Scaling Collaboration Across the Organization: Agile and Lean Program Management

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Agile & Lean Program Management: Scaling Collaboration Across the Organization Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman www.jrothman.com

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman What Worked? • Clear program vision • Clear deliverables • Feature teams who delivered something daily • Unit tests and system tests as support • Respect and trust across the organization 3 Trust Respect Delivery

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Program Management • Organizing and coordinating several projects’ results into one deliverable. • That deliverable has the value to the organization. • Product focus 4

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Programs Are Riskier Than Projects • Projects don’t scale linearly to programs • Many more risks: • Overall duration • Number of teams, each on their own deliverable (project risks) • Number of features (product risks) • Integrations (mechanical, hardware, other vendors) 5

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman “Scaling” Agility from One to Many Teams • Autonomy: Teams manage how they work • Collaboration: Teams collaborate across the program • Exploration: Must experiment to learn and deliver • Program management creates the environment for the teams to deliver 8

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Programs are Complex or Complicated • Where do you have unknowns? • How can you discover information to reduce risk? (Probe, sense, respond) • Small deliverables • Frequent integration • Experiment and explore everywhere 9

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Organize the Teams • Teams decide on their own agile approach as long as they deliver often • Internal delivery as often as possible (hourly or daily) • External delivery depending on cost • Evolve the architecture • Plan to replan 10

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Agile and Lean Programs Require • Aside from the team’s autonomy, collaboration, and exploration: • Visualize product progress often • Free- fl owing information around the program 11

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Small World Networks • Small world networks are more-and- less connected agile teams • How connected are you to everyone else? • Everyone chooses how connected they are to other people • Programs take advantage of the network so they don’t need hierarchies 14

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Programs Can “Exploit” Small-World Networks • Feature teams take responsibility • Small-world networks provide autonomy and collaboration • Communities of practice help with exploration 15

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Roadmaps & Backlogs Provide Team Autonomy • Roadmap is the wish list • Backlog is what teams will do • Rank everything by value • Sometimes learning about risk is valuable 16

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Reality of Plans… • Some feature sets have more changes, more features • Arrival rate of changes/new features is unpredictable • Some features more valuable than others • Leads to pressure on teams to do “more” & “change” 18

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Embrace Change • Faster releasing leads to faster feedback and risk reduction • Faster feedback leads to a more successful product • Value-based approach to product development 20

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Collaborate with Tests & Integration • Create a program environment where people can collaborate • Autonomous teams deliver features through the architecture • Creates safe exploration of what’s remaining 22

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Changes for Agile & Lean Program Management • Teams (not managers) manage their work: • “Commitment” • How they build features • Evolve architecture • Program management • Removes obstacles • Collects and explains program status 24

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Core Program Team • Manages organizational risks • Core program team has one objective: • Create a great product • They do that by deciding what will create better product business value • Business value is about the market for the product 25

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Software Program Team • Resolves obstacles for technical teams • Focus the teams on the business value of the architecture, the code, the testing… (so they can create a great product) • This is the technical nurturing of the product itself 26

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Seeing Program Progress • Program level measures! • Demos of working product is the best measure • How often can you see a demo? Every day? • Cycle time (for demos, if nothing else) • Never try to do anything with velocity 27

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Manage With Flow Metrics • WIP (Work in Progress) • Cycle or lead time (how long work takes) • Throughput (how much work goes through your “pipe”) • Aging (how old the work is) • See https://www.jrothman.com/ fl ow- metrics for a full explanation 29 Little’s Law:

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Scale Your Collaboration • Small-world networks of collaborative teams who release often to: • See product progress • Reduce risks • Experiment for feedback • Program management removes impediments & shepherds the business value of the product • It’s agile and lean all the way down 30 Trust Respect Delivery

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© 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Let’s Stay in Touch • Pragmatic Manager: • www.jrothman.com/ pragmaticmanager • Please link with me on LinkedIn • Agile and Lean Program Management book: jrothman.com/alpm • Ebook, print, hardcover, audio 31