Release Train Engineer - the Master Scrum Master

By Mia Horrigan• CEO - Zen Ex Machina•@miahorri

So What is an RTE?• Master Scrum Master • Facilitates program level processes and execution• Coordinates delivery at scale across an enterprise• Team and Delivery focused to achieve Business

outcomes

What it is not • Another word for Program/Release/Delivery

Manager• Project Management at scale

Servant Leadership• Provide support so teams can be self managing and

self organising• Very different mindset to being a Program Manager• RTE doesn’t decide where the train is going or how

to build the train, they are there to coordinates all team efforts to the outcome

Context• Started as Agile Coach • Started with 3 backend teams• Now, frontend, middleware and backend teams• But still only Component teams• Large Government Agency• Now the RTE for 8 teams on the Train last 6 months

What Worked Well – what kept the Train on the Tracks

Dedicated People on the Train• People on the train are dedicated to the train no

matter what their reporting structure might be• Product Owner and Scrum Master per Team• Most co-located on same floor

Joined at the Hip - Product Manager and RTE • Key relationship• Product manager and RTE working closely together• Product manager focus – What and Why• RTE focus – How to make this happen

Focus on Incremental Delivery

Program Increment Planning• Evolved from disastrous first PI planning• Greater opportunity for business and teams to

converse on features• Two day session with all the train in the one room• Huge energy, collaboration and communication

Business Involved with Teams• Feature Owners working with Teams• Product Owners Council• Dev workshops with Feature Owners• Business Owners and Executives at PI planning

Team/Train Building• Team choose their name• PI planning as team building• Awareness of other team and train goals • Trained everybody on the train

Executive Sponsor Support• IT Service Delivery and Business Executive

Sponsorship and Vision• Aligned to Organisation Strategy to “reinvent” the

organisation and “Getting IT Right”• Director focused on what she could do to help

Visualisation• Made the flow and work visible• Team centred around Boards to discuss• Communication to others of work in progress• Kinesthetic learning

Program Impediments Board• Make it really visible to the team and executives

what issues and impediments are happening• Make sure it has who is responsible to clear the

impediment• Track how long it stays in progress

User Focused• Showcases are scenario based• Story mapping to understand user journey• Pragmatic personas and empathy maps

Managers off the Train• Scrum Masters and POs were not team leads• HR reporting lines different to Train• Managers outside of train to deal with projects and

and documentation required by non Agile work teams

What needs focus to keep the Train on the tracks

Train’s Maturity• Different team capability, 40 new people joined in R4• Succeeding because we have a few smart and capable

individuals• Don’t want hero work or burn outs

Line Managers struggled• Still their HR manager but not part of the train• Insisted on a overly burdensome QA process for

reviews that created bottlenecks• Worried about their place in the new framework• Went around the Train

Governance• Escalation Point for Impediments and Risks• Program Status Report • Roles and Responsibilities need to be clear

Scrum of Scrums• Not a status Report• About alignment, communication and removing

impediments

Product Owner Council• Escalation Point for scope and boundary changes• Product Manager coordinates and makes the

ultimate call based on business value• POs in each team with regular interaction with

feature owners

Coaches Council• Coaches at Team and Program/Portfolio Layer• Team coaches embedded with team full time• Provide advice to Release Management Group• Advocate for team (“Good Cop”)

Definition of Done• Applied this at Team, System and Release level• Helped ensure quality standards adhered to rather

than big checklists• Definition of Ready so teams didn’t take on work

that was likely to change scope and design

Environments• Not set up well for continuous integration or

release on demand

Push vs Pull• Started with back end and team level• Portfolio and program level not as mature• Push work on team to keep them busy but feature

not ready for delivery• Want to get to a stage where Teams pull work from

an ordered backlog – not there yet

Challenges at Scale• Teams are self managing however still need

coordination and alignment across multiple teams• Working together towards achieving the goals for

the Train's Product Increment• 100 people on the train, 8 teams• Hard to steer and keep it on the tracks

Remember: celebrate the wins• Not going to get it right the first time• First Release only happened with hero effort • PI 1 Second/Third release was delayed and had 35

CRs, Release 4 happened with only but with a smaller increment• PI2 has started well

End