Agile Adoption

A Corporate Retrospective

Alan J. Bartnik – The Vanguard Group Inc.

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Why Agile?Continuous improvement– DMAIC (Process Measurement & Optimization)– Innovation

Market forces– Time-to-Market– Speed of Change– Build & Deploy Highest Value Features

Workforce Demands– Less micro-management– More flexibility

Cost– Pay-as-you go– Pay for what you need; not what you think you want

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Agile! The next big thing

• It’s about being faster

• It’s about being better

• It’s about being cheaper

•…there’s no planning

•…there’s no control

•…there’s no managers

It’s about… <insert misconception here>

“Yeah I know about Agile” …

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Agile @ Vanguard

The ship turns slowly– Vanguard is an appropriately conservative Organization

– Initial Agile success was scrutinized ironically because…

Cycle Time decreased dramatically

Productivity increased dramatically

Quality increased dramatically

Crew Morale (never-go-back to waterfall feedback)

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Cycle-Time Improvement (≅ 2x)

Cumulative ProductivityHours per Requirement

0.005.00

10.0015.0020.0025.0030.0035.0040.0045.00

Sprint1

Sprint2

Sprint3

Sprint4

Sprint5

Sprint6

Retail 2005 Hrs/req

VGXHours/Requirement(Cumulative)

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Productivity Improvement (≅ 2x)

Cumulative Productivity Lines of Code per Hour

0.001.002.003.004.005.006.007.008.00

Sprint1

Sprint2

Sprint3

Sprint4

Sprint5

Sprint6

Retail 2005 LOC/Hr

VGX LOC/Hour(Cumulative)

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Quality Improvement (≈ 25%)

Cumulative Quality Defects (SCR) per KLOC

(80/143 Defects from Inspection & Build Failures)

0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

Sprint 1 Sprint 2 Sprint 3 Sprint 4 Sprint 5 Sprint 6

Retail (Rolling)Defects/KLOC

VGX Defects/KLOC

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Crew Morale

Self Organization

Sustainable Pace

Empowerment

Predictability

Accountability

Death Marches

Finger-pointing

NVA Documentation

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What’s not to like?

Who’s in control?

Who will tell me what to do?

I don’t like the current process; but I know what’s expected

If we fail w

e’ll be punish

ed…

If we let employees set the pace…

they’ll slack off

Self-Organizing Team?

Sustainable Pace?

- Right! unless we fall behind

No Status Reports?

No Plan?

No Change Control?

Sponsor Controls Scope!

No Requirements?

No Schedule?

Shared Roles?

I worked hard to become a manager; now managers are not needed?

Sponsors have to engage – daily!!!

I don’t have time for a daily meeting!!!

I’ve worked hard to become a project manager; now project managers are not needed?

Change!I’m confused

I’m unsure

I’m afraid

I’m lost

I’m skeptical…

It’s too loosie-goosie

Too risky…Sustainable Pace? - Sounds like authorizing laziness

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The Big challenge…

Giving up our Command & Control Infrastructure…Of course - let’s be Agile (but) don’t change our organizational status quo

…I’m totally onboard except that part about changing “my” process

– Sponsor/Product Owner delegation…delegate engages & make daily decisions (sounds good)

…I’ll reserve the right to reverse decisions made (now I’m comfortable)

– Team Empowerment (walking the walk)

…team decides; unless (until?) Leadership disagrees

…team decides; but command & control is ready - if the Team might fail

– Re-orienting our “best & brightest”…I’m the expert in the current process

…I’m skeptical of empowerment

…Agile is too risky for my comfort level

…I’ll become less important than I am in the current organization

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Where’s your Organization?Pilot: Resistance is low and decreases as “pilot” team adapts to Agile

Rollout: Organizations, People & Processes resist change; try to adapt Agile to existing environment

Adoption: Stakeholders embrace the innovative force unleashed; emphasize Agile improvement, team empowerment and maximization of benefits

Time

# o

f S

take

ho

lde

rs

Change Resistance

Agile Experience

PILOT:Limited Organizational Awareness

ROLLOUT:Rising change resistance & Organizational Conflict

ADOPTION: Organizational Internalization

≈ 2

Yea

rs

Vanguard is about here

Agility Risk Zone

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Vanguard RetrospectiveWhat are we doing well?

People

• Executive Management Support

• Business’s eagerness to give Agile a try

• Supporting Infrastructure

• Team Adoption

Practices

• Co-Location (effect on Agile Team)

• Adaptation to Agile: Stories & Front-burner

• Release-level burn-up: multiple teams

• Continuous Integration & Regression Automation

Outcomes

• Co-location reduces integration issues

• Employee Morale - better with Agile

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What’s gone well?

Leadership & Organization• Executive Leadership sees the value and supports adoption

• Support infrastructure: Process Owner, Expert, and Advocate, Consulting Coaches

• Most Teams quickly adopt Agile

Business Receptiveness:• Some very real buy-in on the business side

• Some very engaged in Sprint 0, Sprint Planning, eager to try and succeed

• Some have: set-up war rooms, co-located teams, manage a front-burner with stories

and tasks via stories, use SCRUM, etc.

Agile Practices• Co-location is the initial “bitter pill” for team members; fades within a sprint or two

• After initial “hunting & pecking” for their “type” of task, team learns to move L2R

• Initial pilot efforts toward Automated Testing and Continuous Integration

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Vanguard RetrospectiveWhat could be better?

People

• Departmental & Line Manager Adaptation

• “Team” mentality; not fired up to achieve sprint goals

Practices• Sponsor & Business Partner Education

• Debunking Agile Myths & Water-fallacies

• Providing adoption flexibility; adhering to the Manifesto

• Busting Organizational Impediments; Managing Up

• Infrastructure (Environments, CI & Test Automation)

• Adoption of XP / LEAN practices

Target Outcomes• Less “work as usual”; Team view rather than individual view

• Eliminate (impact on) “sub-contractors”

• Highly responsive IT; enabling business to meet Client’s Needs and Exceed expectations

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What can we do better?Leadership & Teams• Prevent adaptation of Agile to current Process (redefine Agile NOT embrace Manifesto)

• Overcome resistance of leaders who perceive Agile as a threat (use transparency)

• Decrease time required for teams to “gel”; (not every PM is a born Scrum Master)

• Reduce Business Sponsor micromanagement (educate and build trust)

Operational Impediments

• Vanguard faces headwinds providing UNIX DEV environments; impedance when migrating from windows to UNIX; causes friction in release process (need more?)

• Test Automation is making progress locally (federate to scale)

• Role-aligned delivery model is not XP & Lean friendly; limit flexibility and productivity potential of our crew (paradigm shift, HR involvement)

• Cross-skilled crew are less common than we’d like; many get conflicting direction from management: stick to their role tasks NOT become adept at any task (paradigm shift)

• Not enough TDD (training and paradigm shift)

• Teams don't really “get” XP, LEAN enough to try radical things (training)

“I've had to make it a personal objective for everyone on my team (to "drive” them) to

think / act innovatively when it comes to doing their work in the Agile Framework”

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Where are we Headed?

What?

1. Internalize Skills

2. Realize Benefits

3. Adapt & Improve

4. repeat steps (1 – 3)

How?

•Track Results

•Respond to Feedback

•Apply Lessons Learned

•Inventory & Share “Best Practices”

•Manage “Up”

•Foster Lean Principles

•Implement Lean Practices

•Trust & Support the “Team”

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Change Resistance

Isn’t Resistance futile?

Why do people (and Organizations) resist?

Can resistance be avoided?

Can active resistance be overcome?

Group discussion topics

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Is Resistance Futile?

Top-down

“They said so …we have to comply”

Bottom-up

“They demand it … we have to comply”

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Change Resistance

Isn’t resistance futile?

Why do people (and Organizations) resist?

Can resistance be avoided?

Can active resistance be overcome?

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Logically -

The algebra of change resistance….

A = B = CChange = Risk

Risk = Survival Threat

Change = Survival Threat!!!

Why Resist?

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Change Resistance

Isn’t resistance futile?

Why do people (and Organizations) resist?

Can resistance be avoided?

Can active resistance be overcome?

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Avoiding Resistance

Can we talk?• If people know – they fear less

• If people understand – they can make informed decisions

How (do we) educate?• Agile Manifesto → Sponsor/Product Owner buy-in

• Co-locate Business & Technical (paired-learning)

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Change Resistance

Isn’t resistance futile?

Why do people (and Organizations) resist?

Can resistance be avoided?

Can active resistance be overcome?

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Overcoming Resistance

It’s cliché…WIIFM• Emphasize and quantify the benefits to those affected

• Business Outcomes (time-to-market, customization)

• Technical Growth (learning, versatility, satisfaction)

Results Count• Perseverance and determination through challenges

• Let the results speak for themselves

• Conscript “antis” as “scorekeepers”

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Change Resistance

Isn’t resistance futile?

Why do people (and Organizations) resist?

Can resistance be avoided?

Can active resistance be overcome?

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Comments, Observations, Questions