1. WHOLE-TEAM, DYNAMIC
ORGANIZATIONAL MODELING
AGILE 2012 - MONDAY AUGUST 13, 9 AM
Why model?
To plan and execute
complex product
development, we believe in
whole-team, dynamic
organizational modeling,
and that's what we're
sharing with you in our
workshop today.
TEST IDEAS FAST
We use models to experiment
and explore organizational
“pretotypes” that are easy for
people to understand, and can Information you need to
be changed fast.
model
TEST ASSUMPTIONS Consider the following Product X while
Discover how Legos can be inputs to developing large improving cross-training
used for organizational scale agile organizational and maximizing time to
modeling and questioning
models. market.)
(testing) of initial
assumptions. THE GOAL DESCRIBE CURRENT
The goal, (e.g. we want to STATE OF
GET RAPID FEEDBACK
Create a lightweight model of
create an Agile ORGANIZATION:
organization to develop # of developers,
the organization that we can
use to get rapid feedback.
(Continued on p. 2)
Facilitators:
CATHERINE LOUIS (PRODUCT OWNER, CST) - Principal and owner of CLL-Group.
Contact: cll@cll-group.com - Web: cll-group.com - Twitter: @catherinelouis
RAJ MUDHAR (CSM, PRODUCT OWNER) - Chief Agilist - Wireless DIvision @ Alcatel-Lucent
Contact: raj@ripnet.com - Web: rajile.com - Twitter: @rmudhar
© Raj Mudhar, Catherine Louis, 2012

2. testers, project managers,
functional managers,
ABOUT CATHERINE
ScrumMasters, Product
As principal of CLL-Group, Catherine focuses on
Owners, Customers, other clients in the large and complex product
roles... development space which include clients in military,
power systems, telecom, and other regulated
GENERAL SKILLS industries.
Skills: # required per Catherine’s business philosophy is a “train the
trainer” model where she enables her clients to
technical domain, e.g.
become autonomous and independent as quickly as
Mobile, CAD, UI, DBA, callP possible.
Layer 1 etc.) Catherine is a tacit culture hacker from way back.
SCARCE SKILLS
Skills which are in limited
supply which are preventing
ABOUT RAJ
your enterprise from As Chief Agilist of the Wireless Division at
Alcatel-Lucent, Raj is focused on leading a
achieving its goals. large-scale Agile transformation across multiple
global sites, supporting 9000 employees across all
DISTRIBUTION business functions.
Distribution of roles/skills Raj’s transformation philosophy is to enable teams
across time zones and and their leaders to facilitate their own change.
geography. Raj is a tacit culture hacker from way back.
CONSTRAINTS
Constraints such as unions, 3rd party suppliers, physical presence required in a country
or you cannot sell there, others outside the firm with whom you work, skills shortages
other than scarce skills, test equipment shortages, etc.
SCOPE
Scope of the model (e.g. development through product support, marketing through
development, etc).
Why Model? (continued from p. 1)
REDUCE HANDOFFS
Use the models to find ways to reduce handoffs associated with collaboration and communication.
SAFE AND FUN
Provide a safe way of visualizing possible organizational change without naming people
specifically.
© Raj Mudhar, Catherine Louis, 2012

3. 1 LearningBots Inc.
STATE OF THE ORGANIZATION
LearningBots Inc. is a small company that builds learning robots for children aged
5 and 13. The robots come in different configurations, are voice activated and can be
controlled remotely using a SmartPhone. The newest models are under development
and are targeted for older children. LearningBots wants to get feedback from these older
users and their parents as they develop a new version of their product. The robots plays
educational games in math, physics, and literature.
THE SCOPE OF THE AGILE TEAMS
Development to Operations, Project has been initiated (through Marketing and Sales),
and budgets have just been allocated across the HW and SW teams. Project will finish
when Operations takes over after development.
DISTRIBUTION OF EMPLOYEES:
All teams are at located at the same site.
THE GOAL
• Establish three cross-functional, multi-disciplined teams.
• Board layout skills need to be expanded across all 3 teams.
• Prototyping needs to happen very quickly to keep the customer engaged.
• Show how board-layout skills might transfer across 3 teams.
• Show 3 teams cross-functional, multi-disciplined.
• Show a reduction of reporting structure.
ORTHOGONAL CONCERN OR MAJOR IMPEDIMENT:
ABOUT The hardware teams and the software teams report
12 to 3 different silo’d areas of management. The SW
H/W Developers:
Director and the HW director are competing for the
S/W Developers: 17
same budget for the project. Supply management is
Testers: 5 currently not part of the team, and waiting for parts
3 total: 2 H/W & 1 S/W could impact the hardware schedule.
Project Managers:
Managers: 4
)
2 total (1H/W & 1 S/W
Supply Managers:
ter who could become
Other: One system tes
a PO.
nt skills in board layout
Constraints: Insufficie
.
to support both teams
© Raj Mudhar, Catherine Louis, 2012

4. 2
Acme Athletics
STATE OF THE ORGANIZATION
The Acme Athletics company makes software for sports clubs to organize their team
rosters, schedules, statistics, and training plans for their athletes.
The software takes the statistics and training plans of the athletes and uses an
algorithm (heuristic) that computes the probability of success or defeat of athletes and
their teams. Customers are demanding more flexibility in the
model to tune the output depending on local conditions. There
ABOUT is only one modeler who know how all this works. And now, we
S/W Developers: 12 need more of them.
Testers: 10
THE SCOPE OF THE AGILE TEAMS
Project Managers (PMs):
3
Scope is from Concept to Cash - because customers want to be
Managers: 3
heavily involved in tuning the algorithm for their needs. This
involves sales, marketing, R&D, and the deployment and
Marketing staff: 3
support team. Deployment and support teams are separate
Sales staff: 3 (USA, UK, from the developers and testers. They are located on the same
Australia)
sites as the customers. Marketing staff are at the same
Deployment staff: 3 locations as the product managers. (we did not list these people
in the original scenario)
Product support staff: 3
Other: 1 HR, 1 Finance, 3 DISTRIBUTION OF EMPLOYEES:
product managers (2 in USA 1.PMs are on one site and the rest are elsewhere.
and 1
2.Developers and testers are spread across different sites (each
team has developers and testers-co-located) but the critical skills are only in one of
the three teams.
THE GOAL
• Show how the model reduces reporting structures.
• Show how the developers and testers can interact more easily.
• Show how customers can be involved in feedback loops (e.g. tuning the algorithms).
ORTHOGONAL CONCERN OR MAJOR IMPEDIMENT:
Modeling skills are lacking. PMs demand lots of reports and documentation. A budget
cut is forcing you to remove at least 5 people from the project or cut salaries by 10%.
You are limited to how much test infrastructure you can replicate in different locations.
You can only add enough additional test equipment to enable one more site. (Tied to #2
from “Distribution of employees” from above.
© Raj Mudhar, Catherine Louis, 2012

5. 3 GammaGenome ABOUT
STATE OF THE ORGANIZATION
Designers: 8 in RTP
You’ve just been hired at GammaGenome as a ScrumMaster. This
company does genetic research to increase crop production in the US. Developers: 12 in
Cairo, Egypt
There are 8 designers in Research Triangle Park. The company is
headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. Basel HQ has decided that ALL Testers: 2 in RTP
development must happen in Egypt. The development currently consists ScrumMaster: 1 in
of high level algorithms which are then used by the medical staff to prove RTP
out their hypotheses. When they go into production, the code will be used Product Owners: 0
by universities in North America. during development
Project Managers: 0
THE SCOPE OF THE AGILE TEAMS - she just left
The teams currently take 2 weeks to plan a sprint of 2 weeks in length,
and they begin with a backlog that has been prioritized and estimated by Managers: 0 -
Nobody seems to know
the BA’s. So the scope is very narrow: someone else has done the what’s going on
requirements analysis, user story writing, prioritization and estimation.
Other: 5 BAs, all
They hope for a single-piece to flow through to unit testing before being doctors holding multiple
complete. degrees, 1 production
stream owner (although
DISTRIBUTION OF EMPLOYEES: not in production yet)
There are 17 people located in RTP, NC and 12 are located in Cairo,
Egypt.
THE GOAL
1. Have 3 cross-functional, multi-disciplined teams, able to deliver to one customer
(University) in the next few months.
2. Show how the model can reduce reporting structures.
3. Show how product owners, developers and testers can more easily interact.
4. Show how customers can be involved in feedback loops (i.e. hypothesis testing.)
5. Show how we can stop this ScrumFall
ORTHOGONAL CONCERN OR MAJOR IMPEDIMENT:
The BA’s never seem to agree to anything, prioritize anything (everything is P1) and
they are always arguing over what should go in the backlog. One of the BA’s seems to be
able to get them to agree. One of the designers in RTP just found a contracting agency
and wants to hire developers locally (seems he has figured out a way to hire 3 people
under the Basel HQ radar.) The velocity of the team in Egypt is very low; their last
Sprint review was a demo of an ordered linked list. The whole team is concerned that
the stories are being written without the User in mind. One developer recently said, “All
of our stories start with ‘As A User’ and we don’t know who the user is!”
© Raj Mudhar, Catherine Louis, 2012

6. 4 Webtastic
STATE OF THE ORGANIZATION
Webtastic is a local start-up developing everything from small brochure sites to large-
scale custom software solutions. Their services include:
• Web design
• Web hosting ABOUT
• User Experience Executives:: CEO, CIO, COO
• Programming
Other Management: 1 Creative Director, 1 HR,
• Internet marketing 1 Strategic
Relations Manager, 1 Marketing Director, 1 Director
of Client
• Web strategy Consulting Services
THE SCOPE OF THE AGILE Marketing: 1 senior marketing specialist and 2 intern
et marketing
specialists
TEAMS
Development to Operations, Designers: 8 web designers
Just R&D, from Marketing Developers/Testers: 10 Associate Programmers,
1 senior
through to final customer Associate Programmer, 2 Programmers, 1 Mobile Apps
developer, 1
delivery, finance...etc. front-end developer, 1 Quality Assurance Specialist,
3 Associate S/W
Developers, 1 UX Developer,
DISTRIBUTION OF Technical Support: 2 technical support specialists
EMPLOYEES:
Project Managers: 6
All 47 employees are located
in Grapevine, Texas.
THE GOAL
1. Have cross-functional multi-disciplinary teams wherever possible.
2. Show how the model can reduce reporting structures.
3. Show how product owners, developers and testers can more easily interact.
4. Show how customers can be as close to development as possible to improve feedback.
ORTHOGONAL CONCERN OR MAJOR IMPEDIMENT:
Currently, Webtastic is without process, and managing in a hierarchical fashion where
each morning the CXO’s meet and then dictate the day. Developers are thrashing with
this turmoil. Their venture capital firm will not replenish their funds for 2012 until
some order can be seen in the organization focusing on producing value for the
customer. One programmer who thought he would have been named “senior associate”
programmer is considering leaving, and he is a key programmer working on their next
(Big!) client project.
© Raj Mudhar, Catherine Louis, 2012