MN IT Symposium Products and Platforms OVER Progs, Projs, and; Processes

PRODUCTS & PLATFORMS OVER PROGRAMS,

PROJECTS, & PROCESSESPresented by Kevin Burns Nov. 6, 2016

[email protected], @kevinbburns 1

Before we begin

• Write down a question you want answered or a challenges you want a solution for.

• We’ll discuss these at the end if not covered in the presentation.


Kevin BurnsCoach

Org Change Agent

http://productagility.org/

My history/experience

The short answer…

Programs, projects, and processes have a shorter life expectancy than Products (services) and Platforms.

Programs, projects, and processes are often expected to end whereas products (services) and platforms are not expected to end.

If we focus too intensively on the programs, projects and processes we run the risk of creating fragility in our products (services) and platforms.

Prioritize the qualitative aspects of the product (services) and platforms over the programs, projects, and processes.

Why are Products (services) and Platforms more important than Progs, Projs, and Processes?


Problem: Programs & Projects vs Products & Platform Structure Challenge

Organizing talent around progs and projs vs products (services) and platforms causes the following problems/challenges.

• Inefficient coordination of work when it crosses application domains. Queuing contention happens at time of implementation vs upstream in planning phase.

• Learning curve required to ramp-up on unfamiliar product (service) and application domain.

• Lack of quality ownership within a given domain if we’re constantly shifting domains. Projects are tech debt factories.

• Inability to stabilize throughput potential (teams need to be stable in their app domains to produce constant throughput potential and delivery efficiency)

• Queuing contention related to code merges and updates are more difficult under project model.

• Project code branches exacerbate code merge challenge.

• App domains with multiple backlogs (i.e. support and project) causes contention at implementation phase instead of planning phase.

• Prioritization problems cause too much context shifting.

PerformingForming Storming Norming

Every time we assemble new teams, teams go through the ‘change process’, i.e., they have to figure-out how to work as a cohesive [email protected], @kevinbburns 9

PerformingForming Storming Norming

Let’s reduce the impact of ‘the change process’ by creating stable product (service) or domain teams, i.e., teams that stay together to deliver incremental service value within their application domain of expertise.


Solution: Products & Platforms OVER Progs & Projs

Structure talent around product (service) and platform domains (application or service domains).

• Product (service) and Tech leads within the product domains support decomposition of large-scale initiatives (programs/projects).

• Solution decomposition fills product (service) domain work queues (aka stable delivery team backlogs), i.e., progs/projs funnel stories with unique development needs to the appropriate teams.

• Create one backlog within a product capability domain (support and prog/proj stories (work items) get prioritized/sequenced into a single product capability backlog)

• Product (service) leadership reconciles contention challenges upstream of stable delivery team implementation through ranking and optimal work sequencing exercises.

• Solution decomposition and work sizing exercises inform prioritization and contention reconciliation challenges.

• Code quality increases as team members take more ownership of their app domain.

• Planning becomes easier as teams take ownership of their throughput potential (velocity).

• Team performance increases as teams mature through forming, storming, and norming phases of Satirmodel.

In In In In In In

Team A

Team B

Team C

Team D

Progs / Projs 1 Progs / Projs 2 Progs / Projs 3

Product (service) capability delivery teams are challenged with multiple competing support and project priorities as they iteratively deliver and deploy software. This can cause inefficient context shifting and churn in solutioning and delivery process. This can also lead to fragility and tech debt within the code-base. Consider more intentional focus on prog/proj prioritization/ranking, decomposition, and optimal work sequencing across stable platform service delivery teams. Consider Work-In-Progress agreement limits/targets to support efficient delivery.

Rn Rn Rn

Stories filling iteration queues

Platform Service Area Release Planning

A

Stable AgileTeam

PO BA

SQE SME

SM

B

Stable AgileTeam

C

Stable AgileTeam

D

Stable AgileTeam

E

Stable AgileTeam

F

Stable AgileTeam

G

Stable AgileTeam

H

Stable AgileTeam

I

Stable AgileTeam

J

Stable AgileTeam

Platform 1 Platform 2 Platform 3 Platform 4 Platform 5

Prog /Proj 2Prog/Proj 1 Prog / Proj 3

Service Area and Tech Lead Solution Team members are challenged with multiple competing project priorities as they iteratively deliver and deploy software. This can cause inefficient context shifting and churn in solutioning and delivery process. This can also lead to fragility and tech debt within the code-base. Consider Work-In-Progress agreement limits/targets to support efficient delivery.

Solution Team Solution TeamSolution Team Solution Team Solution Team

Service Area Release Planning

LSE Arch

PO BA

SQE SME

SM

LSE Arch

PO BA

SQE SME

SM

LSE Arch

PO BA

SQE SME

SM

LSE Arch

PO BA

SQE SME

SM

LSE Arch

Multi-month

Monthly

2-weeks

Leadership T-Shirt Sizing

X-S 1 SprintS <1 monthM 1-3 monthsL 3-9 monthsX-L >9 months

Team Planning-Poker Fibonacci Sizing

(1,2,3,5,8,13,20,50,100)

Team task hours to capacity (2,4,6)

Solution Decomposition Sizing Pattern

Lean, XP, Scrum & Kanban


Learning Objective

• Who

• Why

• What

• How

• When


Who?


Socratic Method• Cooperative argumentative dialogue, based on

asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking

• Method of hypothesis elimination

• How can we validate what we don’t know?

• How can we turn unknowns into knowns?

• Help team members arrive at their own conclusions based on Q&A. Don’t give answers away, rather, ask questions that guide team members to the right answer.

Frederick Taylor's scientific

management consisted of four principles:

1. Scientific study of tasks.2. Develop employees rather than

passively leaving them to train themselves.

3. Provide detailed instruction and supervision

4. Divide work equally between managers and workers

Servant leadership is both a leadership philosophy and set of leadership practices. Traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid.” By comparison, the servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.

1. Server others: How can I help?2. Promote Teamwork over Individual heros3. Doers know best how to improve4. Remove barriers to improvement/progress

Robert K. Greenleaf

Edward Deming

Statistical process control and PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act)

1. Appreciate the system

Are you aware of your constraints?

2. Understanding variation

How dynamic is your environment?

3. Psychology

Are you safe?

4. Epistemology

How are you developing knowledge?

• Originally known as “just-in-time production” and later as the Toyota Production System (TPS)

• Created by Kiichiroo Toyoda and Taiichi Ohno to improve how Toyota operated

• Objectives are to: • Eliminate waste• Design out inconsistency• Design out overburdening the

system

• Lean Manufacturing


Why?


• Continuous improvement

• Respect for people, psychological safety

• Long-term philosophy

• Add value to the organization by developing your people and partners

• Continuously solving problems drives organizational learning

Lean Principles


What & How?


Extreme Programming (XP)

• Pair-programming

• Rapid application development (RAD)

• Experimentation

• Prototype


Scrum Events

• Plan

• Daily Standup

• Demo and Review

• Retrospective

Iteratively and incrementally deliver value


• Based on Toyota’s “just-in-time production” concept

• Japanese word for “visual signal” or “card”

• Used to show a sequence of events with instructions on the cards, when used in manufacturing

• Enables inventory control with visibility into the full system to find areas of improvement

Kanban


Kanban Software Development• Cards move across a Kanban board as the team works on them

• Emphasizes continuous delivery without over burdening the team

• Three basic principles:

• Workflow (continuous)

• Work In Progress limit (WIP)

• Flow (cycle-time)


Kanban Board Example 1


Task Board Example 1


Task Board Example 2


When?


Do any of these sound familiar?

• “We’ve done Scrum for a long time now and our process improvement has levelled off. How can we take our process to the next level?”

• “Our needs and priorities shift on a daily basis”

• “We don’t like fixed-length, fixed-commitment iterations”

• “We are spending too much time planning and estimating”


Scrum vs. KanbanScrum Kanban

Process tool based in Lean and Agile principles

Process tool based in Lean and Agile principles

Empirical process Empirical process

Plans work in time-boxes called Sprints with prescribed activities at beginning and end of each Sprint

Is a flow-based model with no prescribed ceremonies. Team can choose to do ceremonies whenever they deem necessary

Places a WIP limit on the amount of work to be completed in a Sprint (Sprint Backlog based on Velocity)

Places WIP limits on each workflow state

3 specific roles No specific roles

Prescribes sizing work items which is then measured as Velocity

Measures lead time (time it takes for item to go through the entire workflow) without sizing work items

Source: http://www.infoq.com/minibooks/kanban-scrum-minibook [email protected], @kevinbburns 40

Don Reinertsen’s Seven Big Ideas2nd Generation Lean Product Development

1. Understand your economics

2. Manage your queues

3. Exploit variability

4. Enable smaller batches

5. Control WIP and start rates

6. Prioritize based on economics

7. Accelerate feedback


Guidelines for decision-making

• Set strategic goals/guidelines for decision-making so low-level tactical decision can be decentralized while still being aligned within strategic goals/objectives.

• While good intentioned, centralized decision-making is often slow and suboptimal because it lacks the context of all the variable at play at tackle level

Don Rienertsen’s 2GLPD [email protected], @kevinbburns 42

2. Manage Your Queues

• Many product developers assume higher utilization leads to faster development.

• They neither measure nor manage the invisible queues in their process.

• Consequently, they underestimate the true cost of overloading their processes.

• Such overloads severely hurt all aspects of development performance.

Don Rienertsen’s [email protected], @kevinbburns 43

Effect of Capacity Utilization

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

05

10

15

20

Qu

eue

Size

% Capacity Utilization


Managing Queues

Cost of Excess Delay

Total Cost

Dollars

Excess Product Development Resources

Minimize Total Cost to Maximize Profits


Why Queues Matter

• Queues Create…

– Longer cycle time

– Lower Quality

– More variability

– Increased risk

– More overhead

– Less motivation

Managing queues is the key to improving product development economics


3. Exploit Variability

• Manufacturing wants reduced variability

• Product development needs variability in order to innovate

• We need to understand what makes variability valuable and manage our process to create these conditions

• We need a development process that functions in the presence of variability


Asymmetric Payoff and Option Pricing

Expected Price Payoff vs Price

Expected Payoff

Exp

ecte

d P

ayo

ff

Price

PricePrice

Pro

bab

ility

Payo

ff

Strike Price

Strike Price


Higher Variability Raises the Payoff

Exp

ecte

d P

ayo

ff

Price

Strike Price

Payoff SD = 15

Payoff SD = 5

Option Price = 2, Strike Price = 50, Mean Price – 50, Standard Deviation = 5 and 15


4. Enable Smaller Batches

• When work products are invisible, batch sizes are invisible

• When batch sizes are invisible, product developers pay little attention to them

• Many companies institutionalize large batch sizes

• Batch size reduction is attractive because it is fast, easy, cheap, granular, leveraged, and reversible

• It is a great starting point for LPD

Batch Size Queues Cycle Time

X 0.5

X 0.5

X 0.5


Drawing Review Process

200

10 Weeks

20

1 Week

Unreviewed Drawings

Large Batch Small Batch


Benefits of Small Batch Testing

Higher ValidityFewer Open

Bugs

Faster Cycle Time

Early Feedback

Less Debug Complexity

More Efficient Debugging

More Uptime

Smaller Change

Fewer Status Reports

Less Requirement Changes

Faster Learning

Lower Cost Changes

Cheaper Debugging

Cheaper Testing

Less Non-Value-Added

Better Code

Cheaper Correction

Better Economics


Setting Batch Size

Transaction Cost

Cost

Items per Batch

Economic Batch Size

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

05

10

15

20

Total Cost

Don Rienertsen’s 2GLPD


5. Control WIP and Start Rates

• Many developers incorrectly assume that the sooner they start work, the sooner they will finish it

• They are constantly tempted to start too much work

• This dilutes resources and causes long transit time through their processes

• A long transit time hurts efficiency, quality and responsiveness


Little’s Formula

• By constraining WIP in development processes we can control cycle time

• This approach, which is known as Lean Kanban, is currently growing rapidly in software development

MeanResponseTime = MeanNumberInSystem / MeanThroughput


Control Number of Active Projects

1234

1

2

3

4

COD Savings of Proj 1 & 2 Late Start Advantages for Proj 3 & 4

Time to Deliver

Time to Deliver Time to Deliver


Avoid Long Planning Horizons

• The further out you plan, the less likely your forecast will be accurate

• Don’t do detailed analysis on things beyond a quarter

• Market conditions change everyday, this can change requirements

• Changing requirements cause churn (waste)


Use Visual WIP Control Boards

Ready Queue Coding Ready to Test Testing Done

WIP constraints = 10

13

14

15

16

11

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

112

?


6. Sequence Work Correctly

• The sequence in which work is processed is called the queuing discipline

• By changing the queuing discipline we can reduce the cost of a queue without decreasing the size of the queue

• Since manufacturing has homogeneous flows it always uses FIFO (First-In-First-Out)

• For the non-homogeneous flows of product development other approaches have better economics


Use FIFO for Homogeneous Flow

First-In First-Out

Cost of

Delay

12

3A

BTime

Co

st

Delay CostLast-In First-Out

Cost of

Delay1

23A

BTime

Co

stProject Duration Cost of Delay

1 3 3

2 3 3

3 3 3


Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) for Non-homogenous flow

High Weight First

Cost of

Delay

1

23

AB

Time

Co

st

Delay Cost

Low Weight First

Cost of

Delay

A

B

Time

Co

st

Project Duration Cost of Delay

Weight = COD/Duration

1 1 10 10

2 3 3 1

3 10 1 0.1

1

23

160 796 % Reduction in COD


10 Minute Break

Collect

Questions and Challenges


Culture Survey

Text ‘kevinburns785’ to ‘22333’, and then type A, B, C, D


Westrum Model: How orgs process info

Pathological Bureaucratic Generative

Power oriented Rule oriented Performance oriented

Low cooperation Modest cooperation High cooperation

Messengers shot Messengers neglected Messengers trained

Responsibilities shirked Narrow responsibilities Risks are shared

Bridging discouraged Bridging tolerated Bridging encouraged

Failure scapegoating Failure justice Failure inquiry

Novelty crushed Novelty problems Novelty implemented

How do we learn?

What helps us learn?

How psychologically safe is our environment?

Coaching, Mentoring, Learning

Child vs Adult learning style

Children (Pedagogy) Adults (Andragogy)

Rely on others to decide what is important to be learned

Decide for themselves what is important to learn

Accept info being presented at face value Need to validate the info based on their beliefs and experience

Expects what they are learning to be useful in their long-term future

Expects what they are learning to be immediately useful

Have little or no experience upon which to draw – are relatively “clean slates”

Have much experience upon which to draw –may have fixed viewpoints.

Little ability to serve as a knowledgeableresource to teacher or fellow classmates

Significant ability to serve as a knowledgeable resource to trainer and fellow learners.

Four Types of Learners

Learner Tactics

Visual Learners prefer to see info and to visualize the relationships between ideas

Give them charts and graphics, make your presentation highly visual and show relationships between your points

Auditory learners prefer to hear info rather than reading it or seeing it displayed visually

Give them a chance to repeat your points back to you by asking questions, calling for audience participation

Reading/Writing learners prefer to interact with text more than hearing or seeing it graphically

Give them written quizzes or a chance to write what they are learning and give them handouts to read.

Kinesthetic learners prefer hands-onexperiential learning; they learn best by doing.

Give them exercises that get them out of their seat and into role play type exercises.

Scientific Management vs Servant Leadership

Scientific Managers Servant Leaders

Study tasks of others Help others complete their tasks

Develop employees Promote teamwork over individual heros

Provides detailed instruction and supervision

Doers know best how to improve, help find way forward

Divide work nearly equally between managers and doers

Remove barriers to improvement/progress and facilitate teamwork

Leading Minds

The Zen Master

1. Lead from the inside-out2. Bench the ego3. Let each player discover his own destiny4. The road to freedom is a beautiful system5. Turn the mundane into the sacred6. One breath = one mind7. The key to success is compassion8. Keep your eye on the spirit, not on the scoreboard9. Sometimes you have to pull out the big stick10. When in doubt, do nothing11. Forget the ring

Edward Deming

Measure impact, validate learning, pivot, adjust

Statistical process control and PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act)

1. Appreciate the system

Are you about your constraints?

2. Understanding variation

How dynamic is your environment?

3. Psychology

Are you safe?

4. Epistemology

How are you developing knowledge?

Lean Startup

Build Measure

Learn

Value

Use a scientific method to learn

Shu Ha Ri

• Shu, the student copies techniques without adapting them.

• Learn

• Ha, the student reflects on what’s been learned and breaks free

from traditions.

• Practice

• Ri, the student is now a practitioner extending the art.

• Innovate

Teams are motivated by…

1. Distinct vision and mission, a view of future state OKR = Objectives and Key Results

2. Foster personal growth and career developmentDo we foster a learning culture?

3. Recognize good performance on a regular basis, celebrate success Did we achieve our Key Results?

4. Listen to employee comments, complaints, ideas and take action where appropriate.Do you have a generative env?How psychologically safe is your evn?Are you a Server Leader or a Scientific Manager (or both)?

5. Encourage and empower employees to be self-directedAre you encouraging experimentation?

Quotes

“Control leads to compliance; autonomy leads to engagement.” Daniel Pink

“Treat them like volunteers” Mary Poppendieck

“The Team is the Product Owner” Mary Poppendieck

“Quality tends to fan out like waves” Robert M. Pirsig

Exercise: Coaching Attributes

1. Everyone writes their top coaching attributes on individual posted notes

2. We take turns putting them on the board into themes

3. We rank them in terms of important/value in our work environment

4. We discuss how to put them into practice

Exercise: Great Coaching Practices

1. Everyone writes their top coaching practices on individual posted notes

2. We take turns putting them on the board into themes

3. We rank them in terms of important/value in our work environment

4. We discuss how to put them into practice

Exercise: Agile Principles Survey

1. Conduct an Agile Principles Survey

2. Review and discuss results

3. Where are we doing well vs not so well?

4. What can we do to improve low preforming areas?

What are your biggest challenges?

Let’s have a collaborative discussion about your biggest challenges.

Wrap-up questions

• What did you learn today that you want to try?

• Is there anything blocking you from trying it?

• When will you try it?

Thank you!

[email protected]@sagesw.com

#kevinbburns

Please take a moment to fill out the evaluation.


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

How to find Educational Session Evaluation

1. Open the Government IT Symposium Guidebook app on your mobile device.

2. Click on the menu bar on the top of the homepage.

3. Find and click on “Agenda & Educational Sessions” within the menu.

4. Scroll and find Session ______ (fill in your session title here)

5. Click on the Session and scroll to the bottom of the page to find “Educational Session Survey” and fill out the survey!

If you haven’t already downloaded our mobile app, below are the instructions on how to download the app: https://guidebook.com/g/itsym

1. Visit the above URL on your device

2. Tap the “download” button to get the free Guidebook app

3. Open Guidebook and look for the guide: Government IT Symposium


https://guidebook.com/g/itsym

MN IT Symposium Products and Platforms OVER Progs, Projs, and; Processes

Design

Transcript of MN IT Symposium Products and Platforms OVER Progs, Projs, and; Processes