agile thinking

© 2010 1

Agile ThinkingBecoming the best product development & management organization in your market

Edwin Dando26 October 2010

© 2010 2

“Companies have discovered that it takes more than high quality, low cost, and differentiation to excel. It also takes speed and flexibility. This calls for a different approach.”“Traditional sequential or ‘relay race’ approach may conflict goals of maximum speed & flexibility.”“Instead, a holistic or ‘rugby’ approach— where a team tries to go the distance as a unit, passing the ball back and forth—may better serve today's competitive requirements.”

New, New Product Development Game, Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka, Harvard Business Review (1986)

Why Agile Thinking?

© 2010 3

About Me

• MD and founder of Clarus• Clarus exclusive NZ business partner of Scrum co-creator Dr.

Jeff Sutherland• Agile Coach• Using Agile/Scrum since 2002• Software consulting background

• Accenture, Synergy, Gen-I, Vodafone, Telecom and Clarus• Certified Scrum Practitioner and PMP

© 2010 4

“Yeah, we do Agile”

Doing Agile versus Being AgileDoing = following the process and ticking boxesBeing = using it to become the best product development & management organization in your marketThe right thinking is needed to get there. This is why it is hard.

© 2010 5

“Yeah, we Do Agile”

Most implementations doing superficial Agile: ScrumButDone properly, Scrum is a very good framework to

help develop Agile thinking manage the cultural & organisational transition

Scrum will highlight every deficiency and impediment that the enterprise has so the enterprise can fix them and change into the best product development and management organization in its market. – Ken Schwaber, co-inventor of Scrum

© 2010 6

Theory of Constraints – Goldratt, 1984The New New Product Development Game (1986)Empirical Process Control – centuriesToyota Production Systems and Just in Time – 1950’sLean, TQM – Named as Lean in 1990’sServant Leadership – 1970, Robert K. Greenleaf - “The

Servant as Leader”

Is Agile new?

© 2010 7

The philosophical concepts, based on the Agile ManifestoA way of being the best you can while managing change in a transparent, cooperative manner. Frameworks help us transition to Agile Thinking. Frameworks alone do not equal Agile Thinking.

What is Agile Thinking?

© 2010 8

Relay race - one group of functional specialists passing the baton to the next

Project goes sequentially from phase to phaseFunctions specialized and segmented

Marketing people examine customer needs & perceptions in concept phase

R&D engineers selected the appropriate designthe production engineers put it into shapeother functional specialists carried the baton at different stages of

the race.

Old approach to product development

© 2010 9

Product development process emerges from the constant interaction of a multidisciplinary team whose members working together from start to finish.

Rather than moving in defined, highly structured stages, the process is born out of the team members' interplay

Team may be forced to reconsider a decision as a result of later information.

The team does not stop then, but engages in iterative experimentation.This goes on in even the latest phases of the development process.

New approach to product development

© 2010 10

Rugby Approach

Source: The New New Product Development Game, Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka, Harvard Business Review 1986

© 2010 11

1. This approach is essential for companies seeking to develop new products quickly and flexibly.

2. The shift from a linear to an integrated approach encourages trial and error and challenges the status quo.

3. It stimulates new kinds of learning and thinking within the organization at different levels and functions.

4. Just as important, this strategy for product development can act as an agent of change for the larger organization.

5. The energy and motivation the effort produces can spread throughout the big company and begin to break down some of the rigidities that have set in over time.

Findings

© 2010 12

Characteristics of Agile Thinking

Customer CentricityTransparencyAccountability & TrustKaizan cultureBehaviours and feelings matterTeam focusServant LeadershipFeedback

© 2010 13

Customer Centricity

We are in business to develop products for the customerCustomer revenue pays our salaries. Attention turns to what the customer values

Goodbye architecture for the sake of architecture & documentation for the sake of documentation. Hello challenges to accepted norms“But that is how we do software projects here!”“But does that actually of value to the customer?”

Measurements change: customer satisfaction and cycle timeMust have a customer representative

XP – customer onsiteScrum – effective Product Owner

© 2010 14

Transparency

With transparency we can inspect and adaptOpen tradeoffs on project constraints

Scope versus budget versus schedule versus qualityOpen dialogue

We are committed to doing the best possible and need open communicationGoodbye business passing project to IT and coming back at the end.Hello open dialogue, transparency and trustHello collaboration, change, adaption and commitmentHello increased likelihood of meeting expectations

© 2010 15

Accountability & TrustCreate backlog of prioritised product featuresEvery iteration

Meet and collaboratively agree to what can be delivered in the next iteration (features & tasks)

ThroughoutTrack progress in highly visible wayUpdate backlog from using software, market feedback, changes etc

End of iteration Meet to demonstrate delivery of teams commitmentsOpenly inspect team approach seeking constant improvement

Repeat until done

© 2010 16

Kaizen Culture

Constant improvementChallenge the status quoRetrospectives – critical part of inspect and adaptOpen forum to honestly and transparently inspect ourselves as a team

What are we doing well?What are we not doing well?How are we feeling?How can we improve?

© 2010 17

Behaviours and feelings matter

It is not all about Intelligence QuotientEQ is just as (if not more) important

software mainly delivered by teamsIt is not all about you!

My retrospectivesEmotional seismographOpportunity to discuss behaviours, communicationOften new and unfamiliar, especially for engineers

Social norms and team contracts

© 2010 18

Team focusFocus on teams performanceWe are as good as our slowest memberTuckman’s research: teams go through 4 stages of development1. Forming - Individuals meet and learn about goals, opportunities. Little

shared knowledge, no trust yet, strong desire for direction. 2. Storming - Conflict and polarization around interpersonal issues, roles,

goals, standards and processes.3. Norming - Team identity and cohesiveness develops, new standards

evolve, and new roles are adopted.4. Performing - High degree of cooperation and interdependence. Goals

are achieved smoothly and effectively with a minimum of conflict.

Bruce Tuckman - 1965

© 2010 19

Servant Leadership

Create highly fertile environment that nurtures successallows constrained failureharnesses multiple perspectives to problem solving

Removes impediments to the teams progressEnvironmentBureaucracyInterruptions and distractionsExecutive communicationOrganisational and cultural change

© 2010 20

Feedback

Constant feedback loops back into “the system”Product Owner

Use the latest delivered version of the softwareChange your mind as you see fit (it is your cheque book) but not during the iterationCommunicate clearly with the team

TeamMake a commitment then demonstrate delivery of itReview yourself regularly (suggestion: every iteration)Creative criticism focused on constant improvement

© 2010 21

How do we think Agile?

We have been schooled in relay race, hierarchical thinking. Changing this is difficultBehaviours required

CourageDisciplinePassion

How we help our clients do it at ClarusTraining: baseline knowledge for everyoneCoaching: putting it into actionLeadership: constantly improving by being Agile

© 2010 22

Transitioning to being Agile is hardThe most serious impediments to using Scrum are habits of waterfall, predictive thinking; these have spawned command and control management, belief that demanding something will make it happen, and the willingness of development to cut quality to meet dates. These are inbred habits that we aren't even aware of anymore.

Iterative, incremental development is much harder than waterfall development; everything that was hard in waterfall engineering practices now has to be done every iteration, and this is incredibly hard. It is not impossible, but has to be worked toward over time.

The role of an enterprises management changes from telling people what to do to leading and helping everyone do their best to achieve goals.

Source: Ken Schwaber, Scrum is Hard and Disruptive, 2006

© 2010 23

Transitioning to being Agile is hard

Scrum is not a methodology that needs enhancing. That is how we got into trouble in the first place, thinking that the problem was not having a perfect methodology. Effort centres on the changes in the enterprise that is needed.

Whenever an enterprise modifies or only partially implements Scrum, it is hiding or obscuring one or more dysfunctionalities that restrict its competence in product development and management.

The focus of using Scrum is the change from old habits to new ways of doing business. Scrum is not implemented or rolled-out as a process; it is used to foment change.

Source: Ken Schwaber, Scrum is Hard and Disruptive, 2006

© 2010 24

...but worth it

I am indebted to you, Agile & <company name> - I find IT fun again. I was seriously investigating making a career change and had dabbled in lecturing last year; the way the BA role was going at <old job> and other corporates, it just wasn't fun or rewarding. This is the most fun and job satisfaction I've had for at least 7 years. I like how we can all cross over into each other's domain at any time, if that's what it takes to get something done. You've put together a great team that knows how to deliver but still enjoys themselves every step of the way.You have left us (and me personally) with a small revolution in the way we work here. Agile is just what we need here to re-build our teams and re-focus this company. Thank you.

© 2010 26

About Clarus

We improve the business of ITConsulting – delivering outcomesMentored Learning (injecting our IP into your via business training

with mentoring)Project Resourcing

Agile Adoption & CoachingBusiness AnalysisSoftware TestingProject ManagementSoftware Development & Architecture

Certified Scrum TrainingProject Quality AssuranceProject & Technology AuditIT ManagementBusiness Continuity