Chaos and Collaboration A Successful Adoption of Scrum by a Government Department Pete George George Training & Development Ltd

“Almost exactly a year ago I set you the challenge of delivering a … capability … You successfully met this challenge and delivered us a significant new capability in July. Since then, the capability has been used to support a large number of … operations, a number of which have represented major gains for HMG … It’s been a fantastic 7 months … we couldn’t have done it without you!” Extract from a letter by the Deputy Director of a large HMG department, Jan 2010

APP1 APP2 APP3 APP4 APP5 APP8 APP7 APP6 The Challenge

The Answer??

“[Scrum] was a breath of fresh air really. It helped us clear the deadwood out of our processes and practices, which we’d adhered to ‘slavishly’. It gave us a clear connection to users” Technical Architect, Blazing Saddles Team

2005 – Customer Wanted

Construction Construction Construction Construction

Customer Got

Customer Finally Got

Customer Wanted

APP1 APP2 APP3 The Conclusion

Scrum Artefacts Product Backlog Sprint Backlog Sprin t Release Period Product Increment Burndown Chart

Scrum Artefacts Product Backlog Sprint Backlog Sprin t Release Period Product Increment Burndown Chart

Scrum Roles The Team Product Owner Scrum Master

BzS Product Owner Saw Team’s problems first-hand Relegated Backlog items Managed users’ expectations Focused Team on completing applications Ensured most important applications delivered Collaborated on estimates for post-July work

BzS Product Owner Saw Team’s problems first-hand Relegated Backlog items Managed users’ expectations Focused Team on completing applications Ensured most important applications delivered Collaborated on estimates for post-July work

Scrum Ceremonies Sprint Product Backlog Prioritisatio n Sprint Backlog Planning Review/Dem o Retrospecti ve Daily Scru m

Scrum Ceremonies Sprint Product Backlog Prioritisatio n Sprint Backlog Planning Review/Dem o Retrospecti ve Daily Scru m

“One of the best things I found was the close working with the principal users, having them present in the daily stand up was a boon in sanity checking our understanding of requirements and also to get ‘micro priority judgements’…It was a satisfying way of working because of the continuous feedback.” Developer, Blazing Saddles Team

“[the user community] always had something constructive to add and it made it seem to me that they were delivering a ‘buy in’ to the Product.” Tester, Blazing Saddles Team

Increased Collaboration Demonstration feedback Test charters Pair-based exploratory testing Alpha testing Beta testing

Increased Collaboration Demonstration feedback Test charters Pair-based exploratory testing Alpha testing Beta testing

Chaos? Technical Debt Support Costs Practices not principles Culture shock within Team Conflicting methodologies across the organisation No time for Retrospectives

Chaos? Technical Debt Support Costs Practices not principles Culture shock within Team Conflicting methodologies across the organisation No time for Retrospectives

Chaos? Technical Debt Support Costs Practices not principles Culture shock within Team Conflicting methodologies across the organisation No time for Retrospectives

What Success Looks Like

A Workshop for Agile Teams Who Are Still Improving Agile Team Health Check m

Agile Team Health Check The Health Check is a half-day workshop for any team (max 20 members) who would like to improve their current way of working with the help of an experienced Agile facilitator. George T&D will provide the facilitator. All you need to do is provide a suitable venue (and coffee!). The workshop consists of a series of group exercises designed to help the team reflect together on how they are currently operating in the light of the 12 Agile Principles, and how they can perform better. Schedule 09:00Who are we? Introductions and team exercise 09:45Why Agile? Agile Principles review exercise 10:45Coffee break Coffee break 11:00How are we doing? Retrospective exercise 12:00Where are we going? Action brainstorm exercise 12:30Finish For more details or to book the workshop,