Presented at Agile Business Day 2018 - Venice (Italy)

1. Agile Organization
Incrementally Crafting the Right
Organization with Scrum@Scale
Paolo Sammicheli
http://paolo.sammiche.li
Venezia, 15 September 2018

2. Paolo Sammicheli – Agile Business Coach
http://paolo.sammiche.li

3. FESTO
Founded 1925
18.700 employees
250 subsidiaries
61 countries
Turnover € 2,74 Billion

5. Agile Organization

6. We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.
Manifesto for Agile Software DevelopmentProduct
products
product

7. « An Agile Organization is one that is
quick in responding to changes in
the marketplace or environment »
Source: https://www.mbaskool.com/business-concepts/it-and-systems/6703-agile-organization.html

8. In the old model the focus is the project,
which is at the center, and people
organize themselves in groups around it.
The new model puts the teams at the
center, and the work flows to them.
Stable teams who, with appropriate
coaching and time spent together,
become High Performing.
The Copernican Revolution of Labor

9. Agile Organization
Why Agile is Eating The World
Jan 2, 2018
In 2011, Marc Andreessen wrote his famous essay, “Why Software Is
Eating the World,” in The Wall Street Journal, leading to the cliché
that “every company needs to become a software company.” In 2018,
the five biggest companies in the world by market capitalization are
IT firms: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft. t's not
that all software is eating the world: General Electric has just proved
that in a spectacular fashion: It invested heavily in software and the
result. After five years, the CEO and his top lieutenants were
terminated. Similar developments are under way at Intel, P&G and
HP.

10. «It is Firms that are truly Agile that are
eating the world, whether or not they
call themselves by the label “Agile” »
- Forbes, 2 Jan 2018

11. McKinsey & Company
Source: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-five-trademarks-of-agile-organizations
January 2018

12. McKinsey & Company
December 2015
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/
our-insights/agility-it-rhymes-with-stability
Agility it Rhymes with Stability
Companies can become more agile by
designing their organizations both to
drive speed and create stability.

13. Harvard Business Review
13
May-June 2018
https://hbr.org/2018/05/agile-at-scale
Companies that successfully scale up agile see major
changes in their business. Scaling up shifts the mix of
work so that the business is doing more innovation
relative to routine operations. The business is better able
to read changing conditions and priorities, develop
adaptive solutions, and avoid the constant crises that so
frequently hit traditional hierarchies.
By Darrell K. Rigby, Jeff Sutherland, Andy Noble

14. Scrum at Scale
• Guide published by Jeff Sutherland and
released under Creative Commons License in
February 2018.
• Extremely simple, only 18 pages.
• The method clearly distinguishes the structure
of the organization from the content and
describe only the structure of the relations,
making it universally applicable.
source: https://www.scrumatscale.com

15. © 1983-2018 Jeff Sutherland & Scrum Inc.
Components of the Scrum@Scale Framework
Continuous
Improvement &
Impediment
Removal
Executive
Action
Team
Cross-Team
Coordination
Team-Level
Process
Metrics &
Transparency
Product &
Release Feedback
Strategic
Vision
Executive
Meta Scrum
Deployment
Backlog
Prioritization
Backlog
Decomposition
& Refinement
Release
Planning
Potentially
Shippable Product
Increment
Product Owner
Cycle
Scrum Master
Cycle
15

16. Scale-Free Architecture
• A scale-free network is a network
whose degree distribution follows
a p o w e r l a w , a t l e a s t
asymptotically.
• The most notable characteristic in
a scale-free network is the relative
commonness of vertices with a
degree that greatly exceeds the
average. The highest-degree
nodes are often called "hubs", and
are thought to serve specific
purposes in their networks,
although this depends greatly on
the domain.
16
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale-free_network

17. © 1983-2018 Jeff Sutherland & Scrum Inc.
Scale-Free Architecture
• If you want to scale exponentially you need
a “scale-free” architecture
• Otherwise you risk introducing waste into
the system and slowing the whole
organization down
• You will not achieve linear scalability
• Scale-free architectures are pervasive
in biology (ex. neural networks)
• They are able to evolve to perform
new functions more rapidly than an
alternative network design
Diagram of a scale-free network that contains components with
a highly diverse level of connectivity. Some components form
highly interconnected hubs, while other components have few
connections, and there are many levels of interconnectivity in
between. Scale-free networks are pervasive in biology.
Computer simulations at the University of Chicago show that
scale-free networks are able to evolve to perform new functions
more rapidly than an alternative network design.Source: http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/061207/darwin.shtml
Digital Darwinian world reveals architecture of evolution
17

18. © 1983-2018 Jeff Sutherland & Scrum Inc.
Scaling Challenge: Bureaucracy & Hierarchy
• A bureaucratic processes creates poor decision latency.
• Everything we do requires so many sign-offs that nothing gets done.
• We have layers upon layers of managers.
• Therefore, we need a Minimum Viable Bureaucracy.
18

19. © 1983-2018 Jeff Sutherland & Scrum Inc.
The Scaled Daily Scrum: The SM Role Scaled
•Scrum must scale in an
organic way consistent
with the Scrum Guide or it
will be slow
•Using a Scrum of Scrums
reduces communication
paths but increases
communication saturation
•Scrum of Scrum works as
a “Team of Teams”
In order for the SoS to be
most effective, we need a
Scrum of Scrums Master
(SoSM) to ensure that:
• Impediments are shared
and removed
• Knowledge is spread and
standardized
• Dependencies are
discussed and resolved
• The SoS functions as a
Team of Teams with the
responsibility of the
Integrated Release.
19

20. © 1983-2018 Jeff Sutherland & Scrum Inc.
Scaled Daily Scrum (SDS)
20
SM
SM
SM
SM
SM
SoS
• Exists to coordinate the Scrum of
Scrums and remove impediments
to the delivery of value to customers
• The SDS event mirrors the Daily
Scrum
• An opportunity to re-plan in
order to achieve the Sprint goal
for the SoS
• Surfaces impediments
• Shares learnings for continuous
improvement
SDS

21. © 1983-2018 Jeff Sutherland & Scrum Inc.
The Executive Action Team
21
• Accountable for the quality of Scrum in the organization
• Owns the Organizational Transformation Strategy
• Owns the Transformation Backlog and “eats impediments” that
block it
• Removes impediments not handled at the Team level due to
scope, budget, or corporate political power
• Executes the Transformation Strategy or delegates it to a center
of expertise (often called the Agile Practice)
• Measures and improves the quality of Scrum in the organization
to build capability for business agility

22. © 1983-2018 Jeff Sutherland & Scrum Inc.
Scaling SAAB Technologies to Hundreds of Teams
Synchronizing 2000 People in about one hour!
• 7:30 Daily Scrum
• 7:45 Scaled Daily SoS
• 8:00 Scaled Daily SoSoS
• 8:15 Scaled Daily SoSoSoS
• 8:30 Executive Action Team
22
https://www.slideshare.net/xdatap1/tre-metri-sopra-il-cielo-scrum-nellaeronautica-militare/

23. © 1983-2018 Jeff Sutherland & Scrum Inc. 23
Scaling the Product Owner
Product Owner
•Team
•Sprints
•Validated
Learning
Chief
Product Owner
•Multiple Teams
•Roadmap
•Coordinating
teams
Chief Chief
Product Owner
•Value Streams
•Vision
•Organizational
Priorities
PO
CPO
MetaScrum
PO
PO
PO
POPO
Executive
MetaScrum
SM

24. © 1983-2018 Jeff Sutherland & Scrum Inc.
Scrum Master and Product Owner
Functions Scale Coordination Differently
Scrum Master Product Owner
• Share best practices
• Collectively solve problems &
remove impediments
• Bottom-Up Process
• Maintain clear and consistent
product vision
• Optimize business value
responding decisively to changing
market
• Top-Down Process
Team
Scrum of Scrums
Scrum of Scrum of Scrums
T TT T TT T TT T TT T TT T TT
PO
CPO
PO PO
CPO
PO
CPO
Product PO team
Component PO team Component PO team
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25. Scaling 125 people
25© Jeff Sutherland & Scrum Inc 1993 – 2018

26. Scaling 250 people
© Jeff Sutherland & Scrum Inc 1993 – 2018

27. Real Life Structures: Asymmetry
27

28. How do you Start?

29. Sprints never finish with working product
Process Efficiency = 5%
Sprints always finish with working product
Process Efficiency = 50%
© Jeff Sutherland & Scrum Inc 1993 – 2018

30. EAT
SM
Pilot Team(s)
Stakeholders
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Impediments
Reference Model
How do you start?
Scrum@Scale

31. VIMAR SPA
Case Study

32. Senior Director with 30 years of experience in the
Automotive field, Giorgio defined and developed new business
opportunities from green field (Blue&Me and Intelligent Tyre),
settling new strategic alliances with technology giants (Fiat –
Microsoft, Pirelli – Telecom Italia – University of California at
Berkeley, Pirelli-Magneti Marelli-Brembo).
With a master in Electronic Engineering, a strong technical
background on electrical, mechanical and electronics
engineering in the automotive field, from the ICs in house
development to the most complex mechatronics systems,
including hybrid vehicles, Giorgio recently moved to another
challenging field, home automation, with the objective to bring
to lead and manage innovative and complex projects to
production.
Giorgio Audisio - R&D Director at Vimar Spa
AutoTech
Partners

33. VIMAR
Based in Marostica, Vicenza - Italy
1.300 employees
6% of turnover invested in R&D
More than 180 patents
200 Ml of pieces sold
12000 catalog parts

34. FROM
Eikon, Arké, Idea e Plana

35. TO
Home & Building automation

36. • To be able to develop complex functions following the
need of the market which continuously changes.
• To increase the motivation of the developers which see in
short time the results of their job.
• To attract the best engineers providing a modern and up to
date job environment where their skills and professionality
can grow.
Why Agile and Scrum?

37. Implementation

38. Every project start with at least two
day of LiftOff, with the whole team,
the key stakeholders and some
managers, where we share the Vision,
the requirements, the constraints and
we create the first backlog with the
User Story Mapping technique,
covering Software and Hardware layers.
Whole team alignment

39. Daily Meetings and Scaled Daily
• From 8.30 to 9.00 all the
teams have their individual
Daily Meeting.
• At 9.00 a representatives
from all the teams, also
the remotes and suppliers,
join the Scrum of Scrum.
• Scrum of Scrums have a
senior manager serving as
the Scrum of Scrums
Master, in charge of
systemic impediments.

40. Organizational Structure (example)
MetaScrumScrum of Scrums
CPO Chief Product Owner
SSM Scrum of Scrums Master
PO Product Owner
SM Scrum Master
Product
Backlog

41. • We behave like a real buffet: you can't take
too little, because it would not be polite, but
you can't take too much because you have
to eat whatever you take.
• Very energetic meeting where discussions
took place spontaneously; a managed
chaos.
• It takes around one hour of discussions for
Sprint Planning 1 (what to do). At the end
of the hour every team shares with the
others what they selected and the CPO
checks the table to see if there are high
priority items still there. In that (very rare)
case, teams are asked to volunteer to
replace something they have with the
remaining high priority item.
Buffet Planning

42. Deployment / Review
• Teams have dedicated rooms
where integrate and test, very
often during the Sprint, the
products.
• These rooms usually are used also
for the Sprint Review, so they all
have projectors and foldable chairs
to accomodate guests.
• The different products are installed
in several movable panels. They
can also be taken into the team
room during the Sprint for
convenience.

43. Results

44. 0,00
15,00
30,00
45,00
60,00
Sprint 1 Sprint 4 Sprint 7 Sprint 10 Sprint 13 Sprint 16 Sprint 19 Sprint 22 Sprint 25
Sprint 8 = 6 story points
Sprint 14 = 23 story points
Sprint 26 = 55 story points
In one Year: 9.16 times faster!
Cumulated Yesterday’s Weather of the HQ Teams
Benefits
•Quickest developments with
an increasing productivity.
•More alignment and
effectiveness.
•Higher motivation.

45. Point of attention
•Scrum doesn’t mean lack of planning and
unpredicted Time-to-Market.
•A new approach to project and portfolio
management is necessary.
•Small signals of inefficiency (impediments) must
be carefully monitored and promptly corrected.
45

46. We are always looking for new talent!
www.vimar.com
Azienda
Lavora con noi
46

47. THANKS