Achieving Enduring Agile Success

in Large Organizations

AgileDCOctober 21, 2014

2

Scott Richardson

• Background• 13 years at Capital One, most recently as VP of

Retail & Direct Technology for Consumer & Small Business Bank segments

• Founder/owner of 2 technology consulting companies

• Price Waterhouse – financial systems consultant

• Agile Credentials• Practitioner for 10 years• Certified Agile Scrum Master• Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) Certified Program

Consultant• Sponsor/Champion for Agile adoption in 5

corporate organizations

3

Overview• Compare and contrast enterprise Agile adoptions: 2004-

2005 vs. 2012-2013• Focus on executive/leadership perspective• Results: What worked and what did not• Overarching keys to success• Deeper dive on metrics

Objectives• Understand approaches and techniques for enterprise-wide

Agile adoption• Identify senior leadership actions to ensure Agile permanence• Appreciate how executive engagement is a key ingredient of

enduring Agile success

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Our Agile adoption in 2004-2005 was voluntary and enthusiasticAttribute 2004-2005 ApproachMandate Voluntary

Enterprise Leadership

CIO active interest; varied by DIO

Local Leadership Led/promoted by local early adopters

HR Support Supportive but no structural changes

Tone Exploratory, enthusiastic

Follow-Through Moderate

Business Engagement

Incidental; primarily an IT activity

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2004-2005 Agile results were quite favorable

• Initial rapid spread of Agile• Achieved 30%-60% increase in team output • Significantly higher team morale and

business satisfaction with IT• But … Adoption plateaued within ~2 years• … Arbitrary methodology variations emerged• … Agile discipline diminished over time• … Struggled with Agile-Waterfall interactions

and portfolio-level delivery reporting

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Our Agile adoption approach in 2012-2013 was different in important waysAttribute 2012-2013 ApproachMandate Mandatory

Enterprise Leadership

CIO-driven, DIOs accountable; enterprise support

Local Leadership DIO-led; local sponsors, local champions

HR Support Job families/positions modified; local adaptations

Tone Critical urgency

Follow-Through High; metrics-driven; ongoing enterprise support

Business Engagement

Fast-follower to IT; significant participation

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2012-2013 Agile adoption results exceeded everyone’s expectations and is enduring

• Initial resistance to this audacious goal, but we quickly exceeded our expectations

• Consistent methodology throughout enterprise; minor local differences

• Agile discipline steadily increasing• Inter-team/org interactions dramatically

improved; focus on clearing bottlenecks• Adoption remains high (100%)• Portfolio reporting questions are more strategic

now• Most importantly: Agile success is owned/driven

locally

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1. CIO mandate (+ meaningful support)• CIO-driven metrics/monthly review• Enterprise support: Steering Committee,

standards, training, external coaches, metrics/monthly reviews

2. Local/DIO Ownership• Cannot overstate the power/value of local

accountability

3. Burning Platform • Very helpful to have meaningful urgency for

change

4. Actively Engage Middle Management• Co-opting this potential source of resistance is

critical to success

5. Business Transformation• Roles/responsibilities must truly change (in

Business and IT) to change the organization to Agile

• Aim for more than just participation

Overarching Keys to Success

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What’s Next: Taking Agile to the Next Level• Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)• DevOps• CI/CD• Financial reporting• Further organizational

refinement• Engineering culture• Enterprise teams / shared

services• Coordination between business

intent executives

Metrics Examples

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Agile metrics address a range of needs across the company

• How is each LOB doing in terms of adoption, delivery, and maturity?

• Normalized data (reflecting team differences)

• How is my team doing?• How has the team

improved over the last few sprints?

• Time series view of select KPIs (by team)

• What teams do I have?• Who is the product

owner?• How are my teams

doing?• Mix of “reference”

data and performance data by team

Increasing levels of detailAgile

Effectiveness Index

DIO Team Inventory

OneScrumReport

Team Performance

History

• How is my team (or teams) doing across KPIs?

• Interactive Tableau report

• CIO• DIOs• Transformation Lead

• DIOs• Portfolio leads• Agile coaches

• Transformation Lead• Agile Coaches• Scrum Masters

Au

die

nce

Focu

s

• Portfolio leads• Agile coaches• Scrum Masters

Team Name LOB Value StreamFeature/

ComponentPrimary

Technology Team LeadProduct Owner

Scrum Master Current Epic

Velocity Variance

Commitment Variance

Backlog Health

Team 1 Division A Product X Feature Core Product System Rob N. Marissa T. Grant G. Account Summary 10% 82% 2.6

Team 2 Division A Customer Servicing Component Web Portal Jim L. Miles W. Martin F. Phone Servicintg Enhancements 20% 90% 2.1

Team 3 Division B Customer Servicing Feature Back End Servicing Mary S. Kate R. Subir S. Customer Complaints 5% 75% 1.5

Team 4 Division B Product Y Feature Core Product System Steven S. Lauren R. Subir S. FNP Phase 1 0% 100% 2.3

Team 5 Division C Product Z Feature Core Product System Yvonne Z. Frank F. Kim H. Lending Redesign 15% 90% 3.2

Reference Data Performance Data

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Enterprise Agile Adoption Dashboard

<80%

Dimension Metric Enterprise Division A Division B Division C

Adoption Nbr Agile Teams vs. Target 96% 100% 87% 100%

Agile Software Investment 73% 58% 90% 72%

Delivery

Velocity Variance 26% 37% 25% 15%

Commitment Variance 77% 79% 84% 67%

Backlog Health 44% 30% 59% 43%

Delivery Quality 100% 100% 100% 100%

Maturity

Team Makeup 72% 80% 73% 63%

Product Owner 86% 85% 93% 80%

Agile Mechanics 78% 61% 97% 76%

Tool Usage 87% 79% 100% 83%

Agile Effectiveness Index 7.4 7.0 8.2 7.0

Enterprise

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Enterprise Metrics (cont’d)Enterpris

e

• This metric compares Agile adoption across Divisions

• Healthy competition between DIOs is a surprisingly effective motivator

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Local Metrics: “5 S” for Agile Team Readiness

• Used by local division to track when new Agile teams have all necessary ingredients for successful launch

• Leadership solves non-green conditions

• Not allowed to start Sprinting until all are green

• If any of these 5 are missing, teams will falter

TEAM ScopeScrumMaster Staff Space Skills

Team A

Team B

Team C

Team D

Team E

Team F

Team G

Team H

Team I

Team J

Team K

Team L

Team M

Team N

Ready and available now

Identified and committed at future date

Not yet identified or committed

Local

Q & A