Charter Your Project/Team for (Agile) Success

Even in an agile environment, have you sat through project “chartering” where you were supposed to agree to what a title-based leader wanted? Maybe you’ve sat through team chartering sessions where the focus was on hugs instead of the work. You were pretty sure that if you could start the work, you’d soon see the reality of the work and the team. You’re right. Project and team charters don’t have to feel like time-wasters. Instead, they can free us to create great products and work well together.

Project charters help us see how to frame a container of work. And, team charters help us see how to work together. If you’re like me, you want to do both at the same time—so we can get to the work and see how to work together. Join Johanna Rothman in this interactive session. We’ll practice some chartering to see what might work for you.

Transcript

1. Charter Your Project/Team for (Agile) Success Johanna Rothman @johannarothman www.jrothman.com jr@jrothman.com 781-641-4046
2. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Have You Ever Wondered: • Who’s on the team? • What are we supposed to do, and for whom? • Why (for the company, product, etc)? • How will we know when it’s done? • What else do we need to know? 2
3. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Charter the project as a team 3
4. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Our Agenda 1. Project or Continuous stream of work? 2. Who’s on the team? Do we have everyone we need? 3. Working Agreements 4. Vision: Who, what, why? (Who are we building what for and why?) 5. Release Criteria: What done means 6. What else do we need to know? 4
5. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 1. Project or Continuous Stream? • What’s your preferred container of work? • Project, so you can stop working on one product to move to another • Continuous stream, to continue working on one product • Every effort requires purpose (charter) for a specific set of customers 5
6. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 2. Who’s on the Team? • Agile teams are product development teams • What capabilities/skills does your product require? (not roles) • Small enough team to collaborate • Traps: visitors, narrow experts, component teams 6
7. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Ideal Agile Teams • Team affiliates to collaborate: • Plan • Deliver • Reflect • Can your team do this without needing anyone else? • Can your team stay together and not be pulled apart? 7
8. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Implement by Feature • Why we want affiliated product teams • Implement through the architecture is the fastest way to deliver value 8
9. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman When You Don’t Have a Full Team • Wait for other teams or people • Can’t implement by feature easily • Everything takes longer (cycle time) • Costs go up • Defects more difficult to track and eliminate 9
10. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman When You Have Teams Who Work by Layer • Dependencies on other teams/people • Everything takes longer (cycle time) • Costs go up • Defects more difficult to track and eliminate 10
11. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Team or Workgroup? 11 Teams Workgroups Small: 5-10 members Any size Common purpose or goal Possibly a department goal or vision Not a project goal Agreed-upon approach to the work Agreed-upon department goal Complementary skills Often, similar skills across group Interdependent interim goals Independent interim goals Commit to each other for the project goal Individual goals—no need to commit to a peer
12. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 3. Working Agreements • How teams work • What our values are • Social contract among members of the team • Behaviors, not practices 12
13. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Areas for Discussion: Values • Values from http:// www.dhavalpanchal.com/sharing- values-a-team-building-exercise • “I don’t like it when…” • “I like it when…” • Include ground rules for behaviors at meetings, checkins, etc 13
14. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Areas for Discussion: Working Agreements • Core hours • What done means • Meeting times • What the team automates and when • Response to urgent requests • Sustainable pace 14
15. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 4. Vision: What are we building and for whom? • Vision: brief and compelling: • Who are we building this for? • Why do those people need it? • What value do those people receive? 15
16. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Project Vision Example and Practice • Original vision: “Government- mandated change to accounts.” • New vision: “Save people’s retirement money.” • Now you: • Who? • What can they do with this product? • What value do they receive? 16
17. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 5. Release Criteria • The vital few criteria by which we will judge the done-ness of the project • Balanced scorecard • Performance, reliability, scalability • Date 17
18. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Mine the Project Pyramid for Release Criteria • Which features do you need by when with defects? • Who (people) do you have available, for how long (cost), and how do they know how to work? 18
19. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Release Criteria Example and Practice • Example 1: May 30. (Yes, I had a project like that.) • Example 2: Minimum feature set 1, 2, 3, with specified response time, by Aug 1. • Now you: • Someone willing to share without specifics? 19
20. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Team Works Together • Notice that the team creates their working agreements, vision, and release criteria • Iterate on the working agreements • That means they create a team by working together 20
21. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 6. What Else? • Might depend on how traditional your organization is • Estimates? Use cycle time or the ideas in Predicting the Unpredictable • Risk “plan?” Use a risk table • What else are you supposed to use in a project charter? 21
22. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Cycle Time for Estimation 22 One Team’s Varying Cycle Time 19 days Average Cycle Time: 5 Stories 3.6 days Totals: Day 16 5 Day 19 3 days Day 15 1 day 4 Day 16 Day 7 Day 15 8 days 3 2 Day 7 Day 3 4 days Day 1 1 2 days Day 3 Story Duration Story End Day Story Start Day Story Measure Cycle Time blog post: https://www.jrothman.com/cycletime
23. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Use a Range with Confidence Levels 23 More ideas in Predicting the Unpredictable
24. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Traps • Iteration Zero (NO!) • Detailed project plans/Gantt • Instead: • Demo from Day 1 • Show product backlog burnup and feature charts 24
25. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Questions? Challenges? 25
26. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Answer These Questions 1. Project or Continuous stream of work? 2. Who’s on the team? Do we have everyone we need? 3. Working Agreements 4. Vision: Who, what, why? (Who are we building what for and why?) 5. Release Criteria: What done means 6. What else do we need to know? 26
27. © 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Let’s Stay in Touch • Pragmatic Manager: • www.jrothman.com/ pragmaticmanager • Please link with me on LinkedIn 27