Pulling in the same direction with autonomous teams

An experience report on how one 200 person product company tries to create alignment on strategy while leaving execution to autonomous teams. Attendees will learn how we tie together company strategy, team-driven OKRs, incremental UX & design and iterative development to try to achieve this. This includes
- keeping the strategy front and center
- letting teams own their OKRs while ensuring they pay into the strategy
- focussing UX and design on the team OKRs
- directing our development efforts to maximise the results

Presented at Darefest 2016 (Antwerp) and Tools4AgileTeams 2016 (Wiesbaden).

Transcript: https://medium.com/manuelkublbock/pulling-in-the-same-direction-with-autonomous-teams-693d8f2f748d#.7gw7x81gb

Video: https://www.tools4agileteams.com/konferenzprogramm/in-die-gleiche-richtung-ziehen-mit-autonomen-teams/

Transcript

1. Pulling in the same direction with autonomous teams Manuel Küblböck, Agile Coach @ Stylight @manuelkublbock #darefest16
2. Team Weekly
3. Team Weekly From strategy to executable plan Strategy Executable plan Company level 10 people Team level
 200 people 13 teams Vagueness Certainty
4. Team Weekly Strategy Executable plan Company level 10 people Team level
 200 people 13 teams How we get most of the time Purpose From strategy to executable plan
5. Strategy Leadership that provides direction and boundaries Keep it front and center
6. Team Weekly 6 Strategy Executable plan ??? Company level 10 people Team level
 200 people 13 teams OKRs From strategy to executable plan
7. 7 OKRs 7 inspirational, qualitative Objectives
 “Value and improve employee satisfaction” measurable and quantifiable Key Results
 “Improve 1 employee satisfaction score by 5% compared to the June baseline by end of Q3” quarterly team OKRs are accessible by everyone within the org What they are
8. OKRs 8 8 8 8 Shared understanding of company and team objectives and what success looks like “It feels like having a grasp on what everyone is doing” Why we use them
9. OKRs 9 teams own their OKRs within the boundaries set by the strategy and challenged by other teams enable discussions about to what degree we are focusing on customer or company problems regularly discuss progress How we use them Stylight Handbook: Goals and measuring progress
10. OKRs aligning everyone towards the same goals not outputs, not roadmaps, not used for employee evaluation Don’t become too short sighted! What to keep in mind
11. Team Weekly 11 Strategy Executable plan ??? Company level 10 people Team level
 200 people 13 teams OKRs sets boundaries ▶ ⾢ pay into From strategy to executable plan
12. Team Weekly 12 Strategy Executable plan ??? Company level 10 people Team level
 200 people 13 teams OKRs Sprint planning sets boundaries ▶ ⾢ pay into From strategy to executable plan
13. Sprint planning regular planning sessions to build a product incrementally What it is
14. 14 timespan that fits in your head “It feels like knowing on a team level what we should be doing next” Why we use it Sprint planning
15. Sprint planning Planning is focused on conversations and shared understanding on a high level kick-off sessions for complex tickets How we do it An agenda for effective sprint planning meetings
16. Sprint planning Planning involves the entire team “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower What to keep in mind
17. Team Weekly 17 Strategy Executable plan ??? Company level 10 people Team level
 200 people 13 teams OKRs Sprint planning sets boundaries ▶ ⾢ pay into inform prio ▶ ⾢ pay into split work ▶ From strategy to executable plan
18. Team Weekly 18 Strategy Executable plan ??? Company level 10 people Team level
 200 people 13 teams OKRs Sprint planning UX research sets boundaries ▶ ⾢ pay into inform prio ▶ ⾢ pay into split work ▶ From strategy to executable plan
19. UX research Users’ perspective and opinions Provide the best possible experience What it is
20. 20 Building a product people love “It feels like knowing what our users want us to do” UX research Why it’s important to us
21. Specialists assisted by team members UX lab with livestream for the rest of the team In sync with dev planning cycle Building the Stylight Usability Lab from the Ground Up UX research How we do it
22. UX is a team discipline Not an intermediary step in the feedback cycle UX research What to keep in mind
23. Team Weekly 23 Strategy Executable plan OKRs UX research Sprint planning Company level 10 people Team level
 200 people 13 teams sets boundaries ▶ ⾢ pay into inform prio ▶ ⾢ pay into Inform ideation ▶ guides ▶ ⾢ set rhythm split work ▶ From strategy to executable plan
24. Team Weekly 24 Strategy Executable plan OKRs UX research Sprint planning Company level 10 people Team level
 200 people 13 teams sets boundaries ▶ ⾢ pay into inform prio ▶ ⾢ pay into split work ▶ Inform ideation ▶ guides ▶ ⾢ set rhythm ⾢ steers Vagueness Certainty From strategy to executable plan
25. Practices
 to get from strategy to executable plan
26. Culture
 eats strategy for breakfast -- Peter Drucker (allegedly) Practices
 to get from strategy to executable plan
27. Thank you for listening. Manuel Küblböck, Agile Coach @ Stylight @manuelkublbock