confessions of a coach

Confessions of a Coach: Agile Adoption War Stories

Marko Taipale twitter: @markotaipale Potsdam, Berlin 2013

Why?

Sharing is Caring!

You guys are smart - do not repeat my mistakes :)

3Stories

Livin’ on a Prayer

Background: Subcontractor, 3 teams, customer already “agile”

Assignment: “Help us to deliver in Agile way!”

“We need expertise to deliver this on time”

I had to figure out where they are

600 use cases

600 use cases

6 cases / month

600 use cases

100 months of work

6 cases / month

600 use cases

6 cases / month

100 months of work

400% improvement, 600 / 24 = 25 months

600 use cases

100 months of work

400% improvement, 600 / 24 = 25 months

They got 6 months

6 cases / month

What would you do?

What is the purpose of this system?

Customer went crazy... and then Subcontractor

went to denial

“We just need stronger management to push this trough”

I got repositioned

Result: Subcontractor told that they are not going to renegotiate the deal

Lesson: Make them to study the situation and have no agenda

The Goal

Background: 500+ employee software company, some Scrum teams

Assignment: Improve our time-to-market

“We are way too slow!”

Value Stream

Order Prioritise Resource allocation

Dev & Test

Order Prioritise Resource allocation

Dev & Test

8 months

2m 6m1d1d1w 1w

Order Prioritise Resource allocation

Dev & Test

420 5

8 months

160

2m 6m1d1d

Active orders

Waiting for resources Released

1w 1w

I took a look at how they feed the system

DevDirPortfolio

Goal: profit, cost-effective, fast

PO PO PO

What is the priority?

I. RegulationsII. Biz devIII. Customer reqs

DevDirPortfolio

Goal: profit, cost-effective, fast

PO PO PO

What is the priority?

I. RegulationsII. Biz devIII. Customer reqs

DevDirPortfolio

Goal: profit, cost-effective, fast

Sales Dir

Bonus!

How do I get bonus?!

Goal: Growth!

PO PO PO

What is the priority?

I. RegulationsII. Biz devIII. Customer reqs

DevDirPortfolio

Goal: profit, cost-effective, fast

Sales Dir

Bonus!

How do I get bonus?!

Goal: Growth!

Contract

Sanction clause

PO PO PO

What is the priority?

I. RegulationsII. Biz devIII. Customer reqs

DevDirPortfolio

Goal: profit, cost-effective, fast

Sales Dir

Bonus!

How do I get bonus?!

Goal: Growth!

Contract

Sanction clause

HIGH RISK!

What would you do?

What is the purpose of this system?

Connect Development and Sales Directors

“We shall take care of this!”

Result: a new way to control resource allocation (?!)

Lesson: Misaligned goals with incentives destroy the system performance.

There are no “evil” people rather systems that reward counter-productive behavior.

The Whole

Background: International gaming company, TO 100 Meur, 400+ people

Assignment: “Scale up our product development to serve the needs of the business.”

“Our product development is the bottleneck”

After 2 years10+ Scrum teams,

6 week company wide sprints

We’re done, right?

Business Development:

“I do not know what have you done, but we have not improved a bit...”

Development

2m (6m)

Development Deployment

2m (6m) 3w

IdeaInternalapproval

Customerapproval Resourcing

Design Development Deployment

2h 2h

2m (6m) 3w1m

1d

Idea

35

Internalapproval

Customerapproval Resourcing

Design Development Deployment

1215

2h 6m

6m 6m

1w

2h

2m (6m) 3w1m

1d1m2d

3m24m

Idea

35

Internalapproval

Customerapproval Resourcing

Design Development Deployment

1215

2h 6m

6m 6m

1w

2h

Scrum!

2m (6m) 3w1m

1d1m2d

3m24m

Idea

35

Internalapproval

Customerapproval Resourcing

Design Development Deployment

1215

2h 6m

6m 6m

1w

2h

Scrum!

2m (6m) 3w1m

1d1m2d

3m24m

Thanks to Henrik Kniberg taking the shot! :)

What would you do?

What is the purpose of this system?

Development Director

“You shall not show this to anyone...”

Why?

Development

3m3-6

0-3kkIdeas..

After some drastic changes...

Result: Time-to-Market 24 months to 3 months

Lesson: • Beware suboptimization -> Optimize the whole• Showing it does not mean fixing it• Find a way to get commitment

What can we learn from this?

Thinking

System

Performance

Thinking

System

Performance

Analysis Change

Purpose

Metrics

Permission

Change

Context

Purpose

Metrics

Permission

Change

Clarify the purpose of the company (from customer point of view)

Measure how the system fulfills it’s purpose

Context

Get the permission (and commitment) for change

Understand the boundaries and SWOT

Change the system, only implement changes that are relevant to the purpose

Purpose

Metrics

Permission

Change

Context

Coach the management to do this

Purpose

Metrics

Permission

Change

Context

PDCA cycles

It is not about agile or lean...... nor transformation

It is not about agile or lean...... nor transformation

It is about the system...

... and fulfilling the purpose of the system

It is not about agile or lean...... nor transformation

You are not going to change a thing...... but you can initiate the change

It is about the system...

... and fulfilling the purpose of the system

Marko Taipale• Principal consultant with agile/lean mindset, CTO, Advisor

• 15+ years of software development

• Capabilities to deliver products from concept to cash

• Tens of public speaking appearances

International online gaming company (TO 100+ Meur) improved time-to-market from 24 months to 3 months

Energy company purchased process control system and got the delivery 4 times faster than expected. The system secured the business for next 2 years.

Software company validated new business model for new product in 2 months.

Software product company saved 1,3 Meur / year in management and administration.

Please  evaluate  my  presenta/on  by  using  the  evalua/on  booklets  which  you  can  find  in  your  conference  bag.Thank  you!