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Scaling Collaboration Across the Organization: ...

Scaling Collaboration Across the Organization: Agile and Lean Program Management

Your product requires several teams working together. But most of the scaling frameworks add control points, which create hierarchy and less collaboration. You don’t need a framework to release a complex product. Instead, organize the work to remove the barriers to collaboration. You can create an effective agile and lean program to create and release products your customers want.

See the book at www.jrothman.com/alpm. And a couple of recent Pragmatic Manager newsletters:
- https://www.jrothman.com/newsletter/2024/02/three-tips-to-focus-to-deliver-better-products-faster/
- https://www.jrothman.com/newsletter/2024/01/flow-metrics-and-why-they-matter-to-teams-and-managers/

Johanna Rothman

March 15, 2024
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Resources

The book:

https://www.jrothman.com/alpm

Info about and where to find the Agile and Lean Program Management book

Three Tips to Focus to Deliver Better Products Faster

https://www.jrothman.com/newsletter/2024/02/three-tips-to-focus-to-deliver-better-products-faster/

One of my newsletters about component teams and how they can work better for programs

Flow Metrics and Why They Matter to Teams and Managers

https://www.jrothman.com/newsletter/2024/01/flow-metrics-and-why-they-matter-to-teams-and-managers/

One of my newsletters to help people and teams decide what to measure, aside from demos, to see progress and what's preventing progress.

More Decks by Johanna Rothman

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Transcript

  1. Agile & Lean Program Management: Scaling Collaboration Across the Organization

    Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman www.jrothman.com
  2. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman What Worked? • Clear program

    vision • Clear deliverables • Feature teams who delivered something daily • Unit tests and system tests as support • Respect and trust across the organization 3 Trust Respect Delivery
  3. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Program Management • Organizing and

    coordinating several projects’ results into one deliverable. • That deliverable has the value to the organization. • Product focus 4
  4. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Programs Are Riskier Than Projects

    • Projects don’t scale linearly to programs • Many more risks: • Overall duration • Number of teams, each on their own deliverable (project risks) • Number of features (product risks) • Integrations (mechanical, hardware, other vendors) 5
  5. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman “Scaling” Agility from One to

    Many Teams • Autonomy: Teams manage how they work • Collaboration: Teams collaborate across the program • Exploration: Must experiment to learn and deliver • Program management creates the environment for the teams to deliver 8
  6. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Programs are Complex or Complicated

    • Where do you have unknowns? • How can you discover information to reduce risk? (Probe, sense, respond) • Small deliverables • Frequent integration • Experiment and explore everywhere 9
  7. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Organize the Teams • Teams

    decide on their own agile approach as long as they deliver often • Internal delivery as often as possible (hourly or daily) • External delivery depending on cost • Evolve the architecture • Plan to replan 10
  8. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Agile and Lean Programs Require

    • Aside from the team’s autonomy, collaboration, and exploration: • Visualize product progress often • Free- fl owing information around the program 11
  9. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman What’s most effective for your

    organization to pass around information in minutes or hours? 12
  10. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Small World Networks • Small

    world networks are more-and- less connected agile teams • How connected are you to everyone else? • Everyone chooses how connected they are to other people • Programs take advantage of the network so they don’t need hierarchies 14
  11. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Programs Can “Exploit” Small-World Networks

    • Feature teams take responsibility • Small-world networks provide autonomy and collaboration • Communities of practice help with exploration 15
  12. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Roadmaps & Backlogs Provide Team

    Autonomy • Roadmap is the wish list • Backlog is what teams will do • Rank everything by value • Sometimes learning about risk is valuable 16
  13. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Reality of Plans… • Some

    feature sets have more changes, more features • Arrival rate of changes/new features is unpredictable • Some features more valuable than others • Leads to pressure on teams to do “more” & “change” 18
  14. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Embrace Change • Faster releasing

    leads to faster feedback and risk reduction • Faster feedback leads to a more successful product • Value-based approach to product development 20
  15. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Lean is Essential • See

    the fl ow of work all over the organization • Manage WIP • Create knowledge • See the whole 21
  16. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Collaborate with Tests & Integration

    • Create a program environment where people can collaborate • Autonomous teams deliver features through the architecture • Creates safe exploration of what’s remaining 22
  17. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Changes for Agile & Lean

    Program Management • Teams (not managers) manage their work: • “Commitment” • How they build features • Evolve architecture • Program management • Removes obstacles • Collects and explains program status 24
  18. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Core Program Team • Manages

    organizational risks • Core program team has one objective: • Create a great product • They do that by deciding what will create better product business value • Business value is about the market for the product 25
  19. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Software Program Team • Resolves

    obstacles for technical teams • Focus the teams on the business value of the architecture, the code, the testing… (so they can create a great product) • This is the technical nurturing of the product itself 26
  20. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Seeing Program Progress • Program

    level measures! • Demos of working product is the best measure • How often can you see a demo? Every day? • Cycle time (for demos, if nothing else) • Never try to do anything with velocity 27
  21. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Manage With Flow Metrics •

    WIP (Work in Progress) • Cycle or lead time (how long work takes) • Throughput (how much work goes through your “pipe”) • Aging (how old the work is) • See https://www.jrothman.com/ fl ow- metrics for a full explanation 29 Little’s Law:
  22. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Scale Your Collaboration • Small-world

    networks of collaborative teams who release often to: • See product progress • Reduce risks • Experiment for feedback • Program management removes impediments & shepherds the business value of the product • It’s agile and lean all the way down 30 Trust Respect Delivery
  23. © 2024 Johanna Rothman https://mastodon.sdf.org/@johannarothman Let’s Stay in Touch •

    Pragmatic Manager: • www.jrothman.com/ pragmaticmanager • Please link with me on LinkedIn • Agile and Lean Program Management book: jrothman.com/alpm • Ebook, print, hardcover, audio 31