TheFinalFrontierAligningtheenterprise’sdirectionandyourcrew’sefforts SEANBARRETT,Vistaprint

Areyouconfidentallyourteamsaredeliveringonyourcorporatestrategy?Shortlyafterdecidingtogo"AllinonAgile"acrosstheentireVistaprintbusinessunit,webeganexperimentingwithanenterprise-wideAgileplanningtoolwecalltheEnterpriseVisibilityRoom.Itisforcingustofinallyconfrontouraddictiontoworkingoneverygoodideawethinkwe'veeverhad,allatthesametime.Itmotivatesustosay“No,notyet,”andtofocusintentlyonourhighestvalueideas.Throughthatintensefocus,wealignourcollectiveeffortstothecoreofourstrategy,balanceoursupplyanddemandandincreasetheflowofvaluetoourcustomers.

1. INTRODUCTION

OurEnterpriseVisibilityRoom,orEVR,hashelpedtohighlightfourmajorchallengesthathavebeenimpedingour organization, and it has inspired us to take radical steps to fix them. First, our organizational work inprogresshasbeenfartoohigh,resultinginslowdeliveryofvaluetoourcustomers.Second,ourorganizationalstructurewassetupinfunctionalsilos,creatingtheneedforcumbersomeandcostlycoordinationefforts formost strategic work. Third, our priorities were also siloed according to our functions which causedmisalignment and delays for our strategic, cross-functional work. Fourth, and finally, many of our teammembers had difficulty seeing how theirwork contributed to our corporate strategy, which led to a lowersenseofengagementandpurposeonthoseteams.

TheEnterpriseVisibilityRoomcentersonasingle,prioritized,enterprisebacklogofstrategicoutcomes.Itvisualizesouractivestrategywork,andwhichteamsareengagedindeliveringthatvalue.Italsorequiresclear

Author'semail:sbarrett@vistaprint.comCopyright2017isheldbytheauthor.

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descriptions of value for each and every strategic outcome. These attributes have helped us limit ourorganizationalWIP, reconsiderourorganizational structure, clarify the toppriorities forourenterprise, andmakeobvioushowteamsarehelpingdeliveronourstrategy.InadditiontothephysicalelementsoftheEVR,fiveceremoniesembodytheformaloperationoftheroom:prioritization,planning,scrumofscrumsstand-ups,demonstrations,andretrospectives,alloccurringthroughoutaquarterlycycle.MoredetailaboutthestructureoftheEVRisincludedintheappendix.

Come peak inside the journey we have taken, hear the lessons learned, the pitfalls, and unexpecteddiscoveries. Gather insights into which factors enabled us to take this major step in our enterprise Agiletransformation,andimaginewhatanidealikethiscoulddoforyourorganization.

2. BACKGROUND

Wayback,beforewestartedourAgiletransformation,ourprojectsweretaking3yearsonaveragetogofromideatocustomer.WhenwebeganourAgilejourney,wespentyearscoachingvaluedeliveryteamstoimproveourflowofvalue,andyetourbestideaswerestilltaking20+weeksonaveragetogettoourcustomers.Wewere sure we could do better. Slow lead times are, of course, only a symptom that results from otherunderlyingissues,soweaskedourleaderstotakeacloser lookwithus.Whenexecutivesexamineddetaileddescriptionsoftheworkbeingdoneonbehalfoftheirstrategies,theysawthatagoodportionofthatworkdidnotaddressorsometimesevenrelatetothestrategyitclaimedtoserve.Whenoneteamintheorganizationneededhelpfromteamsinotherpartsoftheorganizationtocompletetheirwork,therewereoftenconflictsaroundpriority.Eachgroup felt responsible todeliver thework in theirbacklog, and frequentlydidn’thavetime to support groups from other parts of the organization. As a result, prioritization decisions oftenlanguished,waitingtomaketheirwayupthehierarchytoberesolvedbyseniorleadershiporevenexecutiveteammembers.

Ascoachesworkingintheorganization,wesawtheseconcerningsignsandmore.Teamshadlongbacklogsof features unrelated to the work being done on other teams. Most teams were also working on multipledifferent things simultaneously. We eventually began to form hypotheses that a few key enterprise-wideimpedimentsneededtobedealtwithinordertoimproveourflowofvaluetoourcustomers.

• We believed that the high amount of work in progress across the organization was a primarycontributortotherelativelyslowflowofvalue.Wehypothesizedthatvisualizingtheactiveworkintheorganization would raise awareness of the high quantity of work in progress and motivate ourexecutives and organizational leaders to take significant steps to better balance our supply anddemandfornewideas.

• Webelievedthatthewayourorganizationwasstructured,infunctionalsilos,wasasecondenterpriseimpediment andmajor contributor to the slow flow of work.We hypothesized that visualizing thedependenciesbetweenteamswouldheightenour leaders’understandingofhowoftenourstructurewasgettinginourownway,andwouldleadustorethinkhowweareorganized.

• We hypothesized that having a single, clear, prioritized backlog of strategic backlog items wouldenablealignmentacrossfunctionsandreduceprioritizationconflicts.

• Wehypothesizedthatacentralvisualizationthatclearlyconnectedtheactiveworkoftheteamstothestrategicprioritiesoftheorganizationwouldhelpeveryoneunderstandhowtheirworkcontributestodeliveringonourcorporatestrategy.Thiswouldinturnimprovethesenseofpurposeonmanyteamsandallowthemtomakebetterdecisionsdaytoday.

After wrestling with these challenges for the past year, largely through experimentation with our

EnterpriseVisibilityRoom,wehavecometounderstandtwoimportanttruthsaboutourselves.First,wemustlimit the amount of strategicworkwe allow to be in progress across the organization. Second,we need anorganizationalstructurethatreducescross-functionaldependenciesandalignstoourstrategicpriorities.Bothofthesechangesarenecessaryinordertoimproveourflowofvaluetoourcustomers.

Asareferencepointforscope,whileVistaprinthasover5000employees,thenumberofpeoplecoveredbythe Enterprise Visibility Room activity so far is roughly 700. Our customer service and manufacturingoperations represent the bulk of our people, however, the challenges of slow flow of work and difficultyaligningtothestrategicdirectionarenotasacute intheirworld.Sowechosetobegin, focusedwheretheseissuesweremost critical. The 700who are reflected in this experience report consistmostly ofmarketing,technology,analyticsandcreativeteamswhooftenworktoexpandandenhanceourexistingbusiness.Iama

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full-timememberofourcoachingteam,whichexpandedfrom3to10dedicatedcoachesoverthecourseofthispastyear’sexperiment.

3. OURJOURNEY

Forthoseofyouwhoarestillwithusandinterestedinthegorydetailsofhowallthiscameabout,followalongtohearwhatwetried,whatdidanddidn’tworkandwherewearenow.

3.1 ThebeginningWhileworkingasanAgilecoachforourexecutiveteaminthespringof2016,Icametounderstandmanyofthechallenges our organization was facing, and they brought to mind a tool I had heard about from AgileTransformationInc.AsIunderstoodit,theirEnterpriseCommandCenterwasahighlevelvisualizationofanorganization’sstrategy,theworkrequiredtorealizeit,andtheteamsinvolvedindeliveringthatwork.WhileIcouldseehowsuchavisualizationpotentiallycouldhelpwithsomeofourbiggestimpediments,Ihadnoideahow to create such a thing, nor how to help our organization take advantage of it. So I invited Sally Elatta,presidentofAgileTransformationInc.,tosharetheconceptoftheEnterpriseCommandCenterwithafewofourexecutivesandkeyleaderstoseeifitwasanideathatwouldresonatewithourprimarystakeholders.Boy,didit!Whatcamenextwasaflurryofeducationabouthowtoputtogetherandstartexperimentingwiththeconcept.

3.2 ThefirstincrementAshortthreeweekslater,withthehelpofSallyandherteam,wemadeourfirstattempttovisualizethetopmostimportantworkthatwasactiveacrosstheentireorganization.Weexpectedthattheeffortrequiredfrommembersoftheorganizationtocataloganddescribetheirworkinanewformatwouldbesubstantial,andweexpecteditmightnotbeaddingvalue justyet.As it turnedout,weweremistakenonbothcounts.Whenweasked the teamswhat they thoughtat theendof the first session, they toldus that thework todo thiswasactually much larger than we had imagined, mostly because it was a new concept and was not yet wellunderstood. They also shared that carefully describing their active work by articulating the value it woulddeliver, who would benefit, and how we would know the value had been achieved, was one of the mostvaluableelementsoftheentireexercise.Althoughwehadalwaysfeltwehadagoodunderstandingofeachofthesepointswithinourexistingwaysofworking,itturnedoutthatwritingthemdownandsharingtheminahighly visible public forum led to all kinds of clarifying conversations between colleagues, managers andexecutives.

Inordertoencouragewillingnesstoparticipateintheserequestsfornewinformation,wepursuedtheEVRas a limited time experiment. From the beginningwewere open about the fact thatwe didn’t know if thiswouldbeatoolandprocessthatwouldbenefitusenoughtooutweighthecostsofoperatingit.Therefore,theinitialrequestwastoperformthisprocessonlyonetime,andwemadethepromisetoallowtheparticipantstodecidewhethertherewassufficientvalue,orpotentialvalue,towarrantaseconditeration.Attheendofthefirst increment, of the 30 or so participants, only one voted not to continue the experiment for anotheriteration. The remainder of the participants felt the benefits justified the effort, particularly for the valuepotentialwehadnotyettappedintermsofbalancingsupplyanddemand.

Inourfirstincrementofthevisibilityroom,weaskedtheteamstosimplybubbleupandreportoutthetopmost importantstrategicworktheywereengaged in,and identifywhichpartof thecorporatestrategytheirwork aligned with most directly. In the first round we identified roughly 400major pieces of active workthroughouttheorganization,andnearly2/3ofthoseeitherdidn’taligntoanyofourfourstrategicpriorities,or were not considered to be contributing to the strategy by the executives who defined that strategicdirection.Simplyvisualizingtheworkhadtwoimportanteffects:firstitraisedacuteawarenessofexactlyhowmany different thingswere going on simultaneously throughout the organization, and second it alerted theexecutives to the fact that teams throughout theorganizationdidnothave a solid enoughunderstandingoftheirstrategy.

3.3 ThesecondincrementInanefforttomakeimprovementstowhatwehaddiscoveredduringourfirstincrement,wetookadifferentapproachfortheseconditerationofthequarterlyplanningcycle.Ratherthanaskingtheteamstorevealtheoutcomestheywereactivelyengagedin,theexecutivespartneredwiththeirleadershipteamstoidentifythemostimportantsetofoutcomesweneededtodeliverinordertomovethestrategyforward.Inotherwords,

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thistimewewouldbeginwithattopdownapproachdrivendirectlyfromthestrategy.Thiseffortcontinuedthe investment in describing our work through Hypothesis, Value, Discovery, or HVD statements. Thesedescribetheoutcome,thebusinessvalueitseekstodeliver,thebeneficiaryoftheoutcome,andthecriteriabywhichwewillknowwhetherthehypothesishasbeenmetandtheworkcanbedeclaredcomplete.Again,theconversations required to describe our top outcomes in this way added a large amount of value to theparticipantsfortheclarifyingeffectithadinsettingexpectationsforallstakeholders.

In the second increment, the executives asked for amuch smaller list of outcomes in order to help theorganizationfocustheirefforts.Theybelievedthat40orsooutcomeswouldbemorethanenoughtooverfillthebacklogandguaranteewewouldnotrundryduringthequarter.Asitturnedout,theorganizationitselfhasahardtimefocusing.It’snotjusttheexecutivespushingmanynewideasthatwasdrivingourexcessivelyhighworkinprogressnumbers.Theorganizationcamebackwithnearly80outcomeswhenaskedfor40.

Whenthebigroomplanningdayarrived,theteamrepresentativeswereadvisedtofirstconsidertheirRun-The-Business burden, thenpull inworkup to their capacity for the quarter,while leaving some reasonableamount of slack space in their backlogs for the quarter to help account for the unexpected. The resultingbehavioroftheteamrepresentativeswasrevealing.Theypulledworkrightupto100%oftheircapacitywithnoslackspacepreserved,andmanyofthemthencontinuedtopullbeyondthat,evenwhenaskedagainbyourCEOtolimittheirWIPtocreategreaterfocus.Theteamrepresentativeseventuallypulled48outcomesduringthatsecond incrementplanningday.As theirguides in thisprocesswewerenotatallcomfortablewiththisapproach, but given the advice of ourmentors, Sally andher team,wedecided to give our leaders room toexperiencetheconsequencesoftheirchoicesthemselves.Whenthequarterended,theyhadstarted38ofthe48outcomes,yettheyhadcompletedonly13.Suchnumberswerehardtoignore.

3.4 ThethirdincrementMoreadjustmentsweremadeinthethirdincrement.Thistimetheexecutivesaskedforonly19outcomestobeauthored.Again, theteamleadshadnotcompletely learnedtheir lessonand35weresubmitted.Undaunted,theexecutiveschosetoprioritizeonlythetop16,andsetasidetherest“tobepulledafterthetopprioritiesweredelivered.”Inthiswaytheexecutiveswereactivelydrivingtheorganizationtowardgreaterfocus,leaningon thebelief that focusingon feweroutcomeswouldallowtheorganization toconcentrate itseffortson thehighestpriorityworktomoveourstrategyforwardandhelpgetourbestideastoourcustomerssooner.

During this third increment of the EVR experiment, the teams began to lobby for the opportunity toproactively swarm squads containing different skillsets onto these top 16 outcomes. They were looking tocreate large outcome teamswith a singular focus on the one strategic outcomewhich that group of squadswerepulling.Therehadbeensomeveryrecentsuccesswiththistypeofsquadswarmingaroundacoupleofhighprofile,highurgencyoutcomesinthepreviousquarterandtheteamswishedtocapitalizeonthisprovenpatternoforganizingaroundthework.

This time around, the act of pulling the work into the teams involved full teams, not just teamrepresentatives,andtheprocessofpullingintheworkwentverysmoothly.Therewasadequatetimesetasideforsharingthecontextofthebusinessoutcomeswiththeteammembersduringtheplanningcycle.Thentheteams were given time to consider the skills required to accomplish those outcomes within the upcomingquarter.Asafinalstep,thesquadsvolunteeredtojointhesenewlyformingoutcometeamswherevertheworkalignedwiththeirskillsandinterest.Itwasencouragingtolistentothemaskoneanother,“Isthatenoughtodeliver this in one quarter?” “I thinkwe need at least onemore squadwith that skill set, and here are thereasons why…” “Ok, let’s add another squad.” The conversation continued this way until each squad hadchosenthestrategicoutcometheywouldcontributetointheupcomingquarter.Attheend,itturnedoutthesquadsrealized theydidnothaveenoughcapacity todeliverallof theprioritizedoutcomes.Asa result, thescopeforthebottomprioritieswererenegotiatedbeforethestartofthequarter.Inthiswaywewerecomingcloser to focusing theeffortsof theorganizationon the top strategicpriorities,while still activelybalancingsupplyanddemandforthatstrategicwork.

InthemidstofexecutingthethirdincrementoftheEVRwediscoveredanewchallengewiththesenewlycreated,largeoutcometeams.Itturnedoutthattheprevious,successfulmulti-squadswarminghadbeendoneentirelywithin functionalareas,notacross them.Coordinatingsquadsona largescalewhereall squadshadalreadyworkedwith the sameProductOwners, ScrumMasters and SolutionArchitects, hadbeen relativelyeasy. Our theory is this was easy because the successful previous groups consisted of teams that were allworkingwithverysimilarmethodologies.However,whenthestrategicoutcometeamswereself-forming,theyneeded squads with varying skill sets from across functional areas. These squads did not all have similar

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patternsofworking,anditwasnotatallobviouswhoshouldbedoingwhat intermsof leadershiproles forthese new, cross-functional outcome teams. These squads also followed different methodologies in theirfunctionalareas,someScrum,someKanban.Intheend,forsomeofthemostdifficultsituations,theleadershipmodelandworkingprocesseswerenotironedoutuntilmorethanhalfthequarterhadelapsed.Asaresult,wedidnotexpectthedeliveryofthetop16outcomestobenearlyascompleteastheymighthavebeen,hadwequicklyestablishedwelldefinedwaysofcollaborating.

Theexperiencealsomadeusthinklongandhardaboutwhetherweshouldgetbetteratstandinguplarge,cross-functionaloutcome teams,orwhetherweshould focusonestablishing long-term, stable teams,wheretheskillsetsaresufficientlyvariedtotakeonmosttypesofstrategicwork.Onechallengeweforeseewithlong-term,stableteamsisthattheratioofskillsonateamwillnotalwaysbecorrectforthenextitemofwork.Thebalancingbenefitisthatmembersknowoneanotherwellandhavefiguredouthowtoworktogether.

4. WHATWELEARNED

4.1 PitfallstoavoidWeencountered severalpitfalls along theway, andwe’d like to share tohelpothersavoid them if possible.First, we did not structure our first increment of the EVR in a way that helped to further align theorganization’sworktothestrategy.Second, theprocesscameacrossasatopdowndirectiveduringthe2ndand3rdincrementsaccordingtotheteamsandtheirleaders.Itwasnotseenascollaborativeenoughandthoseleadersbecamefrustrated.Third,eventhoughourCEOrepeatedlydirectedourleadersto,“leaveenoughslackspacetodealwiththeunexpected,”ourleadersdidnottakeherwordsfullytoheart.Theycontinuedtocommittheir teams tomorework than could be completed each quarter, and as a result,many of our top priorityoutcomeswerenotcompletedwithinthequarterlycycle.Finally,capturingtheinformationthatdrivestheEVRprocess tooka lotofcollectiveeffortacross theorganizationeachquarter.Findingways toreduce thatovertimewasacrucialnecessity.

4.2 WhatwecametovaluemostLookingback, severalaspectsof theEnterpriseVisibilityRoomsurpriseduswith theunexpectedvalue theycreatedforourorganization.ThefirstwastheHVD,orHypothesis,Value,Discoverystatementformat(seetheappendixforanexample).Wearticulatedalloutcomesashypotheseswithclearstatementsofvalue,andwithspecificcriteriaforhowwewillknowwhenandifwehaveachievedtheintendedoutcomes.Ourseniorleaderswhowere co-writing these statementswith their colleagues and the executives, toldus that thediscussionswhichcameoutoftheseco-writingsessionsweresomeofthemostvaluableaspectsofentireEVRexperiment.

Second,wechosetoplacetheEVRinahigh-traffic,fullypublicspace.Theunprecedentedtransparencyofstrategic information created by this one simple choice allowed individuals and teams to self-serve anduncover unexpected value from the wide open access to this previously out-of-sight information. Just oneexample is about a leaderwhose team recently transferred into theVistaprint organization.He shared thatwhenhe stopped to checkout the room,hediscovered that the topenterprise-levelpriority for thequarterrequiredworkthatonlyhisteamcouldperform.Hewasalreadyawareoftheupcomingwork,buthadnoideaoftherelativepriorityofthiseffortfortheorganization.Heimmediatelywentbacktohisteamtore-prioritizetheirbacklogandensure that this toppriority itemwouldbe completed in syncwith theotherpartsof theorganization.Intheend,thistoppriorityitemwasbroughttolifesuccessfully,andonschedule.

Third,havingasingle,clear,prioritizedbacklogofstrategicenterpriseleveloutcomesallowedteamsfromseparateareasof thebusiness toquicklyalignwhenprioritizationdecisionswereneeded furtherout in theorganization.Weknewfromthebeginningthatthereweresignificantchallengesingainingalignmentacrossteamsforstrategicwork,butwehadnoideahoweffectivetakingthisstepwouldbe.Onceleadershadasingleprioritizedlistacrosstheenterprise,theyquicklynegotiatedthenecessarydecisionswithoneanothertogettheworkmovingwithouttheneedforescalations.

Finally, visualizing the complex dependencies between the high number of teams required to deliverourstrategic outcomes created a visceral understanding of howmuch our existing organizational structurewas getting in ourway.We had hypothesized at the beginning that this realizationmight be possible ifwecouldbringto lifethis invisible impediment,butthewayitcameaboutdefinitelysurprisedus.Attheendofour first full planning day, one of our executives shared the following. “Ohmy g**.When I saw the teamspassingaroundsomanycopiesofeachpieceofwork[oneforeachteamrequired],Iwasshocked.Then,evenmorecopieshadtobeprintedfortheteamsthathadn’tevenrealizedtheyhadaparttoplayinthoseoutcomes.

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Iknowit’sgoingtobeincrediblyhard,butwehavetofindawaytofixthis!”Hehadfinallyfeltthepainofthedeepinterdependenciesthatwere inherent inourstrategicwork,givenourcurrentorganization. Ibelieve itwas thismoment that led to the convictionwithin the executive team to redesign how our organization isstructuredafterthethirdincrementoftheEVR,andalignthosestructuresdirectlytoourstrategicpriorities.

4.3 KeystosuccessOur top two keys to success with the EVR were executive support and cross training. Without executivesupport,theeffortrequiredtoarticulateandvisualizeourworkcentrallywouldhavetakenmuchlongerandmight not have happened at all. Agile executive coaching played a role in gaining executive buy-in andwillingnesstoexperimentwithchangestothecompany’scentralcoordinationefforts.Bothexternalcoachingfrom Sally Elatta, and my internal embedded coaching helped create the space to consider the signals theorganizationwassendingtotheexecutiveteamabouttheorganization’shighestprioritychallengesandneeds.Adding theAgile perspective to these conversations helped the executive team see how a tool like the EVRcouldhelpusbetterunderstandandthensolveforthesechallenges.

Muchtooursurprise,itwasfareasierandquickerforteamstocrosstrainintonewfunctionalareasthananyonehadpreviously imagined.This allowed teams to swarmonto thehighestpriority strategicoutcomesevenwhentheworkinvolvedareasoutsideateam’sfunctionalsilo.Thepositiveresultsandstrongenthusiasmfrom the teamsdoing the swarmingand cross training, boostedour confidence that switching to long-term,stable,cross-functionalteams,wasnotonlydesirable,butalsodoableintheverynearterm.

5. WHAT’SNEXT

InJunewestartedourfourthincrementoftheEVR,andasofJuly1st,operationoftheEVRmovedoutoftheexperimentalstagewhereitwasspearheadedbyourAgilecoachingteam,andtransitionedintoourstrategyorganizationaspartofourregularstrategicplanningprocess.Inthisroundourexecutiveshaverespondedtothe feedbackabout the functional silosbeing in thewayofeasilyexecuting thework.Weare reshapingourorganizationtocreatelong-term,stable,cross-functionalteamsfocusedoneachofourstrategicpriorities.Eachof these teamswillhave thesquadsandskill setsrequiredtodeliverontheirpillarof thestrategy.We fullyexpecttherewillbenewchallengestodiscoverandovercomewiththisnewapproach,andwecan’twaittogettoworkonsolvingthem!

6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Iwouldliketorecognizeandthankthepeoplewhoplayedkeyrolesinenablingthisexperiencetocomeabout,and tobe recordedhere.Without them, these effortswouldneverhavebeen realized, norwould theyhavebeensharedforthebenefitofyou,thereader.FirstrecognitionmustgotoSallyElatta,DawnThiemandRyanFullmerofAgileTransformationInc.Theyintroducedustotheconceptofthisformofenterprisevisualization,taught us about its potential value, showed us how to implement it, and helped us discover a version thatwould ultimately best serve our unique circumstances. Their knowledge, patience and enthusiasm wereinvaluableinincubatingsuchacomplexendeavor.

NextIwouldliketothankourexecutives,leadersandteammembersinvolvedintheEVRexperiment.Ourexecutives understood the potential value and provided the permission and support that was absolutelynecessaryforthisexperimenttosimplygetofftheground.Theircontinuedsupportthroughouttheexperimenthelped create the safe spacewherewe could say “No” to doing importantwork, so thatwe could focus oncompleting our most important work. They also understood the challenges imposed by our existingorganizationalstructureandhadtheinsightandcouragetorestructurehowweorganizearoundthework,notjustaroundtheirownorganizations.Ourleadersandteamsgaveuntoldhoursoftheirtime,mostlyonfaith,tolearnhowtoexpressourideasinmoreshareable,meaningfulways.Theydidalltheheavyliftingtocataloganddescribeour collectivework.This allowedus to fullyunderstandour existing situation andwherewemostneeded to change.Our leaders also leaned in to takeownership of theEVRprocess fromvery early on andbeganadaptingittosuittheirneeds.Theirengagement,honesty,creativityandhardworktoformourEVRarewhatmadeittheuniquelyvaluabletoolitistoday.

Iwanttosharemydeepestappreciationformyfellowcoaches.Theirselfless,unwaveringsupportallalongthe way made the impossible happen. Long, late hours of drudge work, thoughtful, critical debate and co-creation of how to help our organization navigate through these changes were just the beginning of theirnumerouscontributions.IwouldalsoliketogiveaspecialthankyoutoDavidGrabel,mycoachingpairforthe

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EVR experiment. Your experience and wisdom gaveme comfort and confidence, and your critical thinkingmadeussureeachofourchoiceswerethebesttheycouldbegivenwhatweknewatthetime!

Lastly,Iwouldliketothankthosethatencouragedandhelpedmetowritedownandsharethisexperience.MarioMoreira,thankyouforalwayspushingmetowritemoreandsubmitthisexperiencereportinthefirstplace.Thankyou,JonFriedman,foryourexpertiseincraftingawell-toldstory,onethatevena“sleepyreader”cantakesomethingawayfrom.ThankyoutoMelissaRockman,mythinkingpartnerinre-structuringhowbestto tell this taleandhelpingme findall themissingparts.Finally,ahuge thankyou to JohannaRothman,myAgile Alliance experience report shepherd. Your writing advice for a first-time author, feedback andencouragementhelpedthisallcometogether!

7. APPENDIX

7.1 Adetaileddescriptionoftheroom There are four basic elements to the room. ThefirstistheDemandwall.

In the sense of Supply and Demand, theDemand wall holds the Strategic Priorities and asingle prioritized stack rank of the top enterpriseoutcomes, each sized to fit within a quarter (90days).Althoughthequarterlyoutcomesstackrankissplitintomultiplecolumnsduetophysicalspaceconstraints, the columns represent a single top tobottom prioritization across the full set ofoutcomes. Card colors are used to visualize theconnection between quarterly outcomes and theStrategicPrioritytowhichtheycontribute.

ThesecondistheSupplywall.

The Supply wall represents teams and tribeswitheachcolumn,andtheoutcomecardsinthosecolumnsarecopiesoftheoutcomecardsfromtheDemand wall. There is one copy for each teamneeded to deliver that outcome. The order of thecardsrepresents thepriorityorderestablishedontheDemandwallandwascreatedforeachteamasthe quarterly outcomes were pulled by the teamrepresentatives during the quarterly planningsession. The horizontal blue line indicates wherethe team representative believes the team'scapacity or Supply limit has been reached. Anycards below this line should be considered OnDeck, only to be pulled if all other work in theteam'sbackloghasbeencompletedforthequarter.

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NextistheEnterpriseImpedimentsboard.Similar to other impediment management

boards throughout Vistaprint’s teams, this is theEnterprise Impedimentsmanagement board. Thisis theplacetocaptureandtrackorganizationalorenterprise level impediments that require theassistanceofourmostseniorleaderstoremove.

Andfinally,theEnterpriseBacklog.The Enterprise Backlog contains the outcomes

which were not pulled by the teams during theplanning session once they hit their Supply limit.Participantsandusersoftheroomareencouragedto add or remove outcome cards to this backlogthroughout the quarter as needs are recognized.This helps alleviate the crush of card writingexperienced during previous iterations.Prioritization of the Enterprise Backlog may beadjusted during the quarter, but will be finalizedbeforethenextplanningsession.

7.2 HVDorHypothesis,Value,DiscoveryformatHypothesis statements are a format we found exceedingly helpful when describing the strategic outcomeswhich are catalogued on each of the Enterprise Visibility Room cards. Describing our ideas in this wayencourageustostructureourthinkingandbemorearticulate indefiningwhat is,andespeciallywhat isnotneeded for eachoutcome tobe considereda success. (Note:Ourhypothesis statement format is derived fromHypothesisDrivenDevelopment,asdescribedbyBarryO’ReillyofThoughtWorks)