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Playing SAFe Games - WSJFRoni Tamari – Lead Agile Coach @ AgileSparks

SAFe City Simulation was created by Mark Richardshttp://www.agilenotanarchy.com/

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What does WSJF stand for?

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Time

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Source: Henrik Kniberg

How to prioritize?

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Typical Prioritization

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Introducing Cost of Delay (COD)

“If you only quantify one thing, quantify the cost of delay”

– Don Reinertsen

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Other things being equal…

Duration Cost of Delay (COD)Feature 1 1 $1,000Feature 2 10 $1,000Feature 3 100 $1,000

When Cost of Delay is equal, which would you do first?

Duration Cost of Delay (COD)Feature 1 10 $100Feature 2 10 $1,000Feature 3 10 $10,000

When Duration is equal, which would you do first?

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If COD and Duration are different…

Duration Cost of Delay (COD)

WSJF

Feature 1 1 $100 100Feature 2 10 $10 1Feature 3 100 $1 0.01

Highest WSJF value should be done first

Do the Weighted Shortest Job First:

Cost Of Delay DurationWSJF =

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The SAFe Proxy for WSJF

Using relative estimation

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Cost Of Delay ==

+ +Duration

WSJF

Business Value

Time Criticality

Value

Risk Reduction (RR)

or Opportunity

Enablement (OE) Value

Size

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When to use WSJF?

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Enough theory… Let’s practice!

• You are building a city (SAFe City) a few hours away from nearest major city

• You will make money by building houses and shops and selling them

Source: Mark Richards, SAFe City Simulation version 2.0http://www.agilenotanarchy.com/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Guidelines

• Generating cash flow will be a primary consideration

• 9 major development opportunities identified for the city

• You have an estimate on potential returns and effort involved

Source: Mark Richards, SAFe City Simulation version 2.0http://www.agilenotanarchy.com/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Guidelines

These opportunities are “Epics”, you will apply Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) to prioritize them

Source: Mark Richards, SAFe City Simulation version 2.0http://www.agilenotanarchy.com/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ht

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Sample Epic

Source: Mark Richards, SAFe City Simulation version 2.0http://www.agilenotanarchy.com/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Instructions1. Begin by reviewing all Epics as a group.

2. Find the Epic with the lowest Business Value (this will be “1”).Determine the relative Business Value of each Epic using relative estimation (use this scale: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20).

3. Find the Epic with the lowest Time Criticality (this will be “1”).Determine the relative Timing Criticality of each Epic using relative estimation.

4. Find the Epic with the lowest Risk Reduction and Opportunity Enablement (this will be “1”).Determine the relative Risk Reduction and Opportunity Enablement value of each Epic using relative estimation.

5. Finish your maths and line the cards up from highest to lowest WSJF score (highest score should be the first to be developed).

Timebox: 25 minutesSource: Mark Richards, SAFe City Simulation version 2.0http://www.agilenotanarchy.com/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Debrief

Source: Mark Richards, SAFe City Simulation version 2.0http://www.agilenotanarchy.com/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

• The outcomes

• Using Value Streams to frame investment strategy

• The importance of vision

• The purpose of the Cost of Delay model in supporting objective alignment

• Adaptation of the SAFe starting point

• Planning poker as a collaborative tool

• Revealing Assumptions

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Questions? Ideas for a better name than

WSJF?

roni@agilesparks.com