HOUSTON, TX, USA | 5–8 NOVEMBER 2017

#PMOSym

PMO17BR201

Caterpillar’s Next Step: Implementing Agile in a Waterfall World

Seth J. Norburg, PMP, Portfolio Coordinator

Caterpillar

Agenda

2

• Safety and Introductions

• Recognizing the Need for Change: Challenging the Status Quo

• Finding the Right Balance: All Agile? All Waterfall? Or Both?

• Implementing Agile: Creating a Dynamic PMO

• Q&A

Safety

3

Seth J. Norburg, SSM, PMP Speaker Biography

4

• Portfolio coordinator – Caterpillar, Inc. (Global Aftermarket,

Marketing & Brand Division)

• Manages a team of program coordinators providing program

management expertise and services to large corporate,

strategic and digital initiatives

• Leads the deployment of agile methodology and processes for

the global program management team

• Was a pro bono project management consultant for the

Children’s Home Association of Illinois; Recipient of the 2016

PMIEF Community Advancement Through Project

Management Award in the Corporate Category

5

Global Program Management (GPM) Team

6

Identify/recognize the challenges/lessons learned

implementing agile in a waterfall environment

Understand the “hybrid” model and its

application to projects

Provide recommendations for strategies to develop

agile talent/expertise within teams

Learning Objectives

Recognizing the Need for ChangeThe Base Case

9

• EPA Tier 3/Tier 4 facilitated the

creation of several PMO teams within

Caterpillar in the early 2000s

• Waterfall-based methodology

• Status quo for 10 years

Recognizing the Need for ChangeThe Base Case

10

Source: 2010 Customer Survey as reported in Agile Mindset & Practices Training for Caterpillar Training Class Companion Book – Page 7

“Software

development is

clearly a bottleneck.

We need to do this

better, faster, and

with fewer defects.”

“We need to provide a

better understanding

of the major software

strategy changes

associated with

software releases.”

“Improve…software

development

velocity. They need

to feel…the sense of

urgency.”

“We need a greater

sense of the

importance of rapid

response and

meeting

deadlines.”

Recognizing the Need for ChangeThe Base Case

11

Source: 2010 Customer Survey as reported in Agile Mindset & Practices Training for Caterpillar Training Class Companion Book – Page 7

“More

collaboration

on priority

and timing!”

“It drives the correct

conversations.”

“Agile has … helped

us keep our head

above water.”

“It drives scheduled

software release

dates and helps to

uphold these

commitments.”

More Efficient Development

Recognizing the Need for ChangeThe Base Case

12

• GPM began its agile journey in 2015

• Agreed to support an agile project with

little to no experience

• The result was a disaster

EPIC FAILURE

Recognizing the Need for ChangeThe Base Case

13

A lessons-learned review yielded

several recommendations:

1. Expand knowledge of agile

2. Research agile

3. Expand opportunities

Recognizing the Need for ChangeThe Burning Platform

14

• GPM expanded support to digital in 2015

• Scope creep was rampant, with frequently changing project

requirements

• Agile was known, but not widely employed

Recognizing the Need for ChangeThe Burning Platform

15

“If we use

agile, we no

longer need

to meet

deadlines.”

“We cannot use

agile unless we

are co-located.”

“We don’t

need a plan in

agile”

“Our project is

too big for

agile.”

“We are not

executing an IT

project, so agile is

not applicable.”

Recognizing the Need for ChangeThe Burning Platform

16

• To foster change, GPM focused

on the following:

– Education

– Change management

– Flexible service offerings

• But … what service offerings are

the right ones?

Finding the Right BalanceAll Agile? All Waterfall? Or Both?

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• Which method is right?

• Should we adopt one

overarching method?

• Can agile and waterfall work

together?

20

Fixed

Flexible

Scope

Cost Time

Waterfall

Cost Time

Scope

Agile

Similar PrinciplesTwo Things to Agree on

21

Though agile is known for its iterations, A Guide to the Project Management

Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Fifth Edition talks about progressive

elaboration:

“Indicating that planning and documentation are iterative and ongoing

activities” (PMBOK ® Guide, Section 3.4)

Similar PrinciplesTwo Things to Agree On

22

Though agile is also known for collaboration, the PMBOK® Guide states:

“The project manager also works closely and in collaboration with other

roles…the project manager becomes the link between the strategy and

the team.”(PMBOK® Guide, page 17)

Strategy PM - Collaboration

Similar PrinciplesTwo Things to Agree On

23

Regardless if it’s agile or waterfall, it’s about working with people.

Strategy PM - Collaboration

2016 2017Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2017 Feb Mar

Deploy 0.1

Sep 21

Deploy 0.2

Oct 11

Deploy 0.3

Oct 25

Deploy 0.4

Nov 8

Deploy 0.5

Nov 22

Executive Stakeholder

Mtg

Dec 8

Deploy 0.6

Dec 23

Aug 8 - Sep 21App Development 0.1

Aug 31 - Oct 11App Development 0.2

Sep 15 - Oct 25App Development 0.3

Sep 29 - Nov 8App Development 0.4

Oct 13 - Nov 22App Development 0.5

Nov 10 - Jan 4App Development 0.6

Aug 1 - Sep 7Coverage Plan

Developed

Aug 1 - Oct 28IT Integration

Aug 1 - Mar 31Authoring

Prod Process

Oct 25 - Mar 31Commercial Strategy Developed

Hybrid Prototype Program

Sprints

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0.4User Story

0.4F

User Story

0.4G

0.5User Story 0.5H

User Story

0.5I

0.6User Story 0.6J

User Story 0.6K

0.1User Story 0.1A

User Story

0.1B

0.2User Story

0.2C

User Story 0.2D

0.3User Story 0.3E

User Story 0.3F

Milestones Contained Sets of User Stories/

Features Per Sprint

Finding the Right BalanceAll Agile? All Waterfall? Or Both?

26

• Why Hybrid?

– Sprint planning

– Milestone tracking

– Stakeholder report outs

– Flexibility

Finding the Right BalanceAll Agile? All Waterfall? Or Both?

27

• Interest stimulated agile overall

• Agile transformations discussions

• Agile goals developed

Finding the Right BalanceAll Agile? All Waterfall? Or Both?

28

• With this excitement, came a question: “What type of agile

methodology does one use?”

– Scrum?

– SAFe® Scrum?

– Kanban?

– Etc.

Finding the Right BalanceAll Agile? All Waterfall? Or Both?

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• SAFe® Agile

– Based on lean/agile principles

– Espouses three methodologies: Scrum, Kanban,

XP

– Agile portfolio and program management

– Scalability

– Adaptability

Implementing AgileCreating a Dynamic PMO

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• Goals set with leadership

• Cross-functional team formed

• Agile methodology utilized for

deployment

Implementing AgileCreating a Dynamic PMO

34

• Three key elements to implementation:

– Education/training

– Tools

– Rollout to business partners

Implementing AgileThree Key Elements - Education

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• Developed and devised an education strategy that involved the following:

– Identifying Individuals to champion agile

– Developing a comprehensive agile curriculum

– Recruiting team members with agile expertise

Implementing AgileThree Key Elements – Education

36

• Team leader was identified to

champion the use of agile

• Developed and proposed a

curriculum for agile education

• Became a SAFe® program

consultant

Agile

Transformation

Agile Foundation

SAFe®

Scrum Master

PMI-ACP®/

SAFe® Adv Scrum Master

SAFe®

Program Consultant

Implementing AgileThree Key Elements - Education

37

Implementing AgileThree Key Elements – Tools

38

• Traditional project

management tools do not

lend themselves to agile

• A new tool was needed to

facilitate the new

methodology

Implementing AgileThree Key Elements - Tools

39

• Microsoft Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS)

– Allows team to enter epics, features, stories, tasks

– Tasks can be updated/assigned on a regular basis

– Cloud based/Cost effective

Implementing Agile3 Key Elements - Tools

40

Implementing AgileThree Key Elements – Rollout to Business Partners

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• Goals of the rollout:

– Pilot agile services

– Gauge resistance/education needs

– Develop future opportunities for growth

Agile

Portfolio

Management

Project Filter

Scrum Master Coaching

Business Partners

Business Partners

Business Partners

ChartersPrioritized

Backlog of

Epics

epic 2

epic 3

epic 4

epic 5

epic 6

epic 7

Governance

Meeting –

Prioritize

Portfolio

Backlog

epic 1

Scrum

Team

Scrum

TeamScrum

Team

Scrum

Team

Scrum

Team

Scrum

Team

Scrum

TeamScrum

Team

Scrum

Team

Scrum

Team

Scrum

Team

Scrum

Team

Example Model of Agile PortfolioManagement

43

Implementing AgileThree Key Elements – Rollout to Business Partners

44

Provided the following for agile transformation project

Input re: methodologies

Input for agile leadership

training

Agile coach for pilot project

Training on SAFe®

Scrum Master Services

45

Product Owner

Scrum Master

Developer

s

Sprint

Planning

SprintDaily

Scrum

Inspect

Adapt

Sprint

Reveal

Product

Increment

Sprint

Retrospective

Stakeholders

Scrum

Team

User

Story

Sprint

Backlog

User

Story

User

Story

User

Story

User

StoryUser

StoryUser

StoryUser

Story

Sprint

Execution

Scrum Artifacts

1. Product backlog

2. Sprint backlog

3. Product increment

Inspect

Inspect

Adapt

Adapt

Product

Backlog

User

Story

User

Story

User

Story

User

Story

1

User

Story

User

Story

User

Story

User

Story

User

Story

User

Story

2

3

Implementing AgileThree Key Elements – Rollout to Business Partners

46

• Finally, the overall strategy was presented to GPM leadership for

feedback, and the response was positive

• There was a massive amount of interest in the work to date, and many

teams are now requesting SAFe® Scrum training

Implementing AgileGoing Forward

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• Education/training is key

• Demand continues to grow

• Mitigating resistance

RecruitingGoing Forward

48

• Intentional effort made to recruit individuals with

the following qualities:

– Cross-functional experience in both waterfall

and agile

– Great initiative

– Willing to learn

– Out-of-the-box thinker

53

• Scrum Master support

• Agile program/portfolio

management support:

SAFe®

Global Program ManagementService Offerings

• Project management

support: waterfall

• Portfolio/program

management support:

waterfall

ConclusionTransforming the Mindset

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• Through developing a robust model, educational curriculum and a

team vision, GPM began the process of implementing agile in a purely

waterfall world

• The transition isn’t easy, as it requires a total mindset change.

However, our efforts are helping team members to understand the

benefits of when/where to use agile, waterfall or both

Now What?

55

Special Thanks

• Niel Magsombol, SPC4, SSM (SAFe® Program Consultant, Scrum

Master), PMP

– Team leader and agile champion for GPM

• Entire GPM team

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Questions?

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Contact

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethnorburg

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Norburg_Seth@cat.com