Scaling agile secrets and ugly truths

1. The Ugly Truth of
Scaling Agile
Scott Blacker
VP Product & Services
AgileCraft
Kreisler Ng
Sr. Manager, Agile Delivery
cPrime

2. 2
Drive Agile and DevOps success through a
blend of unified software services

3. Simply Software at Scale
To Gain Strategic Advantage
AGILECRAFT
3
#1

4. I T ’ S T R U L Y A B O U T S U R V I V A L
THE GAME IS RAPIDLY CHANGING
Software is eating the world
1 The acceleration of the technology
curve is quickening the turnover of
large enterprises / the fortune 500.2
Increasingly software is highly strategic and has a major impact on
outcomes regardless of the vertical / industry in question3 4

5. 5
Agility has replaced market share as a key driver of competitive
advantage
I T ’ S T R U L Y A B O U T S U R V I V A L
THE GAME IS RAPIDLY CHANGING

6. STATE OF AGILE
T H E B A S I C S
1st Generation - (approx. 1994 –
2002) searched for and found a
different way of building
solutions focused on small teams
of developers.
2nd Generation – (approx. 2002 –
2010) realized requirements &
testing must be agile as well to
create development flow.
3rd Generation – (approx. 2010 –
present) builds on development
flow and deals with scale, value
stream, product lines, portfolios
and integration to strategy and
the rest of the enterprise.
6
Courtesy of SolutionsIQ

7. Scaling is a well understood concept at this point.
Plenty of frameworks exist.
We’ll just pick one and train the teams.
Right?
Introducing the 5 ugly truths of scaling agile
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T H E U G L Y T R U T H O F S C A L I N G A G I L E

8. 8
Ugly Truth #1:
Semantics
(Your epic is my initiative)
Scoping
(Your “3” isn’t the same
as my “3”)
Sprints
(My sprints MUST start
on a Tuesday)
Even the seemingly simplest aspects of a
transformation are massive headaches

9. 9
Ugly Truth #1:
Semantics
(Your epic is my initiative)
Even the seemingly simplest aspects of a
transformation are massive headaches
Epic
Feature
Story
Initiative
Epic
Story
SAFe JIRA
Scoping
(Your “3” isn’t the same
as my “3”)
Sprints
(My sprints MUST start
on a Tuesday)

10. 10
Secret Weapons
• Agile Coalition / Communities of
Practice
• Listen and explain the why
• Knowing when to pick a strong
stance

11. 11
PREDICTABILITY,
SPEND & RESULTS
STRATEGY,
GOALS,
& PRIORITIES
Ugly Truth #2:
Your top-down transformation is going to fail…
…and so is your bottoms-up.

12. 12
Secret Weapons:
• Start from the top and from
the bottom
• Listen and empathize
• Make it a safe environment
to fail
T H E U G L Y T R U T H O F S C A L I N G A G I L E

13. 13
Bimodal Ceiling
Ugly Truth #3:
There will be a glass ceiling.
Breaking through will not be easy.
Management CeilingFinance Ceiling

14. 14
Secret Weapons:
• Meet me in Bimodal
• Pilot as results speak for
themselves
• Use the organization’s informal
network
T H E U G L Y T R U T H O F S C A L I N G A G I L E

15. 15
Ugly Truth #4:
Teams have been locally-optimizing since the
beginning of Agile. System-optimization is much
harder.

16. 16
Secret Weapons:
• Paint the big picture
• Link local data to org-wide data
• Focus on Agile HR
T H E U G L Y T R U T H O F S C A L I N G A G I L E

17. 17
Ugly Truth #5:
Many teams don’t actually want to scale.
Your job is to show them the light.
• Scaling = transparency which is scary / drives accountability /
reduces freedom to whatever you want
• Don’t want to be compared….game the system if compared

18. 18
Secret Weapons:
• Collaborate with Teams
• Build Trust
T H E U G L Y T R U T H O F S C A L I N G A G I L E

19. 19
Ugly Truth Secret Weapon(s)
Even the seemingly simplest aspects of a
transformation are massive headaches1
2
3
4
5
T H E U G L Y T R U T H O F S C A L I N G A G I L E
• Agile Coalition / Communities of Practice
• Listen and explain the why
• Knowing when to pick a strong stance
Your top-down transformation is going to fail…
…and so is your bottoms-up.
• Start from the top and from the bottom
• Listen and empathize
• Make it a safe environment to fail
There will be a glass ceiling.
Breaking through will not be easy.
• Meet me in Bimodal
• Pilot as results speak for themselves
• Use the organization’s informal network
• Collaborate with Teams
• Build Trust
Many teams don’t actually want to scale.
Your job is to show them the light.
Teams have been locally-optimizing since the beginning
of Agile. System-optimization is much harder
• Paint the big picture
• Link local data to org-wide data
• Focus on Agile HR

20. QUESTIONS?
scott.blacker@agilecraft.com
Kreisler.Ng@cprime.com