What Is an Agile Leader? Todd Little Sr. Development Manager

Long Ago

Long Ago and Far Away

The Story of the Agile Project Leadership Network ADC2004 July Salt Lake Oct 2004 Chicago Jan 2005 Seattle Agile2005 July Denver Jan 2006 Dallas R1R2R3 Leadership Summit & Network site Agile2006 July Minneapolis

Pains Loneliness Isolation Ostracism Frontal Cranial Contusions (from Head Banging) Too much to do, Not enough time Can’t find answers in PMBOK Cognitive Dissonance Waste Project Change Unskilled team members No customer involvement Delivering wrong product Seattle Jan ‘05

Chicago, October 2004 How would we build a new organization?

Chicago produced appropriately blurry vision

Commitment to Ship, Timeboxing, & Exit Tests

Our individual beliefs about reliable projects…

Discovering our shared beliefs

Six categories emerged

Asking “What’s in it for [our audience]?”

Crafting the six statements World Café/OpenSpace style

Draft statements 2 & 1

Draft statements 3 & 5

We are a community of project leaders that are highly successful at delivering results. To achieve these results: We increase return on investment by making continuous flow of value our focus. We deliver reliable results by engaging customers in frequent interactions and shared ownership We expect uncertainty and manage for it through iterations, anticipation, and adaptation. We unleash creativity and innovation by recognizing that individuals are the ultimate source of value, and creating an environment where they can make a difference. We boost performance through group accountability for results and shared responsibility for team effectiveness. We improve effectiveness and reliability through situationally specific strategies, processes and practices. Agile and adaptive approaches for linking people, projects and value

Declaration of Independence from Bureaucratic Project Management When in the Course of project events it becomes necessary for Project Teams to dissolve the political bureaucracies which have burdened them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all projects are not created equal, that they are endowed by their creation with uncertain and complex characteristics. That project teams are most effective when they value Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

SoftwareBeyond Software Project Leadership Project Execution Pair Programming Continuous Build TDD Collaboration Change Empowerment APLN Relationship of the APLN to the AgileAlliance

Interdependence and Leadership Value Customers Uncertainty Individuals Teams Context

Interdependence What does it mean to declare Interdependence? –Interdependence of people –Interdependence of values

Value We increase return on investment by making continuous flow of value our focus.

Business Process Value Chain Market Product Development Sales Specifications DevelopmentDelivery Business Need DevelopmentDelivery Internal IT Product Company Contract Model

Customer We deliver reliable results by engaging customers in frequent interactions and shared ownership. Deliver reliable results = make pace visible early. Engaging customers…= force a partnership. Customer defines value

Uncertainty We expect uncertainty and manage for it through iterations, anticipation and adaptation.

Individuals We unleash creativity and innovation by recognizing that individuals are the ultimate source of value, and creating an environment where they can make a difference. –Push decisions down and out, make the workplace safe, provide employees with the proper tools and be prepared to be surprised.

Teams We boost performance through group accountability for results and shared responsibility for team effectiveness. –Get the whole team to own the whole project

Context We improve effectiveness and reliability through situationally specific strategies, processes and practices. Complexity Uncertainty

Portfolio Management and Dealing with Darwin (G. Moore) Market Differentiating High Low Mission Critical Low High Invent Deploy Manage Offload Create Change Embrace Change Eliminate Change Control Change Ad HocAgile OutsourceStructured

Agile Leadership

Jim Highsmith Christopher Avery Preston Smith Ole Jepson Alistair Cockburn Doug DeCarlo Todd Little Donna Fitzgerald Bob Wysocki David Anderson Sanjiv Augustine Not pictured: Mike Cohn, Lowell Lindstrom, Kent McDonald, Pollyanna Pixton

Better Software June

"Leading the Agile Transition" The APLN Atlanta Leadership Summit September 24-25, 2008 Marriott Atlanta Perimeter Center, Atlanta, GA

Connecting, developing, and supporting great project leaders by focusing on: Value, Customer, Teams, Individuals, Context, and Uncertainty.