The Flight Levels framework represents a breakthrough achievement in the Agile community, finally living up to the promise of true Business Agility. It does this by encompassing every part of the organization and encouraging participation at every level, across all disciplines. The flight level model recognizes that we need three “viewpoints” for managing our work—flight level three, or the strategy level, flight level two, or the coordination level, and flight level one, or the team level. Flight Levels provide a simple and clear way to connect strategy to execution—facilitating alignment and enabling innovation to occur at every level. Unlike complex and prescriptive frameworks, Flight Levels fit in smoothly with your existing processes like Scrum or Kanban and can be adopted quickly and incrementally.
In this talk I will introduce the flight levels framework, focusing on the problems that it solves and how it differs from other well-known frameworks. Unlike other frameworks, flight levels can be used by the entire company—it is non-IT specific. In addition, flight levels can happily coexist with other Agile frameworks. Rather than specify what teams should be doing, the flight levels framework focuses on helping teams coordinate in value streams and connecting strategy to execution at the portfolio and corporate strategy level. Unlike traditional org charts, the flight level system maps the flow of work and helps us understand the needs for coordination--where we need daily touchpoints and feedback loops. A flight level system consists of a flight level three, or strategy level board mapping corporate strategy to our portfolio of work via OKRAs—(objectives key results and Actions) as well as one or more flight level two boards to help us coordinate the work of multiple teams within a given value stream. These boards all connect to our standard flight level one team-level Scrum or Kanban boards. This talk introduces an exciting new approach to enterprise agility that is neither vague nor overly prescriptive. Participants will come away with a new perspective on scaling Agile that they can apply immediately, no matter which Agile framework(s) their organization is using.
2. @klausleopold
Agenda
1.Some Definitions
2.Flight Levels Compared to Scaling Frameworks
3.What Is Flight Levels
4.Six Insanely Great Things About Flight Levels
1. Flight Routes
2. Work Systems Topology
3. Improved Delivery of Outcomes
4. Non-Disruptive To Organizations
5. Connects Strategy to Execution
6. Helps Ensure the Right People Are Talking
5.Where Can I Learn More?
3. Craeg Strong § Software Development since 1988
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One Project, Multiple Products
One Product, Multiple Projects
Product vs Project is MANY TO MANY
My Awesome Product
Convert to .NET
Core
Port over to
Android
{
{
Project Project
Moon Landing 2025 Project
Product: Fuselage
Product: Instruments
Product: Flight Control Software
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My Working Definitions
Name Definition Examples
Product An item or service for sale
or internal use
The Enterprise Data Warehouse
The NYC DSS Building Compliance
System
Project An effort with a specific set
of objectives and a timeline
Get us off the mainframe, asap!
Migrate to the cloud
Launch the Android version
Program A related set of products,
services, administration
and infrastructure
The FBI Missing Persons Program
Claims, Underwriting
Homelessness Case Management
Portfolio A group of Programs. Very
large organizations have
multiple portfolios
FBI Investigative Portfolio
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Kanban Definitions
Name Definition Examples
Service A series of activities performed
to respond to a need of one or
more customers. The need is
fulfilled when the requestor
accepts or acknowledges
delivery
Business strategy
Underwriting
WorkDay
Building Compliance
System
Organization A network of interdependent
services with policies that
determine its behavior
The Enterprise Data
Warehouse
Building Compliance
System
9. Scaling Frameworks
2011 2018
2014
Large Scale Scrum: LeSS
• Bas Vodde and Craig Larman, Senior Scrum Coaches
since 2004
• History: First created in 2005, First book published in
2008, practiced privately for 9 years
• http://less.works published online in 2014
Scrum@Scale
• Jeff Sutherland, Co-Creator of Scrum and Agile
Manifesto Signatory
• History: grew out of agilealliance.org in response to
demand for scaling framework
• https://www.scrumatscale.com
Scaled Agile Framework: SAFe
• Dean Leffingwell, Sr VP Rational Software 1997-2000 heavily
influenced by Rational Unified Process
• History: First book published in 2007
• https://www.scaledagileframework.com published online in
2011
Kanban Flight Levels
• Klaus Leopold, Senior Kanban Coach since 2009
• History: Introduced in 2013 at Kanban Conference
• https://2020.leanability.com/en/trainings/
2015
Nexus
• Ken Schwaber, Co-Creator of Scrum and Agile Manifesto Signatory
• History: grew out of scrum.org in response to demand for scaling framework
• https://www.scrum.org/resources/scaling-scrum
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So.. Why Is SAFe Popular?
• If you need business Agility, it is (was) the only game in town
• Well-organized documentation
• Extremely comprehensive glossary of Agile terms
• Popularized Open-Space Agility (PI Planning)
• Emphasizes the need for making space for innovation (IP Sprint)
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Comparison of Scaling Frameworks
Characteristic LeSS Nexus SAFe Flight Levels
Cross Functional Teams
Align Multiple Teams
Scrum Teams
Full Product Management
Kanban Teams
Non-IT Teams
End-To-End Management of
Value Stream
Discovery / Upstream Kanban
Portfolio Kanban
Corporate Strategy
Product
Agility
Business
Agility
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What Questions Can Flight Levels Answer?
• How can we measure outcomes of our efforts?
• What initiative should we start next? How long will it take?
• If we start a new initiative, what is the impact on our existing portfolio?
• What are all the services involved in a value stream; how do they fit
together?
• How do we manage dependencies between teams?
• How can we reserve capacity across other services so that an urgent item
is not delayed?
• If we improve team X, does that improve the delivery of the entire value
stream?
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How Can Flight Levels Solve These Problems?
qAgile Interactions Between Teams*
qEnd-to-End Management of Value Streams
qAgile Strategic Portfolio Management
qConnecting Strategy with Execution
* Services
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Do Any Tools Support Flight Levels?
15
Plugins Required
ü Script Runner
ü Easy Agile User Story Maps
ü Structure Gantt
ü Actionable Agile Forecasting
ü EasyKAD (cloud only)
ü Color Cards (Data Center only)
17. @klausleopold
Flight Levels is a thinking model that can help you find out
where in an organization you have to do what in order to
achieve the results that you want to achieve.
5 activities on 3 levels
WHAT IS FLIGHT LEVELS?
a systems architecture to glue all (agile) islands together
18. Who Invented Flight Levels?
Klaus Leopold
§ Kanban Community Leader Since 2009
§ Co-founder, LEANability GmbH
§ Organizational Coach & Trainer
§ Keynote speaker & Thought Leader
§ Best-Selling Author on Kanban, Agile & Flight Levels
https://www.linkedin.com/in/klausleopold/
klaus@flightlevels.io
Vienna, Austria
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Where Did This Stuff Come From?
Kanban
Kanban Maturity Model
Discovery Kanban
Simulations: Okaloa
AgendaShift
Flight Levels
20. Flight Level Systems Architecture
Flight level Systems
Architecture is a guide that shows
us which flight level 1, 2, and 3
systems we need and how they will
fit together
21. Flight Level One
Flight level one is the team level.
We have many teams working on
many different things. Teams may
use Scrum, Kanban, Waterfall, Lean,
DAD...
22. Flight Level Two
Flight level two helps to facilitate
interactions, coordination, handoffs,
and dependencies between
operational teams working within a
value stream.
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Lesson Production
Product Design Team
Manipulatives Team
Content Authoring Team
CMS Team
Visual/UX Design Team Student Interface Team
Educator Interface Team
Video Production Team
Value Stream Visualizationà Flight Level Two Board
Upstream Team
(Discovery Kanban)
Downstream Team
(Delivery Kanban)
LEGEND:
24. Flight Level Three
Flight level three visualizes
strategic objectives, key results,
and actions (initiatives). FL3 ties
strategy directly to execution
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Example: Strategy for Disability Case Processing System
Strategy /
Objective KR / KPI
MVP: Support
Initial Disability
Claims for 1
medium
MicroPact state
Initial Adult
disability claim
can be entered
Financial API
Supports
Quarterly Close
Business
Function
Capabilities
Manage
User Profile
Manage
Organization
Manage
Authorizations
Interface to State
Financial Systems
Manage
Disability Case
Manage
Disability Claim
Manage
Authentication
3-6 Months 0-3 Months Active
Basic User
Info
Basic Org
Info
Assign Org
Roles
Manage Org
Users
User
Login
User
Logout
Impersonate
User
Manage User
Relationships
User Financial
Info
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Five Activities
1. Visualize situation
2. Create focus
3. Establish agile interactions
4. Measure progress
5. Improve
We need to apply these
activities at different
Flight Levels in our
organization
--
If we want to achieve
business agility and
not just agile teams.
36. @klausleopold
Flight Routes summary
- Flight Routes tell you how work is flying/flowing through
the organization.
- They act as a conversation starter.
- It is not about the “one true” Flight Route - an organization
needs a healthy mix of different Flight Routes.
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Work Systems Topology
•NOT big design up-front
•First Iteration After a Few Workshops
•High Level Map of the Business
•Connects Strategy to Execution
•Adds Value Without Requiring Perfection
•Some Parts may never be “lit up”
40. @klausleopold
Strategy
…
…
…
HR
Where does strategy connect to Flow?
Dealer
Private Seller
OEM
Business
Intelligence
Core
Experience
Customer
Sales Marketing Lawyers Controlling
Op.
Portfolio
team 1 team 6
team 1
team 12
team 1
team 4
Auto Software Company
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Systems Thinking: Put Focus At the Right Place
Area of influence at the team level
We should not be surprised if we don’t see any
improvement in TTM if we don’t focus on TTM elements
We need to focus on the work items where we
want to achieve the benefits
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Focus on the Flow of Work: NOT ORG REDESIGN
We focus on the operational structure before we
rebuild the organizational structure
46. @klausleopold
Flight Items
What kind of work is handled on what system?
long term strategic outcomes
outcomes achieved in < 3 years
outcome defined work item
outcome achieved in < 3 month
short term activities
2-6 weeks
short term activities
< 2 weeks
Flight Level 3
Flight Level 2
Flight Level 1
Flight Level 3
Flight Level 2
Flight Level 1
Flight Level 2
Flight Level 1
STRATEGIC
OUTCOMES
INIT IAT IV ES
EPICS
STORIES
This is just an example!!
You have to define the Flight Items for your company!
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Flight Level Masterclasses: June 27-30, NYC
Monday Tuesday
Wednesday Thursday
We are extremely excited to be bringing Klaus Leopold, the co-founder of the Flight Levels
Academy and author of “Rethinking Agile” from his native Austria to NYC in order to teach the
inaugural Flight Level Two Design and Flight Level Systems Architecture training classes.
Attendees will each receive a signed copy of “Rethinking Agile,” Mr. Leopold’s latest book.
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cstrong@arielpartners.com
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