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AW5 ConcurrentSession11/11/151:30pm
“Don't Bulldoze a Vibrant Ecosystem for Agile”
Presented by:
Steve Adolph
Blue Agility
Broughttoyouby:
340CorporateWay,Suite300,OrangePark,FL32073888-268-8770·904-278-0524·[email protected] ·www.techwell.com
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Steve Adolph Blue Agility
An agile coach with Blue Agility and cofounder of e-learning publisher Development Knowledge, Steve Adolph pursues his passion for helping organizations get the job done. Steve has been creating and managing software development projects long enough to remember FORTRAN and PDP-11s. His professional career includes many exciting and critical projects—designing call processing software for digital telephone exchanges, design and development of leading edge network management systems, railway signaling, and telecom billing. Coauthor of Patterns for Effective Use Cases, Steve has diverse job experience—from developer to chief engineer to CTO.
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Don’t&&Bulldoze&a&Vibrant&Eco4system&for&Agile&
Steve%Adolph%
Steve&&Adolph&
[email protected] %
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Overview%
• Introduce%a%biological%model%for%understanding%organiza?onal%behaviour%and%policy.%
• Argue%how%agile%transforma?ons%can%risk%crea?ng%re1introducing%the%machine%model.%
• Use%the%concept%of%%socio1technical%systems%to%explain%the%bulldozer.%
• Present%5%principles%for%crea?ng%a%sustainable%transforma?on%eco1system.%%
A%bulldozer%deploys%technical%prac?ces%and%expects%individuals%to%adapt%
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%A%Concern:%We%are%witnessing%the%mechaniza?on%of%agile%
“Meet$the$new$boss,$same$as$the$old$boss”&The%Who%–%Won’t%Get%Fooled%Again%
%%%Is%it%now…%
Processes&and&tools&over&Individuals&and&InteracCons???&
But%we’re%agile!!!%We’re%different!!%Right?....Right?%
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A%Green%Bulldozer%is%S?ll%a%Bulldozer%
The%Tar%Pit?%A%Classical%Metaphor%for%SoTware%Development%
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The%Swamp%as%a%Metaphor%–%A%Poten?ally%Dangerous%but%%Highly%Produc?ve%and%Diverse%Eco%System%
Models%of%Organiza?on%
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The%Organiza?on%as%a%Machine%
• Bureaucra?c%organiza?on%• Emphasis%on%“efficient”%
opera?on%• Well%defined%job%
descrip?ons%• Management%by%
objec?ves%• Responsibility%for%
planning%lies%with%management%
Machine%Models%and%“Mac1Jobs”%
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The%Organiza?on%as%an%Organism%
Biological%Systems%are%Open%Systems%
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Biological%Model%of%Organiza?on%
Challenges%of%a%Diverse%Corporate%Eco1System%
• Lack%Repeatable%Processes%• Inability%to%re1use%and%share%knowledge%• Improvement%is%ad%hoc%rather%than%systema?c%• Knowledge%is%associated%with%individuals%rather%than%corporate%knowledge%base%
• Individuals%become%constraint%to%scale%
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People%are%first%order%non%linear%components%–%Alistair%Cockburn%%
Strategies%for%Coping%with%the%Swamp%
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Back%to%the%Future:%the%90s%and%BPR%
Business%Process%Re1engineering:%The%Machine%Model%
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Rigid%process%defini?on%was%intended%to%remove%variance%introduced%by%the%variability%of%people%
The%Mono%Culture%Approach%to%SoTware%Process%Engineering%
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Consequences%of%a%Mono%Culture%
Invasive%Species%
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Agile%as%the%Liberator%
Can%a%Liberator%be%Worse%than%the%Despot?%
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Is%Agile%Just%Another%BPR%Bulldozer?%
Agile&
Case%Study%
• Large%Insurance%organiza?on%• Many%islands%of%agility,%wide%varia?on%in%prac?ces,%defini?ons%of%roles,%coaching%skills.%
• Solu?on%central%agile%PMO%to%define%and%enforce%agile%prac?ces%
• Result%–%Agile%PMO%largely%ignored,%further%spawning%more%invasive%species%of%ad%hoc%and%highly%localized%agile%prac?ces.%
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Agile%Maturity:%A%Methodological%Trap%
Ponder%these%Scrum%Ques?ons%• Must%the%PO%always%directly%represent%“the%business”?%
• Must%the%PO%and%the%Scrum%master%always%be%different%individuals?%
• Can%a%project%manager%be%the%Scrum%Master?%• Must%all%teams%be%feature%teams?%• Is%the%only%measure%of%value%“working%soTware”?%• How%do%we%coordinate%mul?ple%teams?%• How%do%I%coordinate%our%work%with%waterfall%teams?%
%
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Well%if%you%do%that,%then%its%not%Scrum%
anymore%
Is%our%goal%to%create%a%text%book%example%of%Scrum%or%use%Scrum%to%inform%the%design%of%our%“methodology%in%use”?%%We%are%not%introducing%Scrum%(or%any%other%agile%methodology%for%that%mafer)%into%a%“closed”%system.%
Without%variety%there%is%no%opportunity%to%improve%
Conformity%is%the%jailer%of%freedom%and%the%enemy%of%growth%–%John%F.%Kennedy%
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Emergent%Behaviour?%There%is%a%lot%of%talk%about%agile%prac?ces%encouraging%“emergent%behaviour”%
but%does%our%behaviour%encourage%emergence?%
%
The%Usual%Suspects?%It%is%tremendously%easy%to%lay%“blame”%on%ignorant%managers…%
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But%also….??%Cer?fica?on%authori?es%want%to%know%how%well%you%conformed%to%their%training%
materials%and%methods,%not%how%well%you%adapted%their%material%to%the%needs%of%the%environment.%
Single%and%Double%Loop%Learning%
Are%we%compliant?%
Are%we%gehng%befer?%
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Socio%–%Technical%Systems%
Socio1Technical%Systems%Defined%• “…made&up&of&two&jointly&independent,&but&correla6ve&interac6ng&systems&–&the&social&and&the&technical.&&The&technical&system&is&concerned&with&the&processes,&tasks,&and&technology&needed&to&transform&inputs&to&outputs.&&The&social&system&is&concerned&with&the&a?ributes&of&people&(e.g.,&aAtudes,&skills,&values),&the&rela6onships&among&people,&reward&systems,&and&authority&structures.&&It&is&assumed&that&the&outputs&of&the&work&system&are&the&result&of&joint&interac6ons&between&these&two&systems.$$Thus,$any$design$or$redesign$of$a$work$system$must$deal$with$both$systems$in$an$integrated$form”%(Bostrom%&%Heinen,%1977,%p.%17).%%
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“…barely%sufficient%process…”%%–%Jim%Highsmith%
• “while&it&is&necessary&to&be&precise&about&what&must&be&done,&it&is&rarely&necessary&to&be&precise&about&how&it&is&to&be&done,&and&that&most&organiza6ons&were&far&too&precise&in&specifying&how&things&should&be&done”%1%Cherns%(1979)%
So%do%we%want%to%be%a%bulldozer?%• The%Bulldozer%changes%the%technical%system%and%expects%the%
social%system%to%adapt%to%it.%
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Or%work%in%harmony%with%our%eco1system?%
The%Greening%Of%SoTware%Development:%Leveraging%Diversity%and%Individual%Variance%
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Say%NO%to%bulldozing%the%swamp%and%crea?ng%a%mono%culture%
Embrace%Diversity%Embrace%the%Mul?%Methodological%World%
Every%project%deserves%its%own%methodology%%
%–%Alistair%Cockburn%
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Context%Mafers:%Consistency%is%NOT%Uniformity%
Principles%for%A%Green%Development%Model%
• Align%tac?cs%with%strategy.%• Align%maturity%models%with%the%our%true%business%goal%
• Create%a%shared%common%understanding%of%our%goals.%
• Those%who%do%the%work,%design%the%work%process.%
• Celebrate%learning%(not%failure)%
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Principle:%Align%Strategy%and%Tac?cs%Why%Do%we%Want%to%be%Agile?%
• Is%our%focus%on%cost%reduc?on%or%?me%based%compe??on?%
Principle:%Align%maturity%models%with%goals%
• A%mature%organiza?on%is%one%that:%– has%a%low%variance%delivering%work%between%similar%work%items%(e.g.%low%variance%between%similar%sized%features),%%
– can%demonstrate%technical%improvement%(reduced%cycle%?me,%lower%defect%rates),%and%
– most%importantly,%demonstrate%increasing%capability%to%create%value%(e.g.%customer%sa?sfac?on).%
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Principle:%Align%Organiza?on%by%Crea?ng%A%Shared%Common%Experience%
Principle:%Those%Who%Do%the%Work,%Design%the%Work%Process%
• Biological%organiza?on,%exchange%between%the%cells%–%consistency%is%required%
• Within%the%eco1system%local%decision%making%–%the%“Vegas%Principle”%
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Principle:%Celebrate%Learning%(Not%Failure)%
Eureka!%
What%this%is%NOT%• Not%a%“get%out%of%jail”%free%card%for%sloppy%for%ad%hoc%and%poor%development%prac?ces.%%– In%a%healthy%eco1system%these%will%die%off%quickly%because%they%will%not%be%able%to%compete%for%resources%with%the%rest%of%the%eco1system.%
• Our%goal%is%to%create%a%produc?ve%eco1system,%one%that%adapts%as%context%changes.%
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Organiza?ons%that%fossilize%their%processes%are%des?ned%to%become%fossils%themselves%
Ques?ons?%
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Steve&&Adolph&
[email protected] %