1. Virtual Agility EngageOne 2.0
A successful project with virtual team and Agile processes that won the PMI-MN Project of the Year 2010 award

2. Agenda What is EngageOne? Challenges Opportunities in Challenges
How did we do it?
Success stories
Lessons Learned
Q&A

3. What is EngageOne?
EngageOne Interactive is a flagship product in the Pitney Bowes Business Insight Customer Communication Management (CCM) division. EngageOne is an interactive document production system for creating and delivering customer correspondence. Document templates and content objects are defined by template designers and managed in the content repository. These are made available to front-office users via a Web-based application where they can create and modify a document in a controlled manner and distribute it through delivery channels. EngageOne 2.0 was released in September 2010 with additional platform support and enriched features.

4. EngageOne 2.0 – Unique and complex challenges
Highly distributed and virtual team
11 locations across 6 time zones
RIFs
Loaned QA resources
Immovable deadlines
Unknown-Unknown risks (Unanticipated risks)
Sustaining Engineering (Product Maintenance)

5. Opportunities in challenges
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. ~Darwin
Highly distributed and virtual team
Close to 16 hours of work time in a day
Attritions
Stirred scope negotiations
Loaned QA resources
Improved product quality
Immovable deadlines
Helped in scope negotiation with Product Owner :-)
Unknown-Unknown risks (Unanticipated risks)
Gained experience and learned lessons :-)
Why is scope reduction good?
Pareto / rule, Unless you are Airline security or Boeing etc, better focus on the 20% which will gain 80% benefit

6. How did we do it? - Agile Best Practices
Pick what works best for your team and for your business
Need to figure out what works for you
Start from nothing add what you need
We still needed
Tracking
Planning
Estimates
Stand Ups
Constant Communication with steak holders
Ownership and Partnership
Trade offs
Can do everything, just not all at once
Constant Reevaluation
Constant renegotiation
Focus

7. How did we do it? - Ownership
Create and contribute vs. just taking directions
Motivate: A pat on the back, an arm around the shoulder
Congratulate on a job well done, analyze what wasn’t
Readiness
Low Ability
Low Motivation
High Motivation
High Ability
Style
Directing
Specific Direction
Close Monitoring
Guiding
Work Direction
Personal Support
Supporting
Collaborate
Encourage
Support
Delegating
Freedom and responsibility to employee
Not sitting next to you, does not mean they do not exist
Not heard their voice, does not mean they are not on call
Ownership
Critical for a remote team
Won’t it be great when…
Not an academic exercise - Goal is to make money and keep your job
Create and contribute
Designs, Schedules, Estimates, Decisions…
Motivation
Money vs. Recognition vs. Satisfaction (site a study)
For Remote - Same as the person next door
Get the most by adapting yourself:

8. How did we do it? - Communication
Communication is Key!
Communicate and communicate right
Understand and be understood
Encourage to talk and fight isolation
Have Fun (Virtual Water Cooler)
Virtual war room in case of crisis
Communication: use tools to your benefit
Communication Tools for Remote Teams
Telephone
Instant Message
Mikogo (
Google Docs
Virtual War Room
Face to Face (Don’t forget about it)
Need Real Time Communication
Schedules
Overlap hours (both ends)
Product Owner involvement – how many times do you talk to your product manager / owner if things are going well?
Goals of Communication
Exchange Information
Collaboration
To be understood AND to understand
Foster Informality (No Bull)
Don’t wait for a meeting
Don’t let communication be a bottleneck
Key for Remote Members
Establish Trust – Both ways
Fight Isolation with remote members
Decision Making
Right person for the job (remote or local)
Ownership
Have Fun (Virtual Water Cooler)

9. Communication is Key Make it a priority
Can’t be everyone’s 3rd goal on annual performance reviews
Constant Learning and Improvement
The Most Effective Managers

10. Role of PM Oil in the machine
Make things happen for those who make things happen
Remove Roadblocks
Simplify
Flexible processes
Transparency
Build accountability
Be sensitive to politics; don’t get sucked in
Be sensitive to politics; don’t get sucked in (No Bull – Dave Po-Chedley)

11. Expectations for virtual team
You will be accessible
You will treat everyone as if they were next door
You will not use location as an excuse
You will proactively communicate
You will make informed decisions when needed
You will fight isolation

12. Success Stories PMI – MN Project of the Year 2010 Delivered on time
Turned the customer to a referenceable customer
Avoided penalties and virus :-)
Improved product quality
Improved resource coordination
One step closer to predictable processes
PMI – MN Project of the Year 2010
Resource coordination – now two separate development teams are working together as one scrum team
Predictable process – new platform support timelines, team efficiency percent

13. Lessons Learned Reduce cost of poor quality
We do not have time to do things twice. Do it right the first time.
Shared leadership
Every challenge has a hidden opportunity
Continuous learning is the only way to survive
COPQ – time spent on rework – defect fix, retest etc

14. Questions & Feedback Steven H. Henry (steven.henry@pb.com)
Steven Henry is Development Director for Pitney Bowes Business Insight. He has 23 years of experience delivering successful software development projects and products. Strong collaborative management and successful projects are some of the accomplishments that set Steve apart from other managers in the industry
Srilekha Akula
Srilekha Akula is Project Manager working for Pitney Bowes Business Insight. She has 10 years of experience managing and delivering successful projects end to end through all phases of Software Development Life Cycle. Srilekha is a certified Project Management Professional and a Certified SCRUM Master