Creative Disruption: A Core Systems Strategy Workshop November 3, 2011

Source: Standish Group Chaos Manifesto

Average Project Cost Overrun 27% But one in six exceeded 200%

The number one reason projects fail “The number one reason projects fail is due to absent or inadequate executive sponsorship. executive sponsorship.”

1. User Involvement 2. Executive Support 3. Clear Business Objectives 4. Emotional Maturity 5. Optimizing Scope 6. Agile Process 7. Project Management Expertise 8. Skilled Resources 9. Execution 10. Tools and Infrastructure Source: Standish Group Chaos Manifesto

Game- changing Benefits Nerve- wracking Risks CHANGE

 Collaboration  Embracing Change  High Performance Teams  Working Software Often

 Set of Tools  Dodging Documentation  Design Methodology

 Feature Teams  Continuous Integration  User Centered Design  Scrum of Scrums  Program Backlog  And More

 Not Empowering the Team  Different World View of Cross-Functional Teams  Discomfort with Identifying Impediments  Limited Business Involvement  Defining Done  “Agilefall”

Generally successful but still not a silver bullet.

 Define the program backlog  Organize by major features  Prioritize features  Plan work by team  Plan cross-team interactions  Visual layout of the program  Define a conceptual vision to start  Evolve and change as conditions dictate

14 Sprint Plan Overview

15 Features by Team

 Multiple test sprints  End to end testing  Regression Testing  User Acceptance Testing Testing Phase

 Business Case Objectives  Governance Model  Dedicated Team  Collocated Team  handful of parameters guiding independent decision making  rules of the road defining decision making expectations  develop confidence in teammates and expectations to deliver  timely responsive Supporting Factors

Business case became a tool throughout the program.

 Internal participants 100% committed for the duration of the program  Team collocated at off-site office space  Multi-disciplined teams consisting of internal business SMEs, internal IT analysts, vendor experts and system integrator analysts The right people and the right partners given the commitment they needed to succeed!

Lessons Learned  Educate ◦ Product owner ◦ ScrumMaster ◦ Team members ◦ Others interacting with the agile team  Communicate, communicate, communicate ◦ Delivery ◦ Daily scrums ◦ Sprint reviews  Incrementally improve ◦ Sprint, assess, sprint again ◦ Improve the process as well as delivery  Empower the team

 Scrum is now the default for all strategic projects  Application maintenance releases follow an agile approach  Adopted for numerous non-project efforts – scrum meeting format, etc.  IT planning follows a conceptual plan with quarterly reviews for the maintenance of projects in the “product backlog” More dynamic, more transparent, shorter timeframes and focused on functional deliverables. Lasting Effects

Final Note: Invest in lots of colored Post-It Notes

Questions?

Michael Foerst VP of IS / CIO - Missouri Employers Mutual Contact Information LinkedIn: Twitter:twitter.com/michaelfoerst