The Dirty Dozen: 12 Practices That Can Kill Your Agile … · 2019-12-16 · Problem Values Reflected Organizations that do not understand or value commitments • “If I tell you

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The Dirty Dozen: 12 Practices That Can Kill Your Agile Transformation

Angela Druckman Certified Scrum Trainer & Agile Coach Thursday, August 16th, 2012

2 Copyright ©2012 CollabNet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

• From Good to Great or Bad to Worse?

• The Stages of Agile Adoption

• The Dirty Dozen

– Roles

– Mechanics

– Culture

• Analyzing Your Own Organization

• Putting it All Together – Where to Start?

Overview


Let’s start with a few questions to understand:

• Our level of Agile adoption

• Where our problems exist

• Where our REALLY BIG problems exist

Good to Great or Bad to Worse?

Problems with agile adoption are only symptoms. The root cause is often a conflict in values!

*Photo – Google Images


• Agile transformation seems to follow a “loosely predictable” path:

– Exploration

– Coordination

– Process Definition

– Strategic Alignment

– Transformation

The Pathway: Stages of Agile Transformation


Exploration: “Let’s Give This a Try” – Isolated pilot projects and/ or isolated agile practices

– A handful of people are trained

– Agile adopters feel conflict between the “old” and “new” way

• Coordination: “Let’s Get Organized” – Wider-scale training (often onsite) and coaching

– Agile Advocates begin to emerge

– An improvement in technical practices start to occur (experimentation with agile tools)

• Process Definition: “Let’s Build in Structure” – Organizational approach to removing impediments

– Alignment among the product owners (business owners/ chief product owners emerge)

– An agile toolset is chosen

What Phase of Agile Transformation are You In?


Strategic Alignment: “Let’s Push This Outward”

– Organizational leadership adopts the agile mindset

– The agile mindset affects both strategic and tactical planning

– Non-technical departments learn agile practices

• Transformation: “We Can Do Anything”

– Individuals have a relentless desire to improve (the organization feels it is “on a mission”)

– Teams and individuals regularly experience “flow”

– The question becomes not “if” something can be done, but “how” it can be done

What Phase of Agile Transformation are You In (con’t)?


On your handout, identify:

– Your “organization” as you define it

– The stage of agile transformation that most closely matches what you are currently doing

What Phase of Agile Transformation are You In?


The Agile Dirty Dozen represent more than typical problems in agile adoption. They are a reflection of organizational values and beliefs that need to change. These values center around:

• Roles

• Mechanics

• Culture

The Agile Dirty Dozen


Roles


Problem Values/ Beliefs Reflected

Teams that don’t self-manage • “People are ‘resources’” • “Individuals can’t be trusted” • “I’m a victim”

Product owners that don’t or can’t fulfill their role

• “This is a ‘spare time’ job” • “You (the team) should be able to figure

this out on your own” • “I need to make all my stakeholders

happy”


Roles – con’t


Problem Values/ Beliefs Reflected

ScrumMasters that act like project managers (or over-protective parents)

• “The world is a safer place with me in charge”

• “Failure is always bad” • “I am ultimately responsible for the

outcome of this project”

Stakeholders that don’t play by the rules • “My needs are more important than anyone else’s”

• “Just this once” • “This is a democracy and everyone has

a vote”


Mechanics


Problem Values Reflected

Organizations that do not understand or value commitments

• “If I tell you what I really want, I’ll get less”

• “We’ll be punished if we miss commitments”

• “Commitments are all about what you do for me, not what I do for you”

Organizations that cannot time-box • “More time solves all problems” • “Tasks are more important than

outcomes” • “Adding more time is more important

than using time well”


Mechanics – con’t



Organizations that don’t make full use of the inspect-and-adapt cycle

• “Working harder (faster) is the only way to improve”

• “We are already working as effectively as we can”

• “Making improvements means making more work”

Organizations that neglect to give everyone the agile toolkit

• “Product Owners are less important than agile teams”

• “Remote teams are less important than home-office teams”

• “Partners and 3rd party vendors are not important to the agile process”


Culture



Thinking of agile as “something the technology people do”

• “The purpose of agile practices is to build software better”

• “There is no reason for human resources, finance, etc to learn about agile”

• “Agile is tactical - it doesn’t affect strategic planning”

Lack of understanding about what behavior you are reinforcing

• “I’m doing you a favor by cutting you some slack”

• “People need to be punished when they fail”

• “You won’t know what to do if I don’t tell you”


Culture – cont’d



Not understanding the art of the trade-off

• “If we don’t (make this date, get this contract, etc) it is the end of the world”

• “Every requirement, project and activity is of equal importance”

• “Every want is a need”

Redefining success and celebrating it

• “We should focus our attention on the teams with problems”

• “If people aren’t working 60-hour weeks they are being lazy ”

• “Our organizational heros who pull all-nighters are the people who make us successful”


On your handout, rank your organization’s level of success on each of these twelve factors like so:

– 1 to 3: this is huge problem for us!

– 4 to 6: this is something of a problem for us but we have some success in this area as well

– 7 to 10: we’ve got this one nailed!

• When you are done, connect the dots to see the pattern

• Finally, use the charts on the wall to make an aggregate charting of our strengths and weaknesses:

– Agile transformation level

– Agile Dirty Dozen rankings

How are the Agile Dirty Dozen Affecting Your Organization?


Putting it All Together – Where to Focus First?

EXPLORATION COORDINATION PROCESS DEFINITION STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT TRANSFORMATION

ROLES

MECHANICS

CULTURE

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Thanks!

Angela Druckman

[email protected] +1-425.330.1106 Blog: www.angeladruckman.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/angela-druckman/4/337/3b7 Twitter: @AngelaDruckman

http://www.angeladruckman.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/angela-druckman/4/337/3b7



Documents

The Dirty Dozen: 12 Practices That Can Kill Your Agile … · 2019-12-16 · Problem Values Reflected Organizations that do not understand or value commitments • “If I tell you