilled individuals • Developing their own personalities • Beginning to change the rules 17 Shu: When a team starts Scrum, follow the rulebook! Ha: Start to question the practices. “Do we need a daily standup? What are you replacing it with?” People over processes.
23. Ri • Creating output greater than the sum of the work of the individuals • Breaking the rules to gain an advantage • Progressing more through self- discovery than instruction • Consistently thinking and acting as a unit • Adjusting with little friction Becoming Ri • Fewer than 5% of teams achieve Ri and there is no average timeline • Stable in terms of staffing over time • Team is small; less than 10 people • Empowered to change its process • Incorporates the core values in their work • Bonding via a difficult challenge • Committed to shared success • Hungry to learn • Willing to accept change • Eager to experiment with new ideas 18 Ri: Fewer than 5%. Not an average timeline. Need small team. “2 pizza team.” Scrum promises but doesn’t always deliver.
24. Benefits of Ri Teams • Provably Better – We don’t just think we are outperforming waterfall, we have metrics to prove it • Hyper-productivity – The team will be able to produce quality software at an amazing rate enabling a faster time to market and lower costs • Extremely Efficient – The team will efficiently estimate, plan execute and report progress & impediments • Higher Quality – Fewer defects will result from their work • Predictable & Consistent – Their velocity is well known, consistent & range bound allowing for greater confidence in future delivery estimates • Improved Morale – Members want to work together more for the betterment of the team • Improved Stakeholder Satisfaction – Business sponsors will enjoy working with the team 19 Great teams are great! Beware! Working well with your team doesn’t make you Ri. Might not be open to change!
25. 20 What’s the chance any of these people are ever going to get to Ri? How are they going to implement any of these principles? Are they going to be successful, or will there be a lot of ScramButs there?
26. 21 The roots of the tree are our values. Must be able to connect those values to what you do as a team. Have to have strong roots or you cannot grow. Software team interacts with a lot of other groups; they must understand the same values.
27. 22 “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” You can’t just go through a checklist and continue following a checklist sprint after sprint. You’ve got to be committed to the project you're working on and to the team. We work with people, they are are co-workers, managers and customers. To withstand external pressures to dilute or move away from Scrum, which may come with all the best intentions to help bring improvements, we need to be able to connect the practices and principles to the fruits they bear with respect to customer relationships, creativity, innovation, teamwork and quality. Even harder when dealing with people outside the team.
28. Have Heart • Build trust • Focus on relationships • Internalize the values • Expect high performance • Link values to outcomes • Identify areas for improvement and connect to values 23 How do we establish trust outside of the team? By building good products. By sticking to your commitments. By being transparent. Focus on Relationships. What is the value for “them?” Can you help with their pain? Hard for developers! Link values to outcomes.
29. 24 Adopting just some of the Agile practices can improve productivity. Doing agile does not mean being agile. Scrum is meant to be disruptive and bring problems to the surface. Cargo cult agile does not.
30. 25 And the elephant in the room… The organization’s culture is the biggest impact on agile adoption.
31. Conway’s Law 26 “…organizations which design systems … are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations…” ! —Melvin Conway “How Do Committees Invent?” Deal with it, or change the structure, and then deal with it.
32. 27 Let’s talk about culture in more detail. Culture is so difficult to change because if you are not even aware of it, how are you going to go about changing it? Confusing for newcomers.
33. 28 What is “Organizational Culture?” • The values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social & psychological of an organization. • Includes an organization’s expectations, experiences, philosophy and values that hold it together • Expressed in its self-image, inner workings, interactions with the outside world and future expectations • Based on shared attitudes, beliefs, customs and written & unwritten rules that have been developed over time AKA “The Mirrortocracy.”
34. 29 Edgar Schein – culture is the most difficult organizational attribute to change, outlasting organizational products, services, founders, leadership and all other physical attributes of the organization.
35. 30 Schneider Culture Model 1.Collaboration is about working together 2.Control is about getting & keeping control 3.Competence is about being the best 4.Cultivation is about learning and growing with a sense of purpose ! Depending on the type of work, one type of culture may be a better fit Most companies have a dominant culture with elements from the other 3 quadrants ! Most companies are in the Control and Competence areas. Can you figure out what your company’s culture is from the descriptions? And what does this mean to a change in how software is built?
36. 31 Agile Culture Collaboration Control Cultivation Competence Individuals & Interactions Business people & developers must work together daily throughout the project The best architectures, requirements and designs emerge from self-organizing teams The most efficient & effective method of conveying information… is face to face conversation Agile processes promote sustainable development… Welcome changing requirements, even late in development Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment & support they need & trust them to get the job done At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes & adjusts its behavior accordingly Continuous attention to technical excellence & good design enhances agility Agile lives in the Collaboration and and Cultivation quadrants. It’s about people. Check out how the Agile Manifesto lines up with Schenider’s model.
37. 32 Changing culture is very difficult. To protect the team from outside pressure, we need to actually change the culture to be more accepting of this way of doing work.
38. Starting Questions • What is the current culture? • How well is the culture aligned with Scrum? • What problems may I expect (or have) due to misalignment? 33 ?s we must ask at first. Start w/ understanding the culture. Think about the problems with either organization (turf), change (scary), requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley and what that means. Those are obstacles that need to b considered. Who are the potential allies?
39. Patterns of Adoption • Supportive Organization – Enterprise Transition Team – ADAPT • Mismatched Culture – Identify practices that match the dominant culture – Pain-driven adoption of practices – Become as Agile as possible 34 Different approaches needed. However, level of “support” might be different locally versus entire company. Will cover ADAPT later.
40. 35 In a supportive culture, enterprise transition team. What is not working in the current process, why do we want to consider a change? A minimal framework is developed.
41. 36 Apply for pilot projects; inspect and adapt.
42. 37 Transfer ownership to communities of practice. It is no longer owned by the transition team. It is owned by the people who are actually doing the work.
43. 38 ADAPT 1. Awareness: the current process is not delivering acceptable results 2. Desire: adopt Scrum as a way to address current problems 3. Ability: succeed with Scrum 4. Promotion: sharing experiences to remember and demonstrate successes 5. Transfer: Scrum throughout the organization Source: Mike Cohn, Succeeding With Agile This presumes a supportive environment. Not possible without executive buy-in. Do not fight executives based on supposed merits of process. Do your homework and be prepared to show value in dollars and cents. Don’t just repeat what you heard at Agile.Next!
44. 39 Mismatched Culture • Identify practices that support the culture • Focus on practices rather than discussing mindsets and “big ideas” • Adopt practices to address specific problems • Many companies not ready • Tools • Culture • Project Management • Software Process • Physical Environment In a mismatched culture support may come from leadership, with words but the supporting actions may not be present or degrade over time. If the organization is not ready for Scrum, the individual practices may be slowly implemented. Control culture? How about empirical data and time-boxing as a start. Visibility!
45. Containers, Differences & Exchanges • Approach for effecting change in organizations • Method to understand the context of a group & highlights ways of effecting change • Supportive tool about how to influence a system • Connect agents together within the container and across differences 40 Containers are boundaries within which self-organization occurs Differences among the agents in our system (technical knowledge, domain knowledge, education, experience, power) Exchanges in the system interact & exchange resources (information, money, energy) Can influence how a team self-organizes by altering these (CDE) ! Used as a tool to understand the culture
46. 41 Good fences make good neighbors! However, you must remove these barriers over time, or you will not be able to continue with your agile practice. All it will take is a protective manager disappearing and… Barriers are temporary.
47. Scrum Enterprise Implementations • Consequences of focusing on implementing Scrum techniques and neglecting the people in the social system: – Although they use Scrum techniques, some projects are successful and others are not – Projects fail because the change in values is not explicitly managed or because the management does not support the Scrum values 42 Important part: Projects fail because the change in values is not explicitly managed or because the management does not support the Scrum values
48. Staying Scrum 1. Understand the motivation 2. Identify barriers to adoption 3. Develop expertise 4. Make a plan 5. Play by the rules 6. Develop adaptations 7. Identify champions 8. Focus on the people 9. Demonstrate success 10.Have heart 11.Be patient! 43 Be Patient No magic formula to a successful outcome. But this is a reasonable way to start.