oneill - safe for agile india - february 26, 2014

1

1 © 2008 - 2014 Scaled Agile, Inc. and Leffingwell, LLC. All rights reserved.

© 2008 - 2014 Scaled Agile, Inc. and Leffingwell, LLC.

Scaled Agile Framework ® is a trademark of Leffingwell, LLC.

Achieving Enterprise Agility with

the Scaled Agile Framework...and

Have Fun Doing It!

Better Software Makes the World a Better Place

Presented at Agile India

February 26, 2014

V7.0

Colin O’Neill, President of Asia Pacific Operations

[email protected]


Your Presenter - Colin O’Neill

Co-founder, Scaled Agile,

Inc.

SAFe Principal Contributor

and Thought Leader

Lean Value Stream Mapping

enthusiast

Worked with some of the world’s largest companies

including John Deere,

Walmart, and Honeywell

Email:

[email protected]

Creator of SAFe

Founder/CEO Requisite, Inc.

Makers of RequisitePro

Senior VP

Rational Software

Responsible for Rational

Unified Process (RUP) &

Promulgation of UML

Founder/CEO RELA, Inc.

Colorado MEDtech

Co-founder, Scaled Agile,

Inc.

SAFe Principal Contributor

and Thought Leader

Worked with companies

ranging from Lean startups

to $35B global enterprises

Agile Center of Excellence

and Agile Portfolio

Management enthusiast

Email:

[email protected]


Agenda

Agility at Enterprise Scale Respect

for

People

Product

Develop

ment

Flow

Kaizen

Lean and SAFe

SAFe Results


Agility at Enterprise Scale


Setting the Stage

Our modern world runs on software. What doesn't

now, likely will soon

The rate of change continues to rapidly increase

Our constituents are demanding better value for

their tax dollars

But our prior development practices – waterfall,

RAD, iterative and incremental – haven’t kept pace

Agile shows the greatest promise, but was

developed for small team environments

We need a new approach – one that harnesses the

power of Agile and Lean – and applies to the

needs of the largest software enterprises

Our methods must keep pace with an increasingly complex

world


The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

The Scaled Agile Framework is a proven, publicly-facing framework

for applying Lean and Agile practices at enterprise scale

Synchronizes alignment,

collaboration, and delivery

Well defined in books

and on the web

Scales successfully to large

software organizations

Provides consistent

predictability to large

software deliveries

Core values:

1. Code Quality

2. Program Execution

3. Alignment

4. Transparency

®

http://ScaledAgileFramework.com

http://scaledagileframework.com/

2

7 © 2008 - 2014 Scaled Agile, Inc. and Leffingwell, LLC. All rights reserved. 8 © 2008 - 2014 Scaled Agile, Inc. and Leffingwell, LLC. All rights reserved.

Agile Values – The Agile Manifesto

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

“We are uncovering better ways of developing software by

doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have

come to value:

http://www.agilemanifesto.org

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value

the items on the left more.”


Agile Delivers Working Software Earlier

4 444 :

Documents Documents Unverified Code Software


Agile Accelerates Value Delivery

Products are built incrementally, providing fast feedback and

exposing erroneous assumptions

Time

Valu

e D

eliv

ery


Agile Delivers Better Fit for Purpose

waterfall plan, result

Agile plan,

result

Waterfall

customer

dissatisfaction


Smaller, More Frequent Releases

Smaller batches

Less work in process

Shorter release dates

Faster feedback

Releases defined by

date, theme, planned

feature set

Release date and

quality are fixed

Scope is the variable

http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

3


Agile Turns Development Upside-Down

Waterfall Agile

The plan creates

cost/schedule estimates

The vision creates

feature estimates


Nothing Beats an Agile Team

Empowered, self-organizing, self-managing cross-

functional teams

Valuable, fully-tested software increments every two weeks

Scrum project management practices and XP-inspired

technical practices

Teams operate under program vision, system, architecture

and user experience guidance

Value delivery via User Stories


Scale to the Program

Common sprint lengths and estimating

Face-to-face planning cadence for collaboration,

alignment, synchronization, and assessment

Value Delivery via Features and Benefits

Self-organizing, self-managing team-of-agile-teams

Continuous value delivery

Aligned to a common mission via a single backlog


Scale to the Portfolio

Lean approaches to Strategy and Budgeting, Program

Management, and Governance

Portfolio Vision gives the system an aim

Centralized strategy, decentralized execution

Kanban systems provide portfolio visibility and WIP limits

Objective metrics support governance and kaizen

Value delivery via Business and Architectural Epics


Lean and SAFe


Lean Thinking Provides the Tools We Need

Respect for

People

Product

Development

Flow

Kaizen

4


Goal: Speed, Value, Quality

THE GOAL:

Sustainably shortest lead time

Best quality and value to

people and society

Most customer delight, lowest

cost, high morale, safety

All we are doing is looking at the timeline,

from the moment the customer gives us

an order to the point where we collect the

cash. And we are reducing the time line by

reducing the non-value added wastes.

Taiichi Ohno

We need to figure out a way to deliver

software so fast that our customers don’t

have time to change their minds.

Mary Poppendieck

Most software problems will exhibit

themselves as a delay.

Al Shalloway

Sustainably shortest lead time

Respect for

People

Product

Development

Flow Kaizen



Foundation: Leadership

Take responsibility for Lean|Agile

success

Understand and teach Lean|Agile

behaviors

Are trained in practices and tools of

continuous improvement

Teach problem solving and

corrective action

See with their own eyes. “No useful

improvement was ever invented at a

desk”

Develop people. People develop

solutions.

Respect for

People

Product

Development

Flow Kaizen

LEADERSHIP:

Management must be

trained in lean thinking

Bases decisions on this

long term philosophy

Lean Thinking Manager-Teachers



Respect for People

Develop individuals and

teams; they build products

Empower teams to

continuously improve

Build partnerships based on

trust and mutual respect

Your customer is whoever

consumes your work

Don’t trouble them

Don't overload them

Don't make them wait

Don't impose wishful thinking

Don't force people to do

wasteful work

Equip your teams with problem-

solving tools

Form long-term relationships based

on trust

Respect for

People

Product

Development

Flow Kaizen

People do all the work

PEOPLE:


5


Kaizen

A constant sense of danger

Small, steady improvements

Consider all data carefully, then

implement change rapidly

Reflect at key milestones to identify

and improve shortcomings

Use tools like retrospectives, root

cause analysis, and value stream

mapping

Protect the knowledge base by

developing stable personnel and

careful succession systems

“We can do better”

Respect for

People

Product

Development

Flow Kaizen

BECOME RELENTLESS IN:

Reflection

Continuous improvement as

an enterprise value



Lean and Product Development Flow

Todays’ development processes typically

deliver information asynchronously in large

batches. Flow-based processes deliver

information in a regular cadence of small

batches.

- Don Reinertsen


Product Development Flow

1. Take an economic view

2. Actively manage queues

3. Understand and exploit

variability

4. Reduce batch sizes

5. Apply WIP constraints

6. Control flow under uncertainty:

cadence and synchronization

7. Get feedback as fast as

possible

8. Decentralize control Reinertsen, Don. Principles of Product Development Flow

Respect for

People

Product

Development

Flow Kaizen

Principles


#1 – Take an Economic View

Base your decisions on economics

Develop an economic framework

for decision making

Empower local decision making

Do not consider money already

spent

Understand the full value chain

Sequence jobs for maximum

benefit

If you only quantify one thing,

quantify the cost of delay

Lead Time Cost

Value Development

Expense

Risk

Reinertsen, Don. Principles of Product Development Flow

Understanding economics requires

understanding of the interaction amongst

multiple variables


6


#2 – Actively Manage Queues

Understand Little’s Law

(Avg wait time = avg queue

length / avg processing rate)

Faster processing time

decreases wait

Control wait times by controlling

queue lengths


Email from a client service organization: “Thank you for contacting us.

We are experiencing increased volumes and apologize in advance for

the delay. Our goal is to contact you within...”



#3 – Understand and Exploit Variability

Risk-taking is central to value creation

You cannot add value without

adding variability

Development variability can

increase economic value

Buffers trade money and time

for variability reduction

Schedule buffers convert

uncertain earliness to certain

lateness

Planning and requirements

forecasting are exponentially

easier in short-term horizons.

By investing relatively more in beneficial

areas and abandoning wasteful ones, the

enterprise maximizes economic benefit


E P I C

E P I C

VA

LU

E



#4 – Reduce Batch Size

Small batches go through the system faster, with lower

variability

Large batch sizes increase

variability

High utilization increases variability

Severe project slippage is the most

likely result

Reduces cycle time; faster

feedback

Decreases variability and risk

Most important batch is the

transport (handoff) batch

Proximity (co-location) enables

small batch size

Good infrastructure enables

small batches

Fig. Source: Poppendieck. Implementing Lean Software Development Reinertsen, Don. Principles of Product Development Flow


7


#5 – Apply WIP Constraints

WIP constraints force capacity matching, increases flow

When WIP and utilization become too high, you will see a sudden and

catastrophic reduction in throughput!

Apply WIP constraints Force capacity matching

Accelerate delivery

Timebox Prevent uncontrolled expansion of work

Make waiting times predictable

Purge lower value projects

when WIP is too high

Increase efficiency and throughput of

remaining work

Constrain local WIP pools Constrain global WIP pools

Make WIP continuously

visible

1) Understand 2) take action




#6 – Control Flow Under Uncertainty

Transforms unpredictable events

into predictable events

Delivering on cadence requires

scope or capacity margin

Makes waiting times predictable

– If you can’t predict delivery,

existing programs become

“feature magnets”

Helps manage load by limiting

available time

Synchronization causes multiple

events to happen at the same

time

Synch events facilitate cross

functional tradeoffs of people,

resources and scope

Periodic resynchronization limits

variance to a single time interval

Regular, system wide integration

provides higher fidelity tests and

objective solution assessment


Cadence and Synchronization are useful Lean tools



#7 – Get Feedback As Fast As Possible

Truncates unsuccessful paths quickly, reducing

the cost of failure in risk taking

Improves the efficiency of learning by reducing the

time between cause and effect

Facilitated by small batch sizes

Requires increased investment in development

environment to extract smaller signals

Local feedback loops are inherently faster than

global feedback loops; assists decision making

Fast feedback manages risk and facilitates innovation



8


#8 – Decentralize Control

Centralize control for decisions that:

– Are infrequent

– Can be applied globally; have significant economies of

scale

Decentralize control for all others:

– Time critical

– Local decisions have better local information

Inefficiency of decentralization costs less than the value of

faster response time

Control the economic logic behind a decision

– Set the framework, empower others to make the

decisions Reinertsen, Don. Principles of Product Development Flow

Use centralized and decentralized control where appropriate



SAFe Results


SAFe Business Results

Average 30-50%

faster to market

Substantial increase

in employee

engagement

50% less defects

into production

Average 20-50%

increase in

productivity


SAFe Case Studies

See www.ScaledAgileFramework.com/Case-Studies


http://www.ScaledAgileFramework.com/Case-Studies



9


Next Steps

Do your homework

Browse the framework

Read the books

Build your expertise with

training and certification

Accelerate value delivery

with your first Agile Release

Train

Get help from the experts

Join the community

Become a Lean

Thinking

Manager-Teacher

Launch Agile

Release Trains

Leverage the

Community


Suggested Readings

Reinertsen, Don. 2009. The Principles of Product

Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product

Development.

The SAFe Way to Lean Software Development

http://scaledagileframework.com/the-safe-way-to-lean-

software-development/

Leffingwell, Dean. 2011. Agile Software Requirements:

Lean Requirements Practices for Teams, Programs, and

the Enterprise.

Kim, Gene, Behr, Kevin, Spafford, George. 2013. The

Phoenix Project. A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping

Your Business Win.


Questions?

http://scaledagileframework.com/the-safe-way-to-lean-software-development/














oneill - safe for agile india - february 26, 2014

Technology