A parable

This is Brad

Stolen Reused with permission from Steve Hayes www.CogentConsulting.com.au

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Brad is an Agile coach and consultant

Brad is offered a gig at Ponderous Software Development

Ponderous want to become agile

Brad gives Ponderous his “Agile 101” presentation, and they love it

They ask Brad to coach their adoption

However, Ponderous can see that agile as Brad described it, clearly won’t

work for them…

Because they are different!

Brad can do whatever he wants, except…

He can’t change anything about operations or the production

environment

(different department)

He can’t have access to the business people

(they’re too busy)

Every project needs a business case accurate to +/- 10% before Execution

(CFO requirement)

Projects must have fixed costs, fixed scope, and fixed delivery date before

development starts

(business requirement)

All the requirements need to be documented to ISO-666 before

development starts

(audit requirement)

The process needs to be identical across all teams

(QA requirement)

The tools needs to be identical across all teams

(We got a great deal on licensing)

Developers can’t access (or download from) the internet

(security requirement)

He can’t post information on the walls

(facilities requirement)

He can’t spend any money on hardware or software

(budget constraint)

Development must be in a new language, with no developers

experienced in that language, and no training budget

(architectural requirement)

70% of the workforce must be contractors/ delivery partners

(onshore and offshore)

(Division requirement)

You must use all of the PMO Project Lifecycle templates

(PMO Requirement)

You actually need to be willing to change!

I’ve been there…

Be careful that you don’t give on too many of the constraints

This is insidious, because the constraints may sound reasonable to their owners

Focus on addressing the intent of the constraint

Change the mindset

Value Chain not Siloed Services

Use your Consultants

Good Cop – Bad Cop

What about my Governance?

Governance is hard! But it is critical that you get it right.

In Summary

Understand your readiness to changeAgree on the problem

Adopt the necessary techniquesChallenge the constraints

Tips

At some point you will have a conversation

“Are we really up for this?”

• Be prepared

You will get staff turnover

• Be prepared

What about Scrum?

• Scrum for common naming• XP for technical techniques• Lean for reducing waste

Align KRAs to match the goals

• Reduce Sev 1s in production• Improve Customer satisfaction score

What about Offshore Agile

• Increase comms (video etc)• Visit often – put a face to the voice• Rotate people onshore-offshore• Shared information radiators (Mingle)• Adjust your expectations

Focus your efforts on converting the 80% “undecided” into “on-board”

Sabotage Workshop

• How would I make this fail?

Insist on Heavy DocumentationDon’t Empower the teamsDemand tight predictabilityDon’t make your resources availableLip service, but no real supportPromote the blame culturePunish Failure

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@nishmahanty