How to set up agile teams and backlogs?

Zoltán Csutorás agile coach and trainer

!zoltan.csutoras@adaptiveconsulting.hu

www.scrummate.comhttp://www.scrummate.com/cz/

Some scenarios from our experience…

Small System Integrator Big internal devops department

Niche player vendor or „semi-vendor“

• 5-10 developers

• Operates some legacy systems

• Working on one or two new projects

• Their existence depends on some „gurus“ working there since the beginning

• Small projects, no chance to set up

• 40-100 developers

• Operates many legacy systems

• Working on some new projects

• # systems ≈ # developers

• Resource allocation meetings, fight for experienced „gurus“

• Project and line managers

• Many subcontractors

• 20-300 developers

• Develops and operates slightly modified versions of some (1-3) products

• Tension between accounts (clients) and products priorities

• Account managers vs. project managers vs. line managers

The Scrum framework

Product backlog

Sprint backlog

Daily Scrum

Sprint review, retrospective

Product increment

Sprint

The Scrum framework

!!!!

… defines what to build and sets up clear priorities, so everybody knows

what to do (and why) next. !

Backlog items are estimated.

The product owner …Product backlog

Team is self-organized

Product increment

Self-organized, ever improving team based on the three pillars

of Scrum. !

• Transparency

• Inspection

• Adaptation

The Scrum framework

Product backlog

Sprint backlog

!The team

!Measures and knows its velocity and commits to the amount of

work accordingly.

High quality outcome

Product backlog

Sprint backlog

Daily Scrum

Sprint review, retrospective

Product increment

Sprint

A fully tested and potentially shippable, valuable product increment is produced in

each sprint.

Kanban

Product backlog3 2 2 1

Work is limited and aligned to throughput

Sprint backlog

The team… 3 2 2 1

Scrum Kanban

Agile advantagesTeam velocity is known and respected, so everybody knows what can be realistically accomplished.

Based on an estimated backlog and known team velocity, management can (and need to) set priorities. This leads to a conscious, value-driven work.

The team is self-organized, solves problems quickly and takes responsibility of their outcome. Management can focus on strategy and on customers.

Motivated team members working with sustainable pace have the intention and capacity to continuously improve their practices.

Some scenarios from our experience…

Small System Integrator Big internal devops department

Niche player vendor or „semi-vendor“

• 5-10 developers

• Operates some legacy systems

• Working on one or two new projects

• Their existence depends on some „gurus“ working there since the beginning

• Small projects, no chance to set up

• 40-100 developers

• Operates many legacy systems

• Working on some new projects

• # systems ≈ # developers

• Resource allocation meetings, fight for experienced „gurus“

• Project and line managers

• Many subcontractors

• 20-300 developers

• Develops and operates slightly modified versions of some (1-3) products

• Tension between accounts (clients) and products priorities

• Account managers vs. project managers vs. line managers

Some excuses to not to use agile

„We can’t implement Scrum sprints because we can’t predict how many requests our clients will ask from us…“

„We can’t set up so many Scrum teams as many projects we have.“

„We have only a few …(replace) specialists in our company and all teams would need him. Therefore we can’t set up stable Scrum teams.“

„We have many legacy systems to operate, so we need to take out some specialists from teams very often to handle customer issues.“

„Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody

wants to die.“

Peter Tosh - Jamaican reggae Musician

The traditional way

The traditional way

The traditional way

The traditional way

The traditional way

The traditional way

Team velocity is known and respected, so everybody knows what can be realistically accomplished.

Based on an estimated backlog and known team velocity, management can (and need to) set priorities. This leads to a conscious, value-driven work.

The team is self-organized, solves problems quickly and takes responsibility of their outcome. Management can focus on strategy and on customers.

Motivated team members working with sustainable pace have the intention and capacity to continuously improve their practices.

Lost advantages

There is no team. There is no team velocity. Work estimations at individuals level.

Resource allocation is based on managers influence and loudness. It’s hard to set clear priorities.

Individuals don’t take real responsibility. All decisions need to be made by managers.

No, or low improvement. Individuals are fighting against work overload. „There is no time to sharpen the saw.“

„Fuzzy“ teams

„Fuzzy“ teams

2-3 member teams work fine!

This is not the solution.

Team velocity is known and respected, so everybody knows what can be realistically accomplished.

Based on an estimated backlog and known team velocity, management can (and need to) set priorities. This leads to a conscious, value-driven work.

The team is self-organized, solves problems quickly and takes responsibility of their outcome. Management can focus on strategy and on customers.

Motivated team members working with sustainable pace have the intention and capacity to continuously improve their practices.

Lost advantages

Teams are not stable and often can’t deliver value on their own. It’s hard to measure the velocity of the team.

We can manage an estimated backlog, but we don’t have a stable, known velocity.

If team members are often transferred to other teams, there will be no transparency within the team. No self-organization…

The lack of full transparency will prevent to effectively address improvement opportunities.

Some excuses to not to use agile

„We can’t implement Scrum sprints because we can’t predict how many requests our clients will ask from us…“

„We can’t set up so many Scrum teams as many projects we have.“

„We have only a few … specialists in our company and all teams would need him. Therefore we can’t set up stable Scrum teams.“

„We have many legacy systems to operate, so we need to take out some specialists from teams very often to handle customer issues.“

Kanban

Product backlog3 2 2 1

Short sprints

Product backlog

Sprint backlog

Daily Scrum

Sprint review, retrospective

Product increment

Sprint

1 week

Some excuses to not to use agile

„We can’t implement Scrum sprints because we can’t predict how many requests our clients will ask from us…“

„We can’t set up so many Scrum teams as many projects we have.“

„We have only a few … specialists in our company and all teams would need him. Therefore we can’t set up stable Scrum teams.“

„We have many legacy systems to operate, so we need to take out some specialists from teams very often to handle customer issues.“

All in oneOne team

(Up to 7-9 team members)One backlog, 1 theme/clientClients

Organize the backlog into ‘Themes’

And track progress

www.scrummate.com/cz

CharacteristicsTeam velocity is known and respected, so everybody knows what can be realistically accomplished.

Based on an estimated backlog and known team velocity, management can (and need to) set priorities. This leads to a conscious, value-driven work.

The team is self-organized, solves problems quickly and takes responsibility of their outcome. Management can focus on strategy and on customers.

Motivated team members working with sustainable pace have the intention and capacity to continuously improve their practices.

Works up to 7-9 developers. Not applicable for larger companies.

One backlog, more teams

More teamsOne backlog, 1 theme/clientClients

Characteristics

All of the agile advantages…

Works for large companies as well. The only way to work on large, multi-teams projects (Scrum of Scrums).

Only a few agile project management tools can really support it.

www.scrummate.com

One team per client or product

Some excuses to not to use agile

„We can’t implement Scrum sprints because we can’t predict how many requests our clients will ask from us…“

„We can’t set up so many Scrum teams as many projects we have.“

„We have only a few … specialists in our company and all teams would need him. Therefore we can’t set up stable Scrum teams.“

„We have many legacy systems to operate, so we need to take out some specialists from teams very often to handle customer issues.“

One team per client or product

Teams with 2-3 members are working fine!

Specialists can assist to other teams.

One team per client or product

Teams with 2-3 members are working fine!

Specialists can assist to other teams.

One team per client or product

Teams with 2-3 members are working fine!

Independent specialist (coach)

Some excuses to not to use agile

„We can’t implement Scrum sprints because we can’t predict how many requests our clients will ask from us…“

„We can’t set up so many Scrum teams as many projects we have.“

„We have only a few … specialists in our company and all teams would need him. Therefore we can’t set up stable Scrum teams.“

„We have many legacy systems to operate, so we need to take out some specialists from teams very often to handle customer issues.“

Issue

We need that team member…

Independent specialist (coach)Don’t take team

members out from

the team…

We need that team member…

Independent specialist (coach)

Issue

Put the issue into the team’s

sprint backlog or Kanban

board. Let the team

manage its activities.

Learning (multilearning from the „New New Product Development Game“ by Nonaka and Takeuchi)

Self-organization (transparency, honesty, motivation)

Overloading the team

Context switching

Neglecting priorities

Don’t underestimate the power of…

Thank you for your attention!

… and don’t forget to try ScrumMate :-)

Manage large backlogs easily. Organize backlog items into themes, use tags and set milestones.

Track progress and scope changes for each theme or any freely defined set of backlog items.

Real support for multiple teams working on the same backlog.

Each team can choose their own framework within the same project. (Scrum or Kanban.)

It’s free forever for up to 3 users.

www.scrummate.comhttp://www.scrummate.com/cz/