don't bulldoze a vibrant ecosystem for agile
TRANSCRIPT
AW5 ConcurrentSession11/11/151:30pm
“Don't Bulldoze a Vibrant Ecosystem for Agile”
Presented by:
Steve Adolph
Blue Agility
Broughttoyouby:
340CorporateWay,Suite300,OrangePark,FL32073888-268-8770·904-278-0524·[email protected]·www.techwell.com
Steve Adolph Blue Agility
An agile coach with Blue Agility and cofounder of e-learning publisher Development Knowledge, Steve Adolph pursues his passion for helping organizations get the job done. Steve has been creating and managing software development projects long enough to remember FORTRAN and PDP-11s. His professional career includes many exciting and critical projects—designing call processing software for digital telephone exchanges, design and development of leading edge network management systems, railway signaling, and telecom billing. Coauthor of Patterns for Effective Use Cases, Steve has diverse job experience—from developer to chief engineer to CTO.
Overview%
• Introduce%a%biological%model%for%understanding%organiza?onal%behaviour%and%policy.%
• Argue%how%agile%transforma?ons%can%risk%crea?ng%re1introducing%the%machine%model.%
• Use%the%concept%of%%socio1technical%systems%to%explain%the%bulldozer.%
• Present%5%principles%for%crea?ng%a%sustainable%transforma?on%eco1system.%%
A%bulldozer%deploys%technical%prac?ces%and%expects%individuals%to%adapt%
%A%Concern:%We%are%witnessing%the%mechaniza?on%of%agile%
“Meet$the$new$boss,$same$as$the$old$boss”&The%Who%–%Won’t%Get%Fooled%Again%
%%%Is%it%now…%
Processes&and&tools&over&Individuals&and&InteracCons???&
But%we’re%agile!!!%We’re%different!!%Right?....Right?%
A%Green%Bulldozer%is%S?ll%a%Bulldozer%
The%Tar%Pit?%A%Classical%Metaphor%for%SoTware%Development%
The%Swamp%as%a%Metaphor%–%A%Poten?ally%Dangerous%but%%Highly%Produc?ve%and%Diverse%Eco%System%
Models%of%Organiza?on%
The%Organiza?on%as%a%Machine%
• Bureaucra?c%organiza?on%• Emphasis%on%“efficient”%
opera?on%• Well%defined%job%
descrip?ons%• Management%by%
objec?ves%• Responsibility%for%
planning%lies%with%management%
Machine%Models%and%“Mac1Jobs”%
The%Organiza?on%as%an%Organism%
Biological%Systems%are%Open%Systems%
Biological%Model%of%Organiza?on%
Challenges%of%a%Diverse%Corporate%Eco1System%
• Lack%Repeatable%Processes%• Inability%to%re1use%and%share%knowledge%• Improvement%is%ad%hoc%rather%than%systema?c%• Knowledge%is%associated%with%individuals%rather%than%corporate%knowledge%base%
• Individuals%become%constraint%to%scale%
People%are%first%order%non%linear%components%–%Alistair%Cockburn%%
Strategies%for%Coping%with%the%Swamp%
Back%to%the%Future:%the%90s%and%BPR%
Business%Process%Re1engineering:%The%Machine%Model%
Rigid%process%defini?on%was%intended%to%remove%variance%introduced%by%the%variability%of%people%
The%Mono%Culture%Approach%to%SoTware%Process%Engineering%
Consequences%of%a%Mono%Culture%
Invasive%Species%
Agile%as%the%Liberator%
Can%a%Liberator%be%Worse%than%the%Despot?%
Is%Agile%Just%Another%BPR%Bulldozer?%
Agile&
Case%Study%
• Large%Insurance%organiza?on%• Many%islands%of%agility,%wide%varia?on%in%prac?ces,%defini?ons%of%roles,%coaching%skills.%
• Solu?on%central%agile%PMO%to%define%and%enforce%agile%prac?ces%
• Result%–%Agile%PMO%largely%ignored,%further%spawning%more%invasive%species%of%ad%hoc%and%highly%localized%agile%prac?ces.%
Agile%Maturity:%A%Methodological%Trap%
Ponder%these%Scrum%Ques?ons%• Must%the%PO%always%directly%represent%“the%business”?%
• Must%the%PO%and%the%Scrum%master%always%be%different%individuals?%
• Can%a%project%manager%be%the%Scrum%Master?%• Must%all%teams%be%feature%teams?%• Is%the%only%measure%of%value%“working%soTware”?%• How%do%we%coordinate%mul?ple%teams?%• How%do%I%coordinate%our%work%with%waterfall%teams?%
%
Well%if%you%do%that,%then%its%not%Scrum%
anymore%
Is%our%goal%to%create%a%text%book%example%of%Scrum%or%use%Scrum%to%inform%the%design%of%our%“methodology%in%use”?%%We%are%not%introducing%Scrum%(or%any%other%agile%methodology%for%that%mafer)%into%a%“closed”%system.%
Without%variety%there%is%no%opportunity%to%improve%
Conformity%is%the%jailer%of%freedom%and%the%enemy%of%growth%–%John%F.%Kennedy%
Emergent%Behaviour?%There%is%a%lot%of%talk%about%agile%prac?ces%encouraging%“emergent%behaviour”%
but%does%our%behaviour%encourage%emergence?%
%
The%Usual%Suspects?%It%is%tremendously%easy%to%lay%“blame”%on%ignorant%managers…%
But%also….??%Cer?fica?on%authori?es%want%to%know%how%well%you%conformed%to%their%training%
materials%and%methods,%not%how%well%you%adapted%their%material%to%the%needs%of%the%environment.%
Single%and%Double%Loop%Learning%
Are%we%compliant?%
Are%we%gehng%befer?%
Socio%–%Technical%Systems%
Socio1Technical%Systems%Defined%• “…made&up&of&two&jointly&independent,&but&correla6ve&interac6ng&systems&–&the&social&and&the&technical.&&The&technical&system&is&concerned&with&the&processes,&tasks,&and&technology&needed&to&transform&inputs&to&outputs.&&The&social&system&is&concerned&with&the&a?ributes&of&people&(e.g.,&aAtudes,&skills,&values),&the&rela6onships&among&people,&reward&systems,&and&authority&structures.&&It&is&assumed&that&the&outputs&of&the&work&system&are&the&result&of&joint&interac6ons&between&these&two&systems.$$Thus,$any$design$or$redesign$of$a$work$system$must$deal$with$both$systems$in$an$integrated$form”%(Bostrom%&%Heinen,%1977,%p.%17).%%
“…barely%sufficient%process…”%%–%Jim%Highsmith%
• “while&it&is&necessary&to&be&precise&about&what&must&be&done,&it&is&rarely&necessary&to&be&precise&about&how&it&is&to&be&done,&and&that&most&organiza6ons&were&far&too&precise&in&specifying&how&things&should&be&done”%1%Cherns%(1979)%
So%do%we%want%to%be%a%bulldozer?%• The%Bulldozer%changes%the%technical%system%and%expects%the%
social%system%to%adapt%to%it.%
Or%work%in%harmony%with%our%eco1system?%
The%Greening%Of%SoTware%Development:%Leveraging%Diversity%and%Individual%Variance%
Say%NO%to%bulldozing%the%swamp%and%crea?ng%a%mono%culture%
Embrace%Diversity%Embrace%the%Mul?%Methodological%World%
Every%project%deserves%its%own%methodology%%
%–%Alistair%Cockburn%
Context%Mafers:%Consistency%is%NOT%Uniformity%
Principles%for%A%Green%Development%Model%
• Align%tac?cs%with%strategy.%• Align%maturity%models%with%the%our%true%business%goal%
• Create%a%shared%common%understanding%of%our%goals.%
• Those%who%do%the%work,%design%the%work%process.%
• Celebrate%learning%(not%failure)%
Principle:%Align%Strategy%and%Tac?cs%Why%Do%we%Want%to%be%Agile?%
• Is%our%focus%on%cost%reduc?on%or%?me%based%compe??on?%
Principle:%Align%maturity%models%with%goals%
• A%mature%organiza?on%is%one%that:%– has%a%low%variance%delivering%work%between%similar%work%items%(e.g.%low%variance%between%similar%sized%features),%%
– can%demonstrate%technical%improvement%(reduced%cycle%?me,%lower%defect%rates),%and%
– most%importantly,%demonstrate%increasing%capability%to%create%value%(e.g.%customer%sa?sfac?on).%
Principle:%Align%Organiza?on%by%Crea?ng%A%Shared%Common%Experience%
Principle:%Those%Who%Do%the%Work,%Design%the%Work%Process%
• Biological%organiza?on,%exchange%between%the%cells%–%consistency%is%required%
• Within%the%eco1system%local%decision%making%–%the%“Vegas%Principle”%
Principle:%Celebrate%Learning%(Not%Failure)%
Eureka!%
What%this%is%NOT%• Not%a%“get%out%of%jail”%free%card%for%sloppy%for%ad%hoc%and%poor%development%prac?ces.%%– In%a%healthy%eco1system%these%will%die%off%quickly%because%they%will%not%be%able%to%compete%for%resources%with%the%rest%of%the%eco1system.%
• Our%goal%is%to%create%a%produc?ve%eco1system,%one%that%adapts%as%context%changes.%
Organiza?ons%that%fossilize%their%processes%are%des?ned%to%become%fossils%themselves%
Ques?ons?%
