AgileCamp Silicon Valley 2015: Agile Flight Crew, Ian Maple

1. Agile Flight Crew
Team based execution for high quality and consistent delivery
Intuit Agile Conference Series
Ian Maple, Agile Transformation Leader
@AgileAtIntuit
AgileCamp2015 Silicon Valley
September 25th, 2015
@goagilecamp

2. About Intuit
Intuit Inc. creates business and financial management solutions that simplify the business of life for
small businesses, consumers and accounting professionals.
Its flagship products and services include QuickBooks®, Quicken® and TurboTax®, which make it
easier to manage small businesses and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and
filing. Mint.com provides a fresh, easy and intelligent way for people to manage their money, while
Demandforce® offers marketing and communication tools for small businesses. ProSeries® and
Lacerte® are Intuit's leading tax preparation offerings for professional accountants.
Founded in 1983, Intuit had revenue of $4.2 billion in its fiscal year 2015. The company has
approximately 7,700 employees with major offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom,
India and other locations. More information can be found at www.intuit.com.

3. The Intuit Agile program delivers a consistent yet highly flexible approach to hundreds of Agile teams across
Intuit.
The program offerings are delivered to teams using a playbook model where individual business units or teams
select Agile configurations that make sense for their operating needs.
Components of the Agile at Intuit program include; consulting, career, coaching, training and supporting and are
supported by comprehensive content, a vibrant Agile community and key external partners.

4. Ian Maple is an experienced global technology leader having led and worked with software
development teams and organizations in 18 countries around the world and numerous US states. He
is also rumored to have written some software himself back in the day.
Ian is currently the Agile Transformation Leader for Intuit Inc., a California based business and
financial solutions company with 7,700 employees in offices in the United States, Canada, India, the
United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia, Brazil and Israel. He is responsible for building and driving the
enterprise ’Intuit Agile' program which delivers a consistent yet highly flexible Agile approach to
hundreds of teams across Intuit as they advance to the next level of Agility.
If you think he talks funny, it’s because he is from New Zealand, most recently from Auckland. He
moved to the US with his family in 2001 and is currently a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area in
California.
About Ian

5. • Doing Agile?
• Organization Size
• Roles
Hands Up!

6. Deliver world class agility through enterprise-wide adoption of
Agile principles

7. • Working software is the primary measure of progress.
7
• Agile processes promote sustainable
development. The sponsors, developers, and users
should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.8
• Continuous attention to technical excellence and good
design enhances agility.9
• Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work
not done--is essential.10
• The best architectures, requirements, and
designs emerge from self-organizing teams.11
• At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to
become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its
behavior accordingly.12
12 Agile Principles
• Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer
through early and continuous delivery
of valuable software.1
• Welcome changing requirements, even late
in development. Agile processes harness change
for the customer's competitive advantage.2
• Deliver working software frequently, from a
couple of weeks to a couple of months, with
a preference to the shorter timescale.3
• Business people and developers must work
together daily throughout the project.4
• Build projects around motivated individuals.
Give them the environment and support they
need, and trust them to get the job done.5
• The most efficient and effective method of
conveying information to and within a
development team is face-to-face conversation.6

8. • Working software is the primary measure of progress.
7
• Agile processes promote sustainable
development. The sponsors, developers, and users
should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.8
• Continuous attention to technical excellence and good
design enhances agility.9
• Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work
not done--is essential.10
• The best architectures, requirements, and
designs emerge from self-organizing teams.11
• At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to
become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its
behavior accordingly.12
Agile Principles for Today
• Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer
through early and continuous delivery
of valuable software.1
• Welcome changing requirements, even late
in development. Agile processes harness change
for the customer's competitive advantage.2
• Deliver working software frequently, from a
couple of weeks to a couple of months, with
a preference to the shorter timescale.3
• Business people and developers must work
together daily throughout the project.4
• Build projects around motivated individuals.
Give them the environment and support they
need, and trust them to get the job done.5
• The most efficient and effective method of
conveying information to and within a
development team is face-to-face conversation.6

9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1
0
1
1
1
2
Agile
Principles
Create an environment where
the world’s top talent can do
the best work of their lives
Delight customers more than
rivals in ways that matter most
Inspire confidence in our long
term growth, leading to a
higher stock price
Employee Customer Shareholder
True
North
Goals
Delight partners who add
value to the ecosystem
Partners
Time to
Market
Customer
Satisfaction
Employee
Satisfaction
Quality PredictabilityAgile
Outcome
s

10. Our Philosophy
• Agile is a team sport !
• Do the minimum responsible amount of work
• At the last responsible moment
• With the smallest responsible number of people

11. • High quality, consistent outcomes are more than just desired
• Flights:
• Have a size
• Need tasks to be executed
• Flexibility is necessary
• Complexity is all around
• A skilled flight crew with clear responsibilities and where teamwork is
critical
Why a Flight?

14. The Agile Flight Crew
• The team members responsible for the safe execution of
only this story across the story board

15. The Pilot
• Self selected
• Primary responsibility for safety and execution
• Typically will work on story tasks
• Any team member can be a pilot

16. Other members of the flight crew
• Any team members needed for successful completion of this story
• Share full responsibility for delivery
• Have tasks to perform for this story, are not observers

17. Air Traffic Controller
• Provides clearance to land i.e. ‘signs off’
• Usually Product Owner
• Owns requirements and prioritization
• In regular communication with the pilot/crew during flight

18. 1. Flight planning
2. Pre-flight Briefing
3. Takeoff
4. En-Route
5. Landing
6. Post-Flight
Flight Phases
= Story Creation
= Story Huddle
= Move Story to In
Progress
= Story Execution
= Move Story to Done
= Completed1 2 3
4
5 6

19. • An ‘INVEST’ story is written
• Team estimates size
• Story is prioritized and placed in backlog
• Eventually this story will get to the top
1. Flight Planning – Story Creation
1 2 3
4
5 6

20. Attributes of a good story - INVEST
Independent
Negotiable
Valuable
Estimable
Small
Testable
Can this story fly alone?
We need to avoid that weather, don’t be overly specific up front
Does this story articulate the value and for who?
Just enough detail to estimate?
Smaller stories have less steps that can cause delays
Do we have acceptance criteria?

21. • Story is next for departure - top of backlog
• An available pilot selects this story
• Pilot gathers the flight crew and ATC
• During the huddle they will:
– Review the story
– Update the story with additional details
– Identify and record the tasks for the story
2. Pre-flight Briefing – Story Huddle
1 2 3
4
5 6

22. • Why checklists?
• Are we ready to fly?
– Story reviewed and updated?
– Tasks documented and agreed?
– Takeoff checklist completed?
• Story is now ready for takeoff
– Move story to In-Progress
– Flight time / cycle time starts
3. Takeoff Checklist
1 2 3
4
5 6

23. • Constant communication amongst the flight crew, verbal not email
• Story Flight crew works together to execute all the tasks
– Helps each other wherever possible/practical
• Lots of conversations with the Air Traffic Controller
4. En Route – Flight execution
1 2 3
4
5 6

24. Task
Story Flight Crew
Team
Build
Release Train
Production
Agile Priorities
Production
Release Train
Build
Team
Story Flight Crew
Task

25. • Story driven standups
• A member of the flight crew represents each story
• What will happen on this story today?
• What help does my story flight crew need from the wider team?
• Celebrate flights completed
4. En Route, Flight updates – Daily Standup
1 2 3
4
5 6

26. • Keep an eye on the amount of time since takeoff, the accumulated cycle time
• Blocked or delayed stories may need additional support to stay within limits
• Support could include additional resources/crew or perhaps leadership escalation
• Worst case : return to the airport and try again or cancel story
– If a story is returned or canceled, look at reasons to prevent recurrence
4. En Route – Flight delays
1 2 3
4
5 6

27. • WIP – Work in Progress = How many stories our team has in the air
• How many stories can ATC handle?
• Do we have enough pilots?
• Are flight crews sharing members?
• Context switching is a key cause of delays
4. En Route - Be careful about WIP
1 2 3
4
5 6

28. • Complete the landing checklist
• Air Traffic Controller gives final sign off to land
• Story lands, moves to Done
• Flight duration / cycle time stops
5. Landing - Checklist
1 2 3
4
5 6

29. • Review cycle times, look for outliers
• Review escaped defects
• Look for recurring themes
• Do we need to add to our checklists?
– Blocked in flight? – add to takeoff checklist
– Defect post flight? – add to landing checklist
6. Post Flight – Continuous Improvement
Size Points Cycle Times Average
XS 1 2,1,2,3,1,2,3 2
S 2 4,5,12,5,5,6 5
M 3
7,9,2,10
8.5
L 5 14 14

30. • With high quality INVEST stories and clear acceptance criteria…
• Teams can provide high quality estimates
• Checklists can reduce delays and defect escapes
• Story flight crews get teams working together
• And through this we get…
• Consistent cycle times and consistent velocity
• Consistent velocity = predictability and sustainable pace
The ‘Cone of Trust'
1 2 3
4
5 6

31. • You are building trust with your leaders through your high quality,
sustainable and predictable team performance
Congratulations!

32. Where to from here…
linkedin.com/in/ianmaple
Thank You!
bit.do/
IntuitAgileMaturityTool