The Agile Manifesto and the Agile Principles should provide guidance for projects. This talk is about my personal reflection of my last multi-team project with regards to this guidance.
8. 8
Agility
• Guiding ideas
• and principles
• to make your development efforts
• run more efficient and effectively
9. 9
Agility in multi-team projects
• Guiding ideas and principles
• to be more effective and efficient
• in projects that involve more than one team
• working on the same specific problem to solve
12. 12
Numbers
• 1 TPM for overall ownership
• 1 TPM making sure we have content
• 3 key busines stakeholder, including one of the MDs
• 6 teams with 66 people working on it directly
• 11 teams overal contributing
• Having more than 16 interfaces between those 11 teams
• 5 Agile coaches and scrum masters involved in the teams
13. 13
Timeline
• Ideation to project decisions: 6 months
• Project initialization to first proof of concept: 3 months
• Project initialization to internal version: 11 month
• Crunchtime: 1,5 months
• Project initialization to live traffic: 12,5 months
14. 14
Timeline and involved people
Idea
6
Project
decision
12
Risk
analysis
20
Draft
10
Proof of
concept
20
Working
version
40
Start
building
25
Production
66
17. 17
M3 Customer collaboration over contract
negotiation
https://imgflip.com/memegenerator
• You are there to help the business succeed
• Help them by driving the collaboration
• Bring the options to the table
• Be proactive
18. 18
P3 Collaboration between stakeholders and
developers throughout the project
http://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aDwx7d9_700b_v1.jpg
• The fuck is this?
• We need business input for feature design
• And experts do the tech decisions
• Update the stakeholders as you go
20. 20
M1 Individuals and interactions over processes
and tools
https://i.imgflip.com/d7h54.jpg
• Cross team collaboration is a risk for project success
• Exchange often on different levels across the teams
• Connecting people to solve problems
• Have everyone focus everyone on the same goal
• The why is important
21. 21
Get a proof of concept
Idea
6
Project
decision
12
Risk
analysis
20
Draft
10
Proof of
concept
20
Working
version
40
Start
building
25
Production
66
22. 22
P6 Working software is the primary measure of
progress
• Prototypes are nice for showcasing
• Your goal is to deliver a working solution
• Start building it early
• Solve the connections and interfaces
• Fake the logic first
23. 23
P8 Attention to technical detail and design
enhances agility
https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aVq6mZ8_700bwp.webp
• Bullshit bingo!
• Getting stuck in architecture rounds hurts
• If you work agile, your system has to be adaptable
• Prefer a „we can replace that piece easily“ approach
• And just start writing the final codebase
• Learn to live with known unknows
24. 24
Start writing the final codebase
Idea
6
Project
decision
12
Risk
analysis
20
Draft
10
Proof of
concept
20
Working
version
40
Start
building
25
Production
66
25. 25
P2 Frequent delivery of working software
https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aGxGev0_700bwp_v3.webp
• Have your integration up all time
• Never turn it off – you won‘t get it on again easily
• Looking at working software makes things obvious
26. 26
P10 Self-organizing teams encourage great
architectures, requirements, and designs
http://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/a6Q0y8L_700b_v1.jpg
• There is no light-weight agile process for multi-team
projects
• Make teams take ownership
• Make teams manage themselves
• Supply context, goals and priorities
• Facilitate solution finding with involved parties
27. 27
First working end-to-end integration
Idea
6
Project
decision
12
Risk
analysis
20
Draft
10
Proof of
concept
20
Working
version
40
Start
building
25
Production
66
28. 28
M4 Responding to change over following a
plan
• Create the change
• Drive the decisions
• Be determined to get change done
• Or be prepared to get orders
29. 29
P1 Accommodate changing requirements
throughout the development process
http://rcmguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Success-what-it-really-looks-like.jpg
• Replace accommodate with DRIVE!
• If you dictate the pace of the decisions, you are in charge
• Prepare options
• Negotiate with the stakeholders about options
• Or get the stakeholder decision as an order for you
30. 30
M2 Working software over comprehensive
documentation
http://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aeGAQzO_700b_v1.jpg
• One reliable source of truth is enough
• Source code is a reliable source of truth
• TPM is reliable source of truth
• Document the important topics once
32. 32
P4 Support, trust, and motivate the people
involved
https://sayingimages.com/wp-content/uploads/barney-team-awesome-meme.png
• If the TPM stops believing, the project it is lost
• Have ambassadors who also believe in that project
• Supply context
• Let the expert`s do the expert`s job
• And the experts do the expert decisions
33. 33
P5 Enable face-to-face interactions
https://imgflip.com/memegenerator/42298215/Talk-backwards-Yoda-does
• TPMs scale very badly
• 2 Engineers next to each other solve problems quickly
• Remote locations have to visit often
34. 34
P7 Agile processes to support a consistent
development pace
https://imgflip.com/memegenerator/41972695/The-Manual
• Might work for existing scopes with existing teams
• On a large scale, project load differs per team, topic and
deadline
• TPM must believe in success
37. 37
P11 Regular reflections on how to become
more effective
https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aQqrAK7_700bwp.webp
• Works inside one team, but what about x-team
collaboration?
• Stop: „that‘s their issue“
• Start: “we need to find a solution together“
38. 38
Summary
• Agreed: 14
• Tweaked: 5
• Disagreed: 1
• Yeah, works with some adjustments
• Be proactive as a (T)PM!
