Communicating Change during Agile Transformation

1excella.com | @excellaco 1
Communicating Change
during Agile Transformation
Craig Steinberg
July 18, 2019

• Craig Steinberg
• Scrum Master at Excella
• 6+ years experience as a Scrum Master
• 12+ years experience in Consulting
• Agile Transformation and SaaS projects in
Commercial and Government
• Fun Facts:
• Super awesome Dog Dad
• Daily NY Times Crossword Puzzle solver
Craig.Steinberg@excella.com
Hey it’s me!

• Faster feedback cycles and time to market
• Enhance ability to manage changing priorities
• Reduce risk of failure
• Increase Productivity
• Change culture and morale
• Because someone said so
Why are companies and teams adopting Agile?

• Agile Transformation is an organization’s or team’s
evolution to embrace and thrive in a lean, collaborative,
self-organizing, and fast-changing environment
• Usually an iterative process that includes:
• Implementing the Scrum Framework
• Enforcing the Agile Manifesto
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
• Enabling and empowering Leadership to make decisions
• Incremental product delivery
What is Agile Transformation?

• Not aligning your values and aspirations amongst leadership
• Unwilling to experiment
• Unwilling to iterate the transformation
• Poor treatment of team members
• No plan to measure and monitor team-level improvements
Why don’t Agile Transformations succeed?

What does the Agile team look like?

What is the role of a Scrum Master?
• Ensures the team lives agile values and
principles and follows the processes and
practices that the team agreed they would use
• Removes any impediments that obstruct a
team’s pursuit of its sprint goals (servant
leadership)
• Establishes an environment where the team
can be effective
• Ensures a good relationship between the
team, the product owner and other outside the
team

Who else is part of the process?

• As a Scrum Master in an organization going through an Agile
Transformation, it is critical to engage key stakeholders as active
change participants and avoid common missteps that
unsuccessful projects take
• Instead of “This change is happening to me” it becomes a “How
can I make this change work for me?”
• Change Management needs to start early and happen often
How do Scrum Masters engage change?

• Everyone thinks they have the best idea,
but often it doesn’t materialize quite how
it’s envisioned
• Only true for very few things (mandates)
• Not true for most other products
• Issues are customer acceptance and
market adoption
If you build it, will they come?

• One of the most important tasks that Leadership can perform for
new products is getting their idea out of their head and into a
tangible format so that it can be communicated with others
• Traditionally, people will produce an elaborate business plan.
They’re extremely useful but most people don’t like writing them,
they take too long to complete and and there’s so much
unknowable at this stage
• Agile projects place a low value on comprehensive documentation,
so a Scrum Master needs a more lean, agile way to do this
What’s the Big Idea?

• A lean canvas is a 1-page business model template created by Ash Maurya
that helps get ideas out of your head and down on paper.
• It was originally intended for entrepreneurs, but it easily adaptable to agile
projects
• Deconstructs your idea or product into its key assumptions using 9 basic
building blocks
• The lean canvas then becomes a reference for future change requests that
the Product Owner can use to prioritize and manage changes.
The Lean Canvas

• A lean canvas is:
 Fast – as compared to writing a business plan
 Portable – it’s only one page!
 Concise – it’s only the essence of your product.
You may only have 30 seconds to grab the
attention of a stakeholder!
 Effective – it’s a ready-made presentation tool!
What makes a lean canvas so useful for
Change Management?

14
excella.com | @excellaco
Product Market
Lean
Canvas

• There’s no wrong way to complete the canvas
• Complete the canvas in one session
• It’s okay to leave sections blank
• Think in the present
• Use a customer-centric approach
Filling out the Lean Canvas

The OrderThe Order

1. Problem
• Without a problem, you don’t have a product to offer!
• Each customer segment you are thinking to work will have a set
of problems that they need solving
• List the 1-3 problems that your customers are facing and
describe them briefly
• Properly assess the problems at hand. Inventing nonexistent
problems will cause bigger headaches down the road

2. Customer Segments
• The Problem and the Customer Segment are intrinsically
connected. Without a segment in mind, you probably can't think
of their problems and vice-versa
• These are the customer groups who will actually use the
solution
• If there are a lot of individual customer segments, define who
your early adopters will be, as those will be your first-to-market
and you depend on their adoption

3. Unique Value Proposition
• This is in the middle of the canvas for a reason – it’s the
promise of value to be delivered
• A single, clear compelling message that states
• How your product solves customers’ problems or improves their
situation (relevancy)
• Delivers specific benefits (quantifiable value)
• Tells the ideal customer why they should buy from you and not
competition (unique differentiation)
• Usually focused on your user’s first interaction with your product
and it’s one of the things that will either make or break that
relationship

4. Solution
• The solution should be the top 3 features of your product as it
currently stands
• Finding the perfect solution to a problem is not an easy task.
There’s a good chance you’re not going to get it just right.
• Your users will ultimately determine which aspects of your
product they’re most eager to use and will subsequently find
most beneficial.

5. Channels
• Channels are the most important ways you reach your customer
segments
• Email
• Social Media
• Radio Ads
• TV Commercials
• LinkedIn
• Etc

6. Revenue Stream
• All of the different ways you will be collecting revenue for the
product
• i.e. monthly subscription tiers
• Free introduction period
• One-time fee

7. Cost Structure
• The cost structure includes all operational costs to get the
product to market and will help determine a break-even point
• Burn rate
• Market Research
• Overhead
• Etc

8. Key Metrics
• The most critical key performance indicators for the product
• Even the smallest changes can be disruptive, so what are the
key metrics that can be measured to see if you are successful
• The most useful metrics provide a great deal of insight and
spur short-term, low-cost action.

9. Unfair Advantage
• Often the most difficult block to answer
• Anything that gives your business the upper hand
• Unfair advantage is anything that cannot be copied or bought
• Insider information (i.e. data trends that your company has determined)
• Endorsements
• Existing loyal customer base
• What is not an unfair advantage?
• Commitment
• Passion
• Love

Buy-in &
Support
Beneficiaries
Deployment
Mission AchievementMission Budget
Product Mission
Mission
Model
Canvas

2. Beneficiaries (Customer Segments)
• All the layers in the agency that will get value from the product

5. Deployment (Channels)
• What it will take to deploy the product or service to the people
who need it
• What architecture components are needed?
• What constitutes a successful deployment?
• How will we get end users to adopt our product?

6. Mission Achievement (Revenue Streams)
• Mission Achievement is the value you are creating for the sum
of all the beneficiaries
• Usually not measured in dollars and cents
• Can be measured in a variety of ways
• Number of cyberattacks prevented
• Soldiers lives saved
• Manhours saved

7. Mission Budget (Cost Structure)
• The costs associated with getting the product through its
deployment.
• Will help determine if the model is sustainable and cost-
effective

9. Buy-In and Support (Unfair Advantage)
• How does your team keep relations with each product
beneficiary?
• The support or relationship you are going to have with your
target group to ensure that they get interested in your message
and vision
• Other avenues
• Legal
• Policy Changes
• Mandates

Lean Canvas as a Change Agent
• Gets the right people in the room early in
the process
• Builds initial relationships and team
collaboration. Makes the business active
change participants
• Involving the business early will help
provide a clearer view into customer
needs
• Can help with long-term planning
• Helps make sure that development
activities are linked to change activities

It’s done … now what?
• Use it as an information radiator
• Revisit the canvas periodically
• Bring it to all your meetings!

Agile Metrics
• Prior to beginning an Agile Transformation, you should have metrics in
place to measure progress. Otherwise, your may have no way of
knowing whether the transformation is having the desired results.
• Metrics forms the vital role in quantitative assessment of a developing
product. This helps to recognize the problems, supports in adapting
changes, analyzing the features and measuring the productivity.

Reporting on Team Output
Waterfall Project Management Agile Development

Sprint Velocity
• Velocity is the go-to metric for
forecasting a Scrum team’s
performance
• It is the measure of the
amount of work a team can
complete during a single sprint
and is calculated at the end of
a sprint by totaling the points
for all fully completed stories
Sprint Story Points Completed
1 52
2 60
3 52
4 64
5 60
6 54
7 58
8 56
Average Velocity 57

Sprint Velocity
Sprint
Story Points
Completed
1 52
2 60
3 52
4 64
5 60
6 54
7 58
8 56
Average Velocity 57
Sprint
Story Points
Completed
1 50
2 80
3 100
4 25
5 50
6 19
7 112
8 20
Average Velocity 57

The Flaw of Averages
• Taking the average velocity and
forecasting out is a common
practice
• Plans based on averages only
tend to misestimate because
they do not address statistical
uncertainties
• The Scrum Master must protect
the team and their long-term
interests and forecast better

Other Forecasting Options
• Use the Median
• Set Confidence Intervals
• Sort low to high
• Discard outliers
• Determine the 80%, 90% or other confidence level
the team deems appropriate
• “Based on historical data, we are 90% confidence that velocity for the remaining iterations will be
50 story points”
• Monte Carlo Forecasting
• Computerized mathematical technique that allows people to account for risk in forecasting and
decision making
• Uses random sampling of existing data to predict an unknown result

The Human Aspect
• The first value in the Agile Manifesto is Individuals and
Interactions over processes and tools
• A highly motivated, happy team will likely be more efficient,
cohesive and ready for the task at hand
• When properly applied, human metrics are a terrific way to
influence behavior, highlight areas of improvement and
eliminate waste.

The Happiness Index
• Ask the team to rate it’s happiness
on a routine basis on a scale of 1-5.
• This can be done as part of daily
stand-ups or at any regular interval
• The purpose of this exercise is to
draw a graphic representation of
team members´ emotions during
sprints, connecting their emotions to
sprint events. With this kind of
information, the team can identify
what exactly affects its performance
and then work to improve

The Happiness Index
Cons
• Subjective
• People may self-censor
themselves to conform to the
group
• Not necessarily team-oriented.
Someone may be having a
“happy” day even if the team
is not performing well
Pros
• Something “elusive” becomes
quantifiable
• Employees feel recognized
• Can be used as discussion
points in retrospectives

Team Morale
• In addition to individual happiness, it’s important to measure the
team’s level of engagement with the project.
• Teams with High Morale often are willing to help each other out,
are proud of their work and will persist in high pressure
situations.
• Teams with Low morale will withdrawal from team activities, be
unwilling to experiment, and give up easily.

Measuring Team Morale
• Using the Happiness Index method, ask the following questions
to your team at regular intervals.
• I am enthusiastic about the work that I do for my team
• I find the work that I do for my team has meaning and purpose
• I am proud of the work that I do for my team
• To me, the work that I do for my team is challenging
• In my team, I feel bursting with energy
• In my team, I feel fit and strong
• In my team, I quickly recover from setbacks
• In my team, I can keep going for a long time

Return on Time Invested (ROTI)
• More than ever, there is a focus on value and waste elimination as
organizations’ highest priorities : lean thinking must drive our projects.
And it starts by your meetings
• ROTI (Return on Time Invested) is a quick and easy method to
gauge the time spent on meetings or workshops, and to improve their
effectiveness.
• 1 – Useless – I lost time. No Value
• 2 – Useful. But it could’ve been more effective
• 3 – Average. I gained enough to justify the time spent
• 4 – Very Good. I gained more than the time I spent
• 5 – Excellent. A useful meeting that was worth more than the time spent on it
• This will provide immediate, transparent feedback that can be used to
help continuously improve the team

Return on Time Invested (ROTI)

Goodhart’s Law

Questions

HANDOUTS

Lean
Canvas

Buy-in &
Support
Beneficiaries
Deployment
Mission
Achievement
Mission Budget
Mission
Model
Canvas

Communicating Change during Agile Transformation

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