Beyond Easy Agile: How to Overcome the Challenges of Adopting Agile in Established Enterprises

Scott W. Ambler Senior Consulting Partner

scott [at] scottambler.com

@scottwambler

We’re going to cover a lot of

ground

@scottwambler 2

Agenda •  What is easy agile? •  The challenges faced by established enterprises •  Enterprise agile in practice •  Pragmatic agile over purist agile •  The agile adoption triad •  Coaching in established enterprises •  Transitioning enterprise IT teams •  Parting thoughts

@scottwambler 3

What is Easy Agile? The Mindset Perspective

@scottwambler

Agile Skeptics

Agile Promoters

Avoids Change

Embraces Change

4

“Easy Agile”

“Hard Agile”

What is Easy Agile? The Context Perspective

•  “Easy agile” –  Small, near-located team –  Straight forward problem to solve –  “Whole team” with the authority and responsibility to succeed –  Technical environment is of reasonable (or better) quality –  Everyone works for the same organization

•  “Hard agile” is when you’re dealing with one or more of –  Geographically distributed teams –  Large teams –  Complex problem to solve –  Team depends on other teams to succeed –  Technical environment is complex –  People work for different organizations, often with competing goals

@scottwambler 5

The Challenges Faced by Established Enterprises

@scottwambler 6

Every team interacts with, and affects, other teams

@scottwambler

Delivery Team A

Delivery Team B

Enterprise Architecture

Operations

Data Management

7

IT departments are multi-modal

@scottwambler 8

Multi-Modal Delivery: Your Mix Evolves As You Improve

@scottwambler 9

External challenges

•  Digital transformation •  Pace of technical change •  Value streams are emerging, evolving, and disappearing •  Complexity •  Security threats •  Disruptive competitors •  Dramatic political changes •  Our customers expect to be delighted

@scottwambler 10

Internal challenges

•  Digital transformation •  Organizational structures •  Aging workforce •  Organizational silos •  Alignment between business and IT •  Alignment within IT •  Alignment between IT and funding •  Staff retention •  Traditional cultures •  Waterfall governance •  Lack of stakeholder involvement •  Specialized staff •  Workspaces

@scottwambler 11

Many Agile Delivery Teams Work at Scale

•  26% of agile teams are more than 20 people •  71% of agile teams are geographically distributed in some way •  62% of agile teams are dealing with regulatory compliance •  78% of agile teams are working in medium to very complex domains •  93% of agile teams are working in technically challenging

environments •  96% agile agile teams work with other teams in their organization •  58% are working on agile teams with non-FTEs involved •  17% of agile teams are working in an outsourcing situation

@scottwambler

Source: SA+A 2016 Agility at Scale Survey

12

Enterprise Agile in Practice

@scottwambler 13

Teams are composed of unique individuals…

@scottwambler 14

…and every team faces a unique situation

Source: disciplinedagiledelivery.com/agility-at-scale/

Team Size Two Hundreds

Geographic Distribution Co-located Global

Organizational Distribution Single division Outsourcing

Compliance None Life critical

Domain Complexity Straightforward Very complex

Technical Complexity Straightforward Very complex

@scottwambler 15

@scottwambler

Every team approaches initial requirements differently

Every team collaborates differently

Every team approaches testing differently

Every team needs different kinds of help from other teams

Every team approaches deployment differently

Implications: •  Prescriptive, easy agile “cookbook approaches” won’t

fit well •  Instead we must piece together the right strategies for

the situation that we face

16

Context Counts

Every organization is unique

@scottwambler 17

Strategic Agile : The Agile IT Department

@scottwambler 18

Pragmatic agile over

purist agile

@scottwambler 19

Disciplined Agile (DA) is a context sensitive

The DA framework is empirical: –  Originally based on observations from

dozens of organizations world wide, and has evolved since then based on continuing observations

–  Encapsulates inputs from hundreds of practitioners

–  Hybrid framework that adopts proven ideas from many sources, including agile, lean, and traditional methods and frameworks

–  Implements insights from industry research

@scottwambler 20

Every delivery team will make their own process choices

@scottwambler 21

@scottwambler 22

Goal: Address Changing Stakeholder needs

@scottwambler

People

Tools Process

The Agile Adoption

Triad

23

What Challenges Did You Face During Your Agile Adoption?

Changing our business culture Adopting agile technical practices Changing our IT culture Using our existing tools in an agile manner Adopting new agile development tools Adopting agile management practices

@scottwambler

Source: SA+A 2014 Agile Adoption Survey

Most Difficult

Least Difficult

24

How Important Were These Issues During Your Agile Adoption?

Changing our business culture Adopting agile management practices Changing our IT culture Adopting agile technical practices Adopting new agile development tools Using our existing tools in an agile manner

@scottwambler

Source: SA+A 2014 Agile Adoption Survey

Most Important

Least Important

25

Transition Factors: Focus of Effort

@scottwambler

People 80-85%

Individuals and interactions: People

evolve to an agile mindset, learn new skills,

and adopt improved collaboration strategies

Process 5-10%

Adopt new practices and techniques at the team, department, and organizational levels

Tools 5-10%

Adopt new tools, adopt new ways to use some

existing tools, and abandon some existing tools

26

Transition Factors: Transition Strategies

@scottwambler

People

Process

Tools

Teams don’t understand how agile fits together, nor the implications of their actions

Cargo cult agile layered on top of your existing processes

Overly complex “standardized” agile

Cargo cult agile with “standardized” automated bureaucracy

Agile kids playing with shiny new toys

Teams of agile zealots working in small rooms

Disciplined agile teams capable of working at scale

27

Coaching in an Established Enterprise

@scottwambler 28

The Usual Transformation Strategy

@scottwambler

Dev Team 1

Dev Team 2

Dev Team 3

Dev Team 4

The Plan:

Dev Team N

…

Dev Team 1

Dev Team 2

Dev Team 3

Dev Team 4

What Happens:

Fail

29

An Enterprise Aware Transformation Strategy

@scottwambler

Dev Team 1

Dev Team 2

Dev Team 3

Dev Team 4

Dev Team N

…

Enterprise Architecture

Information Management IT Governance …

30

Types of Coaches

•  Team coaches –  Help delivery teams to be agile and to practice agile –  5+ years of agile experience

•  Specialized coaches –  Work with non-delivery teams or niche delivery teams to be agile and to

practice agile –  5+ years of agile experience, 5+ years of experience in the specialized

area

•  Executive coaches –  “Go to person” when other coaches run into problems outside their

scope of influence –  Help business and IT executives to be agile and to lead agile –  10+ years of agile experience, 10+ years of enterprise experience

@scottwambler 31

@scottwambler 32

Transitioning Enterprise IT Teams

@scottwambler 33

Challenge: Our “Bodies of Knowledge” Aren’t Compatible

IT Activity Bodies of Knowledge Development The Agile Canon Project Management PMI PMBoK, Prince2 IT Governance COBiT Enterprise Architecture TOGAF, Zachman, IASA, DODAF… Data Management DAMA Quality Various ISO specifications Business Analysis IIBA BABoK Operations ITIL

@scottwambler 34

Challenge: We Have Different Priorities

IT Activity Priorities Development Build great solutions Project Management Deliver solutions on time and budget IT Governance Ensure people do the right thing Enterprise Architecture Guide the enterprise long term Data Management Get the right data to the right people Quality Verify and validate the right solution is delivered Business Analysis Identify stakeholder needs Operations Run the IT ecosystem

@scottwambler 35

Challenge: We Have Different Attitudes Towards Agile

@scottwambler

Agile Skeptics

Agile Promoters

Avoids Change

Embraces Change

Operations

Enterprise architects

Data management

Quality assurance

Project Managers

Developers

IT Governance

Business analysts

IT Executives

Business Executives

Finance

36

Implication: You require different coaching strategies

@scottwambler

Agile Skeptics

Agile Promoters

Avoids Change

Embraces Change

Show you understand their issues

Show you understand their

issues and that you know how to their

job more effectively

37

Show them new ways

Show you understand their issues

@scottwambler 38

Strategies for Enterprise Agile Transformation

1.  Accept the situation that you actually face 2.  Stop looking for easy, prescriptive answers 3.  Look beyond software development 4.  Be prepared to scale agile tactically and

strategically 5.  Address people, process and tooling

simultaneously – But focus on making your people awesome

6.  Evolve enterprise IT teams in parallel with delivery teams

7.  Adopt a comprehensive approach to coaching 8.  Recognize that transformation is a journey,

not a destination

@scottwambler 39

Got Discipline? DisciplinedAgileConsortium.org

DisciplinedAgileDelivery.com ScottAmbler.com

@scottwambler 40

Additional Slides

@scottwambler 41

Adopting Agile Across an Organization

@scottwambler

Grass Roots Adoption Concern Management:

Practitioners: Supported Adoption Support Adopted

Supported Adoption

Wave 0: •  The fact that people want to improve their productivity is a great thing •  Part of the panic results from a lack of understanding of disciplined agile

Wave 1: 3-6 months •  Start with an assessment to determine where you are •  Run one or more pilot projects •  Learn from your experiences to tailor strategy for next wave of rollout

Wave 2: 2-5 years (or more) •  Adopt agile across more and more teams as your resources permit •  Provide training, mentoring, and coaching to everyone who needs it •  Some people will be very threatened by agile and will need more help •  Be flexible - Individuals learn at different rates and ways

0 1 2

42

Scaling Agile Tactically

@scottwambler

Agile

•  Construction focus •  Value driven lifecycle •  Self-organizing teams •  Prescriptive •  Project team aware

Tactical Agility

at Scale

Disciplined agile delivery with one or more scaling factors: §  Large teams §  Geographically distributed teams §  Compliance §  Domain complexity §  Technical complexity §  Organizational distribution

Disciplined Agile

Delivery

•  Delivery focus •  Risk-value driven lifecycle •  Self-organization with appropriate governance •  Goal driven •  Enterprise aware

43

Strategic: The Agile IT Department

@scottwambler 44

Scott Ambler + Associates is the thought leader behind the Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD) framework and its application. We are an IT

management consulting firm that advises organizations to be more effective applying disciplined agile and lean processes within the

context of your business.

Our website is ScottAmbler.com We can help

@scottwambler 45

Tactical vs. Strategic Scaling

Tactical Agility at Scale The application of agile and lean strategies on IT delivery teams. This includes the ability to apply agile on teams of all sizes, on teams that are geographically distributed, on teams facing regulatory compliance, on teams addressing a complex domain (problem space), on teams applying a complex technologies, on teams where outsourcing may be involved, and combinations thereof.

Strategic Agility at Scale The application of agile and lean strategies across your entire organization. From an IT point of view this includes the majority, if not all, of your IT delivery teams as well as a the IT-level teams support activities such as enterprise architecture, operations, support, portfolio management, IT governance, and other topics. From an enterprise point of view this includes all divisions and teams within your organization, not just your IT department.

@scottwambler 46

What Scaling Factors Do Software Development Teams Face?

61%

48%

61%

92%

68%

43%

78%

37%

42%

88%

64%

45%

Geographically Distributed

Team Size > 10

Complex Domain

Complex Technology

Organizationally Distributed

Compliance

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Non-Agile Teams Agile Teams

Source: DDJ State of the IT Union 2014 Q2 Survey

@scottwambler 47

Basic/Agile Lifecycle

A full Scrum-based agile delivery lifecycle.

@scottwambler 48

Exploratory “Lean Startup” Lifecycle

Sometimes it takes time to identify what your stakeholders actually need

@scottwambler 49

Lean Lifecycle

A full lean delivery lifecycle

@scottwambler 50

Lean Continuous Delivery Lifecycle

Your evolutionary end goal?

@scottwambler 51

Shuhari and Disciplined Agile Certification

At the shu stage you are beginning to learn the techniques and philosophies of

disciplined agile development. Your goal is to build a strong foundation from

which to build upon.

At the ha stage you reflect upon and question why disciplined agile strategies work, seeking to understand the range

of strategies available to you and when they are best applied.

At the ri stage you seek to extend and

improve upon disciplined agile techniques, sharing your learnings with

others.

@scottwambler 52

Scrum

Extreme Programming

Lean Kanban

DAD is a Hybrid Framework

Unified Process Agile Modeling

Agile Data “Traditional” Outside In Dev.

DevOps …and more

DAD leverages proven strategies from several sources, providing a decision framework to guide your adoption and

tailoring of them in a context-driven manner.

SAFe

@scottwambler 53

Disciplined Agilists Take a Goal Driven Approach

Goal Factor Advantages Disadvantages Considerations

* Option Default Option

*

Explore the Initial Scope

Form the

Initial Team

Address Changing

Stakeholder Needs

Source Team size Team structure Team members Geographic distribution Supporting the team Availability

Indicates a preference for the options towards the top

Co-located Partially dispersed Fully dispersed Distributed subteams

@scottwambler 54

Governance is Built Into DAD

•  Governance strategies built into DAD: –  Risk-value lifecycle –  Light-weight milestone reviews –  “Standard” opportunities for increased visibility and to steer the team

provided by agile –  Enterprise awareness –  Robust stakeholder definition

@scottwambler 55

Would You Like This Presented to Your Organization?

Contact us at ScottAmbler.com

@scottwambler 56