successful agile teams at scale

Successful Agile Teams at Scale

Julian Holmes, AgileMentors

Agenda▪ Why Agile? ▪ Defining ”Agile Teams at Scale” ▪ Scaling Agile Frameworks ▪ Large and Distributed team structures ▪ Enterprise Agile Transformation ▪ Supporting Practices and Techniques ▪ Summary

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▪ Global Rational User Community

Everybody wants to be Agile

▪ Why? – Better Results – Shorten Time-to-Market – Adapt to Changing Needs – Improved Quality – Maximize ROI

▪ How? - Requires Change – Business – Organizational – Cultural – Commercial/Contractual – Ways of Working

What is “Agile”? – Some Truths

▪ A movement ▪ Based on management theory ▪ A collection of lightweight methods ▪ Empirical and adaptive ▪ Simplistic and pure ▪ Idealistic

What Does it Mean to Scale Agile?

Selection Factors Scaling Factors

Hybrid Method Frameworks

• Single methods don’t have all the answers

• SDLC 3.0 first defined a hybrid framework

• DAD and SAFe are both instances.

• DAD is evolving into a process decision framework

Greater Discipline

▪ Agile Foundation ▪ DAD Extension ▪ Risk Management ▪ Delivery Assurance ▪ Governance

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▪ All required to allow for Scale

The roles of Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD)

Moving from Traditional to Agile Roles

▪ Traditional roles are impacted by modern practices

▪ Siloed roles need to embrace cross-functional mindset

▪ There is a place for all roles in the agile organization

▪ New skills and responsibilities ▪ Requires organization-wide

buy-in * Scott W Ambler, 2011

Structuring a Growing Team

Small Team Effective up to 7 ± 2

Vision

Medium Team Effective from 10 up to 30

Large Team Effective from 30 upwards

Product Team

Deployment

Configuration Management

Solution Architect

Technical Expert

Build Management

Technical Support Team (sample roles)

Environment Support

Product Analyst

Product Architect

Engagement Manager

Scrum Master

Governance Team (sample roles)

Product Owner

Test Management

PMO

Feature Team(s)

V

Shared Vision

Enterprise Architect (supports Product

Architect)Independent Testing Team (permanent / part time)

Evolving Team Structure

Feature Owner Feature Analyst Developer Feature Architect Tester Scrum Master

* Capgemini UK plc, 2013

Distributed Agile Teams at Scale

▪ Start local and establish a common culture ▪ Build a high-performing approach ▪ Implement and prove your collaboration tools ▪ Maintain constant cross-location transparency ▪ Budget for travel ▪ Don’t isolate “whole teams” ▪ Keep all locations “equal” ▪ Budget for some role duplication

Agile Transformation – Cultural Challenges

▪ Cargo cult change ▪ Matching practice to

culture ▪ Individuals vs. teams ▪ Fear of transparency ▪ Rewards and recognition ▪ Outsourcing vs. fostering ▪ Beware of PANDA!

* Cameron & Quinn’s Competing Value Framework, 2005

Agile Culture Change

▪ It has to start at an individual level

▪ The team has to be empowered

▪ The organisation must want to learn

▪ Communities must be fostered

Activity Coordination

▪ Collaboration is key ▪ A range of practice

options available ▪ Some enable Agile,

others less so ▪ Scales of maturity, or

recommended options

Enterprise Alignment

▪ Increasing organisation-wide maturity

▪ Aligning across programs of work

▪ Governing effectively !

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disciplinedagiledelivery.com

Agile ALM Support with Jazz

▪ Jazz platform supports the practices of agile teams at scale

▪ Enabling collaboration, transparency, and integration

RationalRequirements

Composer

RationalTeam

Concert

RationalQuality

Manager

The Rational solution for Application Lifecycle Management

Architect

Analyst Developer

Quality professional

Deploymentengineer

Beyond Cargo Cult Coaching

▪ More than just certified “scam-masters”

▪ Reality over rhetoric ▪ Coaching supported with

empiricism ▪ Pragmatic application of

practices ▪ True “journeyman” change

agents

Successful Agile Teams at Scale – Summary ▪ Agile adoption will give the

potential for: – Shortened time-to-value – Greater predictability – Ability to react to change – Improved business

relationship and trust – Reduced waste – “Better” solutions

▪ But it will require: – An investment in people – Business engagement – A “one team” mentality – A process decision framework – Measures that support the

approach – Collaboration tools – Experienced support

The Global Rational User Community

A brief introduction

© 2013 IBM Corporation

GRUC – An Active, Growing and Participating Audience

▪ The Global Rational User Community ▪ A collection of over 100 local & virtual groups with 15k members!

– www.rational-ug.org ▪ Vision:

– To promote the effective use of Rational solutions through an active, collaborative community of customers, partners, and IT professionals

▪ User Groups: – A group of customers who actively work with Rational and are interested in

learning and sharing information and experiences about their solutions with other customers to assist with Rational Product implementation

– Independently owned and run by users

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Resources: The website is key - www.rational-ug.org

Available Resources ▪ Content libraries

– Miss a webcast or looking for resources? Our content is available to you as a member

▪ User Forums – Ask questions or start conversations

with other users ▪ Collaborate with IBM staff/executives

– Utilize the “Ask the Experts” section to get the answers to your specific questions

▪ Local User Groups – Connect with uses near you

▪ Virtual User Groups – Find other users in the same industry/

interest area to collaborate with ▪ Exclusive webcasts and events

– Keep sharp and continue to learn about Rational with expert-led trainings and group meetings

▪ Rational and Industry expert blogs – Search for the info you need, or follow

our posts to stay ahead of the competition

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Corporate User GroupsEnable efficient sharing of knowledge and experiences with employees around the world: ▪ Employees leverage Communities to learn, train & gain ▪ Easily communicate with development groups ▪ Track training or content consumption ▪ Accelerate problem resolution ▪ Develop your own centralized content library ▪ Leverage IBM for expertise ▪ FREE service

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What can you do to get value from the RUC?▪ Register on the web-site

– Make sure you allow us to send you our newsletters ▪ Join some Groups

– At least one local group, and perhaps a few of the virtual groups ▪ Review the Content Library

– There’s lots of value that we have already provided ▪ Contribute

– Discussions, forums, content ▪ Volunteer

– Present your experiences, provide venues, invite your peers

Next Steps

▪ Join the Swedish Rational User Group – Register at rational-ug.org – Perhaps volunteer to host or present at a meeting

▪ Consider your own private Corporate User Group: – Find detailed information online: rational-ug.org/crugs

• Julie Jordan, Rational User Community Programs: jordanju@us.ibm.com

• Rod Baptie, Baptie & Co., rbaptie@baptie.com

▪ Discuss either option with us here at RUC SE

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