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How we do agile without saying the word 'scrum'

Roy EmekVP R&D B2B Data Exchange

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Presentation goal

• Get you out in time for lunch

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Who we are• Informatica

• World #1 independent provider of Data Integration software

• 4,200 customers, including 87% of Dow Jones• $650M annual revenue in 2010

• B2B business unit• Based on an acquisition in Israel in 2006 (ItemField)• ~65 employees

• US, Tel Aviv, The Netherlands, India• Including Marketing, PM, Dev, QA, UX, Doc

• 3 products

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What did we want to achieve?

• Maximize ROI• Improve measurement and visibility as a tool to

improve effectiveness• Predictability• Reduce waste• Streamline PM / R&D interface

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Why Kanban?• We chose Kanban over

scrum because:• Distributed teams• Produces more data• A more naturally learning

process (Kaizen)• More focus on the entire

value stream• It sounded way more cool

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Story hierarchy

Iteration story

Minimally Marketable Feature (MMF)

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Kanban board

• Story: As a Kanban practitioner, I need to build a Kanban board so that I can manage, visualize, and track my development process

• Distributed teams electronic Kanban board

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Kanban boardDesign

• A lane per:• Epic / MMF? • Team?

• One board vs. a release board and a ‘work board’

• Bottom line: different boards for different teams

PO MMFs R&D WIP DoneNext version In MMFs I. story creation Dev Demo Test I. Story done MMF

WIP Done WIP Done WIP Done

Stretch Support

MMF lane 1Queue Dev Demo Test Auto-test Done

WIP Done WIP Done

MMF lane 2Queue Dev Demo Test Auto-test Done

WIP Done WIP Done

MMF lane 3Queue Dev Demo Test Auto-test Done

WIP Done WIP Done

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Kanban board As a Learning mechanism

• The Kanban board visualizes the process• Learning changes to the process changes to

the board

Main releaseBacklog Create MMF Implementation System test Documentation

Stretch In WIP ready WIP Done WIP Done WIP Done

Main releaseBacklog Create MMF Prepare stories Implementation System test Documentation

Stretch In WIP ready WIP Ready WIP Done WIP Done WIP Done

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Data

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DataCumulative flow diagram, velocity

12-Oct

18-Oct

24-Oct

30-Oct5-N

ov

11-Nov

17-Nov

23-Nov

29-Nov

5-Dec

11-Dec

17-Dec

23-Dec

29-Dec4-Ja

n10-Ja

n16-Ja

n22-Ja

n28-Ja

n3-Fe

b9-Fe

b15-Fe

b21-Fe

b27-Fe

b5-M

ar

11-Mar

17-Mar

23-Mar

29-Mar

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

StretchTo DoDoingDone

Poin

ts Concrete plan

Re-scope

In flux

30-Oct8-N

ov

17-Nov

26-Nov5-D

ec

14-Dec

23-Dec1-Ja

n10-Ja

n19-Ja

n28-Ja

n6-Fe

b15-Fe

b24-Fe

b5-M

ar

14-Mar

23-Mar

1-Apr

0

20

40

60

Pts/WeekMoving average (Pts/Week)

Learning: distinguish ‘in’ and ‘stretch’

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30-Dec2-M

ar2-M

ay2-Ju

l2-Se

p2-N

ov2-Ja

n2-M

ar2-M

ay2-Ju

l2-Se

p2-N

ov2-Ja

n2-M

ar2-M

ay2-Ju

l2-Se

p2-N

ov2-Ja

n2-M

ar2-M

ay2-Ju

l2-Se

p2-N

ov2-Ja

n2-M

ar2-M

ay2-Ju

l2-Se

p2-N

ov2-Ja

n2-M

ar2-M

ay2-Ju

l2-Se

p2-N

ov0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Ready-readyAnalysisDevDemoQA

Poin

ts

DataWork in progress

QA B

ottleneck

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DataProcess control chart• Indicates predictability• Learning: identify last mile MMFs / epics

Days per pts

MMF

MMF

End time

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DataInvestment over the last 6 months

Chris (team member): why do we have to do support all the time?

Tony (boss): why do you have to whine all the time?

Show me some real data!

C. support18%

Sales support

4%

Engineering investment

5%

Stories58%

Release tasks16%

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Teams

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TeamsCross-geo

• We started with distributed feature teams• Cross-geo, over-the-phone daily meetings

• It just didn’t work• The daily is perceived as one of the main rituals of agile• Bad daily negative impact on the perception of agile in

the team

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Geo II – ‘junior’

Geo I – team I

TeamsCross-geo: workable models

Geo II – team II

Geo I Geo II

Daily

Geo I – ‘senior’

Team lead / proxy

Team leadArch. Moderator /

scrum master

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TeamsCreating a sense of urgency

• Kanban continuous flow• No iterations• No deadlines (other than release deadlines)

• Challenge: creating a sense of urgency and commitment in the teams

• Our approach• Weekly team

commitment (scrum like)

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Three lessons

1. Kanban board: it’s very important; Start first, shape it later

2. Don’t drop iterations (and deadlines)

3. Data, data, data

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One more thing …

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FedEx day

• An opportunity for everybody to propose new initiatives and ideas • Source: Atlassian

• Anything that brings value

• Same day delivery• Preferred mode: prototype

• Fun

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Questions?

• Either now or catch me over lunch