mm magic milestones The Agile PMO Raising the PMO bar ~ PMOSIG Conference Presented by: Adrian Quinney 8 th March 2011

Contents Agile background – Values of Agile – Scrum Agile & the PMO Challenge Delivering the Agile PMO

Agile PMOs “over the 10 years that the PPSOSIG has been in existence, as a profession we've just about got to grips with dealing with waterfall projects, their delivery and their governance.” “How do we fare with agile projects then? "Not very mature" “we really need to start having the debates and formulating the approaches right now, if the PPSO is to survive in this new world” Taken from the August 2010 newsletter by Chris Walters

AGILE

AGILE & SCRUM Background

Values of Agile Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan While there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

Agile?

What is Scrum? Scrum has been used as a framework to develop complex products since the early 1990s. Framework consists of a set of Scrum Teams and their associated roles; Time-Boxes, Artifacts, and Rules Employs an iterative, incremental approach to development for predictability and risk control Every Sprint - teams build and deliver increments of potentially shippable functionality that adheres to a working definition of “done.” Encourages self organising & managing teams “In almost every instance in which Scrum has been applied, exponential productivity gains have been realised”. (Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle, 2002)

Artefacts, Roles, Time-Boxes Scrum Roles Product Owner – Prioritises the backlog Scrum Master – Runs the daily “scrums” Scrum Team – Delivers artefacts and products Time-Boxes Release Planning Meeting Sprint Sprint Planning Meeting Sprint Review Sprint Retrospective Daily Scrum. Artefacts Product Backlog Release Burndown Sprint Backlog Sprint Burndown

Planned Remaining Work Actual Remaining Work Remaining Hours of Work Number of Days

Scrum Lifecycle Courtesy of Mountain Goat Software – Mike Cohen

PMO CHALLENGES Agile Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Agile PMO Experience Maverick Television

14 Wow this agile stuff means I don’t have to document anything! Wow this agile stuff means I can give the users untested products! Wow this agile stuff means we don’t need project managers anymore! Wow this agile stuff means we don’t need change control on our project anymore! Agile Challenge

Scrum & the PMO PMO Scrum of Scrums

How Agile challenges the PMO Misalignment of governance with Agile – Protracted sign off & workflows – Waterfall End stage gateways – Creates overhead and lack of accountability Misalignment of tools, techniques and reporting – Can’t keep pace with velocity of sprints – Disconnect between scrum board & PPM tools – New ways of reporting scrum boards, backlogs, burndown charts Image: Michal Marcol / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Initially most staff in the PMO resist the transition to Scrum – Change is personally and professionally frightening – Absence of PMO in Scrum and agile literature – The “Process Police” staff are protective due to compliance requirements Scrum scatters traditional project management responsibilities – Scrum Master, Product Owner and the Team, – Project managers questioning their role. How Agile challenges the PMO Image: Bernie Condon / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

THE AGILE PMO Delivering

The Agile PMO People & Organisation Run the Agile PMO as a Scrum Team Optimise for throughput & velocity Eliminate waste – non value added activity Support & empower Scrum Teams Establish training environment Provide coaching & mentoring Maintain consistency across scrum teams Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Agile PMO Methods & Process Debunk Corporate Governance Re-engineer waterfall workflows Reduce heavy weight sign off Focus on business outcomes rather than meaningless deadlines Portfolio Management Split Large projects Terminate the Sick Limit Work in Progress (WIP) Image: luigi diamanti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Agile PMO Tools PMO reporting Reduce death by PowerPoint & Excel Establish & collect appropriate metrics PMO tools Implement lightweight PPM & agile tools Versionone, Agile buddy, TeamPulse, Miniscrum, Jira... Deploy collaboration tools Basecamp, Huddle, Confluence, Mingle … Image: luigi diamanti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Agile PMO Traditional Tools Aspyre PPM tool (inc’ integrated reporting & meetings) PPM tool (inc’ integrated reporting ) Agile Tools Gravity - Scrum tool ( inc’ dynamic taskboard) Pivotal Tracker – Agile Tool Versionone - Agile tool (inc’ reporting, taskboard) Collaboration Tools Basecamp - (Online PM collaboration) Huddle - (Online PM collaboration)

Q & A Agile PMO Image: Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

mm magic milestones Please contact us for more information Adrian Quinney Account Director Magic Milestones Ltd Birmingham, UK