Obstacles on agility path

Dusan Kocurek

NAVTEQ Agile consultant, Scrum adaptation in distributed environment

Ness KDC Project manager, agile consultancyFocus Extended Development Center manager

ScrumDeskauthor, product owner

COOPEX Soft s r.o.Crises Management System for Slovak Republic Developer, Team Leader, Head of Dev. department

Agile worldAgile@Slovakia FounderCertified Scrum Product OwnerScrum Alliance memberCouching & mentoring

@didierkoc

Agile is if….……requirements and solutions evolve through

collaboration between self-organizing cross-functional

teams

First look, experience

Scrum seems to be easy

Just 3 roles and a few ceremonies

Why is it hard to implement it?

Because change

is done by

PEOPLE

Change

Standards & processes save us from thinking about change

Change of process is blocked by process itself

Resistance to change is normal and healthy

Resistance stages

Denial

Anger

Bargaining

Depression

Acceptance

Nice but...No, I won’t…

Ok, how about…

Nothing makes sense…

It was difficult, but …

“Agile is reason why we fail.”

Ok, let’s cancel agile! How would you work tomorrow?

What would be different?

Answer that question to help yourself

Resistance to agile

• Missing reason why to be agile• Missing shared goal • Fear of responsibility• Personal goals (career risk)• Low courage• Bad experience

We always repeat: ‘collaboration and self-organization’

It’s a chance to drive, not just to be drivenChance to pull, not to be pushed

But it means responsibility

Not just TEAM should transform…

Who

Executives

Project sponsors

Managers

TeamUsers

Support

…

If Pippi Longstocking would be on your project, what would she do?

Jan 19th #AROTD @Retroflection

Every team needs Pippi

Pippi would ask impertinent questions,

help her team to identify assumptions,

and energize the team room!

Model 7:00:15:30

Test your team

Ask:

We need to prepare a new release.WHO IS GOING TO DO IT?

Test your team

Answer

Silent• Often• There is lot of

work• Build a team

first

I will• Experience• Courage • Lack of

experience?

We will• Self-organized

team• Learning

Answer of THE TEAM?

“We need a leader”

Leader necessity

• Decision maker or leader?• Leaders are born• Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? • What? What? What?• Fear of responsibility in team

Agile crossing chasm

Dr. Dobbs magazine, 2006

The picture is about companies, but isn’t it about every team too?

The Satir Change Model

People resist a lot of changes

Shrink the change!

How to change

Analyze

Think

Change

First instinct is to

educate people

John Cutter (Harvard)

How to change

Analyze

Think

Change

It almost never happened

How to change

See

Feel

Change

that makes people to

that gives fuel to

Agility is acceptation of failures

Fail

Action

Success

Before transition

Retrospective• Yes, even before agile transformation!

Coaching• At least master class level• More people in company• Establish forum to create knowledge platform

Play games and learn• Iterative development • Self-organization• Do retrospective• Common planning• Common estimation

PREP

ARE

Doing Agile

• Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

• Check over-commitment

• Retrospective

• Identify waste

• ‘Just’ improve

REPE

AT

Typical problems

Workflow– Constant failure to deliver– Guerilla work without product

owner– Tasks outside of sprint– Forgotten priorities

Collaboration– Non-productive meetings– We & They– Self-organization

Process– Velocity not measured– Not eliminating waste

Scrum Master– Not a manager– Problems not tracked

Techniques– Preparation for planning– Efficient code review– Demo preparation– Not implemented

retrospective ideas

Fail ASAP

Fail• People• Customer• Organization• Knowledge• Experience• Safety• Leadership

Actions• Will• Feel• Courage• Pull• Self-organization• Support provided• Patience

Success• Is not the end• Adapt• Improve• New techniques

How to stay on the road

• Yes, there are teams not using burn-down chart!• Yes, there are teams not using taskboard!• Should be Scrum Master 100% committed?• Priority is not just a number, it is RULE!• Know your velocity!• We do not have time to think what, how and

why we are doing• Bla, bla, bla in meetings

How to stay on the road

• Define pilot timeframe & exit criteria• Couch can help, but not manage• Help yourself– Discipline– Openness– Creativity– Think out of box

• Conferences, books, blogs, twitter, groups

Myths

• No documentation• Story is requirement and nothing else• Product is planned once• If we will improve … then we will be better• Precise estimation • Catching hours• More locations makes agile impossible• You have 3 sprints to prove it!• Agile as silver bullet• Fail, fail, fail, fail• Too many problems because of agile

Agile is not just Scrum

Test Driven Development

Extreme Programming techniques

Behavior Driven Development

Kanban

Pomodoro

Lean principles