ADAPTing to Enterprise Agile

Starting the transition to an agile development process like Scrum is easy; succeeding with Scrum and scaling Scrum across an organization are much harder. Undergoing a true agile transformation is an arduous process that, done right, necessitates a mindset shift not only for individuals and their teams, but also throughout the broader organization.

In this session, leading agile author, consultant, and practitioner, Mike Cohn, looks at how to get started with the business of adopting an agile process. Learn about patterns for adoption that can guide a more complete and sustainable transition to Scrum, and how to overcome the cultural and corporate governance issues that threaten to derail your transformation. Mike will describe how you can iterate toward agility through a community-driven process combining senior-level guidance and support with multiple improvement communities.

Key takeaways:

Learn the acronym ADAPT to describe the five steps necessary for any successful agile transition
Explore the real role of leaders and managers in guiding self-organizing teams toward agility
Discover proven patterns for getting started
Learn areas where you can reduce waste through automation
Understand how tooling can help bridge the gap between Traditional and Agile processes
Leave knowing what you must—and must not—do to succeed with Agile in your organization

Transcript

1. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software ADAPTing to Enterprise Agile Mike Cohn Mountain Goat Software
2. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software Some challenges you’ll face ?  Mixing agile and traditional processes ?  Compliance issues – CMMI, SOX, ISO9001 ?  Large scale coordination and strategic reuse within product lines ?  Distributed teams ?  Waterfallacies, agile phobias, and other individual resistance
3. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software
4. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software A Awareness that the current approach isn’t working. Desire to change. Ability to work in an agile manner. Promote early successes to build momentum and get others to follow. Transfer the impact of agile throughout the organization so that it sticks. D A P T
5. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software Tools for building… ?  Communicate that there’s a problem ?  Use metrics ?  Provide exposure to new people and experiences ?  Focus attention on the most important reason or two for adopting agile Awareness ?  Communicate that there’s a better way ?  Create a sense of urgency ?  Build momentum ?  Get the team to take agile for a test drive ?  Align incentives (or, at least, remove disincentives) ?  Address any fears ?  Help people let go ?  Don’t discredit the past ?  Engage everyone in the transition Desire
6. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software ?  Provide coaching and training ?  Hold individuals accountable ?  Share information ?  Set reasonable targets ?  Just do it Ability ?  Publicize success stories ?  Take an agile safari ?  Attract attention Promotion ?  Transfer the effects of agile beyond the current group ?  If you don’t transfer, organizational gravity will pull you back to the status quo Transfer
7. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software Why adopting agile is hard ?  It’s cannot be entirely bottom-up or top- down ?  The changes are pervasive ?  Best practices are dangerous ?  The end state is unpredictable ?  Must be able to measure and demonstrate the benefits of agile
8. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software Transitioning isn’t about closing gaps ?  There is no end state in agile ?  Your influence is non-deterministic –  You don’t know how the organization will respond ?  Successful adopting agile is about achieving a fit with the environment not closing gaps Current State Desired State Gaps?
9. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software Iterating Toward Agility
10. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software Enterprise Transition Community ?  Creates a culture in which passion and desire to improve thrive ?  Does not direct the transition effort – Provides energy, resources, support and guidance – Removes organizational impediments to agility ?  Encourages Improvement Communities to form
11. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software ETC members ?  Sponsor – From highest level at which change is supported – Not a checkbook-only commitment ?  Others – From any level but driven by desire to improve ?  Disbands when the “transition” part of adopting agile is over
12. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software ETC responsibilities ?  Articulate the reasons for adopting agile ?  Stimulate conversation ?  Provide resources ?  Engage everyone ?  Set appropriate aspirations ?  Anticipate and address people issues and other impediments ?  Encourage simultaneous focus on practices and principles
13. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software An ETC’s improvement backlog Item   Responsible   Note   Create an “Agile Office” where teams can get help. Jim (CTO) to talk this up at monthly development meeting. Let’s see if there’s any interest. Establish an internal program for developing ScrumMasters. How do we identify good internal candidates? How do we develop them? Collect and disseminate Scrum success stories in our company. SC Savannah has expressed interest in this. Resolve dispute with facilities over rearranging second floor cubicles. JS Jim to talk to Ursula in facilities about budget for this. Get more teams to do continuous integration. AA Arie is going to summarize metrics from T-Bone project and see how many teams he can motivate.
14. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software Improvement communities (ICs) ?  Form around the passion of a small number of people – Expand from there ?  Do the real work of improving how the organization implements agile ?  Focus on goals with practical relevance ?  Examples: – ScrumMaster, Testing, Product Owner, Continuous Integration
15. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software Working on an IC ?  An IC works with a project team – Work is not done in an ivory tower ?  Most ICs work in 2–4-week iterations ?  Disband or refocus when goal has been achieved
16. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software An IC Improvement Backlog Figure out how to identify good candidates to become ScrumMasters (in addition to those who ask to participate in this program). Establish an internal mentoring program. Develop some internal classroom training. Which courses? Who can teach them? Can we license courses? Get budget for next year for external coaching. How many days? At what expected daily rate? See what we can do with local user groups to bring in speakers. ETC Improvement Backlog … Establish an internal program for developing ScrumMasters. … Not everything on an IC’s improvement backlog needs to tie back to the ETC’s backlog
17. Copyright 2009, Mountain Goat Software For more information ?  New book available on 9 November ?  About getting started with agile/Scrum – And then getting good at it Sample chapters at: www.SucceedingWithAgile.com