by Scrum.org – Improving the Profession of Software Development
Scaled Professional ScrumFocused. Effective. Viable.
Gunther VerheyenShepherding Professional ScrumScrum.org
Agile Greece SummitAthens
18 September 2015
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MIN3
Which of the following software development processes is your organization using?• Lean (software development)• Kanban• DevOps• SAFe• DAD• eXtreme Programming• Scrum
Short Survey About You and Your Process
The Spotify Model?
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Two Decades of ScrumScaled Professional Scrum
“A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.”
– Mark Twain
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Designed for Complexity (1995)• Framing people’s
creativity• Controlling risk (time-
boxing)• Enabling validated
learning• Driven by goals• Thriving on discovery• Delivering Value• A bounded environment
for action
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Scrum’s DNASelf-organization
A system’s components interacting purposefully toward a shared goal without externally exerted power.
EmpiricismFrequent decisions of adaptation are based on knowledge gained through inspection and
experience.
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A Craze Since the Conception of Agile (2001)
scrum·pede/skrʌmˈpiːd/
Sudden frenzied rush of (panic–stricken) companies to do Scrum because they want to be agile, too.
Inspired by © Tomasz Włodarek.
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Scrum, Essentially1. A team pulls work from one Product Backlog.
2. Each Sprint delivers a releasable Increment of product.
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What if we would start with Scrum before attempting to ‘scale’ it?
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Scaled ScrumScaled Professional Scrum
“It takes two to scale.”– Gunther Verheyen
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An Even Bigger Craze (2012)
scrum·pede/skrʌmˈpiːd/
1. Sudden frenzied rush of (panic–stricken) companies to do Scrum because they want to be agile, too.
2. To flee in a headlong rush to bigger Scrum because more software is needed, now.
Inspired by © Tomasz Włodarek.
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MIN3
Raise your hand if your organization defines ‘scaled’ as…• Multiple teams working on one product• Multiple teams working on their individual products• Multiple teams working on a suite of integrated
products• One team working on several products in parallel• The complete IT department adopting Scrum• The complete organization transforming toward Agile
Short Survey About Scaled Scrum
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Focus. Transparency.Sc
aled
Scr
um
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Definition of Scaled Scrum1. Any implementation of Scrum where multiple Scrum
Teams build one product or a standalone set of product features, in one or more Sprints.
2. Any implementation of Scrum where multiple Scrum Teams build multiple related products or sets of product features, in one or more Sprints.
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Multiple Teams Building One Product 1. A product has one Product Backlog managed by one Product Owner.
2. Multiple Teams create integrated Increments.
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MIN2
What are YOUR biggest hurdles when scaling Scrum, implementing Scrum
at a larger scale?
The Challenges of Scaled Scrum
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The Integration of Work (or the lack thereof)
THE MEDUSA EFFECT
Poorly maintained codebases have…
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One Scrum Team Doing Work
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Some Scrum Teams Doing Work
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Many Scrum Teams Doing Work
Dependencies
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• People (communication)• Business domains and
requirements• Technology• Software• Infrastructure
• Intra-team• Cross-team
• External
Dependencies
Dimensions Where
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Unresolved Dependencies Cause A Shift in Money Spent
Adding
New Features
Fighting Technical
Debt
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Your ability to scale depends on your ability to continuously:
– Handle dependencies– Integrate work across all levels– Create integrated Increments
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The NexusScaled Professional Scrum
“A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.”
- Mark Twain
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Nexus–noun
\ˈnek-səs\: a relationship or connection between people or things
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nexus
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3-9 Teams Building One Product? Help!
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The Nexus™ – An Exoskeleton for 3-9 Scrum Teams
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Identify and work around dependencies:• Prior to work occurring• Ongoing• Persistent• In all dimensions
Reveal dependencies that remained unnoticed:• Frequent integration• Acceptance testing• Continual build and
delivery• Minimize technical debt
Designed for Dependencies
Proactive Reification*
*Reification:Making something real, bringing something into being, or making something concrete.
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The Nexus Augments ScrumBuilds on Scrum principles, values, and foundations• Creates communication pathways• Widens and deepens inspect and adapt mechanisms• Fosters continued transparency• Relies on bottom-up intelligence
Eschews fixed, defined solutions that add overhead.
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The Nexus Integration Team• A Scrum Team• Works off of Product
Backlog• Members are full or part
time• Composition may change
between Sprints• Focus is dependencies
and facilitation of integration
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Scaled Professional Scrum PracticesDependencies Reification
Feature teams ALM artifact automation
Micro-services Test-driven development
Product Backlog metadata Continuous integration of all work
Continuous Product Backlog refinement Frequent builds
Story mapping Frequent testing
Product Backlog cross-team dependency mapping
Limited branching
Communities of practice Descaling and Scrumble
Architecture contains experimentation and A/B switches
Thin sliced Product Backlog items compose Sprint backlog for ATDD
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Descaling• Scale up with caution• Add practices or tools• Reduce the overall pace by
reducing the number of teams to a more sustainable number (and/or velocity)
• Clean up and integrate the current software so it can be built upon in future Sprints
Prod
uctiv
ity
Teams
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Scrumble• When technical debt, domain
knowledge and test results overwhelm forward progress, Scrumble
• Scrumble is a period of unknown duration and staffing when work is done to allow forward progress to resume
• Staffing should be minimized and talent applied maximized
Teams
Prod
uctiv
ity
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The Nexus interconnects 3-9 Scrum Teams:
– Exhibiting Scrum’s principles and DNA–Creating one reified Increment of product– Minimal overhead, maximized outcome
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ClosingEmpirical Management Explored
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“The future state of Scrum will no longer be called ‘Scrum’. What we now call Scrum will have become the norm, and organizations have re-invented themselves around
it.”Source: Gunther Verheyen, “Scrum – A Pocket Guide (A Smart Travel Companion)”, 2013
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About
Gunther Verheyen• eXtreme Programming and Scrum since
2003• Professional Scrum Trainer• Shepherding Professional Scrum at
Scrum.org• Co-developing the Scaled Professional
Scrum framework at Scrum.org• Author of “Scrum – A Pocket Guide (A
Smart Travel Companion)” (2013)
Mail [email protected] @Ullizee
Blog http://guntherverheyen.com
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