Agile & the Large Organization: A Perfect Match

Deliver working, bug-free software daily using Acceptance Test Driven Development, TDD, Continuous Integration, Automated Infrastructure and Cloud Based Deployments connected to Internal Data Centers. All of this in a regulated, siloed, schedule driven and extremely political environment. Add to this long release cycles, slow hardware procurements, technology review boards, and cranky sysadmins. Think it's not possible?

Join Alyssa Riedl, Director at the US Department of Treasury and Nayan Hajratwala, Lean/Agile Coach as they discuss their experiences delivering a multi-billion dollar project based on Agile Principles and Practices where no one thought it was possible and without the use of any branded "Scaling Frameworks". Spoiler Alert: Requires a commitment to effective collaboration and an open culture.

Transcript

1. A G I L E & T H E L A R G E O R G A N I Z AT I O N : N A YA N H A J R A T WA L A C O A C H - K C P C S P C S D C S M C J P N A YA N @ C H I K L I . C O M T W I T T E R : @ N H A J R A T W A P E R F E C T M A T C H A LY S S A R I E D L D I R E C T O R D E B T M A N A G E M E N T S E R V I C E S A LY S S A . R I E D L @ F I S C A L . T R E A S U RY. G O V
2. P E O P L E P R O B L E M S • Command & Control Leadership • Changing Team Dynamics • Siloed Skill Sets • Shared Operations Staff
3. P R O C E S S P R O B L E M S • Long Release Cycles • Slow Hardware Procurement • Technology Review Board • Security Reviews • Change Management
4. L O N G R E L E A S E C Y C L E S P R O C E S S P R O B L E M # 1
5. • 6 months to get a normal, low-risk change into production due to gates & manual testing, but…
6. Build Artifacts + Isolation Tests Automated Acceptance Tests! (Cucumber, Selenium) Pushbutton Deploy AWS Smoke Test Source Control Automated Security & Quality Scans Pushbutton Deploy Internal Data Center Smoke Test Production! Build Environment! (Chef)
7. S E T U P F O R C O N T I N U O U S D E L I V E RY • Team Co-location • Small Features • Three Amigos (ATDD) • Continuous Integration • Pushbutton Deployments • Automate Everything
11. S L O W H A R D WA R E P R O C U R E M E N T P R O C E S S P R O B L E M # 2
12. B E F O R E 1. Write business case - 1 day 2. Wait for approval - 1 week 3. Order Server - 1 day 4. Wait for delivery - 1 week 5. Install Server in Rack - 1 week 6. Install Software - 2-3 weeks Total: 6+ weeks
13. A F T E R 1. Decide I need a server - 5 minutes 2. Log in to AWS and create server - 5 minutes 3. Wait for server to start (5 minutes) 4. Run Chef Cookbooks (5 minutes - 2 hours) Total: < 3 hours
14. S T I L L N E E D S W O R K • Production deployments still occurring in internal data center… • So new production servers still have a long lead time
15. T E C H N O L O G Y R E V I E W B O A R D P R O C E S S P R O B L E M # 3
16. • Become familiar with the process • Quickly submit any new desired technologies • If it meets a business need, use it. • Never deselect technology because it “isn’t on the list”
17. S E C U R I T Y R E V I E W S P R O C E S S P R O B L E M # 4
18. B E F O R E • Code: • Team level code reviews • Pre-deployment scans • DB: • Manual updates by DBAs • Server • Manual updates by SAs
19. A F T E R • Code: • Paired Programming • Scans integrated into CI • DB: • Versioning & Automation (Flyway) • Server • Versioning & Automation (Chef)
20. S T I L L N E E D S W O R K • Paired Programming not occurring 100% of time • Database replication causing some issues with automation • Internal Data Center has some manual work to create servers
21. C H A N G E M A N A G E M E N T P R O C E S S P R O B L E M # 5
22. • Address root regulations rather than accept standard practices • Build process around best & most lightweight tools possible
23. P E O P L E P R O B L E M S • Command & Control Leadership • Changing Team Dynamics • Siloed Skill Sets • Shared Operations Staff
24. C O M M A N D & C O N T R O L L E A D E R S H I P P E O P L E P R O B L E M # 1
25. • Problem: Repeated disappointments lead to lack of trust in teams to deliver. • Solution: Demos every 2-3 weeks showing running, tested, features. No Mockups!
26. • Problem: Desire to build “ilities” framework - security, configurability, scalability • Solution: Define specific examples of these in the context of a feature using the INVEST mnemonic
27. I N V E S T • I - Independent: is self contained • N - Negotiable: can be changed until started • V - Valuable: for the end user • E - Estimable: have some idea of how big it is • S - Small: no more than 3 days development effort • T - Testable: must know whether it works. (automate!)
28. • Problem: Desire to develop a process that can be dropped in to other teams • Solution: Continuous education about the core principles of agile • http://j.mp/nayan-agile-principles • https://speakerdeck.com/nhajratw/agile-from- principles-to-practice
29. I T ’ S A B O U T T H E J O U R N E Y
30. • Problem: Desire to have a fixed scope, fixed date solution • Solution: • Never compromise on quality • So what has to give?
31. F I X E D D AT E • Date was arbitrary - based on vendor contract period, not business need.
32. F I X E D S C O P E • Estimation Failure • WBS does not work for projects with high variability. • https:// www.youtube.com/watch? feature=player_detailpag e&v=GiPe1OiKQuk#t=6 • > 2 weeks does not work
33. F E AT U R E S P L I T T I N G “We need feature X” X
34. “Which of these smaller features do we need?” X1 X2 X3 X4 F E AT U R E S P L I T T I N G
35. “We really only need feature X1 and X4” X1 X4 F E AT U R E S P L I T T I N G
36. C H A N G I N G T E A M D Y N A M I C S P E O P L E P R O B L E M # 2
37. S U P P LY T H E B E S T T O O L S AVA I L A B L E
38. • Involve them in decisions about WHAT needs to be built • Ensure they know WHY it needs to be built • Empower them to decide HOW to build it.
39. S I L O E D S K I L L S E T S P E O P L E P R O B L E M # 3
40. • Pairing different roles • ATDD - Three Amigos again • Ran into problems with organizations outside sphere of influence
41. S H A R E D O P E R AT I O N S S TA F F P E O P L E P R O B L E M # 4
42. • Attempted to alleviate work by cross-training others so backups have sufficient capability • Root cause of this is the organization’s focus on maximizing utilization
43. Time In Process 0 75 150 225 300 Utilization 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% :-| :-) :-D :-(
44. A G I L E & T H E V E RY L A R G E O R G A N I Z AT I O N : N A YA N H A J R A T WA L A - N A YA N @ C H I K L I . C O M T W I T T E R : @ N H A J R A T W K C P C S P C S D C S M C J P A P E R F E C T M A T C H