As an executive, you will be faced with the choice to do the pivot (if you can) or persevere (if you have no other choice). This will lead to a series of “bets”. You lead with a hypothesis that the things you change will allow you to operate at pre-event levels. But, how long will it actually take for you to validate your hypothesis and have a bet pay off with pre-event levels? If you run out of time to figure it out or run out of bets you can place, then you either lose your standing in the market or worse risk going out of business.
Regardless of the organization or institution, there will always be dependencies. The larger the organization, the greater chance of the existence of dependencies.
This template is available for download from Tableau Public
I keep getting asked, does Jira Align support Flow Metrics, as defined in the Flow Framework and SAFe? The short answer is yes. If you believe these metrics will help unlock the potential of your teams, use this community post to see working examples of Tableau reports I have created using Jira Align and Enterprise Insights.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice.
And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
- Steve Jobs
Image from Treehugger.com
On a cool day in October, the Agile Tour came to DC to talk Agile essentials, Agile in enterprise, and Agile in government. In the days leading up to the event, the Twitter buzz showed the event was running out of tickets. By the time the event started, it was at capacity for the venue.
This was the first Agile Tour DC. This one day conference aimed to serve agile practitioners in the DC area through 3 tracks.
Before we got started, Bob Payne, one of the organizers of the event, spoke a little about the event and where some of the money was going. AgileDC is a not-for-profit conference organized by Agile Philanthropy. See more below
Compared to the last conference I attended, the PMI Global Congress (<= $1,600), this event had a lot of bang for the buck. Agile DC 2010 was less than $100! Now, I'm not going to do a lot of comparing of the PMI Global Congress to this event. OK, yes I am. I think PMI missed an opportunity to do some real good in the world. How is it PMI can charge up to $1,600 and not champion some cause(s) that could really benefit from a few dollars? Here are some side-by-side comparisons.
| PMI Global Congress | Agile Tour DC | |
| Venue | Gaylord Hotel and Resort | Fannie Mae Conference Center |
| Transportation | Non-Metro Accessible | Metro Accessible |
| Duration | 3 days | 1 day |
| Price | $1,125 - $1,600 | $75 - $90 |
| Food | Average | Above Average |
| Session Quality | Excellent | Excellent |
The day was kicked off with a keynote by Sanjiv Augustine, an industry-leading agile and lean expert. We then took a 15 minute break before splitting off to our separate tracks. I have to say, you know it's a good conference when you're conflicted which session to attend.
I then sat to hear Agile & Government by Paul Boos. Good stuff.
Next, I sat for Agile in the Enterprise and NFP (Not For Profit), presented by Tiffany Lentz and Jeff Wishnie of Thoughtworks.
I think the best part of my experience came next, from the panel discussion about Agile in Government.
Members of the panel included: Don Johnson - providing thought leadership in the acquisition of Information Technology across the Department of Defense. Josh Hendler - serves as the Director of Technology at the Democratic National Committee. Richard Cheng - managing consultant at Excella Consulting, providing consulting services to commercial and Federal clients in the Washington, DC area. Paul Boos - serves as the software maintenance lead for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP).
It was a very engaging panel discussion and they all brought some very unique perspectives to the conference.
I then saw Sanjiv Augustine present Agile Portfolio Management. I think the best part of Sanjiv's presentation was that it offered something for everyone. You didn't need to be a seasoned Agilist to enjoy it. If you ever get a chance to see Sanjiv present, do it.
The last session I attended, Emerging IT Acquisition Processes Within DoD, was by Don Johnson from the Department of Defense. I would like to say Wow! To see what is happening over at DoD is nothing short of remarkable. The one question I get asked by people in the Federal Government is does Agile work in the Federal space. Don proves that it can and that is does.
That's about it. It was a great event. I look forward to the next.
If you get a chance, clear your calendars for October 14, 2011. That's the tentative date for the next Agile DC Conference.
Mano a Mano International provides critical healthcare and infrastructure development in Bolivia.
Haiti Partners provides education and educational support in Haiti. Since the recent earthquake they have been serving their communities with earthquake relief and humanitarian services.
FreshFarm Markets helps create farmers markets in the DC area and provides matching funds allowing WIC and Food Stamp recipients to buy nutritious local food. Their work sustains local agriculture, schools and local families.
Max Keeler tweeted that the new Scrum Alliance director is new to Scrum. I went over to the Scrum Alliance website and I see they have selected Donna Farmer as the new Managing Director.
Beginning October 1, 2010, Farmer will lead the non-profit organization, working with the staff and Board of Directors to realize the organization’s vision and mission.
Lately, there seems to be some turbulence in the Scrum world, after Tobias Mayer resigned from his SA staff role as creative director and renounced his SA certifications of CSM, CSP, and CST. He then wrote a scathing blog post on the whole thing. I've also read an email response to his post by the Scrum Alliance, over at the Agile Scout website. The whole situation was really quite disheartening.
I empathize with Tobias and what he went through. I empathize with the Scrum community, as it evolves and tries to navigate through constant change.
But, let's go back to what Max tweeted about. Max sent me a link to the source (if it stops working let me know). Farmer admits to being new to Scrum. Even though she is, should it matter?
My analogy is the latest incarnation of Star Trek. When I heard J.J. Abrams was going to be the Director of the movie, I was shocked. How could the franchise do this to us!? Abrams admitted he wasn't even a fan of Star Trek. This was blasphemous to hear. How could anyone but a fan direct a Star Trek movie?
Well, though Abrams wasn't a fan, he took the franchise in a new direction and made a pretty damn good movie. I'm not saying Farmer is going to be a savior for the Scrum Alliance but I want to give her the benefit of the doubt.
I will continue to be optimistic about the future of the Scrum Alliance and the Agile Alliance until someone like Ken Schwaber or Alistair Cockburn publish something that counters the very principles they stand for.
So, before we pass judgment on Donna Farmer, let's all get a extra-large popcorn and see how this plays out.
Graphic from ChipChick.com
Since we all know zombies don't count, we're going to assume you are the poor sap trying to get away from said zombies. But what are your chances of survival? Do you have enough ammo? Let's assume your survival is the project. Since a project is a temporary endeavor, we'll go with that. Our goal is not necessarily to create a unique project, service, or result, unless you count killing zombies.
How big is that unthinking horde or zombies slowly making its way toward you?
Do you have enough ammunition to kill them all, before they get to you?
Now, I don't know about you, but my estimating skills suck. We're in trouble unless the unit of measure are digits on my body or comparing something to the size of my coffee cup. But that's ok. We have bigger things to worry about. I mean, we do have a horde of flesh eating zombies coming after us. So, let's talk about two simple estimating techniques, hours and story points. In this post, I am not going to tackle what I would define as advanced estimating techniques. I'm just going to limit it to the two below.
OK, who here hasn't estimated in hours? Though this doesn't necessarily translate to zombies, it does to software development and other project activities. Break efforts down in the smallest group possible, like tasks or user stories. This technique is good but I think you need to really have a grasp of what you're up against in order for it to be effective. If you provide an estimate on an Epic or WBS Level 1 item, it loses its effectiveness. Try to decompose (not like zombie decompose) work if it exceeds 8 hours. The more time that elapses on a given task, the higher the probability something is going to change. Get it completed and delivered so you can base your next estimation on something you've already done.
Please don't estimate for other people. Only provide estimates on things you're going to do.
Rather than estimating in hours, story points help people get past the uncomfortable feeling of saying they'll complete something in X hours. Sure, a story point could equal 1 hour but it doesn't have to. Think of estimating work at a relative amount compared to other work.
Imagine two groups of the undead are lumbering toward you. I'll say group one is worth 8 points in size and complexity. It takes you 20 rounds of ammo to take them out. Though you didn't get a head count, you'll say the second group is 13 points in size and complexity. If you only have 20 rounds of ammo left, how does that make you feel right now? Do you run like hell in the opposite direction or do you think you learned something in the last round?
Once again, please don't estimate for other people. Only provide estimates on zombies you're going to shoot.
Like the image? Find it at Pictofigo
Last year, when a vendor was asked to submit a Statement Of Work (SOW) to address the Statement of Objectives (SOO), they came back with a very interesting presentation.
Upon completing our Lessons Learned at the end of the last period of performance, we have something that will solve all of your problems.
Now, I don't know about you, but whenever someone says that, I get very suspicious. All is an absolute and absolutes are red flags. It's a particularly large red flag, considering the customer was not invited to participate in the Lessons Learned session(s).
What was the proposed solution to All of the customer's problems? The vendor called it "agile" (with a lower case "a").
Seriously? That's all you have? Agile will solve all of the customer's problems? I sat quietly and said nothing of having several years of experience actually using Agile and leading Agile and Scrum teams. (Note that I prefer to use a capital "A")
Needless to say, the vendor had no experience following Agile principles or leading Agile teams. The vendor, in my eyes, failed to educate themselves or the customer on the value Agile can deliver. Over the course of the next year, they shied away from face-to-face communications and all of the things the customer would see value in. They continued to keep their functional teams in silos and nothing changed. After a few months of the customer and myself telling them they were not following Agile principles, they admitted they were doing an undocumented agile-like-waterfall hybrid. After a few more months of telling them they were not following any kind of Agile "like" process, they lamented and said they were now following a waterfall process.
NOW? I asked myself. This vendor couldn't even define what done meant, let alone explain what processes they were following.
In the last few months, three major events have happened to the program I support.
A new CIO and Program Director are now in charge of the program and realize they have a lot less money to work with. So, how are they going to turn this around?
Let's fast forward to a few weeks ago. The new Program Director calls an all hands meeting. What is going to change? She started the meeting by making a profound statement
Communications is key to our success.
If we do not communicate, we will fail.
What is she asking us to do this next year?
Like the image? Find it at Pictofigo
Today was the last day of the PMI North American Congress. It's started well enough. I left the house at 6:45am. Due to Washington DC traffic, I arrive 2 hours and 30 minutes later. Yep, welcome to my flesh little slice of hell.
I did arrive in time for my first session.
Here were the days events:
Flexible Project management: Extending Agile Techniques Beyond Software Projects.
Teamed up with John Stenbeck, Laurie Diethelm, Rich Sheridan, and Lisamarie Babik for the session exercise. I was in John's and Lisamarie's sessions before. Both enjoyable.
My notable Tweets:
There must be dedication to the team. If you don't have flexibility in your project, change is expensive. Co-location may not be pleasant but it is key to team communications. iterate, iterate, iterate. Keep your options open. Decide your last responsible moment. Out of hundreds of cited projects, there was not a single case where the requirements did NOT change
Modern Agile Contracts for the Real World by Jesse Fewell
Notable Tweets Contracts are put in place to make people accountable. When dealing with contracts, traditionally we start with scope... ...but what if we are constraint driven? Fix the cost and time? Distinguish the proposal, from the contract, from the project execution Look for a balance between T&M and fixed rate. Try graduated T&M As project managers, you should be influencing at the beginning of the project As a PM you need to empower decision makers As a PM, don't hide things. Keep people informed Change is not a risk. Change is a reality
The attendees then broke out into groups and everyone participated in an exercise. There were lots of smiles with this group and they were really engaged.
We then broke for lunch and then I checked out the Exhibit hall. I was hoping to say hello to Dave Garrett but he was talking to someone. Dave was one of the first people to follow me on Twitter. I admire what he's done for the project management community with Gantthead.com.
I then went over to the VersionOne booth. I spoke to Ken Mills and Leeann Berner for a few minutes. I just drank a cup of coffee (thank you to Gantthead for the breathmints) so I don't think I let them say much. I really think they have a great product and wanted them to know that. I think customer feedback is good, especially if you like something.
I then made my way to one of the umpteen million couches around the hotel. I sat for a few minutes and began to doze off. In my semi conscious state, I think I farted. I have to say, it's not cool falling asleep in a public place and then farting. People look at you funny. Check out the picture of this poor guy. Yep, I felt your pain brother, I felt your pain.
Jesse and the guys from Excella Consulting stopped by. I chatted with them for a few minutes. I then attended Nancy Nee's session on Metrics for Agile Project. Pretty good session. Here are some notable tweets.
Tie all metrics to goals and objectives The less granular of the feature list that you report the better. Avoid task level reporting. How to estimate? ROM or team velocity Daily stand-ups are a great way to manage ADD Referencing the Sulaiman, Barton, Blackburn paper on EVM
My last session of the day was the creme dela creme of the Congress. I got to see Michele Sliger's session titled Goodbye, Scope Creep, Hello Agile!
The only thing that sucks is my Droid X flooded my Twitter stream with updates and then turned off (battery was dead). Yep, no more tweets. But, the silver lining was I actually got to listen to Michele talk. Michele offered a compelling argument on why waterfall may have worked in the past but not so well now. She illustrated how waterfall works and how Agile works. She then showed how scope creep would be applicable with waterfall but now becomes an opportunity with Agile. Offered the audience a glimpse into Kanban. This was the only session I saw at the Congress where Kanban was really discussed. She did an awesome job of presenting. It didn't matter if the attendees had never heard of Agile before the Congress. By the time Michele was done with her session and the Congress sessions officially ended, I feel confident there were a lot of light bulb moments. The reception of Agile at the Congress was overwhelmingly positive. Sure, there were a few haters out there. But, I believe they were in the gross minority.
Thank you to all of the PMI Agile Community of Practice people who put on such excellent sessions. Thank you to PMI for realizing the importance of Agile adoption. Thank you to all of those people out there who followed along on Twitter. I know I forgot awesome moments from the last 3 days. But, I'll admit, my ass is tired! I am all Congressed out. For those out there who are wondering why this PMI Congress favored Agile so heavily, only time will tell. I'm just ready to get back to work and do my part in educating people about Agile.
And so concludes my second day at the PMI North American Congress. Again, it was an awesome day.
I went to 4 different Agile centric sessions. Titles included
Why Failing Early in Agile is a Good Thing!
An Agile Simulation in 75 Minutes
Agile PM Mastery in 60 Minutes, Guaranteed!
Beyond Backlog and Burndowns: Complementing "Agile" methods with EVM for Improved Project Performance.
I really enjoyed the Agile Simulation, presented by Brian Bozzuto, MBA, PMP, CSP and Giora Morein, PMP, CSM, CSP, CST. Check them out at BigVisible Agile Training. Yes, we who work in this industry enjoy having a lot of letters after our names. But seriously, these guys earned every letter. Though a few people struggled with the simulation, most got it. I saw several light bulb moments from session attendees. It's exciting when someone looks you right in the eye and says "I think I get it!"
Later, I had lunch with Michele Sliger and Lisamarie Babik. I had such a blast sitting with these two and just enjoying myself. Sure, I was enjoying the Congress but this was fun!
I wanted to make a special note about my final session of the day. It was about Agile and EVM. The material was presented by a PhD and a colleague who had working with EVM for over 20 years. The response to their presentation was mixed at best. For those in the audience with an Agile background, it was a challenging topic to cover. But, it was still interesting. To counter that, several with EVM backgrounds were acting like 3-year-olds and that we were trying to steel their teddy bears away. Some people got up and left the session, the guy next to me chewed on his finger nails until he fell asleep, and some in the audience just wanted the microphone to argue about the 32 points of EVM criteria. But let's move on.
After the sessions had ended for the day, I had the honor and privilege to meet a few people that I've known through blogs and the Twittersphere.
I hung out with Brian Bozzuto and Bob Tarne. I then met Elizabeth Harrin, resulting in remarks about the coffee at the PMI Congress. Forgive me Elizabeth, I was in the moment. I then I went off to have drinks with Bas De Baar, Josh Nankivel, and Cornelius Fichtner.
So, I'm off to bed. Day 3 will be a long one.
And so concludes my first day at the PMI North American Congress. It was an awesome day. It started with the morning presenter, Vivek Kundra, Chief Information Officer of the United States. I originally didn't plan to see this him speak. I'm very glad I did. I was really surprised when he talked about being more agile and stated
We're not just looking at Agile methodology, we're also moving to Agile management.... & EVM is not a silver bullet. In addition, he said process will no longer trump business outcomes.
Immediately following the presentation, I met up with Michele Sliger, author of The Software Project Manager's Bridge to Agility and someone I've admired for a while. Shhhhh don't say anything. She might think I'm a groupie or something.
Off we went to have some lunch. Let's skip the details of lunch. It was OK but I was more interested in hanging out with Michele.
Just before we went to the first presentation, we stopped off at the tag and ribbon table. It had buttons from all of the Community of Practices. But the one Michele and I were looking for was missing! Where was the Agile Community of Practice!? The same happened for the Agile CoP ribbons. Come to find out, they ran out. I guess that's a good thing.
Sunday was going to be limited to just 2 presentations. I chose Growing Up Agile: the Next Generation of Project Managers, presented by Lisamarie Babik, PMP. My second presentation was 5 Years of Teaching Agile PM or PMI: Lessons Learned and Recurring Resistance by Mike Griffiths.
I enjoyed both sessions a lot and if you were on Twitter, you probably saw Michele, or Jesse Fewell, or myself doing real-time tweets.
The day concluded with the key note address by President Bill Clinton.
All in all, the day was full of surprises. So, some may ask, are you Agile?
