Enterprise agile
2 likes502 views
The document discusses the differences between consumer and enterprise software, highlighting how consumer products like the iPhone and Google Docs have disrupted traditional enterprise practices. It examines the challenges enterprises face transitioning to agile software delivery, emphasizing the role of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) and Lean Project Management Office (PMO) in this process. Ultimately, it suggests that while enterprises currently prefer SAFe for its familiarity and less frequent change, Lean PMO may become more significant as agile practices evolve and mature.
Enterprise agile
- 1. Enterprise Agile Prashanth Madhavan Narasimhan Lead Consultant, Agile Coach, Product Owner
- 2. Consumer Vs Enterprise • Every >me there is a consumer use product, we see that the enterprise comes up with a very customized version so that the enterprise does not have to adapt. This is with good reason. • Enterprise is an en>ty that is too complex and having it to change would mean a disrup>on to the business -‐ something that the stakeholders are not very happy about.
- 3. Consumer Vs Enterprise • For example, take the iPhone and Blackberry. iPhone is a consumer centric product while Blackberry is a very enterprise centric product. • However, iPhone introduced major disrup>ons to the way the enterprise security func>ons and forced enterprises to be more flexible with the way they allow employees to view email. This increased produc>vity since employees could view their emails at home or anywhere on the move and respond more quickly.
- 4. Consumer Vs Enterprise • Another example is MicrosoM word Vs Google docs. The days when a simple document would have to go through mul>ple revisions with the whole track changes turned on and that enormous document is a day of the past. • Google disrupted the way people collaborated on documenta>on with people being able to collaborate more openly and cuPng down the turn around >me.
- 5. Business Disrup1on • Both the examples caused major disrup>on to the business. It was fraught with dangers of security and hacking -‐ in this every open world where every one is paranoid of leaving the day open to hackers. However, the benefits out weighed the risks • Business disrup>on has always been weighed in terms of the benefits vs risks. There has always been a inherent pessimism in taking up anything that is disrup>ve to the business -‐ especially with new technologies -‐ that do not seem to have a direct correla>on to the nature of the business.
- 6. So3ware Delivery • Almost all the enterprises -‐ irrespec>ve of the nature of the business -‐ have come to view soMware delivery as a major contributor to being relevant and being a driver in their respec>ve fields. • The transi>on from the tradi>onal form of soMware delivery to agile has been very rough. Being an area where research has just started on its contribu>on to the industry, all enterprises tend to view any changes to the tradi>onal soMware delivery process with skep>cism. With very few case studies out there on the success of agile in enterprise, most of the enterprise en>>es are only ready to pilot them and transi>on to enterprise agile slowly.
- 7. Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) • Scaled agile framework (SAFe) has been a very good candidate in terms of making enterprises comfortable in terms of soMware process. • SAFe is a really good adapta>on of agile processes to the enterprise without compromising on any of the agile principles. It also does a very good job at making sure that the enterprise is able to relate to the whole process by keeping the terminology to the minimum. • However, it is SAFe’s packaging -‐ that endeared it to the enterprise -‐ that is going to be its downfall as well.
- 8. Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) • SAFe is packaged very similar to IBM’s Ra>onal Unified process. It is got very clear process flows, actors and descrip>on. It is very lucid in terms of the details that needs to be fleshed out at what level. • What it lacks is the same level of support that IBM offered to back up RUP. SAFe is being implemented by tons of vendors in mul>ple enterprises and each of them sell it in their own way. • So SAFe does not have a standard implementa>on. The process does not have a good offline enterprise support once the consultants exit a SAFe implementa>on at an enterprise.
- 9. Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) • One of the implementa>ons that I saw had omied the en>re concept of Business Value -‐ which is blasphemy in the agile world. While SAFe does men>on about business value, the vagueness in its offline documenta>on and the lack of offline support meant that the enterprise has got it wrong.
- 10. Lean Project Management Office • The whole concept of a Lean PMO concept is to start with the simplest process and mature it as we move along and have more learnings. It gets customized for the enterprise by the enterprise themselves. Some of the key concepts of a lean PMO -‐ Business value based priori>za>on, Level the workload, Pull based project intake process -‐ helps in resource op>miza>on and business value enhancement. • The central theme of the lean PMO -‐ reducing water & subordina>on to the boleneck -‐ guides the PMO is making choices and is not process driven. While this aspect of the lean PMO does not endear itself to the enterprise, it works a lot beer and more efficiently over a period of >me
- 11. Scaled Agile Framework Vs Lean PMO • With the entries en>>es having to make a choice between SAFe vs Lean PMO, most of the enterprise en>>es go with SAFe because of the following approach – SAFe looks more familiar than lean PMO – Lean PMO introduces change more constantly than SAFe which is just a one >me change. Enterprise en>>es do not like change that oMen – Lean PMO needs more mature people with specialized skill to be successful. It is not that SAFe does not need them, it is just that Lean PMO needs these people through out since it is about constant process improvement.
- 12. Conclusion • Enterprise en>>es looking at adap>ng agile in their soMware delivery process will look at going ahead with SAFe for now. However, Lean PMO would start playing a bigger part at a later point of >me when the lean way of thinking in the soMware delivery process becomes more mainstream thinking and less of a specialized skill .Till then, it is going to be SAFe. • We do hope that SAFe handles all its challenges -‐ of having beer consul>ng partners and beer offline support -‐ as its implementa>on across communi>es grow and a more vibrant SAFe community comes up.
- 13. About Me • The author is a lead consultant / agile coach at Thoughtworks and has 10 years of experience in so:ware delivery – 5 of which has been with enabling enterprise adapt agile. • The author regularly writes at www.madhavanwrites.blogspot.com