Nicolas Tricot & François EschJune 14th 2017

The adventure of the BlaBlaCar team in its quest to the holy grail of Agility,

from it’s missguided Scrum beginning to the temple of hidden Kanban wisdom, through the treacherous waters of the

Agile transition.

Nicolas TricotEngineering Manager

@BlaBlaCar since March 2014

François EschAgile Coach

@BlaBlaCar since July 2015

1. Raiders of the lost Post-it

2012 2013 2014

1st tryPrehistory 2nd try

Smallteams

Stand-ups Tasks assigned

Prehistory

Agile by nature!

Only thing taken from ScrumStand-ups (kind of…)

5 devs + 1 Proj. Manager + 3 productsSmall teams

And followed directlyTasks assigned

2012 2013 2014

1st tryPrehistory 2nd try

SCRUM=

Stand-up!(right?)

First try

Issues

No leader / No follow-up

Almost Waterfall

Lack of knowledge & legitimacy

Win

???

“Wall” between tech and product

Ok, so SCRUMis s***!

2012 2013 2014

1st tryPrehistory 2nd try

Christian’s arrivalA new impulse...

Let’s introduce Complexity &

Indicators!

Every week, I will compare

individual velocity...

2012 2013 2014

1st tryPrehistory 2nd try

1. Reward2. Vision

3. Communicate

ConvinceAdopt philosophy (instead of tools)

1 2

4 3

LegitimacyHelp from outside

Agile MentorIdentified go to

person

Optimism“Reflexion in June,

set in July!”

How?

by the book...

We like having

problems!

2012 2013 2014

1st tryPrehistory 2nd try

Go!1 Overnight

1 week sprintsStand-ups + THE ceremony

Sprint goals

Accurate metrics

Physical boards

2

3

4

5

Acting out...

6

DemosContinuous

Delivery

It works!

Now, we talk about team velocity, not

individual velocity...

Second try

Win

Commitment on deliveries

Coaching vs. Directing

Tech / Product reconciliation

Better visibility

Better formalize before starting

Issues

Oversight feeling

Sprint backlog frozen!(what about prod issues?)

Ceremonies duration

2. The process of Doom

Mid 2015 Early 2016 2016

ScrumbanKanban A custom process

KANBAN=

Rollin’ with the flow!

Kanban

Win

Goodbye poker planning

Less meetings

Nice to handle run!

Issues

Grooming sessions?

Delivery visibility for PO?

Sprint goals?

Trendy but is it really adapted for every teams?

WAIT…Does easier really means

better?

Mid 2015 Early 2016 2016

ScrumbanKanban A custom process

1st full-time Agile Coach internal job

position

I’m fully involved in helping you with the teams!

Mid 2015 Early 2016 2016

ScrumbanKanban A custom process

Let’s keep the heart of Scrum

and add a pinch of Kanban!

The best of both worlds?

1

Run bandwidth

2 week sprintsStand-ups + THE ceremony

Scrum/Kanban JIRA boardsfor distributed teams

2

3

4

5

Scrumban

6

No poker planning but backlog grooming

1 ticket ~ 1 day

Sprint goals

Mid 2015 Early 2016 2016

ScrumbanKanban A custom process

PROCESS=

One size fits all?

Each team can own its process

and make it evolve...

How do teams actually work?

All squadshave/do:

● Belong to a Tribe ● A Mission● 2 Weeks Sprint/Kanban

● JIRA board● Peer code review● Continuously push to prod

● A Product Owner● A Lead Engineer● An Agile Coach● Daily stand-up● Sit together

Most squadshave/do:

● Planning sessions● Backlog grooming● Multidisciplinary skills● Global Friday Demos● Retrospectives

● Measure Velocity● Estimate tickets● Burn-up/Burn-down

charts

Some squadshave/do:

● Sprint Demos● Remote members

3. The Agile Crusade

End 2015 2016 Early 2017

Tribes’ refinementTribes’ birth Operating

mode

Decision Chain

Too long...

Ownership

Not enough...

Status

Roadmaps

Too long...

Let’s go for Tribes!

Inspired by

TRIBENeed/Business Lead (Why?)Tech Lead (How? When?)

Product Lead (What?)

Squad #1

Squad #2

Squad #...

Data Analyst

QA

UX / UI

Android Eng.

iOS Eng.

Frontend Eng.

Backend Eng.

Agile Coach

...

Tribes & Squads

Grow CareMonetize Satisfy Trust Engage

Nicolas Francis Frédéric FoundersSponsors

Tribes

TribeLeads

Squads

Member Lifecycle

Matching

Booking

Payment

Care Satisfy Trust Engage

Pricing

Transversal & Core Teams

Direct interaction between all

team members

Shared mission + Everyone

involved to build the roadmap

More ownership More commitment

Faster deliveryMore alignment Faster decisions

Main advantages

Less dependencies

between teams

How to keep our expertise if we’re all spread

in tribes?

There’s always room for

improvement!

End 2015 2016 Early 2017

Tribes’ refinementTribes’ birth Operating

mode

Room for improvement

Shared missionOwnership Overlap

Orphan bugs syndrome

Dependencies between projects

Synchro Chapter lead

Changes that impact other

projects

Transversal technicalmigration

End 2015 2016 Early 2017

Tribes’ refinementTribes’ birth Operating

mode

A dedicated Agile Team

The more people we have, the

greater the joy!

A dedicated Agile Team

3,5Agile Coaches (3 full-time, 1 part-time)

To help some Tech Managers who previously endorsed the role of Scrum Master

Let’s try identifying problems before!

Squad Health Check

A global picture

Transversal improvements?

Focus on Squad issues

Less is more...

Tribes & Squads refinement

Grow

Publish

Matching

Transversal Teams

Monetize

Payment

Price

Relate

Interact

Guide

Platform

Foundations Core Teams

Data Realms

End 2015 2016 Early 2017

Tribes’ refinementTribes’ birth Operating

mode

Product North Star

Product Manifesto Programs

A new operating mode

Long-term Company

vision

North Star’s Product

translation

Kick-off days & Objective Key Results

4. The Kingdom of the Crystal Board?

Are you sure it’s the best way?

Doesn’t it look like a more top-down

approach?

Are Deadlines Agile?

How to involve everyone but still make fast

decisions?

Isn’t the roadmap cast in

stone?

“Plans are useless, but planning is

indispensable”

?Questions?

Thanks!