I Planned all the Projects for the Year,
How Can Agile Help me Get Them Done?
AgileIndy
April 17, 2015
Sandi Keller
Enterprise Agile Coach
LeadingAgile
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.LeadingAgile.com
About the Presentation
§  We all try to get more things done than are humanly possible.
§  Today we’ll learn that adding dedicated Agile Teams at the
Portfolio and Program levels help us focus on delivering the
right things rather than just getting work started.
§  And how these teams help our transformation succeed
3
The Problem With All Those
Projects
Annual Planning / Budgeting
•  Often centralized & coordinated
•  Beginning of Budget Year
•  Agree to Projects we want to get done
•  Estimate & Forecast
Projects
Hours
Timeline
Project A
1250
4
Project B
2300
10
Project C
8000
18
Project D
12000
48
23,550
80
•  We plan for the utilization of people
•  Get projects started as planned making sure each one gets it’s
allocated hours
5
# People
What Happens Next?
•  It takes time to pull the team together and get going
•  The people you need for your project are already on 1, 2 or more projects
•  Projects are always bigger than the estimates
•  You continue to come up with more new projects without killing any off
6
What Happens Next?
By MARCH,
Your plan looks like this
7
Projects
Hours
Timeline
# People
Project A
1250
4
Project B
2300
10
Project C
8000
18
Project D
12000
48
Project E
4350
12
Project F
3200
8
31,000
100
What Happens Next?
And by JULY,
Your plan looks like this
8
Projects
Hours
Timeline
# People
Project A
1250
4
Project B
2300
10
Project C
8000
18
Project D
12000
48
Project E
4350
12
Project F
3200
8
Project S
7800
16
Project T
2100
5
23,550
80
40,900
121
What Happens Next?
§  You starve one project to feed another
that is “higher priority”
§  Projects start but finish long after their
planned end date
§  There is no accountability
§  Quality suffers
§  People burn out
9
Projects
Hours
Timeline
# People
Project A
1250
4
Project B
2300
10
Project C
8000
18
Project D
12000
48
Project E
4350
12
Project F
3200
8
Project S
7800
16
Project T
2100
5
40,900
100
You Realize This Doesn’t Work Well
•  Blame it on poor estimates
•  Double efforts the next round to get estimates
“more accurate”
10
You Hear Agile Can Help With These Problems!
Choose a project
11
Projects
Hours
Timeline
# People
Project B
1250
4
Project C
2300
10
Project D
8000
18
Project C
12000
48
23,550
80
You Hear Agile Can Help With These Problems!
Choose a project
And form a team
Product Owner Analyst ScrumMaster Developers 12
Testers Projects
Hours
Timeline
# People
Project B
1250
4
Project C
2300
10
Project D
8000
18
Project C
12000
48
23,550
80
Kick off our Agile Team & Project (Pilot)
ü  Learn about agile
ü  Find a place to sit together
ü  Create a team board
ü  Do some team building
ü  Do all the ceremonies….demo/retro/planning/standups
ü  Work on improving our practices – good quality, frequent releases, planning
sprints, minimizing risk
ü  Have successful sprints and release or project
ü  Might even have formal coaching
13
Agile Worked Great!
•  It’s not only the perception, it’s reality
•  The team was fully dedicated
•  Very few dependencies
•  The project was successful
•  People love their new way of working
•  Select another project
•  Form a second team
14
The 2nd Agile Team Is Harder
Dedicating People
Difficult to find people because of our utilization model
§  You form a team but we can’t keep people on it 100%
§  You still have all those projects and everyone is on more than one
§  Subject Matter Expertise is needed on multiple projects
The 2nd Agile Team Is Harder
Dependencies
•  If you have legacy or
complex systems, you can’t
put everyone needed to build
a solution on one team
16
It’s Harder the 2nd Time – Dependencies
The 2nd Agile Team Is Harder
Dependencies
•  If you have legacy or
complex systems, you can’t
put everyone needed to build
a solution on one team
•  You have a lot of groups to work
with outside of your team
17
How do we solve this problem when
Transforming the organization?
We form Additional Agile Teams to
support and govern the Flow of Work
(and Value!)
Portfolio
Team
19
Product
Owner
Team
Agile Teams and What They Do
Pilot “Slice”
Intake
Portfolio
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Delivery
Team
Services
Team
Services
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Delivery
Team
Delivery
Team
Services
Team
Services
Team
20
Agile Teams and What They Do
Pilot “Slice”
Intake
Portfolio
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Delivery
Team
Services Teams – These
teams support common
services across product
lines. They support the
needs of the delivery
teams.
Services
Team
Services
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Delivery
Team
Delivery
Team
Services
Team
Services
Team
21
Agile Teams and What They Do
Pilot “Slice”
Intake
Portfolio
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Delivery Teams – These teams
perform the work detailed by Product
Owner Team, and assist in breaking
Features down into Stories.
Services Teams – These
teams support common
services across product
lines. They support the
needs of the delivery
teams.
Services
Team
Delivery
Team
Services
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Delivery
Team
Delivery
Team
Services
Team
Services
Team
22
Agile Teams and What They Do
Pilot “Slice”
Intake
Product Owner Teams – These
teams define requirements, set
technical direction, and provide
context and coordination.
Delivery Teams – These teams
perform the work detailed by Product
Owner Team, and assist in breaking
Features down into Stories.
Services Teams – These
teams support common
services across product
lines. They support the
needs of the delivery
teams.
Services
Team
Portfolio
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Delivery
Team
Services
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Delivery
Team
Delivery
Team
Services
Team
Services
Team
23
Agile Teams and What They Do
Portfolio Teams – These teams make
Pilot
investment decisions, govern the portfolio
and make sure that work is moving
through the system.
“Slice”
Intake
Product Owner Teams – These
teams define requirements, set
technical direction, and provide
context and coordination.
Delivery Teams – These teams
perform the work detailed by Product
Owner Team, and assist in breaking
Features down into Stories.
Services Teams – These
teams support common
services across product
lines. They support the
needs of the delivery
teams.
Services
Team
Portfolio
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Delivery
Team
Services
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Delivery
Team
Delivery
Team
Services
Team
Services
Team
24
Description
Structure
Portfolio Teams – These teams make
investment decisions, govern the
portfolio and make sure that work is
moving through the system.
Pilot “Slice”
Intake
Product Owner Teams – These
teams define requirements, set
technical direction, and provide
context and coordination.
Product
Owner
Team
Delivery Teams – These teams
perform the work detailed by Product
Owner Team, and assist in breaking
Features down into Stories.
Services Teams – These
teams support common
services across product
lines. They support the
needs of the delivery
teams.
Portfolio
Team
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
25
Description
Structure
Portfolio Teams – These teams make
investment decisions, govern the
portfolio and make sure that work is
moving through the system.
Pilot “Slice”
Intake
Product Owner Teams – These
teams define requirements, set
technical direction, and provide
context and coordination.
Kanban
Portfolio
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Kanban
Scrum
Delivery Teams – These teams
perform the work detailed by Product
Owner Team, and assist in breaking
Features down into Stories.
Services Teams – These
teams support common
services across product
lines. They support the
needs of the delivery
teams.
Process
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
26
Description
Planning Horizon
Portfolio Teams – These teams make
investment decisions, govern the
portfolio and make sure that work is
moving through the system.
Pilot “Slice”
12-18
Months
Product Owner Teams – These
teams define requirements, set
technical direction, and provide
context and coordination.
4-6 Months
Delivery Teams – These teams
2-4
perform the work detailed by Product
Owner Team, and assist in breaking
Features down into Stories.
Services Teams – These
teams support common
services across product
lines. They support the
needs of the delivery
teams.
Structure
Process
Kanban
Portfolio
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Product
Owner
Team
weeks
Service
Delivery
Team
Kanban
Scrum
Delivery
Team
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
27
Description
Planning Horizon
Portfolio Teams – These teams make
investment decisions, govern the
portfolio and make sure that work is
moving through the system.
Pilot “Slice”
12-18
Months
Product Owner Teams – These
teams define requirements, set
technical direction, and provide
context and coordination.
4-6 Months
Delivery Teams – These teams
2-4
perform the work detailed by Product
Owner Team, and assist in breaking
Features down into Stories.
Services Teams – These
teams support common
services across product
lines. They support the
needs of the delivery
teams.
Product
Owner
Team
Portfolio
Team
Epics
Product
Owner
Team
Stories
Delivery
Team
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
Process
Kanban
Features
weeks
Service
Delivery
Team
Work
Types
Structure
Kanban
Scrum
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
28
Work Types &
Progressive Elaboration
Work Types
Epics
Features
User Stories
•  Achieves a business goal
•  1-3 months in duration – can be part of an initiative
•  May span more than one team
•  Managed by the Portfolio Team
•  Typically 2-4 weeks in duration
•  Ideally contained within a team
•  Derived from Epics and managed by the Product Owner Team
•  Ideally complete end to end releasable functionality
•  Smallest increment of value
•  Typically less than one week
•  Derived from Features
•  Developed by the delivery teams
30
The Strategic Vision is Progressively
Elaborated into Epics, Features and Stories
Portfolio Team
Product Owner
Team
Delivery Team
STORY
31
Delivery Team
Delivery Team
Portfolio Team
Portfolio Team Activities
§  Makes decisions about what to invest in and continuously
manage investments
§  Portfolio Team reviews Epics in each state
§  Portfolio Team communicates decisions to Product Owner
Team and key stakeholders
33
Who Belongs on This Team?
Leaders in their respective areas:
§  Product Management
§  Operations
§  Architecture
§  Project Management
34
This Team Focuses On…
§  Strategic alignment
§  Understanding the broader business & market needs
§  The health and performance of the portfolio
§  Holding the system accountable (PO & delivery teams)
35
Product Owner Team
Why a Product Owner Team?
§  Helps deal with challenges of a single Product Owner at scale
§  Enabler of the delivery team
§  Increase clarity of the backlog
§  Reduce churn at the leadership level and among the delivery
teams
37
Product Owner Team Activities
§  Provide support and guidance to all involved to facilitate moving
Features through the Program Kanban
§  Prepare Epics and Features for Agile Teams
§  Provide support and guidance to Agile Teams to build and test
User Stories
§  Facilitate collaboration and communication with the Portfolio
Team
§  Facilitate collaboration across Agile Teams
38
This Team Focuses On…
§  Whole system view of the backlog
§  Architecture dependencies
§  Business dependencies
§  Understands the scope of the release
39
Who Belongs on This Team?
§  Product Management
§  Project Management
§  Architects
§  Development
§  Quality
§  Business Analyst
40
Product Owner Team Rules of Engagement
§  Product, not project focused. Team stays together for a long
time, just like our delivery teams.
§  Empowered to make decisions
§  Works in collaboration with the business and delivery team
members
§  Does not commit on behalf of the delivery teams
41
Agile Governance
Governance
The Agile Governance Model manages:
§  Demand & Value Management
§  Work Prioritization
§  Execution Monitoring and Control
§  Scope Management and Deliverables
43
Teams and
Collaborations
Enterprise Agile Delivery Approach
Product Management
Team
Portfolio
Delivery
Teams
Product Owner
Teams
Three Tier Governance Model
Portfolio
Team
Investment Alignment Investment Priori9za9on Demand Planning Strategic Alignment Epic Intake Release Targe9ng Investment Valida9on Product
Owner
Team
Solu9on Vision Ready To Build Release Viability Story Reﬁnement Produc9on Ready Release Execu9on Governance (Accountability) Detailed Planning (Clarity) Release Planning Build Develop and Test Integra9on Tes9ng Produc9on Ready Release Accountability Delivery
Teams
Sprint Plan Work In Process Daily Review Story Done Sprint Done Key GOALS in Governance Flow
Investment Alignment Investm
ent Valida9o
n Investment Priori9za9on Demand Planning Strategic Alignment Epic Intake Produc9on Ready Release Execu9on Governance (Accountability) Detailed Planning (Clarity) Solu9on Vision Develop and Test Story Reﬁnement Integra9on Tes9ng Produc9on Ready Release Accountability Sprint Plan Work In Process Daily Review Story Done Sprint Done Strategic Alignment
Demand Planning
Detailed Planning
Execution Governance
•  Maximize Strategic
Alignment
•  Increase Transparency
•  Organizational focus
on delivery of the most
valuable work
•  Reduce Time to ROI
•  Plan for significant
risks and
dependencies
•  Balance capacity and
demand
•  Reduce rework
•  Improve quality
•  Agree to minimal
capabilities needed to
deliver value
•  Ensure credible
release planning
•  Assess and guide the
progress of value
delivery
•  Minimize delivery risks
•  Continually make
continue, pivot, kill,
ship decisions
Investment Alignment Demand Planning
Investment Priori9za9on Demand Planning Strategic Alignment Execu9on Governance (Accountability) Detailed Planning (Clarity) Story Reﬁneme
nt Solu9on Vision Develop and Test Integra9on Tes9ng Produc9o
n Ready Release Accountability Sprint Plan Work In Process Daily Review Sprint Done Demand Planning
•  Increase predictability
•  Reduce Time to ROI
•  Feature Definition
•  Estimation/Release Targeting
46
•  Plan for significant risks
and dependencies
•  Balance capacity and
demand
Define Features
High Level Architecture
Acceptance Criteria
•  Add items to shopping cart
•  Remove items from cart
•  Checkout with credit card or paypal
UI Mockups
47
Process Flow
Estimation & Release Targeting
•  Mock plan features into sprints using your planned capacity
(for all teams needed to complete the feature)
•  Try to define enough features for at least 4 sprints
Sprint 1
Sprint 2
Sprint 3
Sprint 4
Team 1
F1
F2
F1
F3
Team 2
F1
F1
F3
F4
Team 3
F2
F3
F2
F4
Epic A
Epic B
Portfolio Team Decision
Decides if Epic/features move forward to Detailed Planning
•  Continue
•  Change
•  Kill
49
Investment Alignment Detailed Planning
Investment Priori9za9on Demand Planning Strategic Alignment Execu9on Governance (Accountability) Detailed Planning (Clarity) Story Reﬁneme
nt Solu9on Vision Develop and Test Integra9on Tes9ng Produc9o
n Ready Release Accountability Sprint Plan Work In Process Daily Review Sprint Done Detailed Planning
•  Story Mapping
•  Release Planning
50
•  Reduce rework
•  Improve quality
•  Agree to minimal
capabilities needed to
deliver value
•  Ensure credible
release planning
Story Mapping
•  An approach to organizing and prioritizing
user stories
•  Is a tool to help in release planning
Story Maps visualize the scope
Prioritize Stories
Prioritize Features
Activity 1
Activity 2
Activity 3
Activity 4
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
•  Story Maps organize product capabilities by user activity
•  Story Maps communicate the “big picture” to delivery teams
Story Maps
Minimum Marketable Feature (MMF)
Activity 1
Activity 2
Activity 3
Activity 4
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
MMF a
These two stories represent the MMF for Activity 1.
The others would be nice, but this is the minimum.
Story Maps
Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Activity 1
Activity 2
Activity 3
Activity 4
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
MMF a
MMF b
The MVP consists of these two MMFs, which are needed for the
product to be “just barely sufficient”
Release Planning
•  Plan stories into future sprints
•  Identify and sequence for dependencies
Team 1
Team 2
Team 3
Sprint 1
Sprint 2
Sprint 3
Sprint 4
Story 1
Story 2
Story 3
Story 4
Story 5
Story 6
Story 7
Story 8
Story 9
Story 10
Story 11
Story 12
Story 13
Story 14
Story 15
Story 16
Epic A
Story 1
Story 2
Story 3
Story 4
Story 5
Story 6
Story 7
Story 8
Story 9
Story 10
Story 11
Story 12
Story 13
Story 14
Story 15
Story 16
Epic B
Story 1
Story 2
Story 3
Story 4
Story 5
Story 6
Story 7
Story 8
Story 9
Story 10
Story 11
Story 12
Story 13
Story 14
Story 15
Story 16
So What About All Those Projects?
Agile isn’t going to keep you from doing stupid and
unrealistic things if you want to.
57
Agile isn’t going to keep you from doing stupid and
unrealistic things if you want to.
It does not streamline your business to make room for
pet projects.
It does not save you from your inability to say NO.
58
It’s not a realistic goal to get all the projects done!
Today you learned how Portfolio & Product Owner
teams and an effective governance model
• 
• 
• 
• 
59
Establish accountability
Manage the complexity of Agile in large orgs
Set you up to collectively make good tradeoff decisions
Get focused on the things that really matter
Successful Piloting in Large
Organizations
Typical Agile Pilot
Portfolio Teams – These teams make
investment decisions, govern the portfolio
and make sure that work is moving through
the system.
Pilot “Slice”
Intake
Product Owner Teams – These teams
define requirements, set technical
direction, and provide context and
coordination.
Delivery Teams – These teams perform the
work detailed by Product Owner Team, and
assist in breaking Features down into
Stories.
Services Teams – These teams
support common services across
product lines. These teams
support the needs of the delivery
teams.
Service
Delivery
Team
Kanban
Portfolio
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Delivery
Team
Pilot
Service
Delivery
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Kanban
Scrum
Delivery
Team
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
61
Pilot Teams for Larger Organizations
Portfolio Teams – These teams make
investment decisions, govern the portfolio
and make sure that work is moving through
the system.
Pilot
“Slice”
Pilot
Product Owner Teams – These teams
define requirements, set technical
direction, and provide context and
coordination.
Delivery Teams – These teams perform the
work detailed by Product Owner Team, and
assist in breaking Features down into
Stories.
Services Teams – These teams
support common services across
product lines. These teams
support the needs of the delivery
teams.
Service
Delivery
Team
Kanban
Portfolio
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Product
Owner
Team
Kanban
Scrum
Delivery
Team
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
Service
Delivery
Team
62
If You’re Already On Your Journey
§  Form a program team using lead members of your delivery teams + a
project manager or coordinator
§  Reorganize backlog into Epics & Features
§  Create feature level artifacts and run through a release targeting exercise
§  Decide if you have an achievable goal
-  Reduce Scope
-  Add capacity if you have time
§  Collaborative workshop to build or rebuild the backlog
§  Release Planning across all teams for the next period of time (ideally 3-4
sprints out)
63
Thank you for coming to my talk today!
If you found this information useful and still have questions, email anytime.
Kindly place the following in your subject line: AgileIndy Follow Up
[email protected]
Q & A
Appendix
Teams and Checkpoints Collabora9ons Progressive Elabora9on of Requirements Strategic Alignment Demand Management Balance Demand w/Capacity Epics Aligned with Strategy and Make Tradeoﬀs & Priori<zed on Value Execu9ve Strategy Team Segment Strategy Team PorKolio Team Detailed Planning Execu9on Governance Work sequenced to Maximize throughput of Value and Minimize Risk Product Owner & Program Teams Con<nue, change, ship or kill Delivery Teams Systems Team Stories Investment Theme Features Investment Theme Epic Intake Stories Stories Epics Capability Model Stories Stories Features Solu9on Vision Release Planning Story Reﬁnement Stories Develop and Test Integra9on Tes9ng Produc9on Ready Release Release Cycle Epic Flow Agile Overview
Product Owner Team Roles
Product Owner Team Roles
Brief Description
Product Manager
Support the valuable solution and ensure features are ordered
considering epic priorities
Solution Architect
Support the technically viable solution; provide support and guidance to
Tech Leads and other technology personnel
Release Manager (combine with
Support an achievable solution ensuring demand is balanced with
capacity and dependencies; facilitate release planning and protect the
release plans
Program Manager if small portfolio)
QA Manager
Provide support and guidance for the quality of the solution; ensure
quality is considered and coordinated early, define testing and integration
strategy
Program Manager
Foster effective collaboration of the Product Owner Team to shepherd
Features through the Kanban and ensure effective communication with
the portfolio team; May coordinate Epic and Operational reporting
Program/Release Level - Other Key Roles
Program/Release Roles
Brief Description
Epic Owner
Represents the value of the Epic and Features through the
Kanban flows.
Build Engineer
Responsible for branching strategy, environment configuration
and reliable build process
Core Agile Delivery Team
Product Owner, Technical Lead, Scrum Master, QA Lead from
Agile Teams
Go to Market Program
Manager
Facilitates planning and coordinates go to market/customer roll
out activities
Functional Lead
Competency Leader focused on functional excellence
Portfolio Team Key Roles
Portfolio Team Roles
Brief Description
IT Portfolio Manager
Responsible for delivery capacity
Product Management Leadership
Ensure the solution is valuable and strategically aligned; responsible
for the Epic Backlog
Architectural Leadership
Ensure the technical solution is viable; define the information
technology systems architecture that supports the solution
Operations Leadership
Ensure the broader Go To Market solution is achievable
PMO Leadership
Ensure development of the solution is achievable; balance capacity
and demand to present options for the portfolio of epics
Orchestrator
Ensure the portfolio team collaborates effectively; coordinates portfolio
team activities, reporting and metrics
Portfolio Management Key Artifacts
Epic Brief
Supports the definition and flow of epics from new concept until
they are delivered or killed. Light weight business case
document.
Portfolio Backlog
Ordered list of Epics to support the prioritization of the release
backlog
Epic Kanban Board
Tracks Epics through Portfolio process and supports Portfolio
Team’s Continue, Change, Kill decisions
Epic Roadmap
Roadmap of features for near term and epics into the future
Portfolio Dashboard
Indicator of health of epics, release, risks, and dependency
impacts
Release Plans
Credible plan to meet release objectives
Team Summary
Portfolio Team
Product Owner Team
Delivery Teams
Planning Horizon
•  6-18 Months
•  3-6 months
•  2-4 weeks
Activities
•  Define Epics
•  Prioritize Epics against each other
•  Maintain 6-18 month roadmap
•  Keep focus on finishing Epics
•  Define Features and Stories
•  Prioritize Features and Stories
•  Manage 2-3 month rolling look
ahead “Release Plan” or Planning
Increment
•  Keep focus on Finishing Features
•  Deliver working software with
good quality
•  Keep focus on delivering working
tested code on a consistent basis
Deliverables
•  Prioritized Epics
•  Epic Roadmap
•  High Level Estimates
•  Epic to Feature decomposition
•  Epic Definition of Done
•  Prioritized Features
•  Minimal Viable Product (MVP)
•  Ready Stories
•  Release Plans/Planning Increment
•  Managed Backlogs
•  Prioritized Stories
•  Feature Definition of Done
•  User Story to Task decomposition
•  Groomed Backlogs
•  Sprints
•  Tested Software
•  Story Definition of Done
Constraints
•  Capacity of the Delivery System
•  Work In Process (WIP)
•  Budget
•  Capacity of the Delivery System
•  Work In Process (WIP)
•  Dependencies
•  Skills
•  Velocity
•  Quality of Requirements
•  Software development tools and
practices
Execution
73
Governance
Detailed
Planning
Demand
Planning
Strategic
Alignment
Governance Step
Team
Artifacts/Check Points
Begin Epic Brief
Portfolio Team
Product Owner team
Problem Statement
Product Position or Elevator Statement
Does it align w/Strategy?
Portfolio Team
Portfolio Team Decision
Prioritize Epic
Portfolio Team
Add Epic to Portfolio Backlog / Epic Roadmap
Weighted Shortest Job First
Elaborate Epic Brief – Define
Features
Product Owner Team
Acceptance Criteria, High level architecture, process model
Constraints: Risk, compliance, etc.
Is it a viable approach?
Portfolio Team
Portfolio Team Decision
Release Targeting
Product Owner Team
Estimate Features, Determine teams
Mock plan features into future sprints
Show Epic roadmap with near term detail of features in current qtr +
epics farther out.
Release Planning
Product Owner Team
Delivery Teams (key/lead
members)
Feature Breakdown, Feature/Story Mapping
Build backlog, Mock plan into future sprints
Testing & integration strategy, Plan for risks & dependencies
Release Planning Event
Product Owner Team
Delivery Teams
Determine integrations & release milestones
Collectively commit to stories for the next planning increment
(Release Plan)
Build & Integrate
Product Owner Team
Delivery Teams
Story & Feature demos, Risk Dashboard, Epic Tracking, Release
Tracking
Is it sufficient to release to
customer/production?
Portfolio Team
Product Owner Team
Portfolio & Product Owner Team Decision
Agile Transformation Journey
Journey establishes practices that build on each other as you move to the next basecamp.
It takes ~ 1 qtr to get to each basecamp, depending on the team
Basecamp 1
Basecamp 2
Basecamp 3
Portfolio Teams
•  Identifying highest priority Epics
•  Funding Teams
•  Balancing Capacity with Demand
•  Prioritizing Epics against each
other using value estimation
•  Reorganizing Capability teams
to remove external
dependencies
Product Owner Teams
•  Breaking Epics down into
Features
•  Maintaining 3 month rolling
Release backlog
•  Balancing risks across Delivery
teams
•  Sequencing backlog work based
on dependencies
•  Sequencing Features for
options
•  Taking advantage of
automation to perform fully
integrated testing
Delivery Teams
•  Delivering consistent work
•  Using feedback from current
sprint to improve processes
•  Identifying risks
•  Improving efficiencies based on
feedback
•  Improving efficiencies through
Agile Development Tactics
Limit focus of learning
and coaching until the
teams are good at it.
Identify metrics to
measure performance.
When competencies and
processes are mastered,
team is ready to move
onto new learning and
practice.
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