Talk about the difference between just doing a few Agile practices and pretending are are Agile and actually having the Agile mindset. In, addition we talk about guiding development with an Agile Value team.

1. Doing Agile vs. BEING Agile
The Product Value Team

3. Eating the World
• 5 Billion Internet connected smartphones
• Sony/Nokia/… – Hardware companies
– (close to death or slaves)
• Disney/Pixar – software companies
• Financial Industry – software companies
• Amazon to Walmart – software companies with warehouses
• Fedex– software company with trucks
• Microsoft/Oracle – old software that needs rewriting
• Dishwashers (lasers!), rice cookers, refrigerators, cars,TV.
– Filled of software
• Defense/Construction/Energy Sectors
– Increasingly software & robots controlled with software
• US Government – World’s largest software development organization
Marc Andressen
WSJ 2011

4. Key Points
• Software is everywhere – products & services
– Just doing it competently is no longer enough
– Great products need to be the focus
• Agile is now standard best practice for software
development
– Many went in this direction long ago…
– Mostly it is helping, but many are doing it wrong…
• Guiding Agile teams is the next huge challenge
– Creativity of the ENTIRE team is essential
– But great products are rarely “designed by committee”

5. Process ?
Fad?
Methodology ?
Cult?
No Documentation
Framework ?
Approach ?
No Planning
No Architecture
Chaos
No Discipline
What is Agile ?
5

6. Original Research by Carol Dweck
Growth Mindset
Ability can grow
Develop Ability
Leads to a
desire to
learn
Fixed Mindset
Ability is inherent and static
Demonstrate Ability
Leads to a
desire to look
good/smart
Success
A mindset is the
established set of
attitudes held by
someone
Looking good and avoiding
challenges and obstacles
because it is a risk for failure
and will make them look bad.
Stick to what they know and
can do and as a result achieve
less than their full potential.
Feedback and criticism is
personal as it impacts self-
image.
They don’t change or improve
much with time, if at all, and so
to them this confirms that “they
are as they are”.
Embracing challenges
because they will learn
something new or they will fail
and that is an opportunity to
learn also.
Not afraid to put lots of effort to
learn and master something
new
Feedback and criticism is not
about them but about current
capabilities
View feedback as a source of
new information that
encourages them to keep
learning and improving.
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7. Success Delivering
Software
Aim to look good by delivering
planned results
Assumes that customer knows
exactly what they want
therefore tries to fix the
requirements (change is not
desired)
Assumes that developers
know exactly how to build it
(and learning is punished)
Assumes and hopes that
nothing will change along the
way
Aim to learn and deliver
desired results
Allows the customer to learn
and discover what they want
when they see it and
experience it. (Change is
welcome)
The developers discovers how
to build it when they build it
(learning is rewarded)
Many things change along the
way
Agile Mindset
Ability can grow
Develop Ability
Leads to a
desire to
learn
Leads to a
desire to look
good/smart
Aspire towards
Fixed Mindset
Ability is inherent and static
Demonstrate Ability
7

8. A mindset is the established set of
attitudes held by someone
• Learn through Discovery
• Collaboration
• Failing Early
• Seeking Feedback for learning
• Strive for Continuous Delivery
• Focus on Value
Agile is a mindset defined by values guided by
principles and manifested through many different
practices
8

9. Agile is a mindset defined by values guided by
principles and manifested through many different
practices
9

10. Internalizing the
Mindset, values, and
principles then applying
the right practices and
tailoring them to different
situations as they arise
Learning the practices
and applying them
without know the
mindset and principles
to know when to tailor
and how to select the
appropriate practices
Being Agile Doing Agile
10

11. Defined Process Empirical Process
Management Approach:
Coordination and Control
Management Approach:
Inspect and Adapt
Predictable Outcome Non-Predictable Outcome
Discovery Needed
High Uncertainty
Creativity Needed
High Change Rates
No Discovery
Low Uncertainty
No Creativity
Low Change Rates
The process needs to provide true visibility as well as be
lightweight, flexible and nimble enough to constantly adapt.
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12. Value Driven Customer Focus
Resources
Calendar Time
Scope
Value Driven
12
Welcoming change
by constantly
reprioritizing to
deliver highest
value items first.

13. Superman/Superwoman needed?
• Expectations continue to expand
– Need a Persuasive Leader
– Need Technical Depth
– Need Sales Skills
– Need Writing Skills
– Accurate Customer Proxy
– Good Researcher
– Good Analyst
– Internal Communication
• Responsibility without Authority?
– Living in the Matrix
• Responsible for the product
• Rarely directs resources

14. The Value Team Role
• Vision to reality
• Collaborative effort is essential
– Agile techniques supportive
– PO role almost unworkable as defined
• Instead of Manager or Controller think Director
or Auteur.
– A team is needed
“The quality of any collaborative creative endeavor tends to approach
the level of taste of whoever is in charge” – John Gruber

15. The Business Analyst Role
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• Often criticized by Agile-ists
– a separate camp pulling in a different direction
• Can be invaluable parts the Value Team
• Key is for the Value Team to be in sync
• Business Analysts must explain both ways
– Business to Programmers
– Technical to Business decision makers
• BA authority “on loan” from Product Owners

16. Value Team New Roles
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• Value Team Facilitator
– Make sure the team a team
– Ensure responsiveness and output
– All voices/inputs considered
• Value Director or Product Owner
– Keeper of the Vision – motivator
– Ultimate tie breaker/decision maker
• Needed a lot = smell
– Sets the high level priorities

17. Key Concepts for Products
• Getting on the same page
– Classic
• Positioning – Reis and Trout
• Crossing the Chasm – Moore
• Innovator’s Dilemma – Christenson
• Cluetrain Manifesto – Locke, Searls, et al.
– New(er) Thinking
• Global Opportunities – Prahalad, Ravel, et al.
• Four steps to the Epiphany – Stephen Blank
• The Lean Startup – Eric Ries
• Product Development Flow – Donald Reinertsen
• Continuous Delivery – Jez Humble