The Community Spoke, and We Listened – Southern Fried Agile 2017 Responses

CapTech had a blast at Southern Fried Agile 2017! What an incredible conference with lots of energy, passion, and innovate ideas! Thank you for stopping by our booth and sharing your incredible Agile journeys. For those of you that could attend our session, "Did You Pack the 12 Agile Principles on Your Agile Journey," we're thrilled to present the final output from the workshop!

The Community spoke, and we listened! During our interactive session, more than 150 conference attendees came together to build an "on the fly" learning community and over the course of 45 minutes, developed nearly 200 solutions for aligning, or re-aligning, to the 12 Agile Principles.

Based on the learning community we established, here were the most common issues that lead organizations astray and the proposed solutions for getting back on course:

Common Issues that Lead Organizations Astray

• What is being developed isn't valued
• The Organization doesn't understand what the product is
• The Customer hasn't been engaged
• Identify what the Organization is trying to solve for, and why
• Showcase/Demo work that's been completed and create a Product Roadmap that's accessible by all
• Develop a cadence for collaborating with the Customer to receive frequent feedback

Solutions to Lead Organizations Back on Course

• Identify what the Organization is trying to solve for, and why
• Showcase/Demo work that's been completed and create a Product Roadmap that's accessible by all
• Develop a cadence for collaborating with the Customer to receive frequent feedback

Common Issues that Lead Organizations Astray

• There is a lack of overall direction
• Change is difficult and terrifying
• Upper management is not accepting of change
• Develop a Product Roadmap and embrace changes that align to the overall vision of the Product
• Introduce and coach through "Organizational Change Management"
• Provide Agile training specifically targeted for Senior Leaders

Solutions to Lead Organizations Back on Course

• Develop a Product Roadmap and embrace changes that align to the overall vision of the Product
• Introduce and coach through "Organizational Change Management"
• Provide Agile training specifically targeted for Senior Leaders

Common Issues that Lead Organizations Astray

• There are too many Stakeholders, creating additional bottlenecks
• Dependencies prohibit the ability to deliver frequently
• The environment doesn't support frequent releases
• Identify and empower clear decision makers who will be the "one voice" of Stakeholders
• Map dependencies and develop an incremental plan for eliminating them and provide visibility for what cannot be changed
• Review the current Architecture and look for incremental opportunities to prepare the environment for accelerated releases

Solutions to Lead Organizations Back on Course

• Identify and empower clear decision makers who will be the "one voice" of Stakeholders
• Map dependencies and develop an incremental plan for eliminating them and provide visibility for what cannot be changed
• Review the current Architecture and look for incremental opportunities to prepare the environment for accelerated releases

Common Issues that Lead Organizations Astray

• Colleagues are dispersed across multiple regions and/or work remotely
• There are too many assumptions, misinterpretations, and misconceptions that haven't been addressed
• It takes too long to communicate across the organization
• Provide formal training on how to collaborate with dispersed/remote colleagues
• Introduce and coach through "Organizational Change Management"
• Utilize Scrum Ceremonies for the most critical and time sensitive conversations

Solutions to Lead Organizations Back on Course

• Provide formal training on how to collaborate with dispersed/remote colleagues
• Introduce and coach through "Organizational Change Management"
• Utilize Scrum Ceremonies for the most critical and time sensitive conversations

Common Issues that Lead Organizations Astray

• There are geographical and time zone barriers
• Stakeholders are removed from the team(s)
• Lack of cohesion and availability even though everyone is co-located
• Create flex schedules and 1-2 hour overlap windows that accommodate the highest volume time zones
• Encourage stakeholder engagement at the Demo & Review and ensure the Product Owner is in constant communication with their stakeholders
• Introduce team building activities and utilize Scrum Ceremonies to create sacred time for colleagues to come together

Solutions to Lead Organizations Back on Course

• Create flex schedules and 1-2 hour overlap windows that accommodate the highest volume time zones
• Encourage stakeholder engagement at the Demo & Review and ensure the Product Owner is in constant communication with their stakeholders
• Introduce team building activities and utilize Scrum Ceremonies to create sacred time for colleagues to come together

Common Issues that Lead Organizations Astray

• Lake of time set aside for training and knowledge sharing
• Work across teams and individual team members is inconsistent
• There is a sense of urgency that causes work to be rushed
• Create a Community of Practice and carve out time on a regular cadence to learn and share collectively
• Cross-train team members and introduce pair programming to increase consistency
• Utilize review tools and techniques as well as making pull requests mandatory

Solutions to Lead Organizations Back on Course

• Create a Community of Practice and carve out time on a regular cadence to learn and share collectively
• Cross-train team members and introduce pair programming to increase consistency
• Utilize review tools and techniques as well as making pull requests mandatory

Common Issues that Lead Organizations Astray

• There are too many competing priorities
• Not many colleagues feel comfortable discussing issues/problems
• The what and the how is unclear - what's the point?
• Formalize a Retrospective with a regular cadence and location
• Create safe space with team icebreakers and team building activities that instill trust
• Provide Scrum Master training and/or bring in an Agile Coach to introduce different techniques that can be used to reflect and adjust

Solutions to Lead Organizations Back on Course

• Formalize a Retrospective with a regular cadence and location
• Create safe space with team icebreakers and team building activities that instill trust
• Provide Scrum Master training and/or bring in an Agile Coach to introduce different techniques that can be used to reflect and adjust

Want to see CapTech's advice on these principles? See our take on common issues and solutions for these principles:

• Deliver Value
• Embrace Change
• Deliver Frequently
• Work Together
• Face-to-Face Conversations
• Technical Excellence
• Reflect and Adjust