Context Adaptive Agility Managing Complexity and Uncertainty

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Context Adaptive Agility Managing Complexity and
Uncertainty
Todd Little
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The Agile Project Leadership Network Declaration
of Interdependence (www.apln.org)

• 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.

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
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Declaration of Independence from Bureaucratic
Project Management

• When in the Course of project events it becomes
  necessary for Project Teams to dissolve the
  political bureaucracies which have burdened them,
  a decent respect to the opinions of mankind
  requires that they should declare the causes
  which impel them to the separation.We hold
  these truths to be self-evident, that all
  projects are not created equal, that they are
  endowed by their creation with uncertain and
  complex characteristics. That project teams are
  most effective when they value Life, Liberty and
  the pursuit of Happiness.

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Penal Management Institute
Now that I am a Penal Management Professional I
can show them how to improve these Convicts
Maturity Model
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Hurricane Rita
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(No Transcript)
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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
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We have the challenge of integrating software
developed in Houston, Austin, Denver and Calgary
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Our team was tasked with understanding and
improving our software development process

• 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?

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We were influenced by a number of Agile prophets

• Highsmith
• Adaptive Software Development
• Cockburn
• Crystal Methods
• Boehm and Turner
• Balancing Agility and Discipline
• Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF)

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Manifesto for Agile Software Development

• 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

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We studied our project portfolio and identified
several project and team attributes

• Project Complexity
• Team size
• Mission criticality
• Team location
• Team capacity
• Domain knowledge gaps
• Dependencies
• Uncertainty
• Market Uncertainty
• Technical Uncertainty
• Project Duration
• Dependents

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We scored the Complexity Attributes on a scale
from 1 to 10
Attribute 1 10
Team Size 1 100
Mission Critical Speculative Safety Critical with significant exposure
Team Location Same Room Multi-site, World Wide
Team Capacity Established Team of experts New team of mostly novices
Domain knowledge gaps Developers know the domain as well as expert users Developers have no idea about the domain
Dependencies No dependencies Tight Integration with several projects
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And we scored the Uncertainty Attributes
Attribute 1 10
Market Uncertainty Known deliverable, possibly defined contractual obligation New market that is unknown and untested
Technical Uncertainty Enhancements to existing architecture New technology, new architecture. May be some "R"
Project Duration 1-4 week 24 months
Dependents/ Scope Flexibility Well defined contractual obligations or Infrastructure Independent
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We cross plotted the results and divided the
chart into four quadrants
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This looked a lot like the Boston Matrix
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So we named it the Houston Matrix and gave animal
names to the quadrants
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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
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We Identified a set of Core Processes for all
projects to use

• Aggregate Product Plan
• A/B/C List
• Quality Agreement
• Continuous Integration
• Expert User Involvement
• Project Dashboard

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The Aggregate Product Plan sets the high level
vision and expectations
Project OpenWells Davenport Project Code 010265
Product OpenWells Target Date 3/30/2004
Version 2003.11.0.0 Release Date 3/31/2004
Product Manager Marcus Ridgway SDD David Field
VisionVersion 2.0 of the new Well Operations reporting and data analysis application. Will bring powerful new query, graphing and reporting capabilities. Comprehensive DWS input data and output reports will be supported including integration to Production suite. PlatformsWindows 2000 /Oracle 8.1.7Windows XP / Oracle 9i Windows 2000 XP /MSDE
Features18 additional reportsAddtnl apps - Data Anlyzr, NG Profile, AutoprintExtended Rig Equipment supportKnowledge Management - Technical limit drilling,lessons learned, non-productive time, and equipment failuresApplication enhancements (spreadsheet support andtailored well services tab and others) Strategic FitIntegrationWorkflow ( Prototype, plan, actual)Top quartile technology Target MarketsExisting DIMS customersUS IndependentsNOCsGovernment and regulatory organizationsCompanies requiring integrated offering w/decent wellbore schematic requirementsService companies
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The A/B/C List sets proper expectations
A MUST be completed in order to ship the product.
B SHOULD be completed in order to ship the product.
C MAY be completed prior to shipping the product if time allows.
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
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A/B/C List
Backlog Plan
Typical Delivery
C
B
D
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C
B
A
A
25
50
50
100
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A/B/C List
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We use a Quality Agreement similar to Thomsett
Attribute A Very Important B Important C Not Very Important
Completeness of Functionality    X  
Completeness of Testing    X     
Reliability    X      
Performance        X
Installation    X    
Usability      X  
Integration    X    
On Line Help        X
Training      X  
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Simple, Certain projects are like Dogs

• They can be trained to be well behaved.
• Just the Core practices
• Laissez FaireSimilar to Crystal Clear

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Simple, Uncertain projects are like Colts

• Young projects with lots of unfettered energy.
• Landmark has had success with XP in this quadrant
• Short iterations
• Daily stand-up meetings
• Automated unit tests

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Complex, Certain projects are like Cows

• Often are corporate Cash Cows
• More rigorous requirements management i.e. use a
  requirements tool.
• Requires the generation of useful documentation
  for interface definitions
• Projects broken up into subprojects and
  coordinated by a team of leaders or a Scrum of
  Scrums.
• Project plans with dependency and critical path
  identification

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Complex, Uncertain projects are like Bulls

• Large projects, hard to control.
• Need agility to steer through the uncertainty,
  and some rigor to manage the complexity.
• A careful union of the Colt and the Cow
• Requires the best Project Managers
• Warning signs
• Project Managers sometimes act as clowns to
  provide diversion.
• High BS factor
• Appears that they just want to have their way
  with the Cows.

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Dont throw novice project managers at a bull
project
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Brooks law in action throw a developer at a
late bull project
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Complexity is like Amplitude and Uncertainty is
like Frequency
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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
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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
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Products Tend to follow a Lifecycle path
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An Example Lifecycle path
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Portfolio Management and Dealing with Darwin
High
Invent
Deploy
Market Differentiating
Offload
Manage
Low
High
Low
Mission Critical
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Portfolio Management and Dealing with Darwin
High
Create Change
Embrace Change
Market Differentiating
Eliminate Change
Control Change
Low
High
Low
Mission Critical
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Portfolio Management and Dealing with Darwin
High
Ad Hoc
Agile
Market Differentiating
Outsource
Structured
Low
High
Low
Mission Critical
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Project Complexity and Uncertainty influence how
to scale our agile process

• One size doesnt fit all
• The assessment tool is a guide
• Landmarks portfolio balance
• 10 Bulls
• 10 Cows
• 20 Colts
• 60 Dogs

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Dont mistreat your cows
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Dont over stereotypee.g. Not all dogs are the
same
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Agile Steering
Each iteration provides new information and takes
us closer to the product vision. Uncertainty
remains, and the shape of the cone is
proportional.