Slides from my workshop with Agile Holland, 9 Oct 2013.

1. Complexity, Governance & the Agile Team
Complexity, Governance, Team
Agile Holland, 2013
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2. Objectives
 What is governance?
 How do our perceptions of “good governance” vary?
 Does complexity influence this?
 Governance is contextual – no single “correct” model.
Complexity, Governance, Team
Agile Holland, 2013
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3. Agenda
15 min
Discussion
60 min
Two exercises
15 min
Debrief
Complexity, Governance, Team
Agile Holland, 2013
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4. Who chooses the development process?
Complex.
Belongs to team plus PM.
“Belongs to me”
Complexity, Governance, Team
Agile Holland, 2013
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Simple (“just do it”).
Belongs to team plus exec

5. Institute on Governance (www.iog.ca)
They follow an
acceptable process
(“due process”)
We know which
decisions matter
Governance is the process whereby societies or
organisations make important decisions, determine
whom they involve and how they render account.
They track outcomes &
act to improve them
The right people are
involved in these
decisions
Complexity, Governance, Team
Agile Holland, 2013
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6. Complexity, Governance, Team
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7. We’d need to do
an experiment or
pilot/prototype
Cynefin
We’d assemble a team of
experts
If we need to think
about this, we’re in
Complexity, Governance, Team
Agile wrong
theHolland, 2013 place
I can just decide and do it
Dave Snowden
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8. Break into teams
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Agile Holland, 2013
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9. Exercises
 60 Minutes
 Dot vote on the matrix – 5 dots per person per decision
 Position the decision post-its against the four corners
 Go with your gut, then discuss & refine if you have time
 Ask me if you need clarification
Complexity, Governance, Team
Agile Holland, 2013
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10. Review
 Pick 4 decisions (one from each domain)
 Did you agree on who should be involved?
 Why did you differ?
Complexity, Governance, Team
Agile Holland, 2013
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11. Debrief
 Circulate around the teams:
What’s different?
What’s the same?
What’s surprising?
Complexity, Governance, Team
Agile Holland, 2013
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12. Final thoughts
governance
He who forgets history is condemned to repeat it.
 Good governance lets you focus energy on decisions, not process
 If you don’t define governance up front, you revisit it for every decision
 Agile shifts the locus and timing of decisions
 It doesn’t remove the need to think about governance
 Decisions are often fuzzy
 People have divergent opinions who should make which decision
 This derails projects & programmes, unless it’s addressed head on
Complexity, Governance, Team
Agile Holland, 2013
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13. Thank you
graham@grahamoakes.co.uk
@GrahamDOakes
(Give me your contact details if you
want today’s outputs.)
Complexity, Governance, Team
Agile Holland, 2013
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14. Graham Oakes Ltd
 Making sense of technology…
 Many organisations are caught up in the
complexity of technology and systems.
 This complexity may be inherent to the
technology itself. It may be created by the pace of technology change. Or it may arise from
the surrounding process, people and governance structures.
 We help untangle this complexity and define business strategies that both can be
implemented and will be adopted by people throughout the organisation and its partner
network. We then help assure delivery of implementation projects.
 Clients…
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Cisco Worldwide Education – Architecture and research for e-learning and educational systems
Council of Europe – Systems for monitoring compliance with international treaties; e-learning systems
Dover Harbour Board – Systems and architecture review
MessageLabs – Architecture and assurance for partner management portal
National Savings & Investments – Helped NS&I and BPO partner develop joint IS strategy
The Open University – Enterprise architecture, CRM and product development strategies
Oxfam – Content management, CRM, e-Commerce
Thames Valley Police – Internet Consultancy
Sony Computer Entertainment – Global process definition
Amnesty International, Endemol, tsoosayLabs, Vodafone, …
Complexity, Governance, Team
Agile Holland, 2013
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