Agile Teams at Scale: Beyond Scrum of Scrums
Esther Derby
www.estherderby.com612.724.8114@estherderby
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One team or a handful of teams may be able to deliver small systems. Large complex systems require teams of teams to deliver significant features.
How can companies benefit from “the team effect” at scale?
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Teams share...
a compelling work goal
responsibility and accountability
an approach to work
teams have...
complementary skills
five-seven members
history
Teams are one sort of goal-oriented social unit.
Teams can form the building blocks for larger goal-oriented social units.
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Teams offer possibilities that functional or component work groups do not.
flexibility
learning
engagement
responsibility
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But, when we have many teams, we need coordination.
What are the goals of our coordinating structures?
maintaining technical integrity of the system
coordinating work across teams
integrating work across teams
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Mike Cohn
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Principles: Guide stars for scaling team-based work.
Practices: Social and technical practices that enable team-based work.
Pathways: Steps to get from here to there.
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Principles• Manage dependencies in the backlog as much as possible
• Aim for long-lived cross-functional teams
• Go as far down the technology stack as feasible
• Organize teams around context boundaries rather than component boundaries were ever possible
• Make cross-context communication explicit
• Avoid late learning
• Build in (some) redundancy
• Central AND local, depending10
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Technical PracticesContinuous integration (CI) within context
Integration across contexts at some other interval (keeping in mind “avoid late learning”)
Mutually agreed upon and developed automated test across context boundaries
Architectural, UI & coding standards
Technical reviews
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Social PracticesScrum of Scrums within context to surface impediments
Integrating teams (keeping in mind “avoid late learning”)
Decision boundaries
Component shepherds or teams
Tech councils
Product councils
Planning
Central AND Local
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Scrum of Scrums can work with a small number of teams working within the same context.
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But a large system may have several contexts. (Think of context as a feature group, for example “Student Financial Aid” in a system to track financial aspects of students registered at a university.)
Form cross-functional teams within contexts.
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Make communication across context boundaries explicit. Use integrating teams to agree how to handle the interface and integration between systems. Integrating teams should also agree on and write acceptances tests that confirm integration across boundaries.
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When several teams touch the code for services or component, add Component Shepherds or Component Shepherd Teams.
Component Shepherds work to maintain the integrity of components. They review code, coach, mentor, develop standards and provide guidance to teams.
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Large systems usually need both integrating teams and Component Shepherds.
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Tech Councils, made up of integrating team members, component shepherds, and test experts attend to the integrity of the whole system.
Product Councils look after product integrity.
Define decision boundaries for each sort of group.
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• Lateral structures handle coordination and integration. People close to the issues have both the knowledge and means to make decisions.
• Scrum of scrums handles impediments.
• Information flows across and through, rather than up and down.
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How do we get there?
Mid-level planning
Demand analysis
Removing technical dependencies
Smaller chunks
Pathways
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It’s not simple
It’s not easy
There is no one right way
There is no prescriptive plan
You won’t get there in one giant leap
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It is possible
You will get there by adapting, iterating, learning
You will create a more flexible organization
You will increase the speed and ease of communication
You will unleash potential
Wednesday, August 15, 12
(c) 2012 esther derby || www.estherderby.com || 612.724.8114
Some useful resources from within the software domain:
Domain Driven Design by Eric Evans
Practices for Scaling Lean & Agile Development by Craig Larman and Bas Vodde
...and from the field of Organization Development and Design
Images of Organization by Gareth Morgan
Designing Team-Based Organizations by Mohrman, Cohen, and Mohrman
Creating Strategic Change by William Pasmore
Leadership and the New Science by Meg Wheatley
Resources and References
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(c) 2012 esther derby || www.estherderby.com || 612.724.8114
Esther Derby
612.724.8114
www.estherderby.com
@estherderby
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