Improve software development speed beyond your customer’s dreams with Lean

Copyright © Institut Lean France 2012

3 & 4 October, 2013 Paris, France

How combining agility and lean

increases velocity?

From theory to practice


Back to 2011: Theodo is a promising twelve people software development company Theodo in 2011

12


Theodo is growing… and is facing 3 big problems People are leaving

2x Techically strong

¼ of the team

Coincidence?


Theodo is growing… and is facing 3 big problems Clients are unhappy

No flexibility

Frustration


Theodo is growing… and is facing 3 big problems Operating margin is too low

Extra time No Budget


Back to basics: a service company should make its clients happier The problem we chose to pick


We consider different hypothesis trying to find the cause of our problem

1. Is our technical team good enough?

2. Is our development methodology efficient enough?

3. Do we develop the right features to make our

clients happy?

4. Do we invest enough in nurturing our relationship

with our customers?

5. Are we too expensive?

6. Do we select the proper clients?

7. Are we in the right market?

A set of hypothesis


And pick one: is our development methodology efficient enough? The cause of our problem

1. Is our technical team good enough?

2. Is our development methodology efficient enough?

3. Do we develop the right features to make our

clients happy?

4. Do we invest enough in nurturing our relationship

with our customers?

5. Are we too expensive?

6. Do we select the proper clients?

7. Are we in the right market?


9

We take a look at what web leaders do The 4 web leaders


What do the web leaders do to develop great softwares?

The web leaders software development methodology

Agility

Scrum


We give agile methodology a try on a new project: Suivi+ Mobile This is a complete disaster

Development times x 3

Developed Features =


Though we implemented every artifacts of Scrum The Scrum methodology


The Scrum Guide urge the product owner to get involved Quote from the Scrum Guide about Product Owner’s responsibility

“For the Product Owner to succeed,

the entire organization must respect

his or her decisions”

PO = Theodo developer

Client = “I don’t have time”


How can we involve our client in his project? A new set of hypothesis

1. De we have to better explain the benefits of Scrum to

our clients?

2. De we work on the right projects?

3. De we work with the right clients?

4. Are we expensive enough? Maybe the budget is not

important enough to make our clients involved

5. Does the fixed price contract create enough incentives

for our client to get involved?

6. De we need a project leader after all?

7. Is actually this Scrum thing just hippy stuff?


We tried to investigate the hypothesis number 5 The cause of our problem

1. De we have to better explain the benefits of Scrum to

our clients?

2. De we work on the right projects?

3. De we work with the right clients?

4. Are we expensive enough? Maybe the budget is not

important enough to make our clients involved

5. Does the fixed price contract create enough incentives

for our client to get involved?

6. De we need a project leader after all?

7. Is actually this Scrum thing just hippy stuff?


Web leaders rely on their own internal teams We look again at the web leaders’ model

Technical teams are employees

Time = money

Productivity


In our organization the price is fixed Theodo project organization

1 week to get

feedbacks

3 month to get

proper validation

Fixed price model


Of course charging on a time spent basis is harder to sell Clients are reluctant to uncertainty

Risk averse client Risk averse client


But we seize the opportunity to combine Scrum with time based fees on a new project with Autoplanning.fr The project is a success

Client is involved

No extra time

Client is happy


However we have hard time selling this new model Almost every clients prefer the flat fee model

No

Thank

You


But a drink at the end of the Youcare project challenge our commercial strategy Quote from Adrien Falcon

“You are the experts, you should

give no choice to your client but

impose the model that will lead his

project to success

Adrien Falcon - Cofounder Youcare


It was a hard decision to make The Theodo dilemna


But we eventually decided to adopt this model for all new projects Theodo turnover


With astonishing results Theodo turnover

x3


With astonishing results Theodo turnover

70%

Loyal

clients

30%

New

clients x3


Our clients are satisfied Client recommendation: a key KPI

99% ready to recommend Theodo


Our clients are satisfied because we are fast Clients testimonials on Theodo speed

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Deficient

Ok

Good

Very good

Excellent

What do you think about the velocity of the team?

70%


Three main ingredients make us go fast Theodo recipe

1/ Light open source technologies 2/ High-potential developers

3/ The Theodo Production System

Lean


Boards are a simple yet very powerful tool The power of board

Immediate

feedback

concrete Non-verbal

communication

Face to face

communication

open

Cutting-edge

technology


Let’s take a look at a specific board The BTP Consultant Board


Burndown charts enables to raise and address issues fast An on-going burndown chart of the BTP Consultant project

« We are late »


They identified that a lot of tickets were to be validated The cause of the problem


Burndown charts enables to raise and address issues fast The burndown chart at the end of the sprint


But the burndown chart does not tell what clients think The Theodo questionnaire

Velocity?

Coaching

Relevancy?

Standard

Client’s voice

is the real

indicator for

success

8/10


I showed it to Antoine Contal who made a relevant comment Antoine Contal statement

I can’t see it on the board


That’s better

The Theodo Questionnaire has to be communicated to the whole team The Theodo questionnaire is pinned on the board


It appears to be a very stimulating tool for the development team Valentin Brajon testimonial

That’s better

It motivates us to go faster


Theodo recruitment campaign

every 2 weeks

were not there last year

Theodo is growing so we hire people

A new

50% of


Scrum dojo is the key to sustain growth A Scrum dojo session

Practice agility

On real projects

In a workshop

Improving quality of

boards

Increasing

transparency


Scrum Dojo helped us find ingredients of Theodo success Elements that was created after Scrum Dojo


Boards became so efficient that we now use them for everything at Theodo The different Theodo boards

Project board Hiring Board

Sales Board Strategy board


Theodo growth relies on three main points Theodo key success factors

Between clients and the

development team

Respect for

Scrum + Lean


Thank you

Questions ?

[email protected]

+33 6 62 81 95 50

www.theodo.fr


Points are virtual money that can be converted into real one to celebrate the end of the project The team project bonus


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