ugly truths about scaling agile

The Ugly Truth of Scaling Agile

Scott BlackerVP Product & ServicesAgileCraft

Kreisler NgSr. Manager, Agile DeliverycPrime

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Drive Agile and DevOps success through a blend of unified software services

Simply Software at Scale

To Gain Strategic Advantage

AGILECRAFT

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#1

I T ’ S T R U LY A B O U T S U R V I V A L

THE GAME IS RAPIDLY CHANGING

Software is eating the world1 The acceleration of the technology curve is quickening the turnover of large enterprises / the fortune 500.

2Increasingly software is highly strategic and has a major impact on outcomes regardless of the vertical / industry in question

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Agility has replaced market share as a key driver of competitive advantage

I T ’ S T R U LY A B O U T S U R V I V A L

THE GAME IS RAPIDLY CHANGING

STATE OF AGILET H E B A S I C S

1st Generation - (approx. 1994 – 2002) searched for and found a different way of building solutions focused on small teams of developers.

2nd Generation – (approx. 2002 – 2010) realized requirements & testing must be agile as well to create development flow.

3rd Generation – (approx. 2010 – present) builds on development flow and deals with scale, value stream, product lines, portfolios and integration to strategy and the rest of the enterprise.

6Courtesy of SolutionsIQ

Scaling is a well understood concept at this point.

Plenty of frameworks exist.

We’ll just pick one and train the teams.

Right?

Introducing the 5 ugly truths of scaling agile

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T H E U G LY T R U T H O F S C A L I N G A G I L E

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Ugly Truth #1:

Semantics(Your epic is my

initiative)

Scoping(Your “3” isn’t the same as my “3”)

Sprints(My sprints MUST start

on a Tuesday)

Even the seemingly simplest aspects of a transformation are massive headaches

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Ugly Truth #1:

Semantics(Your epic is my

initiative)

Even the seemingly simplest aspects of a transformation are massive headaches

Epic

Feature

Story

Initiative

Epic

Story

SAFe JIRA

Scoping(Your “3” isn’t the same as my “3”)

Sprints(My sprints MUST start

on a Tuesday)

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Secret Weapons

• Agile Coalition / Communities of Practice

• Listen and explain the why• Knowing when to pick a

strong stance

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PREDICTABILITY, SPEND & RESULTS

STRATEGY,GOALS,

& PRIORITIES

Ugly Truth #2: Your top-down transformation is going to fail……and so is your bottoms-up.

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Secret Weapons:

• Start from the top and from the bottom

• Listen and empathize• Make it a safe

environment to fail


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Bimodal Ceiling

Ugly Truth #3: There will be a glass ceiling.Breaking through will not be easy.

Management CeilingFinance Ceiling

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Secret Weapons:• Meet me in Bimodal• Pilot as results speak for

themselves• Use the organization’s informal

network


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Ugly Truth #4:Teams have been locally-optimizing since the beginning of Agile. System-optimization is much harder.

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Secret Weapons:• Paint the big picture• Link local data to org-wide data• Focus on Agile HR


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Ugly Truth #5: Many teams don’t actually want to scale.Your job is to show them the light.

• Scaling = transparency which is scary / drives accountability / reduces freedom to whatever you want• Don’t want to be compared….game the system if

compared

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Secret Weapons:• Collaborate with Teams• Build Trust


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Ugly Truth Secret Weapon(s)

Even the seemingly simplest aspects of a transformation are massive headaches 1

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• Agile Coalition / Communities of Practice• Listen and explain the why• Knowing when to pick a strong stance

Your top-down transformation is going to fail……and so is your bottoms-up.

• Start from the top and from the bottom

• Listen and empathize• Make it a safe environment to fail

There will be a glass ceiling.Breaking through will not be easy.

• Meet me in Bimodal• Pilot as results speak for themselves• Use the organization’s informal network

• Collaborate with Teams• Build Trust

Many teams don’t actually want to scale.Your job is to show them the light.

Teams have been locally-optimizing since the beginning of Agile. System-optimization is much harder

• Paint the big picture• Link local data to org-wide data• Focus on Agile HR

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[email protected]