Agile Enterprise War Stories

1. @devpg Agile Enterprise War Stories André Neubauer, JAX 2014, Mainz
2. @devpg Preamble No blaming - Just reviews & learnings! Respect - Without the effort to gain agility, there would be no war stories! Don’t repeat - This is not a blueprint, but only my experiences!
3. @devpg About me “Software engineering enthusiast. Moved to the dark side. Now executive and strong advocate on lean leadership. Totally motivated by 'Y'. Loving startup culture.“ @devpg
4. @devpg Agility “My understanding of #agility isn't an efficient IT department but an effective overall organisation!“ @devpg → Process, Structure, Culture!
5. @devpg The Need For Enterprise Agility Welcome to the post-industrial age! “Companies are really being driven by the need for change and innovation instead of doing the same thing year after year better. [...] Companies are having to change from a focus on stability to a focus on being able to change very quickly. [...] What these companies need is to tighten the feedback loop to understand where the market is going.” (Jeff Sussna, WJAX 2013)
6. @devpg Context •  External •  Waterfall •  Bonn •  E-POSTBRIEF ➔ Internal (with external support) ➔ Scrum ➔ Berlin ➔ E-POST
7. @devpg #12 Stories
8. @devpg #1 Degraded by Scrum
9. @devpg Degraded by Scrum Examples: •  “I’m just a Scrum Developer.” (former team leader) •  Impediments needs to be approved by management! → Management by control is no longer needed!
10. @devpg Degraded by Scrum Learning: You have to have a clear view on what‘s the future purpose of management!
11. @devpg #2 Stakeholder Overflow
12. @devpg Stakeholder Overflow Stakeholder: Als Stakeholder [ˈsteɪkhoʊldɐ] (engl. ‚Teilhaber‘)[1] wird eine Person oder Gruppe bezeichnet, die ein berechtigtes Interesse am Verlauf oder Ergebnis eines Prozesses oder Projektes hat.
13. @devpg Stakeholder Overflow Situation: •  Experts advicing from the outside rather than working in the team •  Masked as stakeholder Attention: Veto culture! Solution: Put them in the team!
14. @devpg #3 Overwhelmed by Speed of Change
15. @devpg Overwhelmed by Speed of Change Situation: Product changes went live without any notification... Protip: As a product guy you should always be better informed about the product than your boss! ;-)
16. @devpg Overwhelmed by Speed of Change Complication: Information flows are difficult, especially in a matrix organization … Result: Lots of newsletters → Find the fine line between information overload and information deficit!
17. @devpg #4 “People over Process” Meets Internal Audit
18. @devpg Source: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/meninblack3/
19. @devpg Meets Internal Audit People Process over Who has fixed that bug? Me! Who allowed you that? Um … well ...
20. @devpg Meets Internal Audit Context: Doing things right, not doing the right things! Task: Integrate cross-departments (Legal, privacy, ...) People Process over
21. @devpg Meets Internal Audit Attention: Process compliance may limit the assumption of responsibility! Approach: Ensure process complaince in background (by automation) People Process over
22. @devpg #5 Waiting for Big Bang
23. @devpg Waiting for Big Bang “As long as it’s not marketable, I'm not interested.” (VP Product) Lessons learned: Classical businesses often don‘t know the iterative approach. They think in perfect products not in „Beta‘s“.
24. @devpg #6 Scrum as Performance Program for IT
25. @devpg Scrum as Performance Program for IT „We need technical project management to make the teams performing.” → Rapid implementation of big things is needed! Complication: Incremental over Iterative ...
26. @devpg Scrum as Performance Program for IT Attention: Business doesn‘t make advantage of „continuous improvement“! Efficiency is nothing without effectiveness!
27. @devpg #7 Doing The Right Things vs. Doing Things Right
28. @devpg Doing Situation: Strong focus on •  On time delivery •  Team utilization Result: Reason for failure: „Doing it wrong“ instead of „Doing the wrong thing“ The Right Things Things Right
29. @devpg #8 The Planning Dilemma
30. @devpg The Planning Dilemma “We needs a detailed roadmap for the next year!” (Department XYZ) Learning: Questioning need! Some are myth ;-) (Some are not ...)
31. @devpg #9 Continuous Reprioritization
32. @devpg Continuous Reprioritization There are always more ideas than teams! Prioritization needed! Situation: Continuous reprioritization in order to realize all projects!
33. @devpg Continuous Reprioritization Learning: Continuous reprioritization leads to standstill! Project A Project B Project C Project D Project A Project B Project C Project D Project A Project B Project C Project D Project A Project B Project C Project D
34. @devpg #10 Avoid Failure, Be Innovative
35. @devpg Avoid Failure, Be Innovative Situation: Classic business try to avoid failure. Most times it‘s part of the company culture. Reason why: Do the same thing year after year better is the core requirement from the industrial age!
36. @devpg Avoid Failure, Be Innovative Result: •  No learning (because failure don‘t happen) •  Failure prevention kills your innovativeness But: There is no success without failure!
37. @devpg Avoid Handle Failure •  Mindset change: Failure → Opportunity •  Reduce risks by using techniques like interviews, prototypes, …
38. @devpg #11 Passive Product Management
39. @devpg Passive Product Management PM Team(s) C(X)O Sales Marketing BusDev ... Situation: Product management as gateway not creator of the product Complication: Missing product validation
40. @devpg Market-Driven Product Management Business unit C Team(s) Business unit B Team(s) Business unit A Team(s) Passive → Setting-up business units each focussing on a market segment
41. @devpg #12 Product Ownership meets P&L Responsibility
42. @devpg Product Ownership Meets P&L Question: Who owns a product when you have a strong focus on profit and loss? Business owner (BO) or product owner (PO)?
43. @devpg Product Ownership Meets P&L Situation: •  No independent decisions → Slow decision making processes •  BO: Overruling... •  PO: „Stuck between a rock and a hard place“
44. @devpg Product Ownership Meets P&L Approach: •  Team of responsibilities! (Business & product) •  Separation of tasks based on e. g. T-shape or mid-/ longterm)
45. @devpg Done!
46. @devpg Learnings •  Being agile over doing agile! •  Effectiveness over efficiency! •  Process, Structure, Culture!
47. @devpg Thanks for your attention! Any questions? Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjlambert/97671748/sizes/o/in/photostream/