Download - 8 lessons learned from becoming agile
8 lessons learnedfrom becoming agile
15.5.2010 ESTONIAMarko Taipale
Visited 13 companies
Coached 2 agile transitions and
10+ teams
Co-founded 1 Lean startup
Trained over 300 people
Failed enough to tell stories
Succeeded enough to show results
1. Why do you want to be
agile?
2. How to reach business agility?
3. Organization as a people system
1. Why do you want to be
agile? (Being = respect the values and principles)
80% had no goal for being agile
no method to reach the goal …
no way to measure if they were getting any better
No Goal – No chance to Score
Lesson #1Set a goal for being agile, otherwise you
achieve nothing
(It’s ok to figure it out...)
“What does method X say about Y?”
“What does method X say about Y?”
Collaborate!
Lesson #2Commit to agile values and
principles; your practices will follow
Craft your own process
Pilot, Scale, Optimize
Pilot, Scale, Optimize
Pilot, Scale, Optimize
OR 1) Visualize the value stream 2) Fix the way you manage product
development3) Continuous Improvement
Pilot, Scale, Optimize
OR 1) Visualize the value stream 2) Fix the way you manage product
development3) Continuous Improvement
Multiple ways so what’s the point?
Pilots are not about proving if agile works
Forward motion is often thought as progress
Lesson #3Pilot is about learning
…not “working software”… not about getting results
Continuous Improvement
Make the cycle as short as possible
A way of learning
5 whys
There are no technical problems only human problems
Lesson #1You need to have a SMART goal
Lesson #2Commit to agile values and principles; your practices will follow
Lesson #3Progress is about learning
2. How to reach business agility?
”Agile teams need to value adaptability over predictability”- Someone in Twitter
Lesson #4Business agility is about having adaptability and predictability- My experience
” Where do I get the backlog?” what to build
“No plan survives first contact with the customers”- Steven Blank
CustomerDiscovery
CustomerValidation
CustomerCreation
ScaleCompany
Customer Development
CustomerDiscovery
CustomerValidation
CustomerCreation
ScaleCompany
AgileProduct
Development
Data, feedback,
Insights
Hypotheses, experiments,
insights
Customer Development
CustomerDiscovery
CustomerValidation
CustomerCreation
ScaleCompany
AgileProduct
Development
Data, feedback,
Insights
Hypotheses, experiments,
insights
Customer Development
Problem Team
Solution Team
“Should I do whatever my customers want me to do?”
“Should I do whatever my customers want me to do?”
Lesson #5Create product vision and validate it with customer development
Vision = a boundary for her wishes
Is agile about delivering features as fast as possible?
Who cares about velocity?We can work on highest priority story – who cares?
Nr 1 waste = Unused features
Building a feature maybe the wrong answer
It is not about how much but rather how little you can release
Minimum Viable Product
Lesson #6Find your Minimum Viable Product
It should make you feel embarrassed
“It's the things that are not there that we are most proud of"
Lesson #4Business agility is about having adaptability and predictability
Lesson #5Create product vision and validate it with customer development
Lesson #6Find your Minimum Viable Product
3. Organization as a people system
”We have Scrum but we are still slow!”
DevelopmentDesign
Customerapproval
Internalapproval
Idea Resourcing
Deployment
Development
2m
Design
1m
Customerapproval
2h
Internalapproval
2h
Idea Resourcing
1d
Deployment
3w
3m
Development
2m15
Designready
6m
1w
Design
1m
1m
Customerapproval
2h2d
Internalapproval
2h
Idea6m
Resourcing
1d
8
Selected ideas
Deployment
3w12
Productionready
6m
3m24m
Development
2m15
Designready
6m
1w
Design
1m
1m
Customerapproval
2h2d
Internalapproval
2h
Idea6m
Resourcing
1d
8
Selected ideas
Deployment
3w12
Productionready
6m
SCRUM!
3m24m
Development
2m15
Designready
6m
1w
Design
1m
1m
Customerapproval
2h2d
Internalapproval
2h
Idea6m
Resourcing
1d
8
Selected ideas
Deployment
3w12
Productionready
6m
SCRUM!
3m24m
Optimize the whole
Lesson #7
Beware sub-optimization Visualize the value streamIdentify bottleneckLimit WIP on all levelsIncentives are bad!
Adoption is about letting problems to surface
Manage the system, remove chance for failure, make it flow
Smell: The fear of being vulnerable Leader: Go First
Smell: The fear of being vulnerable Leader: Go First
Smell: The desire to preserve artificial harmony Leader: Mine for Conflict
Smell: The fear of being vulnerable Leader: Go First
Smell: The desire to preserve artificial harmony Leader: Mine for Conflict
Smell: The lack of clarity or buy-in Leader: Force Clarity and Closure
Smell: The fear of being vulnerable Leader: Go First
Smell: The desire to preserve artificial harmony Leader: Mine for Conflict
Smell: The lack of clarity or buy-in Leader: Force Clarity and Closure
Smell: The need to avoid interpersonal discomfortLeader: Confront Difficult Issues
Smell: The fear of being vulnerable Leader: Go First
Smell: The desire to preserve artificial harmony Leader: Mine for Conflict
Smell: The lack of clarity or buy-in Leader: Force Clarity and Closure
Smell: The need to avoid interpersonal discomfortLeader: Confront Difficult Issues
Smell: The pursuit of individual goals and statusLeader: Focus on Collective Outcomes
Lesson #8Build great teams
I help companies to improve by showing what I have donehow I have done it and what I have learned about it.
I am a CTO of a lean startup
Marko Taipale
@markotaipale
huitale.blogspot.com
1. Why do you want to be agile?L1: Set a goal for being agile or you achieve nothingL2: Commit to agile values and principles; your practices will followL3: Piloting is learning. Learning is progress.
2. How to reach business agility?L4: Business agility is about having adaptability and predictabilityL5: Create product vision and validate it with customer developmentL6: Find your Minimum Viable Product
3. Organization as a people systemL7: Optimize the wholeL8: Build great teams
Photo creditsFlickr users
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