Herding cats or flocking birds - agile portfolio management

agile42 | The Agile Coaching Company www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright ©2007-2013

Cat Herding,or the art of agile portfolio managementDave Sharrock


Characteristics of High Performing Teams

Attributes of a high-performing team

Killers of a high-performing team


agile teams and small organizations

get things done

by creating an environment where good practices are easy to do


communicationsmall, dedicated cross-functional teams


communication

focus

small, dedicated cross-functional teams

product owner, ordered backlog


22% of teams have no product owner

http://www.scrumalliance.org/why-scrum/state-of-scrum-report


communication

focus

transparency

small, dedicated cross-functional teams

Product Owner, ordered backlog

simple, big visible charts show progress


From scattering like cats...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonize/11166439273


...to flocking like birds

http://www.flickr.com/photos/popiet/4142138666


Size and complexity breakdown these constraints

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mlevin/4488369118


departmental silossingle-points-of-failuredeath by committee

communication

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sebastiandooris/2449853812


distractionsinformal networks

project inertia

communication

focus

http://www.flickr.com/photos/onemananhisdog/5718624579


communication

focus

transparency

mixed languagelocal success optimization

illusions of progress

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/2460655511/


Flocking birds follow simple rules that create coherent, synchronized behavior in a mass of individuals

http://www.flickr.com/photos/antmoose/91814675


http://www.flickr.com/photos/popiet/4142138666

3 simple principles to encourage

flocking without herding


Have a shared understanding of success

1. FOCUS ON THE WHOLE

shared KPIs, metrics, goals

http://www.flickr.com/photos/idovermani/4242513383


?+ + +12 a vii β 12=





get out of the way - doers talk with doers






get out of the way - doers talk with doers

cascade priorities down from the top



component #3component #1

component #2

experience #1 experience #2

Priority #2 Priority #1

the customer


2. DELIVER AS FAST AS POSSIBLE

Shorten feedback cycles

automation




automation

integrate much more often




automation

integrate much more often

make many more small changes


Compare apples to apples

normalize what you look at

3. MAKE PROGRESS VISIBLE


Requirements hierarchy

release = ∑ featuresfeature = ∑ epics

epic = ∑ storiesstory = ∑ tasks


Terminology, really?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/photon_de/2700323949




set a relevant cadence to review changes



TO DO DOING DONE

Swim lanesartif

acts

set an appropriate cadence





set a relevant cadence to review changes

get the right people in the room


From uncontrollable cats to flocking birds...

focus on the whole

deliver as fast as possible

make progress visible


Portfolio Management?

getting the right thing done at the right price


Daily

Sprint

Release

Roadmap

Vision5 levels of planning

agile/lean

scrum

xp


Component Teams

Com

pone

nt #

1

Com

pone

nt #

2

Com

pone

nt #

3

Com

pone

nt #

4

Experience Teams

A B C D E F

Team

#4

Team

#5

Team

#6

Team

#1

Team

#2

Team

#3

Com

pone

nt #

5 Com

pone

nt #

6

Com

pone

nt #

7

Com

pone

nt #

8

PMO


Pilots not project managers

trained to get you out of trouble tracking a lot of

dials and data

but leave it on autopilot 90% of

the time


focus on the wholedeliver as fast as possiblemake progress visible

+ Pilots

3 simple principles to encourage flocking without herding

agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

compliance international B2B MBA English IPO

agile husband start-up technology

newly-minted Canadian

executive leanstartup outsourcing father enterprise transitions

B2C data analysis kanban seismology PhD

scrum organizational excellence

[email protected]: @davesharrockCertified Scrum Coach (CSC)Certified Scrum Trainer™ (CST)

Dave Sharrock


thank [email protected]

@davesharrock

Herding cats or flocking birds - agile portfolio management

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