fluent@agile-thegame

Thegameisapla2ormforteamstomovetowardsbecomingahighimpactteambyhelpingthemunderstandwheretheyare,wheretheyarestrivingtogo,andbygivingtheteamastrongfeelingofownershipoftheirjourney.

Thisdocumentprovidesaguideforfacilita?ngthegameandmaterialfor

prin?ngandbuildingthegame.

Chris&anVikström,PeterAntman(Spo&fy/Crisp)2014

peter.antman@crisp.sechris?an.vikstrom@spo?fy.com

Threepillarsforthegame•  Basedonamodel:Thegameisbasedonamodelforhow

teamsusuallymovesontheirjourneyfrom“pre-agile”tohighimpactagileteams.

•  Visualiza0on:Webelievethatvisualizingisasuperstrongwaytobuildsharedunderstanding,engagementandcollabora?on.

•  Ownership:Thegameisbuiltsothatteamscantakeastrongownershipovertheirjourneytowardsbecomingahighimpac?ngagileteam.

Agile Fluency*

WorkthePlan Learn&Adjust

*Thefluent@agilegameisheavilybasedonthe“YourPaththroughAgileFluency”byDianaLarsenandJamesShore

Successfulcompaniesopera?ngateachlevel

???

??????????

Fitforpurpose–theamountoffluencyyouwantdependsonyourneeds!

FluencyishowateamdevelopssoIwarewhenit’sunderpressure.Anyonecanfollowasetofprac?ceswhengiven?metofocusinaclassroom;truefluencyisaskillful,rou?neprac?cethatpersistswhenyourmindisdistractedwithotherthings.ForAgile,we’reconsideringteamfluencyratherthanindividualororganiza?onalfluency.Agiledevelopmentisfundamentallyateameffort,andyourorganiza?on’ssuccesswithAgilewilldependonthefluencyofyourteams.Teamfluencyalsodependsonmanagementstructures,rela?onships,organiza?onalculture,andmore.Don’tmakethemistakeofblamingindividualsforlowteamfluency,orassumingthatonehighly-skilledindividualwillguaranteehighteamfluency

Proficiencyvs.Fluency:Fluencyisunconsciouscompetence;howwellyoudounderpressure

We’veseenthatteamsprogressfasterwhentheyprac?ceadvancedtechniquesalongsidebasictechniques.Teams’prac?cesbecomemoredeeplyandreliablygroundedwhentheyworkthisway.So,it’sbesttochoosetheleveloffluencyyouwanttoachieveandtoprac?ceeverythingneededforthatlevelfromthebeginning.

Chooseyourleveloffluency

DifferentapproachestofacilitateWebelievethatoneofthepillarsforthegametobesuccessfulisthattheteamfeelsastrongownershipoverthegameandtheirimprovementwork.Ourexperienceisthatwhenwefacilitateinawaywherewelistentotheteamandtrytoadaptourfacilita?onalongthewaymakesiteasierfortheteamtotakethatownership.Possiblewaystofacilitate:1.   Presentthemodelapproach:Presentthemodel/gameandlettheteambuild

thegameandthendecideonwhatprac?cestheywanttoworkongeVngfluentonnext.Establishthevalue/goalsofimplemen?ngtheprac?ces.WriteoneorseveralimprovementstoriesasfirststepstowardsgeVngfluentattheprac?ces.

2.   Musicmetaphorapproach:Presentthemusicmetaphor.Eitherbypresen?ngityourselforbyfacilita?ngadiscussionthatbuildsthemetaphor.Lettheteam(s)buildtheirmodelsusingatrainingfromthebackoftheroomapproach.

3.   Trainingfromthebackoftheroomapproach:Givetheteamminimalinstruc?onstogetstartedwiththegame,stayavailablefortheteamtopullinforma?onorgivedirec?oniftheteamgetsstuckormisunderstandhowtoplaythegame.

PresenttheModelapproacho  Introduc?ontothemodel/game.

o  Putthedifferentlevelsuponthewall.Describeshortlywhateachlevelmeans,stayopentoanswerques?onsorhaveshortdiscussionswiththeteamoneachlevel.

o  Teamdiscussion:“Atwhatlevelinthemodeldoyouasateamwanttogetfluent?”–  “Areyoufluentonanyofthelevelsalready?”–  “Wherewouldyouliketobeasasquad?”–  “Onapersonallevel,wheredoyouthinkyouwouldbemostsa?sfied?”o  Iftheteamseemsopentoityoumightevengoforaconsensusdecisiononthis.

o  “Whatprac?cesdoyoubelieveyouneedtobefluentattobeabletobefluentatallthelevelsuptothelevelyouareaimingat?”o  Lettheteamgothroughalltheprac?cesnotesanddiscusswhichonestheyare:(“teachingmoments”oIenariseherewhenteammembers

askwhatspecificprac?cesare,andwhattheyaregoodfor:)o  Fluentat(putthemontheroad)o  Prac?cing(putthembesidestheroad)o  Needtodo(putthemunderthe“driverslicense”)o  Don’tneed(putthemunder“Park”)

o  “Arethereanyprac?cesmissinginthegamethatyouarealreadydoingorthatyouthinkyouneedtobedoing?”o  “Isthereanyprac?cesthatwecanremoveands?llgetfluent?”

o  Nextprac?ce(s)togetfluentat:o  Createatargetcondi?on:

o  Lettheteampicksomethingtheywanttostartworkingontogetfluentat,e.g.bydot-vo?ng.o  Discussanddefinewhatitwouldmeanfortheteamiftheygotfluentattheprac?ce(s).E.g.bybrainstormingpost-itsonthepossiblebenefits,then

discussandgroupthem;nowyouhaveagoal/targetcondi?on.o  Writeimprovementstoriesthatdescribesthefirststepstotaketomovetowardsfluency.

o  Howtointegratethisimprovementworktoyourdailywork:o  Discusshowtheteamwillmakethishappenaspartoftheirdailywork.E.g.:

o  Theimprovementsstoriesarepriori?zedtogetherwiththerestoftheirworkinthebacklog.o  Havingweeklymee?ngstoplan/groomtheirimprovementwork.

o  Op?onalperspec?ves:o  “Giventhepaceofimprovementworkwearecurrentlyhavingintheteam-howlongdoyouthinkthatitwouldtakeforyourteamtoget

fluentatalltheprac?cesthatyouhavelisted?””o  “Doyoubelievethatitwouldbevaluableforyourteamandfortheorganiza?ontoincreasethepaceofimprovementwork?”

Trainingfromthebackoftheroomapproach

•  Doareallyshortpresenta?onofthelevel(s)youwanttofocusonandthengivethissheetofques?onstodirectthemduringtheworkshop

Prepara?onsforfacilita?ng•  PrinttheGame(s)(oneforeachsquad)(seebelow

onhowtodothis).Putinanenvelopeandwritethe“userstory”onit,orjustwritethesquadname.

•  Makesureyouhave:–  enoughhäImassa(thes?ckystuffyouputontheback

ofthenotestos?ckthemtoawall)ifyouwillbuildthegameonthewall/whiteboard

–  Post-itsoftherightcolorandsize;sothattheteamcanwritenew“prac?cesnotes”(i.e.orange,yellow,green&pink);analterna?veisthattheywritethenewprac?cesonblankprac?cenotes

–  Sharpies–  Scissors(unlessyoucutthepapersbeforehand)–  Op?onal:Amovableboardthatyoucanbringfrom

yourworkshoptoyoursquadarea(withyourbuiltgameon:).

“UserStory”AsaSquadWewanttovisualizeandgetasharedunderstandingofourcurrentwayofworkingandourvisionofhowweasahighimpactteamwouldworkSothatwecantakeownershipovercon?nuousimprovementstowardsbecominganhighimpactteam

Envelopetoteam

Anexampleonhowagamecouldlooklikeforateam

Seemore:-OurtalkatAgileSverige(inswedish)-Fluent_agile-as2014.pptx

Buildingthegame

•  Printthegame;onecopyforeachteam(seeinstruc?onsbelow)

•  Laminatethesheets(thereisalamina?onmachineon10thfloorintheprinterroom*)

•  Putthesheetsinanenvelope

*Spo&fyStockholmofficespecificinfoJ

Buildingthegame:

Prin0ng

Makesureto:-  Scaletofitpaper-  Two-sided:Short-edgebinding-  Settherangeofslidestoprint

(firstslideisthe“Focusontechnicaltasks”slide)

Prin?ngstartsaIerthisslide!!

Focus On

Technical Tasks

Individualsorlooselycoupledteamsthatworkinanadhocmannerorfollowingaplan.ThisstateisoIencharacterizedbyhavingaPMs,Gankcharts,detailedandcomprehensivespecs.Oritcanbeveryadhocandreac?ngonstakeholderneeds.Thisstatemightresemblethe“Op?mizeValue”orthe“Op?mizeforSystem”states.

Pre-Agile

Focus on

Value

Deliver Value

You’llhavegreatervisibilityintowhatyourteamsareworkingon,andyou’llbeabletodirectthemtowardsthe20%oftheworkthatprovides80%ofthevalue.

Ittakes2–6monthsofprac?cetoshiIfromindependentindividualcontributorstoacollabora0ve,team-basedworkplace.Theteammayneedmoreaken?onfromtheorganiza?onintermsofinforma?onaboutbusinesspriori?esandcustomervalueaswell.

Teammembersmustlearntoplanintermsofbusinessresultsratherthantechnology,andtheymustlearntotakeresponsibilityforthesuccessofthewholeteamratherthantheircontribu?onasindividuals.ScrumandKanbanaremethodsusedatthislevel.

You’llseemuchhigherqualitysoIwareanddrama?callyimprovedresponsiveness,shippedasoIenasthemarketwillbear.

Toreachfluencyatthethislevel,studyandprac0cetechniquessuchasthosedescribedbyExtremeProgramming,SoIwareCraIsmanship,DevOps,andAgilesoIwarequalitygurus.Some,suchastest-drivendevelopment,areofthe“momentstolearn,life&metomaster”variety.

Developingteammembers’skillstothepointoffluencytakes?meandsignificanteffort,oIen3–24month.Produc?vitywilloIendecreaseastheteamlearnsnewskillsandpaysofftechnicaldebtinexis?ngcode.

AgileFundamentalsAgileSustainability

Optimize Value

Optimize for

Systems

Theteamunderstandwhatthemarketwants,whatyourbusinessneeds,andhowtomeetthoseneeds.Or,asinastartupenvironment,theyknowwhattheyneedtolearnandhowtogoaboutlearningit.

AchievingthisleveloffluencyoIentakesseveralyears--notbecauseoftheskillsrequired,butbecausepeopleintheorganiza0onmustlearntotrusttheteamanditsuseofAgilebeforemakingchangesthataffecttheirpower,control,andfamiliarwaysofworking.

Itrequiresteamstoincorporatebusinessexpertsasfull-?meteammembers.LeanStartup,LeanSoIwareDevelopmentareuseful.Agilechartering,embeddedproductmanagementteams,customerdiscovery,andadap?veplanningareallexamplesoftechniquesused.

Teamscontributetoenterprise-widesuccess.Teammembersunderstandorganiza?onalpriori?esandbusinessdirec?onandwillsacrificetheirownneedstosupporttheneedsofaproductmorecri?caltobusinesssuccess.

RequiresshiIingorganiza?onalculturetofocusonthewholesystem,italsorequiresworkingatthebleedingedgeofAgileprac?ceandpoten?allyinven?ngnewwaysofapplyingsystemsthinkingtoAgile.

Formostorganiza?ons,thisleveloffluencyisprobablybestleIasanaspira?onforthefuture.However,ifyou’vedonetheworktobuildandsupportmul?pleteamswithsolidthree-starfluency,youmaybemostofthewaythere.

ThePromiseofAgileAgile’sFuture

“A team that works together to focus on creating business value rather than merely finishing technical tasks”

“A team with the ability to create and ship low defect software as frequently as the market will accept it”

2star 1star

“A team that collaborates with other teams to optimize the value produced by the whole organization”

“A team that dances and turns in response to changing market conditions, and collectively take responsibility for building the best product your investment can buy”

3star 4star

Team Culture Shift

Team Skills Shift

Organizational Culture Shift

Organizational Structure Shift

User Stories Small Stories

PO has product vision

Transparent PO

In team

Focus on Customer

Value Roadmap

Prioritization of work is

clear

Regular Planning

Product Backlog

Autonomous Backlog

Grooming Have DoD

Visualizing all work

Known Velocity

Estimation by team

Trust Good Daily Standups

Burndown Chart

Iterations

Share Responsibility

Self-organizing

Cross-functional

Demo Delivers end-

to-end

Deliver working

software every iteration

Visualization Retrospectives Explicit Way of Working

Removes Impediments

Usable Mission

Team size max 9

Scrum WIP limits Kanban

Co-located

Operational Responsibility

Dependencies Understood

Design Guidelines

Stable Throughput

Continuous Improvement

Cycle Time Working Software

Easy to on-board new

members

Collective Code

Ownership DRY

Continuous Refactoring

stop-the-line Culture CD

Evolutionary Design XP

BDD DDD Pair Programming

Monitoring of systems

Code Review

CI Testing fully

integrated part of Process

Zero Bugs Culture TDD Dev Ops

Post-mortems Anyone in

the team can deploy

No branches Feature Flags Automatic

Deploy

YAGNI Collective Quality

Ownership Unit Testing

Managing Tech Debt

System Testing

No Warnings in

Builds

Mob Code Review

Lead time Lean Startup Embedded

PM User Story

Maps Impact

Mapping

A/B-testing

Customer Discovery

Hypothesis UX & Design

is Squad Responsibility

Decisions informed by

Business Metrics

Direction based on Learning

Automatic Rollback

Key Designs validated with

real Users

Innovation Accounting

Mob Programming

Monitoring User

Behavior

Testing in Production

Validated Learning

Design in Squad

No Estimates

Radical Self-organization

Tangential business

stakeholders integrated in

team

From concept to cash, beyond squad

Value stream analysis on

whole system

Adapt to the need of the

system

Never blocked by external

factors

No defined roles

Bleeding edge agile

P AGILE DRIVERS LICENSE

Awesome Squad!

“Our Awesome vision”

*Pleaseupdatethevisionstatementinthisslidetofityourorganiza?on.Orasanalterna?vehaveadiscussionintheteamaboutwhattheyseeastheirvision.

Hobbymusician/Studioar?st/Soloar?st

Amusicianthatplaysbyherself.

Couldbeahobbymusicianoraprofessionalstudiomusicianorasoloar?st

Thepersonalskilllevelcanspanfromnovicetoworldclass...

BandCrea?ngmusictogethersimultaneously

Playothersmusic.

Playwhattheaudiencewantthemtoplay.

Havearepertoire.

UsuallyplaysatweddingsandaIer-skiordansband.

Canbeverysuccessful;e.g.???...

Symphonyorchestra

Superskilledmusicians

Playingbynotes

Directedbyaconductor

Successfulbandincontroloftheirmusic

Incontroloftheirmusic.

Theywrite,produceandrecordit.

Mightevenhavetheirownrecordcompany.

Deliveringmusicthatpeoplelike.

Improvising(symphony)orchestracrea?ngfantas?cmusicinthemoment

Noconductor.

Nonotes.

Canusesignalsandsignstogivedirec?on.

Everyperformanceisunique.

THELONDONIMPROVISERSORCHESTRA

Prin?ngStopsbeforethisslide!!

Slideswithmaterialnotyetusedorthrownaway(i.e.ignorethem...)

Sparepics