Post on 24-Jun-2015
description
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Applying Agile to Multi-Team Projects
Adam Monago
Vice President, Client Services
ThoughtWorks Studios
February 24th, 2010
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Why are you here today?
• To understand what aspects of Agile scale well and which do not
• To navigate the maze of “Enterprise Agile advice”
• To find a pathway toward understanding how to scale Agile in a smart way
• …
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
What we will cover
• People – How and why we organize into multiple teams
• Process– How we decide what to work on
– How we plan our work
– How we communicate progress with each other and our stakeholders
• Technology– What methods best serve multi-team projects
– What visualizations are most useful
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
PEOPLEWhy and how to organize into multiple teams
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Why do we do work that requires multiple project teams?
Mirrors the organizational structure
To align with business goals
Really BIG projects
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Remember cross-functional teams?
• Members are “Generalizing Specialists”
• Teams are long-lived
• Less Waiting
• Fewer Handoffs Tighter feedback loops
• Better Quality
Empowerment
Accountability
Identity
Consensus
Balance
* Larman / Vodde, Scaling Lean & Agile Development, Chapter 7 “Introduction to Feature Teams”
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Problems with Specialist and Component Teams
• Tend to enforce waterfall mentality
• Teams are typically forced to work on low-value work
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
How many teams is too many?
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Rules of Thumb for Splitting Work Across Teams
• Organize teams by feature group
• Provide every team with dedicated customer representation
• Have dedicated customer representation for the program as a whole
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
PROCESSPlanning, Tracking and Communicating
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Elements of managing a program are the same
• What to work on• Who will work on what• When it will be done
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
What to work on: Role of the Product Champion
• Product Champions need to own prioritization
• Always working in “3 iterations at once”:– Supporting what is currently being developed– Defining what is to be built next– Analyzing what still needs to be built
XP
Customer
Scrum
Product Owner
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Planning Work
The Planning Game– Release Planning Across Streams
• Use rolling-look-ahead planning to coordinate
– Planning Within the Streams
• Allow teams to have flexibility
Planning Framework– Driven by the size of your project and the length of time it will take to be
delivered to customers in its entirety
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Planning Framework
Characteristic Release Wave Iteration
Timeframe Long-Range (6+ Months)
Medium Range (3 Months)
Iteration (Short Range)
Level of Detail Capability Story Story/Task
Commitment Type Project Feasibility Capability Commitment
Story Commitment
Deployment Final Release to Customer
Possible Interim Release to Customer
Customer Review Process
Table above taken from:Jim Highsmith, Agile Project Management, Chapter 8, “Multi-Level Planning”, Table 8-1
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Managing Dependencies
• It’s a myth that writing good stories can eliminate the need to track dependencies
• The more complex the effort, the more lead time and coordination are necessary to deal with feature dependencies
• Remember ?
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Useful Techniques for Managing Dependencies
• Rolling Look-Ahead Planning and Schedule Buffers – Mike Cohn “Agile Estimating and Planning” and “Succeeding With Agile”
• Inter-Team Commitment Stories– Jim Highsmith “Agile Project Management”
• Focused Teams– Larman/Vodde “Product Coordination Team”
– Linda Rising and Mike Cohn “Integration Team”
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Borrow from Distributed Best Practices
• Distributed projects have their own set of concerns regarding meeting protocols, communication tools and redundant roles that are a natural fit for dependency management across teams.
• Mark Rickmeier “Can You Hear Me Now? Good…” Agile 2009
• View the recorded webinar here:
– http://offshore.thoughtworks.com/can-you-hear-me-now
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Communication and coordination
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
The Scrum of Scrums is NOT Sufficient
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Testing
Tech Huddle
Project Manager
Iteration Managers
Teams
Staffing
Progress
Risks
Forecasts
Architect
Product Mgr
Scope
Priorities
FeaturesVision
Escalation
Risks
Schedule
Staffing
Timeline
TechnicalDebt
Estimates
Risks
Test Coverage
BA Lead
BA Huddle
Performance
Regression
SWAT
AutomationQA Lead
ProjectSponsor
Priorities
Signoff
Narratives
Usability
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Cross Team Communication
Team 1 Iteration Manager
Team 2 Iteration Manager
Team 3 Iteration Manager
IM Huddle
Tech Lead Tech lead Tech Lead Tech Huddle
Business Analyst Business Analyst Business Analyst BA Huddle
Tester Tester Tester QA Huddle
Developer Developer DeveloperLearning Lunches
and Patterns
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Don’t rely too heavily on tools
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Evolving Your Management Approach
• Trial and error
• Minimize WIP
• Fix Max Queue Size
• Use Yesterday’s Weather as it relates to total time to complete a feature– Arlo Belshee Disneyland Wait Time
– From Requirement to Production
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
TECHNOLOGYMethods, tools and visualizations to assist multi-team projects
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Program Visualizations
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Be transparent in terms of how metrics are reflected
26
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Hybrid Approaches
www.thoughtworks-studios.com Copyright 2010 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Thank You!
Questions?
Contact me to discuss more at amonago@thoughtworks.com