Laurens Bonnema: The Agile Project Management Bootcamp Taster Kyiv Project Management Day 2021 Main Website - https://pmday.org Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/startuplviv FB - https://www.facebook.com/pmdayconference

1. Inspiring Project
Management in an
Agile Environment
Dick Croes & Laurens Bonnema

2. Do We Even Have Projects
in an Agile Environment?
Before starting a project, and whether or
not to execute it in an Agile way, the
question is whether there is a project at all.
"Is this really a project, or a line
activity that is tackled on a project
basis for budgetary reasons?"
Setting up a project organization is overkill
for a line activity. It is better to simply place
a line activity in the line, if necessary with
special attention in the form of separate
agendas in the regular meetings. No project
management is required for this.
A real project is a unique initiative of a
temporary nature with a clear objective. A
separate project organization is set up for
such an initiative to operate independently
of the line organization.
Project management is needed for
that.

3. 5-Day Agile Project Bootcamp
How are we
going to work
together this
week?
What are we
going to work
on, and who
does what?
What is the
global plan for
this project?
What is the
best plan for
this project—
for now—and
how are we
going to get
after it?
What value
are we going
to deliver?
• Briefings
• Agile Intro
• Dynamic Reteaming
• Dinner
Monday
• Scope & Context
• Vision
• Accountabilities,
Backlog Management &
Refinement
Tuesday
• Big Room Planning
• Concept Plan Review
• Management Review
& Problem Solving
Wednesday
• Management Review
Results
• Business Value,
Estimation & WSJF
• Big Room Planning
Thursday
• Quality & Risk
• Risk Management
& Initial Plan Review
• Sprint Planning
• Drinks
Friday
Workshop Interactive Classroom Training

4. Monday
For the first time we meet with the full team. This
Monday we use to get to know each other and
introduce the Agile way of working. We end this first
way with dinner with the whole team.
The agenda for today:
• Executive Briefing
• Bootcamp Briefing
• Introduction Exercise
• Training: Agile Introduction
• Product & Architecture Vision
• Team Composition
• Dynamic Reteaming
• Team Breakouts: Team Values and Manifesto
• Daily Review & Retrospective
• Dinner
Working together

5. Three Ways to Get to
Know Each Other
Neighbor & Neighbor:
Talk to your neighbor for 2 x 2 minutes.
Then introduce your neighbor to another
couple. If you already know your neighbor
well, switch places with someone so that you
get to know someone else.
Last Vacation:
Talk to someone you don't know (well) about
your last vacation for 2 x 2 minutes. Then
stick a dot on the world map that hangs on
the wall.
Monday
Speed Date:
Talk to someone you don't know (well) for
2 x 2 minutes about: What you are good
at, what your challenges are, what you
want to learn, and what you can teach or
share. Your conversation partner fills in
a quadrant with:
§ GOOD IN
§ CHALLENGES
§ WANT TO LEARN
§ CAN TEACH / SHARE
You will receive this quadrant for use in
team building.

6. EXERCISE
TEAM VALUES
https://bit.ly/team-values-mural-template

7. Tuesday
Today we focus on the vision and how we are
going to translate this in our project .
The agenda for today:
• Daily Scrum
• Planning Scope Context
• Cover Story Vision or Product Box
• Training: Roles, Backlog Management &
Refinement
• Daily Review & Retrospective
What are we going to work on?

8. Strategic Visioning
If you don't know where you're going, any road will take
you there...
To create focus, and to avoid meandering, it is good to
have the project team translate the strategic vision for
the project that was presented yesterday into something
more specific and practical.
To do so, we like the following exercises:
• Cover Story Vision (AKA Remember The Future)
Suppose we get back together in a year to celebrate what we have
achieved. Write down, in as much detail as possible, what success
looks like for your team in a year. What happened recently to
achieve success? And just before that? Make a timeline from end to
start. Write a newspaper article on a flip chart complete with:
Headline: A short, attention-grabbing statement about success.
• Product Box
Imagine encountering a product box on a store shelf shrink wrapped
and ready for sale. What is the product called? For who is it? What is
the tagline or slogan? What are the most attractive features?
Benefits? What kind of images make it extra attractive? Design this
Product Box together with your team!
Tuesday

9. Wednesday
Today is our planning day. Based on our feature wall en
the first experiences of the initial team we make a
global plan for the project. And at the end of the day
we review the planning with the sponsors and address
any problems.
The agenda for today:
• Daily Scrum
• Team Breakouts: Planning 1/2
• Team Breakouts: Planning 1/2 (Continued)
• Concept Plan Review
• Daily Review & Retrospective
• Management Review / Problem Solving
Planning day

10. Feature Wall
Wednesday
We want to know the following about
these features:
• What is the purpose of the feature?
• What does the feature entail?
• Who needs it?
• What possible dependencies are there with other
features?
• What are the acceptance criteria, when is this
feature done?
• What risks do we see in realizing this feature?
• Into which logical sub-products does this feature
fall? We usually use a user story map for this.
• Knowing the above, is there any reason to resize
this feature?

11. Thursday
The agenda for today:
• Daily Scrum
• Adjustments Resulting From Management
Review And Problem Solving
• Training: Business Value + Estimation + WSJF
• Team Breakouts: Planning 2/2
• Daily Review & Retrospective
Priority & Dependencies

12. Business Value & Estimation
This part of the planning deals with estimating the value
of the backlog items, estimating the size and prioritizing
these items. We usually use the Weighted Shortest Job
First (WSJF) technique as a basis for prioritizing.
• When teams are not used to WSJF, we teach and use
the concept as it is included in the Scaled Agile
Framework (SAFe).
• When teams are used to WSJF and/or comfortable
with numbers, we teach and use the concept as it is
explained by Joshua Arnold (BlackSwanFarming).
• When teams are not just used to WSJF and
comfortable with numbers, but really into it, we teach
and use the concept as Dick Croes would explain it
(Econometrics FTW!).
Thursday
Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)
• FIFO = $69,000 vs CD3 = $ 27,000 (61% less)
• Go beyond additive CoD for better conversations
about value and priority.
See: https://blackswanfarming.com/wsjf-weighted-shortest-job-first/

13. Friday
Last day of our bootcamp. Today we look at risks and
include mitigations in our plan and plan the first sprint.
Naturally we end de bootcamp with a review and
retrospective and with drinks afterwards.
The agenda for today:
• Daily Scrum
• Training: Quality And Risks
• Risks
• Initial Plan Review
• Team Breakouts: Sprint Planning 2/2
• Determine Work Process, Recalibrate
• Event Planning
• Bootcamp Review & Retrospective
• Drinks
The way forward

14. Prepare Our Risk Radar
Friday

15. “When you have a blame
culture, people spend 60–
90% of the effort covering
what they have done rather
than doing anything
positive and understanding
the problem, making the
car go quicker or making
operations slicker.”
— Rob Smedley

16. Thank You!
What was most useful to you?