The Agile PMO - oceanstatepmi.org · The Agile PMO How the traditional project management office...

The Agile PMOHow the traditional project management office fits into the Agile landscape

Diana

Getmanlinkedin.com/in/dianagetman

Chief of StaffAscendle

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

Business Innovation

Strategy

BuildingSupport

480%3 year revenue growth

114%1 year revenue growth

+20%Net income

200+Software and quality assurance engineers

$500,000Typical project value

3,000 hoursTypical project effort

35+ yearsSoftware development experience

Typical project duration

7 months

5Development centers

(US and Eastern Europe)

A Brief History of Agile

1940’s• Toyota hires American W.

Edwards Deming

• He helps beginning development of the Toyota Production System (TPS)

• The start of “lean” thinking...

• …And the roots of agile

Araya, H., 2016. When was Agile “born”? [Online]. Available at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-agile-born-heidi-araya-mba-cal-csp-pmp/

1940’s

Lockheed Skunk Works

• Designs and builds the XP-80, the first U.S. jet fighter, in 143 days

• Dedicated, cross-functional team

• Trial and error

• Parallel activities

• Frequent inspection


1940’s

The Manhattan Project


• Trial and error

• Parallel trials

Lenfle, S. & Loch, C., 2010, Lost Roots: How Project Management Came to Emphasize Control Over Flexibility and Novelty [Online]. Available at http://www.sylvainlenfle.com/images/Publications/Lost_Roots_R2_VF.pdf

1950’s


X-15


• Iterative development

1950’s

Araya, H., 2016. When was Agile “born”? [Online]. Available at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-agile-born-heidi-araya-mba-cal-csp-pmp/Lenfle, S. & Loch, C., 2010, Lost Roots: How Project Management Came to Emphasize Control Over Flexibility and Novelty [Online]. Available at http://www.sylvainlenfle.com/images/Publications/Lost_Roots_R2_VF.pdf

Project Mercury


• Incremental software development

• Half-day iterations

• Test-driven development

1950’s


Atlas/Titan

• Separate, dedicated organization

• Cross-functional team

• Major overlap between research, development, construction

• Parallel work on both Atlas and its backup, Titan

Then something happened…

1960’s

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:0811_PMI_logo.gifLenfle, S. & Loch, C., 2010, Lost Roots: How Project Management Came to Emphasize Control Over Flexibility and Novelty [Online]. Available at http://www.sylvainlenfle.com/images/Publications/Lost_Roots_R2_VF.pdf

Late 1970’s – Early 1980’s

Some bucked the waterfall trend…• Canon• Fuji-Xerox• Honda• IBM

• Dedicated, cross-functional team of 12 engineers• Converted warehouse in Boca Raton, FL• Developed the IBM PC in 13 months

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_AE-1#/media/File:Canon_AE-1_with_50mm_f1.8_S.C._II.jpg • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer#/media/File:Ibm_pc_5150.jpgTakeuchi, H. & Nonaka, I., 1986. The New New Product Development Game. Harvard Business Review, January-February, pp. 137-146.

1986: What’s Old is New Again

“The traditional sequential or ‘relay race’ approach to product development…may conflict with the goals of maximum speed and flexibility.

Instead, a holistic or ‘rugby’ approach—where a team tries to go the distance as a unit, passing the ball back and forth—may better serve today’s competitive requirements.”

Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro NonakaThe New New Product Development GameHarvard Business Review, January-February 1986

1995: Scrum is Born

Schwaber, K., 1995. SCRUM Development Process. Business Object Design and Implementation: OOPSLA ’95 Workshop Proceedings, pp. 117-134.

Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber

Agile Manifesto

We value Over

Following a Plan

Contract Negotiation

Comprehensive Documentation

Processes and Tools

Responding to Change

Customer Collaboration

Working Software

Individuals and Interactions

Beck, K. et al., 2001. Manifesto for Agile Software Development. [Online]. Available at: http://agilemanifesto.org/

Top 3 Agile Benefits

Ability to Manage Changing Priorities

Increased Team Productivity

Improved Project Visibility

VersionOne, 2017. 11th Annual State of Agile Report. [Online]. Available at: https://explore.versionone.com/state-of-agile/versionone-11th-annual-state-of-agile-report-2

Agile Processes

Scrum Scrum & XP Custom Hybrid Scrumban Kanban Other Iterative Don't Know Lean

68% Scrum or

Scrum/XP

Characteristics of Scrum

• Scrum is one of the agile processes, focused on delivering the highest business value in the shortest amount of time.

• The business sets the priorities and teams self-organize to decide the best way to deliver the highest-priority features.

• Progress is made in an iterative and incremental fashion via fixed-length production cycles—called “sprints”—of one week to one month.

• At the end of each sprint, the product is usable and the business can decide to release it as-is or continue enhancing it.

Which Projects Should be Agile?“Routine Execution” “Novel or Strategic Project”

Requirements Defined and given from above General vision and direction, but detailed goals not known and partially emergent

Activities Can be articulated and derived from experience Partially emergent

Capabilities Existent or identified Don’t necessarily exist, not necessarily understood

Uncertainty Variation and risks that can be anticipated Unforeseeable uncertainty: new variables, new effects, new actions, which could not be anticipated at the outset

Characteristics • Known markets and customer reactions• Known performance drivers of the developed

system• Known environmental parameters

• New markets and unknown customer reactions• New performance drivers of the developed system• Unknown technology• Complexity with unforeseeable interactions among drivers

and variables• New geographies with unforeseeable regulatory challenges• New stakeholders with emergent demands


AgileWaterfall

Technology

Certain

Re

qu

ire

me

nts

Simple

Complicated

Complex

ChaoticW

ell-

def

ined

Und

efin

ed

Uncertain

Noise Level

Agile

Agile is a good fit for complicated and complex projects• Emerging requirements• Uncertain technology

and methods

Schwaber, K. & Beedle, M., 2001. Agile Software Development With Scrum. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR.

Waterfall is appropriate for simple projects• Well-defined requirements• Known technology and

methods

Waterfall

Product Backlog

Sprint Backlog

Sprint

1 Week to1 Month

Daily Scrum

24Hrs

Product Increment

Scrum

The Sprint

• Fixed duration production cycle• 1 week to a calendar month at most• All work is done during the sprint

• Design• Build• Test• Accept

Sprint Duration

• No change allowed during a sprint• Select the longest you can go without

changes• Sweet spot: 2 weeks

• Enough time to get momentum• Short enough to change direction

10 Things in Scrum

Roles

• Product Owner

• ScrumMaster

• Development Team

Ceremonies

• Sprint Planning

• Daily Scrum

• Sprint Review

• Retrospective

Artifacts

• Product Backlog

• Sprint Backlog

• Product Increment

It may appear to be a leap of faith

• Typical PM responsibilities are shared with Scrum teams

• PMs may wonder “How do I fit in?”• Scrum literature is quiet about

the role of the PMO

Two Outcomes

Negative Positive

Traditional PM Responsibilities Are Split

Traditional Project Manager

Product Owner

Business Goals

ScrumMaster

Facilitating the Process

Development Team

Determines How to Execute

PMO

PMO can make huge contributions

• People• Projects• Process

People

Develop Training Program

• PMO facilitates creation

• Select outside trainers

• Or deliver themselves

Provide Coaching

• Training is first step

• Needs follow-up with hands-on guidance

• PMO may not initially have skills, but can get trained

Select/Train Coaches

• Needs outstrip PMO as Scrum grows

• Develop internal coaches to help scale

• Coaches keep current job

• ~5 hours/week helping a team

Challenge Existing Behaviors

• Watch out for old habits creeping back in

• Remind teams of need for continuous improvement

Projects

Assist With Reporting

• Satisfy reporting requirements that can’t be abandoned

• Communicate status information about projects

• Example: Prepare weekly report

• Example: Facilitate weekly status meeting

Assist With Compliance

• ISO 9001, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, PCI, etc.

• Or organization-specific

• Help teams with awareness

• How to comply

• Central source of information

Manage Flow of New Projects

• Limit work flowing into teams

• Prevent overloading teams

• Help organization resist tendency to start projects too quickly

Help Establish and Collect Metrics

• Warning: Scrum teams are leery of “metrics programs”

• Determine how well teams are doing at delivering business value

• Measurements: team velocity, projected release timeframe, meeting projections

Process

Reduce Waste

• Avoid introducing extra “stuff” unless absolutely necessary

• Documents

• Meetings

• Approvals

• Help teams aggressively eliminate what’s not adding value

Communities of Practice

• Group of like-minded or like-skilled individuals

• Examples:

• Architects

• Front-end developers

• Product owners

• Supports

• Sharing of ideas

• Best practices

• PMO can help with formation and support

Consistency Across Teams

• PMO helps spread best practices among teams

• Caution: Avoid “mandates” dictated to teams

• Best result: All or most teams agree on practices

• Communicated via communities of practice and shared coaches

Provide/Maintain Tools

• Tool selection should be left up to individual teams

• But some universal tools make sense

• Example: JIRA

• PMO can help teams acquire tools and help configure them

Process (Continued)

Coordinate Teams

• PMO has cross-team view and can identify problems early

• Can raise a red flag if work of multiple teams begins to diverge or overlap

Model the use of Scrum

• Many PMOs adopt Scrum for their own internal management

• Plan sprints, conduct daily standups, etc.

Work With Other Groups

• Help teams coordinate with other groups such as HR and facilities

• Example: Explain why teams should be co-located

• Adjust performance reviews to eliminate questions that discourage teamwork

Renaming the PMO

• A new name may better match the revised role

• Examples• Scrum Center of Excellence• Scrum Competence Center• Scrum Office• Development Support• Product Center of Excellence• Agile Center of Excellence• Agile Project Office

The Agile PMO - oceanstatepmi.org · The Agile PMO How the traditional project management office...

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