Every environment has its challenges, but certain things remain constant. One of the first things to identify in an agile transformation is whether the organization has built a strong foundation to support its future success. Leadership is the foundation of any transformation, but there are a few items that teams can use to support success as well.
Working Agreements are the foundation of a successful team. Working Agreements are things that we establish and agree to as a team. They are the normal operating methods that will help us be successful. In plain English, It’s “How We Agree To Work Together.” Everyone is involved in the creation and should all be accountable for the implementation of them. Our Team Norms are not permanent and should be revisited every retrospective and updated where necessary. We include our ceremony times as well as core hours to support each other (standup, backlog refinement, planning, no meeting day, etc)…
- Definition of Ready is the way that we determine if a particular story is ready for us to execute on (pull into our sprint or Kanban cycle). For us, it could be a list of activities that are required for a story to make it into our “To Do” column.
- Definition of Done is the way that we determine if a particular release, epic, feature of story is complete. We should define this during our Sprint 0 and ensure that we revisit it for applicability during each iteration /process check. This will be a checklist of activities and items required for work to make it to our “Accepted Column”
“Activity does not equal Achievement” at any level…. We have to make this a true statement. Far too often leaders are very reactive and in turn force subordinates/reports to react as well. We have to break this cycle and instead operate proactively and gain control of the work cycle. As development leaders we should understand that our time is best used focusing on the most valuable items that have been prioritized by our Product Management Team. As a Product Management Team we should take the initiative and courage to prioritize work based on true value. Our #1 focus is bringing value to our customers, not doing a lot of work. Don’t be afraid to ask “Why”?
So how do we accomplish this goal:
a. We setup a Prioritization meeting and identify a Product Manager “1 Owner and Single Point of Truth”.
b. We introduce the concept of Cost of Delay and Weighted Shortest Job First to help us work on the most important/valuable items first.
c. We create a Cadence and 3 levels of Product Prioritization meeting. Our goal is to take ensure that we are working on the right stuff…
- The Program Level: (This is where a Group of Product Managers share the initial Roadmap of Epics/Features and ensure alignment with our executive sponsors. This keeps the entire program aligned.
- Initial Prioritization Level: (This is where the Product Manager(s) works with the Team Product Owners, Architects, Business, and Engineering Team members to Create an initial Roadmap. Ensure that everyone is on the same page.
- Team Level: Product Owners share prioritized roadmap of features with team members at various intervals during the work cycle. The goal is to always have a prioritized backlog and breakdown the most important features/epics first.
Always Be Grooming! We want to be proactive in all of our efforts. This will allow us to forecast future work by and align with our business requirements. I always suggest creating a weekly cadence of grooming with a goal of having at least at least 2 sprints worth of work in our backlog. This creates the opportunity to pull work in and get ahead of the curve if we have bandwidth. It also keeps us fresh on our vision and what work is in the pipeline.
Retrospect and Adapt. Ensure that you take advantage of your cycle. Inspect the processes, norms, and challenges of the ending sprint. If something did not work, change it. If something needs adjusting, do it. Continuous Improvement is your friend…
This is not the end all be all, but this will help you lay the concrete for a strong foundation. When working in our industry (technology) keep in mind that everything is changing, everyday. We should always place emphasis on being able to change as well…
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