Agile For Everybody

Matt LeMay | @mattlemay | matt@suddencompass.com

Safari Online | December 11, 2017

About me:

• Partner at Sudden Compass

• Product management trainer and
consultant for startups and large
enterprises
• Former Head of Consumer Product
at bitly
• Former Senior Product Manager at
Songza (Acquired by Google)
• Recovered professional musician
 What about you?

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 Agile For Everybody

I. Agile Made Easy

II. Agile in the Organization

III. An Agile Practice for Everybody: WHPI

(Why, How, Prototype, Iterate)

IV. Q&A
I. Agile Made Easy
 Agile is a
movement.
Movement: “a group of people
working together to advance their
shared political, social, or artistic
ideas.”
Movements emerge from
parallel innovation
 Emergent Agile Methodologies

• Iterative cycles of work

1995: • Emphasis on cross-
Scrum
functional collaboration

• Emphasis on adaptability
Mid-90s: and “stretch-to-fit” process
Crystal

• Short, iterative cycles of

1999: work
XP • Emphasis on collaboration
between developers
 Agile

Movements:
2001:
Agile

Methodologies:

1995:
Scrum
Mid-90s:
Crystal 1999:
XP
 2001: The Agile Manifesto

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
 2001: The Agile Manifesto

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
 2001: The Agile Manifesto

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
 2001: The Agile Manifesto

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
 2001: The Agile Manifesto

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
 Agile Values

We are uncovering better ways of developing

software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
1. Increase cross-functional collaboration
2. Minimize intermediate
Individuals statesover
and interactions (specs,
processes andetc)
tools


3. Work in iterative
Working cycles
software to incorporate
over comprehensive documentation

feedback
Customer andcollaboration
change over contract negotiation

4. Make time to reflect
Responding on theover
to change way you work
following a plan


That is, while there is value in the items on


the right, we value the items on the left more
How do we put these values into practice?
“When we ask executives what they know about agile,
the response is usually an uneasy smile and a quip
such as “Just enough to be dangerous.” They may
throw around agile-related terms (“sprints,” “time
boxes”) and claim that their companies are becoming
more and more nimble. But because they haven’t gone
through training, they don’t really understand the
approach. Consequently, they unwittingly continue to
manage in ways that run counter to agile principles and
practices, undermining the effectiveness of agile teams
in units that report to them.”

-Harvard Business Review, 2016

Organizational Challenges

Agile Practices

Agile Values
Agile practices are whatever works to
leverage Agile values towards solving
organizational problems.
 (Though it’s often best to start with
something well-documented and see what
works and what doesn’t!)
 Organizational Challenges

Working in ‘Time-boxed” Iterations

Agile Values
Organizational Challenges

“Daily Standup Meeting”

Agile Values
 Agile values:

1. Increase cross-functional collaboration

2. Minimize intermediate states (specs, etc)
3. Work in iterative cycles to incorporate feedback
and change
4. Make time to reflect on the way you work
1. Get into small groups in Slack
2. Each group will be given an organizational
challenge
3. In your group, come up with an idea for a specific
practice that might help address this challenge by
leveraging one or more of the Agile values
provided. For this practice, be prepared to share:
1. The practice itself
2. The specific value(s) you chose, and why
3. How you will know if the practice is working
Break!
II. Agile in the Organization
Actually following these values means fundamentally
changing the rhythms of our work.
“Rhythm is what we do after the awayday. It’s
what we default to when we get back to our
desks. Rhythm is the path of least resistance,
like when you realize that the only actionable item
at the end of a meeting is that someone needs to
organize another meeting.”

-Matt Locke, “Rhythm: The Most Important Thing

About Your Organization That You Don’t
Understand”
 Linear / “Waterfall” Rhythm

Spec

Design

Build

Release
 Agile Rhythm

Release

Release

Release

Release
 The Agile Sprint

4. Retrospective 1. Planning

3. Review

2. Build (working
software)
 The Agile Sprint

1. Planning • Commit to to the

work you will deliver
in this sprint
2. Build (working
software)

3. Review

4. Retrospective
 The Agile Sprint

1. Planning • Work cross-functionally to

deliver the work that has
been committed to
2. Build (working
software) • Utilize frequent check-ins
to maximize
communication
3. Review

4. Retrospective
 The Agile Sprint

1. Planning • Demo completed working

software

2. Build (working • Get feedback from

software) stakeholders

• Compare initial plans to

3. Review the work produced

4. Retrospective
 The Agile Sprint

1. Planning • Reflect on the process of

doing the work (not the
work itself), commit to
2. Build (working process improvements for
software) next sprint

3. Review

4. Retrospective
Team A Team B Team C Team D
Team A Team B Team C Team D

?
Team A Team B Team C Team D
Team A Team B Team C Team D
Team A Team B Team C Team D
Team A Team B Team C Team D
Case Study: Adobe CS4
“For large programs or suites of products with shared
component architectures, the ability to reach release
quality for the entire system in a given time period will
be throttled to the ability of the slowest component to
reach release quality in that period.”

-Peter Green, Agile Adoption Leader, Adobe

 2017 “State of Agile” Report*

94% of respondents 60% of teams within

say that their org is those orgs are not
“doing Agile” actually practicing
“Agile”

* http://stateofagile.versionone.com/
Sales Marketing Execs Product
How do we scale Agile to everybody?
 2001: The Agile Manifesto

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
• Independent of anything else going on, how will you
increase collaboration?

• Accounting for everything else going on, how can you

increase trial and actual deliveries to consumers?

• How will you get people to pause and reflect on what's

happening to and around them?

• What are some experiments your people will do at

different levels in the organization to make a small
improvement?

-Alistair Cockburn
• Independent of anything else going on, how will you
increase collaboration?

• Accounting for everything else going on, how can you

increase trial and actual deliveries to consumers?

• How will you get people to pause and reflect on what's

happening to and around them?

• What are some experiments your people will do at

different levels in the organization to make a small
improvement?

-Alistair Cockburn
Case Study: Coca-Cola’s Agile
Marketing Transformation

“
What is one experiment you could run at your
organization to bring Agile beyond your
immediate team?
Break!
III. An Agile Practice for Everybody: Why,
How, Prototype, Iterate
Organizational Challenges

Agile Practices

Agile Values
 “Our client deliverables seem to keep expanding in
scope, we’re spending way too long on them, and we
can’t tell if they’re succeeding.”

Agile Values
 Agile values:

1. Increase cross-functional collaboration

2. Minimize intermediate states (specs, etc)
3. Work in iterative cycles to incorporate feedback
and change
4. Make time to reflect on the way you work
 Agile values:

1. Increase cross-functional collaboration

2. Minimize intermediate states (specs, etc)
3. Work in iterative cycles to incorporate
feedback and change
4. Make time to reflect on the way you work
 “Our client deliverables seem to keep expanding in
scope, we’re spending way too long on them, and we
can’t tell if they’re succeeding.”

• Minimize intermediate states (specs, etc)

• Work in iterative cycles to incorporate
feedback and change
 “Our client deliverables seem to keep expanding in
scope, we’re spending way too long on them, and we
can’t tell if they’re succeeding.”

WHPI (Why, How, Prototype, Iterate)

• Minimize intermediate states (specs, etc)

• Work in iterative cycles to incorporate
feedback and change
 WHPI: An Agile Practice for Everybody

1. Collaboratively define the “why”

2. Collaboratively define the “how”
3. Create a time-boxed prototype
4. Iterate on that prototype based on how it
aligns with your “why”
 Today’s Group Challenge:

Use WHPI to create an artifact of some kind (a

document, a descriptive email, a template—
whatever you want!) you can bring back to your
respective organizations to share your learnings
from Agile for Everybody.
 Today’s Group Challenge:

A few tools you might use to work

collaboratively:
• Disagree and commit
• Rather than striving for pure consensus, commit to an approach
and move forward. Remember, the goal of this exercise is to see
through the entire WHPI practice together!

• Vote
• If you’re stuck — vote! This is one straightforward way to unblock a
group and get to the next step.

• Try using Slack’s emoji reactions to “vote” with a smile or a frown.

 Today’s Group Challenge:

1. Collaboratively agree upon 3 high-level “why”

goals for this document.



These goals should answer the question:
“why are we bringing our learnings from
Agile for Everybody back to our
organization”?

These goals will guide everything you do for the rest of this exercise.

Note that this will be extra-challenging because you’re all bringing these
documents back to different organizations — use this as a way to make
sure you are leveling up to truly high-level goals!
Workshop
Executive
For Example:
Summary

• Share core idea of Agile throughout

organization
• Make it clear that Agile is a movement
that is guided by values, not a set of
complicated processes
• Make Agile practices seem appealing
and accessible
 Today’s Group Challenge:

1. Collaboratively agree upon 3 high-level “why”

goals for this document.



These goals should answer the question:
“why are we bringing our learnings from
Agile for Everybody back to our
organization”?

These goals will guide everything you do for the rest of this exercise.

Note that this will be extra-challenging because you’re all bringing these
documents back to different organizations — use this as a way to make
sure you are leveling up to truly high-level goals!
 Today’s Group Challenge:

2. Collaboratively agree upon 3 “how”

approaches for this document.
These “how” approaches will define what kind of artifact you are
building for your prototype, and connect your prototype with your goals
 For Example:

WHY:
Workshop
Executive
Summary • Share core idea of Agile throughout organization

• Make it clear that Agile is a movement that is guided by values, not a

set of complicated processes

• Make Agile practices seem appealing and accessible

HOW:

• Make Google Doc for easy sharing in organization

• Include complete Agile manifesto at beginning of

document to frame up Agile values

• Provide examples of easy, quick experiments that

could be tried to adopt Agile practices across the
organization
 Today’s Group Challenge:

2. Collaboratively agree upon 3 “how”

approaches for this document.
These “how” approaches will define what kind of artifact you are
building for your prototype, and connect your prototype with your goals
 Today’s Group Challenge:

3. Divide up work among your team and create

a prototype in the allotted time.

Follow the “how” you created to level up to your “why”

Workshop
Keep in Mind:
Executive
Summary

A prototype is not an outline.

You are creating the equivalent of

“working software” for your final
deliverable.
 Today’s Group Challenge:

3. Divide up work among your team and create

a prototype in the allotted time.

Follow the “how” you created to level up to your “why”

 Today’s Group Challenge:

4. Review the prototype together and decide

what should be protected, omitted, or refined
in the next iteration

Let your “why”s guide you — and don’t let your ego get in the way!
Workshop
Keep in Mind:
Executive
Summary

Anything that does not contribute to

your “whys” detracts from them.
 Today’s Group Challenge:

4. Review the prototype together and decide

what should be protected, omitted, or refined
in the next iteration

Let your “why”s guide you — and don’t let your ego get in the way!
Whew!!
Time to share!
IV. Q&A
 Thank You.

I will be teaching Product Management

in Practice On December 15th and 18th

Matt LeMay | @mattlemay | matt@suddencompass.com

Safari Online | December 11, 2017