Unstuck: Laying the Foundations for Fast Flow in a Public Sector Regulator

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Matt Doherty Head of Delivery Capability The Pensions Regulator Benedict Steele Fast Flow Consultant The Pensions Regulator

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Matt Doherty Head of Delivery Capability The Pensions Regulator Benedict Steele Fast Flow Consultant The Pensions Regulator

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Matt Doherty Head of Delivery Capability The Pensions Regulator Benedict Steele Fast Flow Consultant The Pensions Regulator

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Do you do trunk-based development?

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Yes

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How long does a branch live?

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Two to three weeks “Very Short Lived”

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Nobody was lying

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We did exactly the same thing with Team Topologies

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Unstuck Laying the foundations for fast flow in a public sector regulator Our story so far…

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Hands up if you have a workplace pension

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£115m 22 Million ~1000 Colleagues £1.7 Billion ~200 People in DDaT

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The abstract for our talk says “stream-aligned”

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We don’t use that word

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SPOILER ALERT! Our adoption of Team Topologies succeeded…

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SPOILER ALERT! Our adoption of Team Topologies succeeded…

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SPOILER ALERT! Our adoption of Team Topologies succeeded… a bit

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2021 - Ten year contract ended Highly-coupled High-volume Tech debt High-profile O12 AE BSSH

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Technology is a supplier

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Long-lived teams are a fixed cost

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Sponsors who gave us cover Space to try things

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Two teams As a trial

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A long time where nothing shipped

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Just do one thing!

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Nobody needed a definition We had all lived it

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Improved user experience Increased deployment frequency Costs coming down Incident resolution time reduced Change the business could see Significant tech debt reduced

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Change delivered! Savings! Stability!

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THIS IS GREAT. LET'S DO IT ACROSS THE REST OF THE ORGANISATION.

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So, we copied it

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Design the teams in two weeks

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The first time, we started with a trial The second time, we started with the flagship

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We took the team types We left the environment behind 1

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Nobody had written down why Automatic Enrolment worked Including us

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What do I mean when I say "template"?

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Two teams Two answers

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We didn’t find out until go-live

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Meaning has long-lived branches too

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Externally, we delivered what we committed AE

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We got stuck! Delivering the thing became more important than how we delivered it

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What steps did you take to become less stuck?

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Achievement Unlocked 41

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Last October This conference

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We found our inspiration

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This room

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So, we brought people in

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What does it feel like to deliver at The Pensions Regulator?

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We listened We observed We didn’t judge

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What do you mean when you say trunk-based development?

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Same word Different picture

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Discussion: defending what you mean Dialogue: finding out what they mean

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20+ interviews 11 team workshops 72 people surveyed Flow of work mapped across teams

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There is no villain in this story

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A team type is a claim about what a team can decide on its own If nothing changed about what they can decide, you have just renamed them

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Teams had learned that proposing an improvement did not reliably lead to action

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Often the instinct of leaders is to step in and clear the path for them It works once

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Product Delivery Engineering

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The gap wasn’t a mindset It was environmental

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Shared language Shared mental models Lived experience as a team

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Do real work together Build a shared picture of how things work Name things the same way Co-ordinate with less effort 61

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Hands up if “platform” means infrastructure

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Everyone in this room has read the same book

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Find the gap in understanding before go-live

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What do I mean when I say “team”?

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When you say "team" people often think in terms of who the line manager is

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Service teams Platform groups Enabling _____

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What do I mean when I say "platform"?

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"You say the word. I don't understand it the way you're using it."

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Several weeks of work became a day

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What do I mean when I say "measure"?

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"What measurable reduction in duplication, cost, or delivery effort will this produce?"

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We don’t yet know We are getting close to knowing

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Starting small Making flow metrics visible and accessible

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One more thing

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Twelve coaching sessions High attendance Real engagement in the room

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Almost nobody did the homework

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We had assumed people had an hour a fortnight that was theirs We hadn’t checked

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This time, We check first.

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Is the ground ready? Teams that last A release path that can flex A sponsor who can change a boundary Permission to act on what we find

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Then: Does the team have room?

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We ask some questions twice Once with the sponsor Once with the team

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The gap is the finding

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Some teams do not have the space Not ready is about the ground, not the team. BSSH

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Three Enabling _____, Three Platform Groups go first.

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Their first job: make room for everyone else

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If there is no slack, the slack is the intervention

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Write down what would make you wrong

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What do I mean when I say "enabling"?

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Carrying the conditions

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Product Delivery Engineering

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Share Debate Act P-D-E

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Three Enabling teams One triad

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Success is when the teams are selfsustaining, and then we help the next one…

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1. Copy the conditions, not the structure. 2. Check the ground before you start. 3. When people disagree about whether they’re ready, listen to that.