Context Driven Agile Leadership Managing Complexity and Uncertainty

1. Context Driven Agile LeadershipManaging Complexity and Uncertainty Todd Little Sr. Development Manager

2. When will we get the requirements? All in good time, my little pretty, all in good time But I guess it doesn't matter anyway Just give me your estimates by this afternoon Not so fast! Not so fast! ... I'll have to give the matter a little thought. Go away and come back tomorrow No, we need something today! Ok then, it will take 2 years. No, we need it sooner. Doesn't anybody believe me? I already promised the customer it will be out in 6 months You're a very bad man! Managing the Coming Storm Inside the Tornado Project Kickoff Team Unity

3. I may not come out alive, but I'm goin' in there! The Great and Powerful Oz has got matters well in hand. My! People come and go so quickly here! "Hee hee hee ha ha! Going so soon? I wouldn't hear of it! Why, my little party's just beginning! We’re not in Kansas Anymore Developer Hero Reorg Testing

4. Reservoir / Fluid data Seismic data Production data Structural / Stratigraphic data Common Model Representation Common Model Representation Velocity data Well data Landmark sells shrink wrap software for Oil and Gas Exploration and Production • Users are Geoscientists and Engineers • Subsidiary of Halliburton Energy Services • Integrated suite of ~60 Products • ~50 Million lines of code • Some products 20+ years old • 80+% of project team stays on same product Geophysics Engineering Geology

5. Maximize our Value Delivery Scaling to project conditions Manage Uncertainty and Complexity Organizational commonality without being overly prescriptive Core processes Adaptive processes What is “barely sufficient?” Landmark wanted to understand and improve our software development process

6. Agile Manifesto We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: • Individuals and interactions over processes and tools • Working software over comprehensive documentation • Customer collaboration over contract negotiation • Responding to change over following a plan That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more. Kent Beck, Mike Beedle, Arie van Bennekum, Alistair Cockburn, Ward Cunningham, Martin Fowler, James Grenning, Jim Highsmith, Andrew Hunt, Ron Jeffries, Jon Kern, Brian Marick, Robert C. Martin, Steve Mellor, Ken Schwaber, Jeff Sutherland, Dave Thomas

7. Auditor Manifesto We are uncovering painful ways of auditing software teams and enjoy making others do what we tell them. Through this work we have come to value: • Processes and tools over individuals and interactions • Comprehensive documentation over working software • Contract negotiation over customer collaboration • Following a plan over responding to change That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

8. . . . L6 L20 L40 L100 L200 L500 L1000 E6 E20 E40 E100 E200 E500 E1000 D6 D20 D40 D100 D200 D500 D1000 C6 C20 C40 C100 C200 C500 C1000 Cockburn’s Crystal Methodology according to (project size, system criticality, team priorities) Prioritized for Legal Liability Prioritized for Productivity & Tolerance Life (L) Criticality (defects cause loss of...) Essential money (E) Agile Sweet Spot Discretionary money (D) Comfort (C) 1 - 6 - 20 - 40 - 100 - 200 - 500 - 1,000 Number of people involved +20%

9. Balancing Agility and DisciplineBoehm and Turner

10. Neither agile nor plan-driven methods provide a silver bullet Agile and plan-driven methods have home grounds where each clearly dominates Future developments will need both agility and discipline Some balanced methods are emerging It is better to build your method up than to tailor it down Methods are important, but potential silver bullets are more likely to be found in areas dealing with People Values Communications Expectations management Boehm and Turner Observations on Balancing

11. Agile Manifesto 5 Years Later: Dealing with the Right • Processes and tools that support agility and individuals and interactions (e.g. wikis, collaboration environments, etc.) • Documentation that leads to working software.  A focus on documentation as a consumable rather than as a deliverable. • Contracts that are written in a manner consistent with collaboration and agile delivery • Plans that anticipate and expect change

12. Project Complexity Team size Mission criticality Team location Team capacity Domain knowledge gaps Dependencies Uncertainty Market Uncertainty Technical Uncertainty Project Duration Dependents Landmark studied its project portfolio and identified several project and team attributes

13. We scored the Complexity Attributes on a scale from 1 to 10

14. And we scored the Uncertainty Attributes

15. We cross plotted the results and divided the chart into four quadrants

16. Refactored for Simplicity

17. This looked a lot like the Boston Matrix

18. So we named it the Houston Matrix and gave animal names to the quadrants

19. We looked at an overall process flow and how it would be adaptable. • Iterations Adaptive Activities Inputs Pre-conditions • Outputs • Post-conditions • Released Software CORE Activities Project Sanction RTM

20. Aggregate Product Plan A/B/C List Quality Agreement Continuous Integration Expert User Involvement Project Dashboard We Identified a set of Core Processes for all projects to use

21. The Aggregate Product Plan sets the high level vision and expectations

22. The A/B/C List sets proper expectations Only “A” features may be committed to customers. “A” features must fit in a p90 confidence schedule. No more than 50% of the planned effort can be allocated to “A” items

23. A/B/C List Backlog Plan Typical Delivery C B D 25% C B A A 25% 50% 50% 100%

24. A/B/C List

25. We use a Quality Agreement similar to Thomsett

26. So we named it the Houston Matrix and gave animal names to the quadrants

27. Don’t throw novice project managers at a bull project

28. Brooks’ law in action: throw a developer at a late bull project

29. One size doesn’t fit all The assessment tool is a guide Landmark’s portfolio balance 10% Bulls 10% Cows 20% Colts 60% Dogs Project Complexity and Uncertainty influence how to scale our agile process

30. Product Innovation Flow Hot Items Flexible Scope Backlog Idea Filter Iteration Backlog Newly Discovered Items Product Backlog Project Sanction RTM Sales Services Customer Support B & C Release Backlog Adaptive Activities A Items CORE Activities Most Items for consideration in next release B/C/D Backlog Burnup A

31. Nickoliasen Model for Idea Filter(Executive Summit ADC 2004) High A Focus and Allocate Resources Partner Or convert To Mission Critical Market Differentiating Achieve Parity Who Cares? Low High Low Mission Critical

32. C A B Products Tend to follow a Lifecycle path

33. Business Process Value Chain Market Product Development Sales Product Company Specifications Development Delivery Contract Model Business Need Development Delivery Internal IT

34. Business Process Value Chain

35. Portfolio Management and Dealing with Darwin (G. Moore) Create Change Embrace Change High Deploy Invent Market Differentiating Ad Hoc Agile Eliminate Change Control Change Manage Offload Low Outsource Structured High Low Mission Critical

36. Follow the Yellow Brick Road Oz never did give nothing to the tin man, that he didn’t, didn’t already have

37. Early Release of Bull Project

38. Bull Program, Dog Project

39. Don’t mistreat your cows

40. We increase return on investment by making continuous flow of value our focus. We deliver reliable results by engaging customers in frequent interactions and shared ownership. We expect uncertainty and manage for it through iterations, anticipation and adaptation. We unleash creativity and innovation by recognizing that individuals are the ultimate source of value, and creating an environment where they can make a difference. We boost performance through group accountability for results and shared responsibility for team effectiveness. We improve effectiveness and reliability through situationally specific strategies, processes and practices. The Agile Project Leadership Network Declaration of Interdependence (www.apln.org) David Anderson, Sanjiv Augustine, Christopher Avery, Alistair Cockburn, Mike Cohn, Doug DeCarlo, Donna Fitzgerald, Jim Highsmith, Ole Jepsen, Lowell Lindstrom, Todd Little, Kent McDonald, Pollyanna Pixton, Preston Smith and Robert Wysocki

41. Relationship of the APLN to the AgileAlliance Pair Programming Continuous Build TDD Project Execution APLN Project Leadership Collaboration Change Empowerment Software Beyond Software

42. Interdependence and Leadership • Context • Uncertainty • Value • Customers • Individuals • Teams

43. Neither agile nor plan-driven methods provide a silver bullet Agile and plan-driven methods have home grounds where each clearly dominates Future developments will need both agility and discipline Some balanced methods are emerging It is better to build your method up than to tailor it down Methods are important, but potential silver bullets are more likely to be found in areas dealing with People Values Communications Expectations management Boehm and Turner Observations on Balancing

44. Security and Value(Great Boss, Dead Boss)

45. Agile Leadership

46. Don’t over stereotype:e.g. Not all dogs are the same