next level agile - ryan polk

www.rallydev.com

Next Level Agile

Ryan Polk

www.rallydev.comConfidential Do not copy or distribute without express permission of Rally. ©2015 Rally Software Development Corp. All rights reserved.

What Was Rally’s Original Name?

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The Companies

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Overview:

• 10,000+ engineers

• 10+ years of Agile

• Hundreds if not thousands of teams

• Long history of very team-focused Agile practices

• Strong resistance to Agile at scale and product management practices

Results:

• Almost complete lack of ability to manage work across the organization

• Almost no visibility into work, even at the team level

• Regressed Agile practices to the degree of Agile anarchy

• Agile dogma wars

• Team-level Agile practices that are barely recognizable as Agile

• Strong organizational resistance to any new practices

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Large Internet Property


Overview:

• 160+ engineers


• 15 teams

• Long history of experimental Agile practices

• 5+ product lines

• Considerable loss in organizational velocity and value delivery year over year

Results:

• Resistance to any management of work across the product lines

• Evolution to the easy

• Agile is for an engineer’s mindset

• Team-level Agile practices that are barely recognizable as Agile

• Strong organizational resistance to Agile coaching

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Midsize SaaS Company – Early 2014


Overview:

• 200+ engineers


• 18 teams

• Launched their Agile rollout with a focus on total transformation

• Open and honest retrospection on their practices / processes and a willingness to commit to organizational change

• CIO / head of the business completely aligned on mission to improve how they deliver products

Results:

• Total organizational buy-in into Agile principles and practices

• 2+ years of Agile development with considerable improvements in quality, velocity, and customer satisfaction year over year

• Consistent team-level Agile practices

• Consistent organizational practices that align delivery work to the highest-value business priorities

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Midsize 120+ Year Old Insurance Company

How Does This Happen?

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The Problem

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www.rallydev.comConfidential Do not copy or distribute without express permission of Rally. ©2015 Rally Software Development Corp. All rights reserved. - 9 -

Evolution To the Easy


Developer-only Agile


Who Needs Management?

Software developers:Unemployment < 3.5%


Eschewing Commitment


Managing the Matrix

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Moving Resources


• Hidden work

• High Work In Progress (WiP)

• Lack of focus

• Or purposeful focus away from vision

• Learned helplessness

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The Tyranny of the Now


The Solutions

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First Things First – Back To Basics


SAFe, Scaled Agile, and Scaled Agile Framework are trademarks or registered trademarks of Scaled Agile, Inc.

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Transform at Scale


Manage – Program / Product Manage


Limit WiP

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Manage – Program / Product Manage


Big Room Planning

Organize for the Work


Intelligent Design?

Agile Center of Excellence

(CoE)

Coa

chin

g

Organizational change

Training

Com

munity

Platform

Proc

ess


Continually Measure and Transform


The Next Level of Agile

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Starts at Scale

SAFe, Scaled Agile, and Scaled Agile Framework are trademarks or registered trademarks of Scaled Agile, Inc.


Organized for the Work

Agileteam

Agileteam

Agileteam

Agileteam

Product manager

Delivery director

SM

SM

PO

PO

PO

PO

Deliverymanager

Deliverymanager

Communities Of Practice

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Makes and Meets Commitments


Always Transforming


Lead

Agile Center of Excellence

(CoE)

Coa

chin

g

Organizational change

Training

Com

munity

Platform

Proc

ess

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Delivers the Original Promise of Agile

Remember Company 2?

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Overview:• 160+ engineers


• 15 teams

• Re-baselined Scrum Agile practices

• Big Room Planning

• 1 Agile Release Train

• 1 product (feature-based) roadmap

Results:• X2 feature output

• Average 95% commitment / acceptance ratio

• 100% delivery of roadmap commitments

• Considerable Productivity and Predictability gains

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Midsize SaaS Company – Early 2015

Thank you


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