The Effects of Work Habits Around Agility

Through Simulation

Agenda

• Why we do promote Self-Organization• The effectiveness of Collaboration• The impact of Multi-tasking• The relationship of Optimization, Prioritization,

Throughput, Impediments, Métier, Utilization, and Sizing

• The impact of Management Interference• Learning to Say No• Understanding Each Other– Perspectives, Mental Models, and Yes, and… Thinking

Time to Organize

• Need a volunteer! You will be the Director.

• We’ll give you a sheet, your job is to organize people around the tables based on the instructions we give you.

• Ensure folks are evenly distributed at the tables

• You may not reveal the instructions or goal to any person.

• You are going to be timed…

Debrief

• That took ___ minutes to complete

• Director, how did that feel? What were the problem areas?

• Participants, how did it feel to you? What problems did you see?

Time to Self-Organize

• You are going to organize yourselves based alphabetically on the city where your live; where those ‘tie’, you will use the street name, should those ‘tie’, then the street number, and just in case we have a partner duo in the room, then by last letter of your first name

• Ensure folks are evenly distributed.• You may talk and do this.• You are going to be timed…

Debrief

• That took ___

• How did it feel to you?

• What problems did that eliminate?

• Did you see any new things to consider?

Adopting an

Introduces change for most teams

Understanding how change affects teams is important

Agile Mindset & the Practices

Status Quo

New Status Quo

disruption amount

disruption time

The Satir Change Curve

A detailed depiction of the Satir Change model - http://stevenmsmith.com/ar-satir-change-model/

Status Quo

New Status Quo

disruption amount

disruption time

The Satir Change Curve

A detailed depiction of the Satir Change model - http://stevenmsmith.com/ar-satir-change-model/

Allow teams time to learn

Give teams encouragement

Expect a degradation

Collaboration:Power of 13

Simulation

This game was created at Agile Games 2014 by – Jamie GaullRobert SmithPeter BarzdinesBobby ZhakovPaul Boos

1 3

Power of 13Goal: Work off the the number of cards equal to the number of people within your iteration’s length

Mechanics: • We need a ‘Scrum Master’ and ‘Product Owner’ – everyone else is a

development team member• Each card is worked off whenever a 13 is rolled on 3 dice (~10% chance per

roll)• The product owner will count off the number of cards completed using a deck

of cards• The scrum master will use another suit of cards to count down your iteration

of 13 work days (3 week Sprints, the other two days are sprint review, retro, and planning = 15 days)

• We will mark down what day you meet your goal and the total # of cards worked off

Power of 13 :: Round 1 This round will simulate developers working alone in their silos/cubes• Each developer is responsible for completing a card from the

backlog• Each developer rolls the dice once per day; the scrum master

keeps track of the 13 work days using the suit of cards he or she has

• If a dice roll has a sum total of exactly ‘13’, they state “my card is DONE.” The product owner turns this card over from his stack. The developer stops work and pats himself on the back.

• Record cards completed once all the work days are completed or when everyone says they are ‘DONE’; also record what day the required # of stories was completed.

Power of 13 :: Round 2 This round will simulate helping others after you complete your work• The team is still responsible for completing at least the a number of

cards from the backlog equal to the number of developers• Each developer rolls the dice once per day; the scrum master keeps

track of the 13 work days using the suit of cards he or she has• If a dice roll has a sum total of exactly ‘13’, they state “my card is

DONE.” The product owner turns this card over from his stack. The developer pats himself on the back; however they may now continue to roll on subsequent days and declare another card done for each ‘13’ they roll – identify who they helped if someone else isn’t completed.

• Record cards were completed and what day the required # of stories was completed.

Power of 13 :: Round 3 • This round simulates collaborative swarming to complete

work• The team is still responsible for completing at least the a

number of cards from the backlog equal to the number of developers

• Each developer rolls the dice once per day; the scrum master keeps track of the 13 work days using the suit of cards he or she has

• Once each developer has rolled, they work together to pull as many sums of exactly ‘13’ on 3 dice as possible; each ’13’ identified equals a card worked. The product owner turns these cards over from his stack.

• Record cards were completed and what day the required # of stories was completed.

Collaboration:Power of 13

SimulationDebrief

What did you notice happening?

What did the dice/rolls represent?How did the effectiveness change in each round?

How does or does not this correlate with how real work happens?

How did the coordination in the last round feel?

What did allowing a person to continue work simulate?

Give me

Volunteers…5

Mwhahahaha

Instructions…

• One Person is the Speller…

• The Other 4 Are the People Providing the Words for you to Spell

• I’ll provide the words you need to provide to the Speller for each round

Round 1

• Each Provider will SHOUT their word at the Speller simultaneously

• I am going to time how long it takes the Speller to spell the words; they must be spelled correctly (no pressure, but they were due yesterday)

• The Providers may stop Shouting their word once theirs is correctly spelled.

Round 2

• Each Provider will give the 1st letter of their word• The Speller will write this letter down starting to spell

each word• Once each provider has given their 1st letter, move to

the 2nd letter• We’ll continue with each letter round-robin style until

each word has been spelled• I will time when each word is completed• If any word is spelled wrong, the Provider needs to

speak-up and talk the Speller through what needs to change, but NOT spell the word for them

Round 3 (You Knew There Was One Right?)

• The 1st Provider will say their word• The Speller writes it out fully• That Provider helps the Speller through any

corrections that need to be made• Once it is spelled correctly, the next Provider goes• I’ll time as each word gets completed

Multi-taskingMadnessDebrief

Simulating

(OPTIMUS)

Optimization, Prioritization, Throughput, Impediments,

the Relationshipbetween

Métier, Utilization, and Sizing

Optimus Primeaka

Optimus PrimeGoals:Understand how choices on what people work on and how these decisions impact a team’s delivery of stories (or tasks).

Overview of the Game:Optimus Prime is a cooperative worker placement game where the team’s Iteration (Sprint) Board is the game board. The set-up simulates chartering and release planning where the team is selected and the number of stories and their overall story points are determined.Iterations (Sprints) are the turns of the game where the work to be completed during delivery is cooperatively selected during the Iteration (Sprint) Planning. It ends with an Iteration (Sprint) Review/Retrospective.Within the Iteration turns are daily rounds consisting of the team pulling work to be done and placing their workers (during daily stand-up) on the stories or impediments to be worked and then performing the work by pulling cards from the Productivity or Impediment Deck as appropriate.

Optimus PrimeSupplies (and what they represent):• Flipchart, Blue tape and stickies; some very small to record points,

and some 3x5 sized• One set of pawns (chess pawns), one larger pawn (king or queen) to

represent the product owner, and a pawn that represents a specialist (bishop, knight, or rook); these are the folk that do the work [different colored pawns also work]

• A set of tokens in 3 different colors to indicate blocked work due to impediments; one color represents only work a product owner can resolve, one color represents only work a developer can resolve, and the last anyone

• One additional token to keep track of the days we work in our iteration.

• Two standard dice for determining story points, story points, and # of split stories

Supplies, continued (and what they represent):• Three card decks (preferably with different designs)

– One deck, the Story Deck, represents the stories to be worked in the release (suits are all that matter as they represent Epics or Features to be completed). We don’t need Jokers in this deck.

– One deck represents work (in points) completed by workers; this is the Productivity Deck. It also controls when impediments show up. It I preferable that this deck be one with 3 Jokers, though 2 can suffice. The Jokers represent impediments only a product owner can resolve, Suicide Kings represent only impediments a developer can resolve, and Jacks represent impediments anyone can resolve. For the remainder, the value of the card is the # of points worked (1-10, Queens = 12, Kings = 13). Impediment cards (Jacks, jokers, and Suicide Kings) never remove points of work.

– We’ll only use the Jokers, Kings, Queens, and Aces from the last deck as our impediment removal deck; place the rest aside; Jokers & Aces indicate the impediment is not removed, while a King or Queen remove the impediment; Aces from this deck = Epic/Feature priority

Optimus PrimeChartering & Release Planning/Set-up:• Use the blue tape and stickies to mark out our release backlog, sprint backlog,

in-work, and done columns as a work board• We’re going to start with a simulation of an un- or mis-prioritized backlog;

– Create the story deck; for each suit, roll two dice and add one to the roll; the result is the # of cards to add to the story deck from that suit. This is done four times, once for each suit; count out the cards from Ace King.

– Shuffle the story deck and deal out into the release backlog face up• Determine the size of the development team, consult the following table after

rolling two dice and then add one for the product owner:

• Place our team (pawns) above the board; select someone to represent the product owner.

Die Roll 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Dev Team Size 4 4 4 5 5 6 7 7 8 8 8

Chartering & Release Planning/Set-up (continued):• Determine what the priority order of the Epics/Features for the release are; roll

two dice and consult the following table:

• Reroll repeats

• Once 2 areselected, you onlyneed one die

• Suits = Epics/Features

• Record this order with the Aces from the 3rddeck

We’ll be setting due dates based on this order…

Die Rolls 1-3 4-6

1-3

4-6

-- 1st Die --

-- 2

nd D

ie --

Release Planning/Set-up (continued):• The flipchart will be used to record our release burndown; we need to

determine the # of points each story has; roll two dice for each story and consult the following table:

• Record these on small stickies and place on each card• Sum the total and record this on your flip chart• The # of available work days for your project is calculated by the following

formula:# work days = [Σ(story points) ÷ (team size x 5.4)] + 1d6 - 1 for a mgmt reserve5.4 is mathematically the average of points each person can work per day

• As a team, decide how long you want your iterations. Make a row of boxes on a sheet of paper for the # of days in your iteration and blacken one for your ceremonies

# of iterations for your project = Round to nearest integer (# days ÷ iteration length)Record this as your horizontal axis on your chart and show a linear burn of story points per iteration (this is your initially planned burn).

Die Roll 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Release Story Pt

Value3 5 5 8 8 13 13 13 21 21 34

Release Planning/Set-up (continued):• Due dates for each suit are now set; the suits are due at iteration end

in rising priority from last to first iteration. If the 1st suit is due first iteration end, place it in the second iteration and slide the 2nd and 3rd priorities back; making the 3rd and 4th both due in the last iteration.Examples:

Suppose the order was and there are onlyfour 3 week iterations; then the would be due at the end ofthe 2nd, the at the end of the 3rd, and the and at the end of the 4th iterationIf there were six iterations 2 weeks in length, then the due dates would be the end of 3rd through 6th iteration in order

• Use blue tape to hold the Ace cards below the iteration they due on the burn chart

• Shuffle the work deck and shuffle the impediment removal deck; place work deck above the in-work column and the impediment removal deck below it

You are now ready to start doing your iterations!

Optimus Prime

Iterations/Game Play:• Each Turn starts with the Iteration (Sprint) Planning Phase:

– Select candidate stories to commit to for a sprint (hint: as a team develops a velocity, use this)

– These go from the release backlog into the sprint backlog– To start with, we are going to assume the stories in the release

backlog have been prioritized; in the first sprint or two, we are not goingto change this order within the Sprint

– Decide if you want to split any of the stories or not. If you do, roll a die; divide the die roll by 3 rounded to the nearest integer (die roll result: 1=0, 2,3&4=1, and 5&6=2). Add +1 if you are splitting a 13 point story, +2 if the original story is a 21 point story, and +3 if the original story was 34 points. The result is the # of stories to add to the original story.

• Continuing with the Iteration (Sprint) Planning Phase:– If you split a story, determine the new story points

for each story using the following table:

– You may further split a story that has already been split; subtract one from the size die roll if you do so

– As a team, decide when to stop pulling stories and make a commitment for the Iteration (Sprint).

Die Roll 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Split Story Pt

Value1 2 3 3 3 5 5 5 8 8 8 13

• Daily Round Phase:– Daily Stand-Up: the players now collectively review what they

were able to accomplish the day prior, what they want to work on the next day (and place their pawns), and what impediments they want to remove (assigning pawns to it).

– Once the stand-up is completed, it’s time to do work! Draw a card one by one from the productivity deck for each pawn assigned to a story to work, mark off the points the card shows from the story points on the stickyWhen an a Jack, Joker, or Suicide King is drawn, place an impediment marker on the card. No further work can be done on this story today; any workers on it lose their ability to play a Productivity card. Suicide Kings indicate impediments that only a developer can resolve, Jokers are ones only the product owner can, and Jacks any worker may be assigned.

– Workers assigned to an impediment will draw from the impediment removal deck; when a King or Queen is drawn, the impediment is removed. Aces and Jokers keep the impediment in place.

• Some notes on the Daily Round Phase:– When a card is completed and there are points remaining,

the worker may go work on another story, the remaining points minus one may worked off another story. If no stories are in the in-work column another story can be pulled from the Sprint backlog. If there are no stories in the Sprint Backlog, then no further work can be done.

– If there happens to be two workers working an impediment and the first worker removes the impediment, the second worker can begin working on that story and draw a card from the Productivity deck, subtracting one point of what ever the value is that is drawn. The worker can also go work on a different card, but subtract two points from the card’s value (a negative number is treated as zero).

– If either deck runs out of cards, take the discard pile and reshuffle it.

• Iteration (Sprint) Review Phase:– Record the story points off of the completed cards.– Update your burn down chart based on this number.– Reshuffle the Impediment Removal discard back in to

form a new deck regardless of whether it ran out or not.

• Iteration (Sprint) Retrospective:– Discuss with your team mates if you need to rethink

how you pull stories for commitment, whether you need to size them differently, or how you assign workers.

– Your facilitator may make some observations or introduce new rules at this point.

• Return to the Iteration Planning Phase.

Optimus PrimeDebrief

Some Simulation Points• The randomness of the story

points and splits of stories simulates that a team can’t control story complexity, though they estimate it.

• What would happen if you pushed a team to change their estimates? Does it change the actual nature of the work complexity?

• The Productivity values simulate good days and bad days. Every day is different.

• Can you make a person perform better?

• Impediments,can they take longer than a dayto remove?

Optimus PrimeDebrief

Some Simulation Points• Why did you you have to

assign a worker to remove the impediment?

• What does losing a point when moving from one card to another represent?

• We started with a random order on the story cards representing poor prioritization; has this happened to anyone?

• The team size was established randomly; can you control how small or large teams are?

• What becomes a problem when a team becomes too large?

• The Epics (Suits) had a set order; what would it mean if these were Projects?

Optimus PrimeDebrief

What choices did you make during release planning? Iteration planning? How did these effect your ability to deliver?

Did you discover anything about story sizing that caused your team of workers problems?

Did you discover anything about assigning workers that either helped or hindered your team of workers?

What other things did you notice?

OPTIMUS Causal Loops

Utilization

ImpedimentsFocus on Priorities

Throughput of Work

(GTD)

-

-

Size of Work- Specialization

Interference:Build a House

Simulation

Management:

This game is adapted from one developed at Agile Games 2014; didn’t catch original designer’s names.

Build a House

• In groups of 3-5, grab a set of pipe cleaners• We’re going to simulate a single iteration where

‘management’ interference comes into play– One person will represent management, the remainder of you

will be constructing a house– In a moment, I will present the backlog of work to build the

house– During the 2 minutes in which the team is building,

management will roll a die every 15 seconds, on a roll of 1-2, they will roll 2 dice and consult the table on the sheet I will give out. Repeats just emphasize how important the item is!

– The team is compelled to try and add in whatever management asks for, well because who can say no to their bosses, right?

Build a House :: Backlog

• As a homeowner, I want my home to have a pitched roof so rain is shed off and I can stay dry.

• As a homeowner, I want a doorway so that I can get in and out of my home.

• As a homeowner, the house should be rectangular, so that I can easily fit it on the lot I have available.

Interference:Build a House

Simulation

Management:

Debrief

SayingNo

Exercise Courtesy of Chris SimsAgile Learning Labs

Saying No :: Round 1

• Go around and greet your fellow compatriots, ask how they are doing.

• Then ask some question that they could easily perform (e.g. can you tell me the time?)

• They are to say “NO”; i.e. they won’t do it.

Saying No :: Round 2

• Go around and greet your fellow compatriots, ask how they are doing.

• Ask them two questions, – something that would be somewhat difficult to perform,

but not impossible (e.g. would you carry me across the room?), and

– something they can easily perform.– Mix the order up; sometimes easy first/

• They are to say “NO” to the difficult question and mostly “Yes” to the easy question, though occasionally they may say no to that too.

SayingNo

Debrief

Understanding Each Other

…and building on each other’s ideas…

Exercise TimeGame

Instructions

• Separate into 3 teams• Elect a leader• Leader gets a goal & shares

w/team (visual sharing only)• 1st team to arrange all chairs

to meet goal w/in 2 min wins!

NO TALKING!Accredited

to Chris Sims

Debrief

Exercise

• I’m going to present an image of people in rush hour in NYC; I’ll have an arrow pointing to one person.

• I want you to write down the following:– Is this morning or afternoon rush? What gave you the

clue?– What type of work do you think that person does & why

you thought that?– What do you think that person is thinking?– If you were given $1000 to help that person in some way

other than giving it directly to them, how would you go about doing it? Why did you select this choice?

Exercise (Again)

• I’m going to again present the same image of people in rush hour in NYC; I’ll have an arrow pointing to a different person.

• I want you to write down the following:– What type of work do you think that person does &

why you thought that?– What do you think that person is thinking?– If you were given $1000 to help that person in some

way other than giving it directly to them, how would you go about doing it? Why did you select this choice?

Next Step

• For both your responses, categorize what your answers were into the following:

What was factual?(What could I actually see…)

What did I infer?(What did I believe may be occurring…)

Why did I think that?(Any prior event that to led my thinking…)

Ladder of Inference

Event

How To Find Common Ground When Engineers Don’t Like Features – Teresa Torres, Jan 2013

The Event Of Conversation

The Event Of Conversation

The Event Of Conversation

The Event Of Conversation

How do we

ourbeliefs

from getting

prevent

in the way?

a shared visionCo-create

assumptionsVoluntarily make

explicit

“Yes and…”Utilizethinking

Let’s Learn the Basics of Improv

Yes BUT --- • Split into pairs• Pick a person to start…• For the next 3 minutes - • That person will say something they want to do– The other person is to contradict them and propose

something else– ALWAYS start the sentence with “Yes, but…”– (even better if you say “we should do” in this counter-

proposal)

Take 1

Thanks to Mike Sutton for my learning of this

Let’s Learn the Basics of Improv

Yes AND --- • Same pairs• Other person to start…• For the next 3 minutes - • That person will say something they want to do– The other person is to add to it and propose

something additional– ALWAYS start the sentence with “Yes, and…”– (even better if you say “we can do” in this addition)

Take 2

Thanks to Mike Sutton for my learning of this

Debrief

• So how did you feel with the “Yes, but…”?• Any different with “Yes and…”?

• Did you see any change in your thinking when moving to “Yes and…”?

Please keep in touch with us…

• Awais Sheikh: asheikh@mitre.org

• Paul Boos: paul.boos@santeon.com http://twitter.com/paul_boos

Our Walk-out RetroAs you walk out, post a set of stickies:

• What thing(s) did you learn today that you will be more conscious of..?• What thing(s) did you disagree the most with that we talked about? (You

can share what your position is, but you aren’t required to…)• What could we have done to make this a better experience for you?