Enterprise Agile: Are You Ready?

© Scott Ambler + Associates 1

Enterprise Agile: Are You Ready?

Scott W. Ambler Senior Consulting Partner

scott [at] scottambler.com

@scottwambler

Before we begin…



We’re going to cover a lot of

ground

The Surveys

•  Results of survey-based research will be shared throughout this deck

•  Availability: –  Detailed results are available free of charge at Ambysoft.com/

surveys/ –  Includes all questions as asked, source data, and summary slide

decks

•  Types of surveys: –  DDJ: Cross paradigm survey sponsored by Dr Dobb’s Journal –  Ambysoft: Agile-oriented survey sponsored by Ambysoft Inc. –  SA+A: Agile oriented survey sponsored by Scott Ambler + Associates


If you are reading the flattened PDF…

•  The following slides are build slides. Much of their value is in the way that they are displayed during the conversation, so they may prove confusing when flattened: –  Slide #29 – Why Many IT Departments Are Moving to Agile –  Slide #33 – What Does DevOps Mean to Your Organization? –  Slide #34 – What does Agile at Scale Mean to Your Organization? –  Slide #54 – The Usual Agile Transformation Strategy –  Slide #55 – An Enterprise Aware Transformation Strategy –  Slide #29 - Why Many IT Departments Are Moving to Agile –  Slide #29 - Why Many IT Departments Are Moving to Agile


The Story I’m About to Tell


•  An agile enterprise is able to anticipate and respond swiftly to changes in the marketplace.

•  It does this through an organizational culture and structure that facilitates change within the context of the situation that it faces.

•  Agile enterprises require a learning mindset in the mainstream business and underlying lean and agile processes to drive innovation.


Agile Enterprise

•  An Agile IT organization must be responsive to the needs of the rest of the enterprise while “keeping the lights on”.

•  An Agile IT organization does this via three ongoing efforts: –  Plan –  Build –  Run


Agile Enterprise

Agile IT

•  Disciplined agile delivery teams produce consumable solutions often and early

•  Agile delivery teams must tailor their approach to address the situation that the find themselves in, particularly when working at scale – Context counts


Agile Enterprise

Agile IT

Agile Dev

Let’s explore five important questions….

What is the current state of agile? What is an agile enterprise? What does agile IT look like?

How does agile delivery work in enterprises? How do you transition to enterprise agility?


The Current State of Agile


How Would You Characterize Your Team’s Development Process?

Ad Hoc, 13%

Iterative, 19%

Agile, 52%

Traditional, 8%

Lean, 7% Other, 2%

© Scott Ambler + Associates

Source: DDJ State of the IT Union 2014 Q2 Survey

12

I would rate my organization’s adoption of agile as…

Great success, 11%

Success, 33%

Neither, 40%

Failure, 5%

Great failure, 2%

Too early to tell, 11%


Source: SA+A 2014 Agile Adoption Survey

13

Agile Adoption and Success Rates

Have succeeded

with agile, 71%

Have tried agile but never

succeeded, 15%

Never tried agile, 12%

Don't know, 3%


Question: To your knowledge, has your organization successfully applied agile techniques/strategies/processes on

one or more development projects?

Implication: 86% of respondents work in organizations that are at least trying agile techniques.

Source: Dr. Dobb’s Journal (DDJ) Sept 2012 State of IT Union Survey

14

Agile Failure Rates

SOME failed agile projects,

55%

No failures, 27%

Don't know, 17%


Question: To your knowledge, has the organization unsuccessfully applied agile techniques/strategies/processes

on one or more development projects?

Implication: Agile adoption isn’t always easy. However, the majority organizations are experiencing success with agile.

Source: DDJ Sept 2012 State of IT Union Survey 15

Organizations Are Successfully Applying Agile at Levels of Scale


Team Size Two Hundreds

Geographic Distribution Co-located Global

Organizational Distribution Single division Outsourcing

Compliance None Life critical

Domain Complexity Straightforward Very complex

Technical Complexity Straightforward Very complex

Source: DDJ Summer 2012 State of the IT Union Survey

16

What Scaling Factors Do Software Development Teams Face?

Copyright 2014 Scott W. Ambler www.ambysoft.com/surveys/

92%

61%

43%

68%

61%

48%

90%

50%

44%

66%

70%

42%

Complex Technology

Complex Domain

Compliance

Organizationally Distributed

Geographically Distributed

Team Size > 10

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

All Teams Agile Teams

Source: DDJ State of the IT Union 2014 Q2 Survey

Common Enterprise Challenges to Agile

•  Bureaucratic cultures •  Differing IT and business goals •  Short term investment horizons •  Inflexible governance •  Little support for learning and

experimentation


The Agile Enterprise


Let’s assume that agile software

development is the center

of the universe for your organization…


Agile/Scrum is a Good Starting Point


•  Construction focus •  Value driven lifecycle •  Self-organizing teams •  Prescriptive •  Project team aware

DAD Solidifies the Foundation


•  Delivery focus •  Risk-value driven lifecycle •  Self-organization with

appropriate governance •  Goal driven •  Enterprise aware

22


•  Large teams •  Geographically distributed

teams •  Compliance •  Domain or technical

complexity •  Cultural issues •  Organizational distribution

23


Individuals must become a truly agile practitioner within the evolving context of the situation that they face They will require training, education and coaching

24


Teams will self organize their work strategy, their structure, and their collaboration paths to reflect the context of the situation that they find themselves in They will require guidance to do so effectively

25


IT departments are often sophisticated entities with teams addressing a wide range of situations and a wide range of goals Agile delivery teams are just part of the overall mix, as are operations teams, architecture teams, portfolio management teams, and many more IT organizations will need to adopt a wide range of strategies that reflect the challenges that they face

26


An agile enterprise is able to anticipate and respond swiftly to changes in the marketplace. It does this through an organizational culture and structure that facilitates change within the context of the situation that it faces. Agile enterprises require a learning mindset in the mainstream business and underlying lean and agile processes to drive innovation.

27

The Agile IT Department


Why Many IT Departments Are Moving to Agile

70%

20%

10%

Run

Build

Plan

Current


50%

40%

10%

Run

Build

Plan

Desired

Plan – Guide the organization in IT-related manners Build – Software teams provide consumable solutions on a regular basis following lifecycles reflecting the context they face Run – Operate and support the IT ecosystem

The Agile IT Department: Plan



People Management

Portfolio Management

Program Management

Enterprise Architecture

Reuse Engineering

Data Management

The Agile IT Department: Build



Continuous Delivery

Exploratory/Lean Startup

Lean/Kanban

Agile/Scrum

Other

The Agile IT Department: Run



Release Management

Operations

Support

Continuous Improvement

Governance

What Does DevOps Mean to Your Organization?


Continuous delivery? + streamlined operations and support?

Streamlined build (dev) + streamlined run (ops)?

Your DevOps strategy will reflect your organizational goals

What Does “Agile at Scale” Mean to Your Organization?


Build for large agile/lean teams?

There is no one right answer for how to scale agile to the IT

level.

Large-scale Scrum?

Agile for the IT department?

Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD)


Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD) is a process decision framework The key characteristics of DAD:

–  People-first –  Goal-driven –  Hybrid agile –  Learning-oriented –  Full delivery lifecycle –  Solution focused –  Risk-value lifecycle –  Enterprise aware


The DAD Framework fully addresses the agile and lean portions of Build…


Continuous Delivery

Exploratory/Lean Startup

Lean/Kanban

Agile/Scrum

High Level Lifecycle


There’s more to solution delivery than construction

Basic/Agile Lifecycle


A full Scrum-based agile delivery lifecycle.

Exploratory “Lean Startup” Lifecycle


Sometimes it takes time to identify what your stakeholders actually need

Lean Lifecycle


A full lean delivery lifecycle

Lean Continuous Delivery Lifecycle


Your evolutionary end goal?

DAD is Goal-Driven, Not Prescriptive





DAD Teams Are Enterprise Aware

•  DAD teams strive to leverage and enhance the existing organizational eco system wherever possible

•  Implications: –  Work closely with

enterprise groups –  Follow existing

roadmap(s) where appropriate

–  Leverage existing assets –  Enhance existing assets


The DAD framework is now being extended to address Plan and Run


People Management

Portfolio Management

Program Management


Reuse Engineering

Data Management

Release Management

Operations

Support

Continuous Improvement

Governance




Our Claim: The DAD framework provides a solid foundation from which to scale agile



Transforming your Organization

The Usual Transformation Strategy


Dev Team 1

Dev Team 2

Dev Team 3

Dev Team 4

The Plan:

Dev Team N

…

Dev Team 1

Dev Team 2

Dev Team 3

Dev Team 4

What Often Happens:

Fail

54

Observation: You must address more than just the build aspects of IT.

An Enterprise Aware Transformation Strategy


Dev Team 1

Dev Team 2

Dev Team 3

Dev Team 4

Dev Team N

…


Data Management IT Governance …

55

Observation: Plan and Run have different adoption time frames than Build.


People & Culture

Process Tools

56

Your Transformation Strategy Needs to Address…

Observation: All three categories are

important and interconnected.

70%

20% 10%

How difficult where the following issues to address during your Agile Adoption?

Changing our business culture Adopting agile technical practices Changing our IT culture Using our existing tools in an agile manner Adopting new agile development tools Adopting agile management practices



Most Difficult

Least Difficult

57

How important where the following issues to address during your Agile Adoption?

Changing our business culture Adopting agile management practices Changing our IT culture Adopting agile technical practices Adopting new agile development tools Using our existing tools in an agile manner



Most Important

Least Important

58

Some Realities of Agile Transformation

•  Coaches are very easy to find, good coaches experienced in enterprise agile are not

•  Transforming a few delivery teams is easy, transforming an organization is not

•  Effective coaches engage concurrently with: –  Delivery teams –  IT teams –  With the rest of the business

•  Transformation takes: –  Years –  Ongoing investment –  Ongoing sponsorship


The Story I Told


•  Disciplined agile delivery teams produce consumable solutions often and early

•  Agile delivery teams must tailor their approach to address the situation that the find themselves in, particularly when working at scale – Context counts


Agile Delivery

•  An Agile IT organization must be responsive to the needs of the rest of the enterprise while “keeping the lights on”.

•  An Agile IT organization does this via three ongoing efforts: –  Plan –  Build –  Run


Agile IT

Agile Delivery

•  An agile enterprise is able to anticipate and respond swiftly to changes in the marketplace.

•  It does this through an organizational culture and structure that facilitates change within the context of the situation that it faces.

•  Agile enterprises require a learning mindset in the mainstream business and underlying lean and agile processes to drive innovation.


Agile Enterprise

Agile IT

Agile Delivery

My parting advice….


Your organization is unique. You need to tailor your approach to reflect the evolving context of the situation that you face. One “process size” does not fit all, one organizational strategy does not fit all, nor does one tooling strategy.

Got Discipline?


DisciplinedAgileConsortium.org DisciplinedAgileDelivery.com

ScottAmbler.com

Thank You! scott [at] scottambler.com

@scottwambler

AgileModeling.com AgileData.org Ambysoft.com

DisciplinedAgileConsortium.org DisciplinedAgileDelivery.com

ScottAmbler.com

Disciplined Agile Delivery Disciplined Agile Delivery


Would You Like This Presented to Your Organization?

Contact us at ScottAmbler.com


Scott Ambler + Associates is the thought leader behind the Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD) framework and its application. We are a boutique IT management consulting firm that advises organizations to be more

effective applying disciplined agile and lean processes within the context of your business.

Our website is ScottAmbler.com

We can help


Additional Slides


Shuhari and Disciplined Agile Certification

At the shu stage you are beginning to learn the techniques and philosophies of

disciplined agile development. Your goal is to build a strong foundation from which

to build upon.

At the ha stage you reflect upon and question why disciplined agile strategies work, seeking to understand the range of strategies available to you and when they

are best applied.

At the ri stage you seek to extend and improve upon disciplined agile techniques,

sharing your learnings with others.


Scrum

Extreme Programming

Lean Kanban

DAD is a Hybrid Framework


Unified Process Agile Modeling

Agile Data “Traditional” Outside In Dev.

DevOps …and more

DAD leverages proven strategies from several sources, providing a decision framework to guide your adoption and

tailoring of them in a context-driven manner.

SAFe

Disciplined Agilists Take a Goal Driven Approach


Goal Factor Advantages Disadvantages Considerations

* Option Default Option

*

Explore the Initial Scope

Form the

Initial Team

Address Changing

Stakeholder Needs

Source Team size Team structure Team members Geographic distribution Supporting the team Availability

Indicates a preference for the options towards the top

Co-located Partially dispersed Fully dispersed Distributed subteams


Governance is Built Into DAD

•  Governance strategies built into DAD: –  Risk-value lifecycle –  Light-weight milestone reviews –  “Standard” opportunities for increased visibility and to steer the team

provided by agile –  Enterprise awareness –  Robust stakeholder definition

Collaboration Pattern: Enterprise IT Team

•  Individuals are members of both a delivery team and an enterprise team

•  Common examples include: –  Architecture Ownership Team (Enterprise

Architecture) –  Product Ownership Team (Product Management) –  Product Delivery Office (Portfolio Management)

•  The delivery teams determine who will be in the enterprise role for them

•  Potential scheduling challenges for the people in the enterprise roles due to multi-team commitments

•  The leaders of each enterprise team may be a full time position


Enterprise Team

Delivery Team

Example: Architecture Ownership (AO) Team


•  Responsible for developing the architecture/technology roadmap

•  Delivery teams determine who the architecture owner (AO) is, and that person becomes part of the AO team

•  The AO team meets regularly to evolve the roadmap based on the hands-on learnings from the AOs

•  Ecommerce organization: 7 person AO team (of 250 IT people)

•  Software product org: 10 person AO team (of 130 IT people)

Collaboration Pattern: Services Team

•  Specialized services teams fulfill requests from delivery teams

•  Common examples of specialized services: –  Infrastructure/network –  Database administration –  Security –  Facilities

•  The specialized services team will often have a service level agreement (SLA) that the work to

•  Potential for the services team to become a bottleneck

•  They may supply specialists on a short term basis to some delivery teams


Delivery Team

Service Team

Service Request

Service

Example: Database Administration (DBA) Team


•  Responsible for supporting database development and database operation in production

•  The delivery team submits a request, the DBA Team prioritizes it and then fulfills it

•  Ecommerce org: 5 person team (of 250 IT people) •  Software org: 2 person team (of 40 IT people)

Enterprise Agile: Are You Ready?

Software

face run operate

agile enterprises

development

delivery teams

agile delivery

existing tools

regular basis

org disciplinedagiledelivery