Top 10 Tips for Scaling Agile with Distributed Teams

#SococoLife Webinar

Welcome!Sococo is proud to present this webinar in partnership with AgileCraft, the world’s first scaled agile management platform. Our host today is Stephanie Bailey from AgileCraft.

Today’s Agenda

●Panelist Introductions●Tips for Scaling Agile●Tips for Distributed Teams●Q & A

Introductions: Mandy Ross

Mandy Ross is Director of Community and Agile Coach for Sococo. Her passion is helping distributed teams embrace agility as they embark on a path to high performance.

Introductions: Maggie BullingtonMaggie brings 18 years of experience in

software and professional services to the AgileCraft team, in both product and consulting organizations, as an executive, agile coach, and software engineer.

Maggie has been passionate about Agile methodologies since she was first introduced to Extreme Programming (XP) as a software engineer in 2001. Throughout her career she has evangelized Agile methods and mentored others in their application, whether using Scrum, XP, Lean/Kanban, or Agile at Scale.

Tips for Scaling AgileMaggie Bullington of AgileCraft

Set the Terminology● Agile is acronym rich and confusing for

business people

● Terminology should be set across the enterprise to break down communication barriers

● AgileCraft can enforce a common terminology set

Connect the Business to the Technology● The epic (similar to a project historically)

links business to development

● Epics should include intake info, budget, approval, high level estimation, business case and link to corporate strategy

● By using epics in AgileCraft business units and portfolios are aligned

Fix the Level of Backlog Items & Estimation Methods

● A consistent level of backlog decomposition a common unit of estimation across all levels should be required

● A common structure is Strategy -> Theme -> Epic -> Feature -> Story

● AgileCraft assists in maintaining backlog standardization to improve predictability, visibility and communication across the enterprise

Get a Common Planning Cadence● A common planning cadence is needed to drive

consistency across teams, programs and portfolios

● Decoupling planning from delivery helps teams align risks, objectives and dependencies

● Quarterly planning is a common practice, and aligning sprint cadences further assists in coordination

● AgileCraft provides the guardrails to assist in cadenced planning

Implement Dependency Management● A team to team dependency management

process for all feature level delivery is required

● A firm commitment of dependencies from teams makes it possible for teams to commit to dates

● Analyze dependency clustering in AgileCraft and then optimize programs and teams to reduce the amount of dependencies

Quick Demo

AgileCraft

Tips for Distributed TeamsMandy Ross of Sococo

POLL:

What’s the biggest challenge on your distributed Agile team?

Lead by example in creating culture

● Strong team culture of openness and transparency is critical on distributed Agile teams.

● Face to face conversations need to happen on a regular basis for overall engagement.

● Leadership is accountable for the culture in a company, so lead by example.

● Extra-proactive leadership is required to create a great culture for teams who aren’t physically co-located.

Prioritize facilitation as a critical skill set● Great facilitation is critical on

distributed Agile teams. ● People need more cues to follow

during planning, standup and retrospective ceremonies

● Extroverted, talkative people tend to dominate the conversation.

● Losing the perspective of quiet team members will result in a skewed set of comments during your discussions.

Treat retrospectives with 2x importance● The retrospective is the best way

for leaders to keep their fingers on the team pulse when teams are not physically co-located

● Need for follow through and consistency are amplified on distributed teams.

● Keep the retrospective fresh by focusing on new techniques such as the 4 L’s (Liked, Lacked, Learned, Longed For), Mad Sad Glad, or Start Stop Continue.

Video is key to subtle communication● The future is now: video chat is a

critical part of communication in the digital age.

● Context provides the important nuances of human collaboration,

● Video amplifies understanding and connection by allowing facial cues to deepen discussion.

● Better human connection to greater efficiency, increased morale and higher performance in general.

Create a toolset for self-organization● Distributed Agile teams require a digital

workplace for easy and instant self-organization.

● Experiment with different tools and let your team decide what combination works best.

● There are four communication channels that have traditionally been critical: voice, video, chat, and screen sharing.

● At Sococo, we also think context is the Fifth Element of team communication - being able to know who is doing what, when and with whom.

Quick Demo

The Sprint Review and the Five Channels of Online Communication

Top 10 Tips for Scaling Distributed Agile1. Set the Terminology2. Connect the Business to the Technology3. Fix Level of Backlog Items & Estimation Systems4. Get a Common Planning Cadence5. Implement Dependency Management6. Prioritize Facilitation as a Critical Skill Set7. Video is Key to Subtle Communication8. Treat Retrospectives with 2x Importance9. Lead by Example in Creating Culture10.Create a Toolset for Self-Organization

Q & A

How can we help you learn more?

THANK YOU!For more information, visit our websites:

http://www.agilecraft.comhttp://www.sococo.com