Be Agile. Scale Up. Stay Lean. And Have More Fun by Dean Leffingwell

1© 2008 - 2013 Scaled Agile, Inc. and Leffingwell, LLC. All rights reserved.
© 2008 - 2013 Scaled Agile, Inc. and Leffingwell, LLC.
Scaled Agile Framework ® is a trademark of Leffingwell, LLC.
By Dean Leffingwell
Leading the Lean|Agile
Enterprise:
Be Agile. Scale Up. Stay Lean.
Keeping Pace
!  Our modern world runs on software.
!  What doesn't now, likely will soon
!  We’ve had Moore’s Law for hardware, and Moore’s Law
+ for envisioning what software could do
!  But, our prior development practices haven’t kept pace
!  Agile shows the greatest promise, but was developed
for small teams
!  We need a new approach – one that harnesses the
power of Agile and Lean
– but applies to the needs of the largest software
enterprise
Our development methods must keep pace with an
increasingly complex world

We Thought We’d be Programming Like This
But Sometimes It Feels Like This

We Have a Choice of Approaches
4 444 :
Documents Documents Unverified Code Software
Accelerating Value Delivery
Early value delivery accumulates and accumulates
Time
ValueDelivery

Makes Money Faster
TIME
VALUEDELIVERY
First, Some Thoughts on Agile Methods
!  Scrum
–  Works great. Less filling. Ubiquitous. Scrumptious. Let’s Sprint.
!  Extreme Programming
–  Really great code from really great coders.
We can scale great code. Extremely useful. Let’s Program with it.
!  Kanban
–  Clear thinking on flow, demand management and limiting wip.
Let’s flow, limit WIP and manage demand with it.
!  But if these innovative methods don’t have the native constructs to
address the view beyond the team − the systems view − shouldn’t
we do something about that?
!  And, on behalf of millions of practitioners, working on really big
systems in really big companies, and struggling badly with existing
approaches, don’t we have an obligation to try?

Scaling, You Have a Choice
You have a blank slate.
Figure it out what works and grow it to suit you.
Or Start with A Proven Framework
A proven, publicly-facing framework for applying Lean and
Agile practices at enterprise scale
! Synchronizes
alignment,
collaboration and
delivery for large
numbers teams
Core values:
1.  Code Quality
2.  Program Execution
3.  Alignment
4.  Transparency
http://ScaledAgileFramework.com

What’s Behind the Framework?
SAFe Roots
Lean, Systems
Thinking
Principles of
Product
Development FlowAgile Development
Field experience at
enterprise scale
Iterative and Incremental
Development

Lean Thinking Provides Thinking Tools
Respect for
People
Product
Development
Flow
Kaizen
Goal: Speed, Value, Quality
THE GOAL
!  Sustainably shortest lead time
!  Best quality and value to
people and society
!  Most customer delight, lowest
cost, high morale, safety
All we are doing is looking at the
timeline, from the where the customer
gives us an order to where we collect
the cash. And we are reducing the time
line by reducing the non-value added
wastes. – Taiichi Ohno
We need to figure out a way to deliver
software so fast that our customers
don’t have time to change their minds.
̶ Mary Poppendieck
Most software problems will exhibit
themselves as a delay.
– Al Shalloway
Respect for
People
Product
Development
Flow
Kaizen

Product Development Flow
1.  Take an economic view
2.  Actively manage queues
3.  Understand and exploit
variability
4.  Reduce batch sizes
5.  Apply WIP constraints
6.  Control flow under uncertainty:
cadence and synchronization
7.  Get feedback as fast as
possible
8.  Decentralize control
Reinertsen, Don. Principles of Product Development Flow
Respect for
People
Product
Development
Flow
Kaizen
Reduce Batch Size
Small batches go through the system faster with lower
variability
!  Large batch sizes increase variability
!  High utilization increases variability
!  Severe project slippage is the most
likely result
! Reducing batch size
–  Reduces cycle time; faster
feedback
–  Decreases variability and
risk
! Most important batch is
the transport (handoff)
batch
! Proximity (co-location)
enables small batch sizesProject slippage rises exponentially with duration
Fig. Source: Poppendieck. Implementing Lean Software Development

Actively Manage Queues
!  Understand Little’s Law
(Avg wait time = avg queue
length / avg processing rate)
!  Faster processing time
decreases wait
!  Control wait times by controlling
queue lengths
Email from a client service organization: “Thank you for contacting us. We
are experiencing increased volumes and apologize in advance for the
delay. Our goal is to contact you within...”
Apply WIP Constraints
WIP constraints force capacity matching, increases flow
When WIP and utilization become too high, you will see a sudden and
catastrophic reduction in throughput!
Apply WIP constraints
Force capacity matching
Accelerate delivery
Timebox
Prevent uncontrolled expansion of work
Make waiting times predictable
Purge lower value projects
when WIP is too high
Increase efficiency and throughput of
remaining work
Constrain local WIP pools Constrain global WIP pools
Make WIP continuously
visible
1) Understand 2) take action

Visibility and WIP Constraints
Story10Story11
Story
8
Story
9
Story
7
Story
6
Story
5
Story
3
Story
4
Story
2
Story
1
Today
Without WIP Constrains – a waterfall sprint
Let’s Look at the
Framework

Nothing Beats an Agile Team
!  Empowered, self-organizing, self-managing cross-
functional teams
!  Valuable, fully-tested software increments every two weeks
!  Scrum project management practices and XP-inspired
technical practices
!  Teams operate under program vision, system, architecture
and user experience guidance
!  Value description via User Stories
That Focuses on Code Quality
You can’t scale crappy code
Agile

Architecture

Con/nuous

Integra/on

Test-‐First

Refactoring

Pair
Work

Collec/ve

Ownership

Code Quality Provides:
!  Higher quality products and
services, customer
satisfaction
!  Predictability and integrity of
software development
!  Development scalability
!  Higher development velocity,
system performance and
business agility
!  Ability to innovate
Code
Quality

Systems Must be Managed
A system must be managed. It will not manage
itself. Left to themselves, components become
selfish, competitive, independent profit centers,
and thus destroy the system. . . .
The secret is cooperation between components
toward the aim of the organization.
– W. Edwards Deming
Scale to the Program Level
! Common sprint lengths and estimating
! Face-to-face planning cadence for collaboration,
alignment, synchronization, and assessment
! Value description via Features and Benefits
! Self-organizing, self-managing team-of-agile-teams
! Continuous value delivery
! Aligned to a common mission via a single backlog

Synchronize to Assure Delivery
PSI
Sys 1 Sys 2 Sys 3 Sys 4 Sys 5 Sys 6 Sys 7 Sys 8
Iterate Iterate Iterate Iterate Iterate Iterate
PSI
PSI
PSI
Continuous
Integration
Continuous
Integration
PSI
Develop on Cadence. Deliver on Demand.
Development occurs on a fixed cadence.
The business decides when value is released.
Deliver on Demand
Major
Release Customer
Upgrade
Customer
Preview
Major
Release New
Feature
Develop on Cadence
PSI PSI PSI PSI PSI

Scaling to the Portfolio
“A system is a network of interdependent
components that work together to try to
accomplish the aim of the system.
A system must have an aim. Without an
aim, there is no system.”
– W. Edwards Deming
Scale to the Portfolio
!  Centralized strategy, decentralized execution
!  Investment themes provide operating budgets for trains
!  Kanban systems provide portfolio visibility and WIP limits
!  Objective metrics support governance and kaizen
!  Value description via Business and Architectural Epics

Agile Program Portfolio Management
Supporting lean and agile practices for business results
4.  Decentralized,
rolling-wave planning
5.  Agile estimating and
planning
6.  Self-managing Agile
Release Trains
1.  Decentralized
decision-making
2.  Demand
management;
continuous value flow
3.  Lightweight epic
business cases
7.  Objective, fact- based
measures and milestones
How would you measure
a framework, a method,
a process?

Better Quality is More Fun
ü  44% decrease in post release
defects
ü  76%+ decrease in time to
respond to customer request
ü  “greatest thing Mitchell has
done in my 14 years here”
More Engaging Work Environments
ü  Average delivery cycle time
down from 12 month to 3 months
ü  6X increase in delivery
frequency
ü  50% cost to deliver reduction
ü  95% decrease in product defects
ü  100% projects delivered on time
and on budget
ü  Happy project sponsors
ü  Happy teams

Faster Time to Market with Higher Quality
ü  Field issue resolution time: down
42%
ü  Warranty Expense: down 50%
ü  Time to production: down 20%
ü  Time to market: 20% faster
ü  Employee engagement: Up
9.8%
Higher Engagement is More Fun
ü  Substantially improved
communication with peer teams,
program stakeholders, and
domain and technical experts
ü  Teams were able to commit to a
realistic plan
ü  Better alignment to the key
program priorities
ü  Teams understand “why are
we doing this important work”

The Management Challenge
It is not enough that management
commit themselves to quality and
productivity, they must know what it is
they must do.
If you can’t change the system who can?
- W. Edwards Deming
Lean Foundation: Leadership
1.  Take an economic view of the
full value chain
2.  Embrace the Agile Manifesto
3.  Develop people, not things
4.  Own the system of which they
speak
5.  Decentralize control
6.  Unlock the intrinsic motivation
of knowledge workers
7.  Implement software
development flow. Visualize
work. Manage work in process.
8.  Build high-performing Agile
teams
Respect for
People
Product
Development
Flow
Kaizen
Lean Thinking Manager-Teachers
!  Management is trained in
lean thinking
!  Bases decisions on this
long term philosophy

Conclusion
! The foundation of Lean
is leadership
! The foundation of SAFe
is you

Be Agile. Scale Up. Stay Lean. And Have More Fun by Dean Leffingwell

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