1. Exploiting Core Scrum Practices at the Program Level Chris Waggoner, CSC - Keep Austin Agile 2015 Co-Creator: Jeff Lopez-Stuit

2. Program Challenges : Complex Environment

3. Program Challenges : Many people to collaborate with

4. Program Challenges : Working together on one product

5. Program Challenges : Lack of big picture “real time” visibility

6. Program Challenges : Lack of a simple means to discuss and clear impediments between teams

7. Program Challenges : Lack of means for continuous improvement

8. Potential Problems in Programs Lack of visibility of impediments Late arriving issues can impede or kill the program If you don’t know it, you can’t solve it -> transparency & visibility is needed Project boards don’t want to hear problems Teams or PM hide impediments

9. Potential Problems in Programs Lack of team interaction Dependencies between teams are not clear What teams are blocking each other now or in future? Lack of incentive for teams to collaborate What is the tangible benefit for cross-team cooperation? A whole lot of teams means too many meetings? Lack of continuous improvement across program No inspect & adapt on program level

10. Traditional Agile Approaches to Program Complexity Traditional Approach Simple Visual Controls Light Weight Face-to-Face Communications Program Level Improvement Impact of Non- Program Teams Supports Agile Principles? Scrum-of- Scrums NoneYesNoneMaybeF2F Burn chartsYesCan drive conversation None Radiates Status DashboardsComplexCan drive the wrong conversations None Metrics Driven Mis- Behavior SAFe and other Agile@Scale Big Picture Road Map Can drown in complex organizational change NoneYesPrescriptive Attempt at Forecasting

11. Scrum Practices on a Program Level Stand-up Retrospective Visible Radiators Impediment Board Control by Flow, WIP and Policies Face-to-Face Communication

12. The Program Stand-up/Impediment Board Combination Program Stand-up Impediment Board The Program Stand-up: Promote visibility, clear impediments and collaboration across the program with 4 questions: 1. What has our team done since last time we met? 2. What will our team do before next time we meet? 3. Has another team put something in our way? 4. Are we about to put something in another teams way? Program Impediment board: Visible teams dependencies Simple visual controls across many teams. What teams are blocking each other now? Or in future? Impediments (blocked), potential impediments (risks), Action items (task for managers to unblock teams) Harness the power of F2F communication, visible radiators, and the standup at the program level Requires a strong facilitator maintaining proper standup protocols

13. Program Impediment board – Simple Sample Resulted from dependencies conversation between services team and eCommerce Web teams Visibility into impediments required the addition of Operations, Enterprise Architecture, Testing, Security, etc. As visibility improved more groups wanted to help resolve cross-team impediments Independent Teams Dependencies and Blocked The program stand-up should take no longer than 15 minutes or 1 minute per team

14. Program Impediment board – Complex Sample Independent Teams Dependencies and Blocked 20 plus teams Meeting lasted 20 minutes or less daily First on-time at budget project in years Success credited to visual cues of the impediment board Blocked WIP Backlog This team used Gizmo avatars for potential impediments and Gremlins avatars for impediments Created later in the release process Program manager was major agile skeptic To force visibility the Program manager declared all WIP as potential impediments The teams represented were not agile Fewer bugs than any release previous Used similar board for defect triage

15. Standup at Program Impediment Board Independent Teams Dependencies and Blocked Web VP PM Integration Program Manger Legacy Services Legacy

16. Agile Game: Master Chef Goal: Clear impediments and promote collaboration between teams with the program stand-up and program impediment board

17. Program Impediment board – Round 1 Teams Team vegetables Team seafood Team meat Team roux Team gumbo Team Jambalaya Team PO boys Team Plating Team Dishwashing Team red beans rice IngredientsEnd-ProductsDeliveryFundamental layer Teams Team vegetables Team seafood Team meat Team roux Team gumbo Team Jambalaya Team PO boys Team Plating Team Dishwashing Team red beans rice Impediments Old chopping knives No Bass Not enough trinity (from veggie) No beef No PO boys Potential impediments Prepare beans is additional work Too many meetings to deliver roux? Not enough roux Not enough jambalaya Not enough Red beans & rice Low morale ActionsNew chopping knives Remove bass from menu Order more meat Make chicken PO boys Push selling chicken PO boys Teams Team vegetables Team seafood Team meat Team roux Team gumbo Team Jambalaya Team PO boys Team Plating Team Dishwashing Team red beans rice IngredientsEnd-ProductsDeliveryFundamental layer Teams & Dependencies Impediment Board

18. Program Impediment board – Round 2 Teams Team vegetables Team seafood Team meat Team roux Team gumbo Team Jambalaya Team PO boys Team Plating Team Dishwashing Team red beans rice Impediments Slimy okra Crawfish delivered too late Blocking: No Okra from vegie team No Crawfish from seafood team No Crawfish from seafood team Blocking: no gumbo No jambalay a, no red beans/ric e no dishes quit Veggie team need to work harder Potential impediments Unused beef Too many meetings to deliver roux? Actions Use shrimp from yesterday in stead of crawfish The meetings are needed to improve quality of roux Use okra spice powder in stead of fresh okra Red beans & rice team do the dishwashing And use the compostable plates Make red beans & rice every day otherwise we outsource you to India

19. Kanban or Impediment board? Visualize flow across an entire product development cycle? Working impediments Measuring cycle time Caution: Use only after teams have perfected impediment board

20. Don’t underestimate the power of visibility and F2F conversation Core Agile Principles do Scale to Program Levels – Be Creative! Pain Snake Ad-hoc Visibility

21. Q&A – How else could you use Core Scrum practices like F2F, Ceremonies, and Big Visible Radiators to bring agile value to the Program Level? Retrospective? Release planning?... Stand-up Retrospective Visible Radiators Impediment Board Control by Flow, WIP and Policies Face-to-Face Communication