1. Exploring Enterprise Agile Transformation Strategies
Mike Cottmeyer, Enterprise Agile Coach
LeadingAgile, LLC

2. Mike Cottmeyer mike@leadingagile.com 404.312.1471 www.leadingagile.com
twitter.com/mcottmeyer
facebook.com/leadingagile
linkedin.com/in/cottmeyer
A little about me... my background.. why Agile is important
Studied computer science... spent first 10 years doing infrastructure
Infrastructure PM to software PM... close the loop
Starting seeing a lot of organizational dysfunction... things that just didn’t make sense
Started consulting with V1... saw similar patterns repeated across the world
Left V1 to start developing my approach to transformation and help companies make lasting sustainable change

3. The Problem...
I want to explore a little the problem that I’m seeing. People get agile... to a large extent agile has gone mainstream. When I’m doing business development with a client, I don’t usually have to explain agile or convince people that agile is the way to do things. Often what I’m selling against is an oversimplification of agile... or a belief that the stuff we are doing with team level Scrum is sufficient for Agile at scale or agile in the enterprise

4. The Problem...
Having lots of agile teams in an enterprise isn’t enterprise agility
Sometimes organizations fall into the trap of thinking that having agile teams means they have an agile organization
Enterprise agility is when all the parts of the organization work together to create Agile outcomes
The entire delivery capability of the enterprise has to be focused on agile principles and execution

5. The Problem...
Focusing only at the team level can result in local optima within your organization
Sometimes a team can perform well at Scrum, but the business doesn’t see any incremental value from their investment
Sometimes a high-performance team can disrupt other functions in the organization if the upstream and downstream processes are not able to work at the same pace

6. The Problem...
Team level Agile practices are different from Agile practices at scale
The practices we put in place at the team level often don’t work when we apply them in larger organizations
Practices have to adapted at scale to accommodate more diverse groups of stakeholders and more complicated value streams
Examples:

7. The Problem...
Agile at scale requires a broader set of tools and techniques
Scrum and XP at the team level
Kanban and Lean at the program and portfolio level
RUP and Traditional Project Management at the Enterprise

8. We are just now starting to put all the pieces together...

9. The Solution...

10. The Solution... Part One
First... we do have to get team level agile right. We are going to talk about some of the things you can do that will lead to successful team- level Agile transformations.
The fundamentals behind why Agile works
Common challenges that cause Agile to fail
What does it look like when things are really going well?
What is different about an enterprise-level Agile transformation?

11. The Solution... Part Two
Next we will explore a safe, pragmatic, iterative and incremental framework for transforming any sized organization...
Define the organizational competencies required at all levels of the enterprise
How to adapt agile competencies for scale
How to adapt agile competencies for cadence

12. The Solution... Part Three
We’ll discuss the three major areas you need to pay attention to in order to execute a safe and pragmatic enterprise Agile transformation...
Establishing an agile org structure
Introducing disciplined Agile practices
Intentionally addressing people and culture

13. The Solution... Part Four
Finally, as we begin to wrap-up the talk, we’ll explore a few things that will help you put all of this together...
Overview of the model end-to-end
If we have time... case studies

14. The Solution... Part One How Does Agile Work and Why Does it Fail?

15. What Makes Agile Work?

16. What Makes Agile Work? Teams stay together and are highly engaged
Agile practices are built around cross- functional teams that have everything necessary to deliver an increment of value to the organization
Teams that stay together over time tend to be more productive than teams that are constantly forming and reforming
Empowered self-directed teams are able to own the solution and creatively solve problems

17. What Makes Agile Work?
Teams are focused on a queue of projects or product enhancements
Rather than forming teams to deliver projects, agile methods leave teams together and funnel project through teams
The project list is basically a prioritized backlog of work that a team is responsible for delivering

18. What Makes Agile Work?
Minimize dependencies and strive for loose coupling between teams
The more coupling we have between teams, the more difficult it is to change direction when we learn something new about the emerging product
Teams that have external dependencies are not able to make and meet commitments because they don’t have everything necessary to own the commitment

19. What Makes Agile Work? Fully engaged business partners
Many organizations are guilty of throwing ill-defined requirements over to the delivery teams, constantly changing direction through the life of the project, and holding teams accountable for on- time delivery
Agile is geared for change, but requires close collaboration between stakeholders and teams to make real-time tradeoffs as the product is in development

20. What Makes Agile Work?
Attention to getting done and completing work before new work is started
Delivering an increment of working, tested, potentially shippable software on regular time intervals assures that we can measure progress against real, measurable product outcomes

21. What Makes Agile Work?
Technical excellence and continuous attention to product quality
The underlying health of the system is a critical success factor for running successful agile projects
Defects and technical debt impact product delivery in unpredictable ways making it nearly impossible to reliably make and meet commitments

22. What Makes Agile Fail?

23. What Makes Agile Fail?
Agile team is a local optimization and out of alignment with the rest of the business
Pilot teams are formed and given everything they need to be successful at the expense of the rest of the delivery organization
Teams can deliver product faster than the organization can consume it
Teams starve the requirements queue because Strategy and Product Management can’t keep up

24. What Makes Agile Fail?
Project driven organizations or uneven investment across product lines
Very difficult to keep cross-functional teams together over time because the investment mix is constantly changing
Organizations tend to want to matrix people across multiple teams at the same time

25. What Makes Agile Fail?
Value is either too broadly defined or too narrowly defined
Overly vague requirements lead the development team to fill in the gaps based in their own knowledge and experience
Overly specified requirements lead to an activity based mentality rather than a value based mentality

26. What Makes Agile Fail?
Organizational structures and product architectures work against establishing cross functional teams
Matrix organizations and functional silos make it very challenging to create high- performing agile teams
Tightly coupled legacy architectures make it difficult to organize teams around feature groups or components within the solution framework

27. What Makes Agile Fail? Overly political cultures and lack of trust
Command and control leadership
Micromanagement
Disempowering language

28. What Makes Agile Fail? Inability to balance capacity and demand
Invalid and inaccurate estimates
Inability to make and meet commitments
More work than the teams can possibly deliver in the timeframes expected

29. What Makes Agile Fail?
Looking at agile as a process overlay rather than a transformative event in your organization
Agile is just something that the developers do
Not recognizing the broad organizational change necessary to make an agile transformation sustainable

30. A Well Formed Agile Organization

31. A Well Formed Agile Organization
Cross functional teams aligned directly to solve business problems
Products
Features
Programs
Components
Services
Business Capabilities

32. A Well Formed Agile Organization
Clear voice of the business and a willingness to make tradeoffs to meet time and cost constraints
Highly engaged product ownership
Willingness to deal with reality
Focus on maximizing value and reducing risk

33. A Well Formed Agile Organization
Individual empowerment and shared accountability for outcomes
Establish boundaries and ownership but empower within those boundaries
Teams own outcomes not activities

34. A Well Formed Agile Organization
Disciplined attention to technical excellence and product quality
Technical excellence stabilizes the requirements delivery function

35. A Well Formed Agile Organization
Predictable, accountable, able to consistently make and meet commitments
Teams have the ability to consistently do what they say they are going to do
Predictable agile teams are the foundational element of a predictable agile enterprise

36. Reinventing Agile
Situationally specific strategies at scale to solve these problems and maintain business agility
How do team level competencies need to be adapted to take into consideration issues of scale and the different planning horizons required in larger enterprises
How do you build the necessary organization, introduce new practices, and start shifting the culture in a way that leads to sustainable organizational change

37. The Solution... Part Two Competencies, Frequency, and Scale

38. Agile Competencies Product Definition Planning & Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Organizational Enablement

39. Agile Competencies Product Definition Planning & Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Organizational Enablement

40. Agile Competencies Product Definition Planning & Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Organizational Enablement

41. Agile Competencies Product Definition Planning & Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Organizational Enablement

42. Agile Competencies Product Definition Planning & Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Organizational Enablement

43. Agile Competencies Product Definition Planning & Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Organizational Enablement

44. Product Definition Establish the product vision
Define the product roadmap
Decompose features
Estimate size and effort
Define acceptance criteria

45. Product Definition Establish the product vision
Define the product roadmap
Decompose features
Estimate size and effort
Define acceptance criteria

46. Product Definition Establish the product vision
Define the product roadmap
Decompose features
Estimate size and effort
Define acceptance criteria

47. Product Definition Establish the product vision
Define the product roadmap
Decompose features
Estimate size and effort
Define acceptance criteria

48. Product Definition Establish the product vision
Define the product roadmap
Decompose features
Estimate size and effort
Define acceptance criteria

49. Product Definition Establish the product vision
Define the product roadmap
Decompose features
Estimate size and effort
Define acceptance criteria

50. Delivery Practices Define the solution Build the solution
Test the solution
Establish product quality
Deploy the solution

51. Delivery Practices Define the solution Build the solution
Test the solution
Establish product quality
Deploy the solution

52. Delivery Practices Define the solution Build the solution
Test the solution
Establish product quality
Deploy the solution

53. Delivery Practices Define the solution Build the solution
Test the solution
Establish product quality
Deploy the solution

54. Delivery Practices Define the solution Build the solution
Test the solution
Establish product quality
Deploy the solution

55. Delivery Practices Define the solution Build the solution
Test the solution
Establish product quality
Deploy the solution

56. Planning & Coordination
Establish a planning cadence
Perform activity breakdown
Establish a delivery cadence
Limit work in process
Make and meet commitments

57. Planning & Coordination
Establish a planning cadence
Perform activity breakdown
Establish a delivery cadence
Limit work in process
Make and meet commitments

58. Planning & Coordination
Establish a planning cadence
Perform activity breakdown
Establish a delivery cadence
Limit work in process
Make and meet commitments

59. Planning & Coordination
Establish a planning cadence
Perform activity breakdown
Establish a delivery cadence
Limit work in process
Make and meet commitments

60. Planning & Coordination
Establish a planning cadence
Perform activity breakdown
Establish a delivery cadence
Limit work in process
Make and meet commitments

61. Planning & Coordination
Establish a planning cadence
Perform activity breakdown
Establish a delivery cadence
Limit work in process
Make and meet commitments

62. Continuous Improvement
Metrics and reporting
Establish stable velocity
Conduct retrospectives
Update the backlog
Enable process improvement

63. Continuous Improvement
Metrics and reporting
Establish stable velocity
Conduct retrospectives
Update the backlog
Enable process improvement

64. Continuous Improvement
Metrics and reporting
Establish stable velocity
Conduct retrospectives
Update the backlog
Enable process improvement

65. Continuous Improvement
Metrics and reporting
Establish stable velocity
Conduct retrospectives
Update the backlog
Enable process improvement

66. Continuous Improvement
Metrics and reporting
Establish stable velocity
Conduct retrospectives
Update the backlog
Enable process improvement

67. Continuous Improvement
Metrics and reporting
Establish stable velocity
Conduct retrospectives
Update the backlog
Enable process improvement

68. Organizational Enablement
Establish teams
Effective communication
Effective collaboration
Empowerment
Trust

69. Organizational Enablement
Establish teams
Effective communication
Effective collaboration
Empowerment
Trust

70. Organizational Enablement
Establish teams
Effective communication
Effective collaboration
Empowerment
Trust

71. Organizational Enablement
Establish teams
Effective communication
Effective collaboration
Empowerment
Trust

72. Organizational Enablement
Establish teams
Effective communication
Effective collaboration
Empowerment
Trust

73. Organizational Enablement
Establish teams
Effective communication
Effective collaboration
Empowerment
Trust

74. Visualizing Improvement
Talk about scales
1 bad 5 good
1 non-existent 5 sustainable

75. Visualizing Improvement

76. Visualizing Improvement

77. Competencies at Scale
Team
Multi-Team
Program
Portfolio
Enterprise

78. Team Agility
Scrum
Team

79. Multi-Team Agility
Scrum
Team
Scrum
Team

80. Multi-Team Agility
Scrum
Team
Scrum
Team
Scrum
Team

81. Multi-Team Agility
Scrum
Team
Scrum
Team
Scrum
Team
Scrum
Team

82. Program Agility Product Team Scrum Team Scrum Team Scrum Team Scrum

83. Program Agility Product Team Product Team Scrum Team Scrum Team Scrum

84. Portfolio Agility Portfolio Team Product Team Product Team Scrum Team

85. Enterprise Agility Strategy Team Portfolio Team Product Team Product
Scrum
Team
Scrum
Team
Scrum
Team
Scrum
Team

86. Enterprise Agility
Scrum
Team
Portfolio
Product
Strategy
Support

87. Competencies in Time Continuous Daily Iteration Release Strategic

88. Competencies in Time Continuous Daily Iteration Release Strategic

89. Competencies in Time Continuous Daily Iteration Release Strategic

90. Competencies in Time Continuous Daily Iteration Release Strategic

91. Competencies in Time Continuous Daily Iteration Release Strategic

92. Competencies in Time Continuous Daily Iteration Release Strategic

93. The Solution... Part Three The Agile Adoption and Transformation Lifecycle

94. Adoption vs. Transformation
First... we want to untangle two words that sometimes can be used interchangeably
Agile Adoption is about what you do... practices, tools, techniques, ceremonies, and habits
Agile Transformation is about who you are... reflected in both the structure of the organization and who you are as people
Long term results require both adoption and transformation to be successful

95. Adoption vs. Transformation
Second... we want clearly articulate the three major focus areas that must be addressed interdependently
Organizational Structure is about how you create teams and how you organize them
Agile Practice is about the methods and tools you choose to introduce
People and Culture is about changing hearts and minds of the individuals in the organization
All three aspects are essential to sustain agility

96. Incremental vs. Iterative
Third... we want introduce the notion that introducing Agile is an iterative and incremental process for you organization
Iterative is when parts of the system are developed at different times and integrated as they are completed
Incremental is when you go back over parts of the system making improvements
The strategy is to increment the organization by building teams and iterate the teams over time

97. Incremental vs. Iterative
Courtesy of Jeff Patton

98. Adoption/Transformation Cycle
Incrementing and Iterating the Agile Enterprise
Change physical structures and introduce teams
Teach people new practices and ways of working
Help people internalize the value system

99. Adoption/Transformation Cycle
Organizational Transformation
Establish top to bottom structure and roadmap
Incrementally make changes and establish teams
Define policies and working agreements between teams

100. Adoption/Transformation Cycle
Adopting Practices
Sprint planning, daily stand-ups, product reviews, and retrospectives
Identify and train a Product Owner and ScrumMaster
Teach TDD, CI, Story Maps, and MMF

101. Adoption/Transformation Cycle
Personal Transformation
Develop an ability to deal with uncertainty and adaptation
Help people work toward common organizational goals
Help foster empathy, trust, and teamwork

102. Common Anti-Patterns
Establishing teams without breaking down the strict functional silos and rigid role definitions
Running daily standup meetings that devolve into status updates for the project manager
Coming back from CSM training only to find that there is no way to form agile teams and no interest in agile

103. Common Anti-Patterns
Establishing teams without breaking down the strict functional silos and rigid role definitions
Running daily standup meetings that devolve into status updates for the project manager
Coming back from CSM training only to find that there is no way to form agile teams and no interest in agile

104. Common Anti-Patterns
Establishing teams without breaking down the strict functional silos and rigid role definitions
Running daily standup meetings that devolve into status updates for the project manager
Coming back from CSM training only to find that there is no way to form agile teams and no interest in agile

105. Common Anti-Patterns
Establishing teams without breaking down the strict functional silos and rigid role definitions
Running daily standup meetings that devolve into status updates for the project manager
Coming back from CSM training only to find that there is no way to form agile teams and no interest in agile

106. The Solution... Part Four Exploring the Integrated Framework

107. Phase I - Structure
Scrum
Team

108. Phase I - Structure
Scrum
Team
Scrum
Team

109. Phase I - Structure
Product
Team
Scrum
Team
Scrum
Team

110. Phase 2 - Structure Agility
Product
Team
Scrum
Team
Scrum
Team
Scrum
Team

111. Phase 2 - Structure Product Team Scrum Team Scrum Team Scrum Team

112. Phase 2 - Structure Product Team Product Team Scrum Team Scrum Team

113. Phase 3 - Structure Portfolio Team Product Team Product Team Scrum

114. Phase 3 - Structure Strategy Team Portfolio Team Product Team Product
Scrum
Team
Scrum
Team
Scrum
Team
Scrum
Team

115. Phase 3 - Structure
Scrum
Team
Portfolio
Product
Strategy
Support

116. Phase I Value Delivery Cultural Factors
Organizational Transformation
Adopt Practices
Personal Transformation
Value Delivery
Product Definition
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Phase I
Better Estimation & Release Planning
Organizational Enablement
Cultural Factors
116

117. Phase I Value Delivery Better Estimation & Release Planning 117
Organizational Transformation
Adopt Practices
Personal Transformation
Value Delivery
Product Definition
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Product Definition
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Phase I
Better Estimation & Release Planning
Product Definition
Continuous Improvement
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Organizational Enablement
117

118. Phase I Value Delivery Better Estimation & Release Planning 118
Organizational Transformation
Adopt Practices
Personal Transformation
Value Delivery
Product Definition
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Phase I
Better Estimation & Release Planning
Product Definition
Continuous Improvement
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Organizational Enablement
118

119. Phase I Value Delivery Better Estimation & Release Planning 119
Organizational Transformation
Adopt Practices
Personal Transformation
Value Delivery
Product Definition
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Phase I
Better Estimation & Release Planning
Product Definition
Continuous Improvement
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Organizational Enablement
119

120. Phase 2 Value Delivery Better Estimation & Release Planning 120
Organizational Transformation
Adopt Practices
Personal Transformation
Value Delivery
Product Definition
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Product Definition
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Phase 2
Better Estimation & Release Planning
Product Definition
Continuous Improvement
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Organizational Enablement
120

121. Phase 2 Value Delivery Better Estimation & Release Planning 121
Organizational Transformation
Adopt Practices
Personal Transformation
Value Delivery
Product Definition
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Product Definition
Phase 2
Better Estimation & Release Planning
Planning Coordination
Continuous Improvement
Delivery Practices
Organizational Enablement
121

122. Phase 2 Value Delivery Better Estimation & Release Planning 122
Organizational Transformation
Adopt Practices
Personal Transformation
Value Delivery
Product Definition
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Product Definition
Phase 2
Better Estimation & Release Planning
Planning Coordination
Continuous Improvement
Delivery Practices
Organizational Enablement
122

123. Phase 3 Value Delivery Better Estimation & Release Planning 123
Organizational Transformation
Adopt Practices
Personal Transformation
Value Delivery
Product Definition
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Continuous Improvement
Product Definition
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Product Definition
Planning Coordination
Phase 3
Delivery Practices
Better Estimation & Release Planning
Organizational Enablement
123

124. Phase 3 Value Delivery Better Estimation & Release Planning 124
Organizational Transformation
Adopt Practices
Personal Transformation
Value Delivery
Product Definition
Product Definition
Planning Coordination
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Continuous Improvement
Phase 3
Better Estimation & Release Planning
Organizational Enablement
124

125. Phase 3 Value Delivery Better Estimation & Release Planning 125
Organizational Transformation
Adopt Practices
Personal Transformation
Value Delivery
Product Definition
Product Definition
Planning Coordination
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Continuous Improvement
Phase 3
Better Estimation & Release Planning
Organizational Enablement
125

126. Phase 3 Value Delivery Better Estimation & Release Planning 126
Organizational Transformation
Adopt Practices
Personal Transformation
Value Delivery
Product Definition
Product Definition
Planning Coordination
Planning Coordination
Delivery Practices
Delivery Practices
Continuous Improvement
Continuous Improvement
Phase 3
Better Estimation & Release Planning
Organizational Enablement
126

127. Phase I - Cadence
Strategic
Release
Iteration
Daily
Continuous

128. Phase I - Cadence
Strategic
Release
Iteration
Daily
Continuous

129. Phase I - Cadence
Strategic
Release
Iteration
Daily
Continuous

130. Phase I - Cadence
Strategic
Release
Iteration
Daily
Continuous

131. Phase I - Cadence
Strategic
Release
Iteration
Daily
Continuous

132. Phase 2 - Cadence
Strategic
Release
Iteration
Daily
Continuous

133. Phase 2 - Cadence
Strategic
Release
Iteration
Daily
Continuous

134. Phase 2 - Cadence
Strategic
Release
Iteration
Daily
Continuous

135. Phase 2 - Cadence
Strategic
Release
Iteration
Daily
Continuous

136. Phase 3 - Cadence
Strategic
Release
Iteration
Daily
Continuous

137. A Few Scenarios

138. Single Team/Single Product
Sub 25 person product company and a start-up
Started with team level practices
Lots of attention early to team culture
Began engaging senior leaders on strategy and portfolio management
Currently integrating marketing, sales, and support
Mobile Labs

139. Multi-Team/Single Product
Sub-100 person product company years old and privately owned.
Program level first.. established a PO team
3 tightly integrated Scrum teams
Defined the portfolio governance layer
Established the relationship between strategy and support
Modeled the overall value stream and wrapped the Scrum process in a two-tiered Kanban
Lancope

140. Multi-Team/Multi-Product
Sub-300 person organization. 100 person development organization. 8 Scrum teams.
Big-bang team-level adoption
Teams aligned by products
Product ownership by product
Program and portfolio level views established
Limiting projects in progress
Solid release planning
Integration with upstream and downstream planning processes
Surescripts & nCircle

141. Multi-Team/Multi-Product
Large multi-national organization. Scope is a 500 person development organization with 55 Scrum teams.
Started with a basic view of the portfolio layer
Portfolio level value stream mapping, RACI
Built out the program management layer with PO teams to develop a requirements management capability
Program level value stream mapping, RACI, introduced agile tooling
Introduced Scrum at the team level
Verint

142. Products of Products
Large multi-national company. Geographically dispersed. Products of products.
Scrum teams by product/component
Product Owner teams established
Portfolio level governance model
Lean/TOC planning model
Integration with a traditional PMO for metrics and reporting
CheckFree/Fiserv

143. Guitar Mummies
Source:

144. Agile Program and Portfolio Management
9:00 AM | Thursday | Austin 1-3 | Mike Cottmeyer

145. Slides at www.leadingagile.com
Mike Cottmeyer
twitter.com/mcottmeyer
facebook.com/leadingagile
linkedin.com/in/cottmeyer
A little about me... my background.. why Agile is important
Studied computer science... spent first 10 years doing infrastructure
Infrastructure PM to software PM... close the loop
Starting seeing a lot of organizational dysfunction... things that just didn’t make sense
Started consulting with V1... saw similar patterns repeated across the world
Left V1 to start developing my approach to transformation and help companies make lasting sustainable change
Slides at