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Minimum Viable Agile: Getting off the Agile Tr...

Troy Tuttle
February 26, 2019

Minimum Viable Agile: Getting off the Agile Treadmill

Is your team or organization on the Agile treadmill? Plan the iteration, commit, build, miss the commitment, plan for a better iteration?

In Lean product development, the minimum viable product or MVP, is often defined as the product that quickly garners the maximum amount of validated learning. It’s a strategy to avoid building products that customers don’t need or want by maximizing our learning.

If we were to apply Minimum Viable Product thinking to our approaches, how do we validate our learning in a transformation process? Are we trying to “do more Agile” than is minimally sufficient? Are we asking the people affected by the planned transformation if they are affected in a positive or negative way?

Session Learning Outcomes:
Cargo cult and tribal approaches to learning Agile are suboptimal.
We benefit from transformation models that enable validated learning and outcome-oriented change.
Many of the Agile industry’s popular practices (sacred cows) do not provide the value (learning) we think they do.

Troy Tuttle

February 26, 2019
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  1. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile - Industry Lessons? Does anyone

    here have to change your password every 3 months? When you go to change your password, do you have content requirements? P@ssw0rd?
  2. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile - Industry Lessons? The guidelines

    were found to actually make our passwords weaker. So they were removed from the NIST guidance in 2017. They were created in 2003! …
  3. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile - Industry Lessons? 1. Expert

    Led (follow best practice) 2. Tribal Learning (copy and mimic) 3. Few feedback loops. The assumptions were not sufficiently tested or challenged! What are we seeing here?
  4. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Detailed sprint planning Formal sprint commitment Work the

    sprint Unfinished work We need to get better at planning sprints Coaching to help improve sprint planning Sprint planning takes longer Management Applies pressure Culture of Blame creeps back in… Team works overtime Minimum Viable Agile - The Dysfunction Spiral
  5. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile - The Dysfunction Spiral Detailed

    sprint planning Formal sprint commitment Work the sprint Unfinished work We need to get better at planning sprints Coaching to help improve sprint planning Sprint planning takes longer Management Applies pressure Culture of Blame creeps back in… Team works overtime
  6. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile Please get into groups of

    two at your tables Roles: 1 coach and 1 client Coaches take notes (vertically)
  7. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile Imagine… 1. What obstacles do

    you see in the way? Everyone able to work consistently at their best: Individuals, teams, between teams, across the organization and beyond Right conversations, right people, best possible moment Needs anticipated, met at just the right time -- agendashift.com/true-north
  8. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile Imagine… 2. What would you

    like to have happen? Everyone able to work consistently at their best: Individuals, teams, between teams, across the organization and beyond Right conversations, right people, best possible moment Needs anticipated, met at just the right time -- agendashift.com/true-north
  9. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile Imagine… 3. Then what happens?

    Everyone able to work consistently at their best: Individuals, teams, between teams, across the organization and beyond Right conversations, right people, best possible moment Needs anticipated, met at just the right time -- agendashift.com/true-north
  10. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile Imagine… 4. Then what happens?

    Everyone able to work consistently at their best: Individuals, teams, between teams, across the organization and beyond Right conversations, right people, best possible moment Needs anticipated, met at just the right time -- agendashift.com/true-north
  11. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile How many coaches recorded the

    words: Agile, Lean, Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, or Cynefin? How about: Standups, Sprints, WIP limits, Kanban boards? Would anyone like to share some obstacles-to-outcomes?
  12. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile Think spaghetti… Agile, Lean, Scrum,

    Kanban, SAFe, Standups, Sprints, WIP limits, Kanban boards
  13. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile Instead of arguing over Agile

    practices and frameworks, and copying what the experts recommend… Start with outcomes that people can agree to. Experiment with practices (options), and test our assumptions.
  14. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile In a world of practice

    prescription, are there alternative methods to Agile transformation?
  15. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile – Experiments A3 Templates We

    believe that <actionable change> will result in <meaningful outcome>. If successful, we might expect to see: <observable impact> <observable impact> -- Burrows, Mike. Agendashift
  16. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile – Toyota Kata Current Condition

    Our Vision Next Target Condition Steps: PDCA P D C A 1. Understand the Direction or Challenge 2. Grasp the Current Condition 3. Establish the Next Target Condition 4. Iterate Toward the Target Condition
  17. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile – Kata Example Obstacle: Incomplete

    Knowledge across teams. Step: Branching Forum Measure: ID cards done, but not merged Expect: More frequent merges to trunk
  18. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile – What is it? Borrowing

    from the Product Development concept of Minimum Viable Product. "The minimum viable product is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort."
  19. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile – What is it? Not

    a brand. Not a framework. Not a prescription. Just an idea to help me to think about improvement differently.
  20. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile – What is it? Minimum

    Viable Agile is … Maximum amount of Validated Learning with the least amount of practice effort. Practitioner-Led rather than Expert-Led. Meets the needs of the people doing the transforming. A recognition that Agile is not the goal, it’s just a tool.
  21. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile – Sacred Cows Let’s look

    at a couple of Agile Sacred Cows: 1. Story Points and Velocity 2. Burn Down Charts
  22. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile - Story Pointing Courtesy of

    Bennet Vallet and Daniel Vacanti Expected Distribution Actual Distribution
  23. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile – Better Planning 1 2

    3 5 8 13 21 40 100 Right-sizing the work Then measure: 1. Cycle or Lead Time 2. Throughput
  24. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile – Burn Down Charts What

    exactly is the team supposed to do with this information? Work Time It’s not actionable!
  25. @troytuttle #LeanAgileUS19 Minimum Viable Agile Maximum amount of Validated Learning

    with the least amount of practice effort. Practitioner-Led rather than Expert-Led. Meets the needs of the people doing the transforming. A recognition that Agile is not the goal, it’s just a tool. Summary