Take No Prisoners How a Venture Capital Group Does Scrum Jeff Sutherland, Ph.D., USA Igor Altman, USA Agile /05/191

Outline Introduction Getting Started with Scrum Scaling up Conclusion 2010/05/192

Introduction OpenView Labs: – A division of OpenView Venture Partner Introduce a successful model for implementing Scrum in OpenView Labs Not only for software development, but also management, marketing, sales, finance, and so on Aggressive removal of impediments – i.e., Take No Prisoners 2010/05/193

Outline Introduction Getting Started with Scrum Scaling up Conclusion 2010/05/194

Started with Scrum Team Structure – value-add team(4) & deal team(3) – Each has its Scrum Master – Sprint: one week lengths, from Mon. to Fri. Product Ownership & Backlog – Scott Maxwell, Chief Product Owner – Backlog housed in Central Desktop 2010/05/195

Started with Scrum Stories – Take a lot of time to Understand Sizing and Planning – Sizing meeting on every Mon., sizing the story for the next sprint and sent back the unclear stories – Done in “perfect hours” – Scott prioritizes the stories Daily Scrums 2010/05/196

Started with Scrum Retrospective Benefit – Self-managing – Communication level up (Transparent to the team) – Impediment removed – Wrong outputs – Collaboration – Reduction in stress for working several projects 2010/05/197

Started with Scrum Benefit – Self-managing – Communication level up (Transparent to the team) – Impediment removed – Wrong outputs – Collaboration – Reduction in stress for working several projects 2010/05/198

Started with Scrum Challenge – members are specialized and lacking cross-training – Communication between the Scrum team and its project stakeholders is poor – Several team members are unsure that Scrum make sense for the work at OpenView Labs 2010/05/199

Outline Introduction Getting Started with Scrum Scaling up Conclusion 2010/05/1910

Scaling up Team Structure – grows from 4 to 6 and ultimately 9 members – The team splits into two and the team is allowed to decide how it will split – Functionally specialized team members are in one and the new team members are in another Sprint Length – One-week sprint 2010/05/1911

Scaling up Product Ownership & Backlog – Product ownership for portfolio value-add projects shift to the role of Open View senior point people – Each portfolio company has its own backlog – Labs team provides feedback into the backlogs and any change must go through the senior point person 2010/05/1912

Scaling up Stories – Less communication during the sprint is required between the Labs team and the portfolio companies and the senior point people/product owners – Definition of done is now specified and the same for every story – The done is response to the Labs team completing stories but not to the point people 2010/05/1913

Scaling up Sizing and Planning – Done in Scrum Room – Settle back on a Sizing meeting every Mon. Daily Scrums – Last 15 minutes, with the same three questions Retrospective – There is now an impediment backlog if the impediment cannot removed immediately 2010/05/1914

Scaling up Benefits – More transparent between Labs team and between the Labs team and the portfolio company point people/ product owners – Team collaboration and cross-training increase – Execute more stories across more portfolio companies and practice development areas 2010/05/1915

Scaling up Challenge – A Labs team member can’t work within the team – Insufficient cross-training – Focus on perfect hours’ done rather than the ultimate impact of the story – Long-term projects drag out over long periods of time because too many projects are being worked on simultaneously 2010/05/1916

Outline Introduction Getting Started with Scrum Scaling up Conclusion 2010/05/1917

Conclusion Better focus and more team collaboration – Focus on higher impact stories rather than tasks – Complete projects more quickly at a given time – Weekly lunch-and-learn sessions allow senior team members to educate the newer ones – Each Friday, all portfolio company point people attend a meeting with the Labs teams Remove the impediments 2010/05/1918

Thank you 2010/05/1919