Agile: Not Just for Software
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This document discusses applying agile principles to product development beyond just software. It argues that agile can accelerate tangible product development by modifying agile practices and nesting sprints within milestone frameworks. However, functional managers who are incentivized for their department's success rather than team success often impede agile transformations. Case studies demonstrate how companies have successfully adopted agile practices for consumer electronics, medical devices, and other product development by focusing on high-performance cross-functional teams and frequent demonstrations of working prototypes.
Agile: Not Just for Software
- 2. February 2017 2Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 2 Agenda 1. Agile Defined 2. Why have tangible products been slow to adopt Agile? 3. Modifying Agile: Areas of biggest gains for tangible products 4. How to Implement: Nesting Agile within Waterfall 5. Management: The biggest impediments to success 6. Case Studies Agile: The Most Disruptive Process Currently Impacting Product Development!
- 3. February 2017 3Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 3 TCGen: Approach & Background John Carter • Cirrus Logic (CRUS); Board of Directors • CTO of Klipsch Group; Raised Private Equity • Chief Engineer of BOSE; Noise Cancelling Headphones Jeanne Bradford • Architected Apple’s product development process (ANPP) • Led Programs for Apple, Cisco & Texas Instruments • Builds high performance teams to accelerate delivery
- 4. February 2017 4Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 4 Agile Defined • The Agile development process was defined 16 years ago to address chronic delivery problems • The Agile Manifesto* has led to remarkable improvements • The most common approach is a Scrum approach * http://agilemanifesto.org/ Roles Scrum Master Product Owner Team Ceremonies Planning & Estimation Daily Standups & Monitoring Demos & Retrospectives Foundations Fixed length Sprints (2W) Stories & Epics Managers serve the Team Customers part of Team
- 5. February 2017 5Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 5 Why have tangible products been slow to adopt Agile? • Myths create major barriers to adoption – “Applying Agile is all or nothing” – “You must be able to ship every two weeks” – “Agile and Waterfall/Milestone are mutually exclusive” • There is a lack of prescriptive best practices • Functional managers must simultaneously cede control • Harder to isolate small teams and pilot Agile or Waterfall? Do Both!
- 6. February 2017 6Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 6 Agile Manifesto – Not Just for Software 1. Business people and developers work together daily 2. Projects require motivated individuals, support & trust 3. Face-to-face conversation is most efficient 4. Agile processes promote sustainable development 5. Continuous attention to technical excellence 6. Simplicity is essential 7. The best designs emerge from self-organizing teams 8. At regular intervals, the team reflects 9. Welcome changing requirements 10. Continuous delivery of valuable software 11. Deliver working software frequently 12. Working software is the measure of progress 75% of the Agile Manifesto CAN apply to any type of development Software Specific Universal http://agilemanifesto.org/
- 7. February 2017 7Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 7 Modifying Agile: Areas of Biggest Gains Benefit Top Benefits for Agile Implementation outside Software Speed & Innovation
- 8. February 2017 8Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 8 Key Insights: Singular Differences – Tangible Products vs. SW Development proceeds by designing and prototyping Development is highly non-linear and chunky Features appear much later and in large increments Stories focused on components and interfaces not User Experience Team members often write more Stories than Product Owner Development proceeds by accretion and refactoring
- 9. February 2017 9Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 9 Why Should We Nest Sprints Within Milestone Frameworks • Sprints within a Milestone Framework increase speed – Accelerates decisions because Sprints encapsulate work – Increases urgency because underperformance is visible • Milestone reviews provides needed financial controls • Milestone reviews facilitate qualification & verification • Milestones and Innovation Sprints can easily co-exist MILESTONE “N” MILESTONE “N+1” P R P RP RP RP R NESTED SPRINTS
- 10. February 2017 10Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 10 How to Implement: Three Components Enabled by Teams Sprint Planning Executing & Measuring Reviewing FOUNDATION: High Performance Teams Plan Execute/Measure Review Plan Execute/Measure Review FRAMEWORK: Sprints for tangible products Plan Execute/Measure Review
- 11. February 2017 11Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 11 Executing/Measuring • “Daily” Standup Meetings – Determined by team capability & velocity – Always BRIEF (LESS THAN 20 MIN) • Sprints magnify latency issues – One reason why Agile increases speed – spotlights excuses • Abandon the habit of serial prototype builds* Plan Execute/Measure Review Proto 1 Proto 2 Proto 3 Proto 4 4x cycles of learning in the time of 2.5x * Can double cost, but cut this stage by half!
- 12. February 2017 12Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 12 Prototyping & Importance of Customers & Proxies • The audience for the prototype or demonstration is as important as the goal itself • The audience should vary from sprint to sprint Customers & Proxies Examples End customers Economic buyer, Users, Influencers Customer segments Geographic diversity, Usage diversity, Organizational (e.g. Academic, Government, Commercial) Intermediate customers Dealers, distributors, representatives, and importers External customer proxies Reviewers, magazine editors, lost customers, competitive customers Internal customer proxies External sales force, internal sales force, field service, customer service, application engineering, quality Plan Execute/Measure Review
- 13. February 2017 13Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 13 Review and Reflection…and Learning Action Plan Planned vs. Unplanned Events Plan Execute/Measure Review
- 14. February 2017 14Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 14 Management: The Biggest Challenge • TCGen’s analysis* of Functional Management meddling – Rooted in Leadership, Culture and Compensation – Management incented for functional, not team success – Unintended consequence of functionally organized companies • Ingrained resistance is very hard to root out – Domain expertise over collaboration/EQ skills – Managers may lack trust; Teams may not self-generate – Lost power, unclear career path, changed performance reviews *2015 Project History Analysis of Agile Transformations
- 15. February 2017 15Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 15 Organizational Remedies For Agile Transformation • Servant Leadership: the needs of the team before your own – Change incentives to reward team success – Middle managers remove roadblocks; focus on platforms & architecture – Hire for both domain and collaboration expertise • Project Teams: product ownership & accountability – Build trust with leadership through critical thinking & execution – Prioritize team allegiance through collaboration – Relentlessly adopt Agile mindset
- 16. February 2017 16Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 16 Instructor Biographies • The Approach – Planning: focus Sprint Goals, Acceptance Criteria, Metrics – Demo to management at the end of the Sprints – Heavy facilitation nearly full time for the first set of Sprints • The Costs – Process highlighted lack of Functional Management Support – Exposed the organization to the need for reskilling team • The Benefits – The rapid cadence of Sprints resulted in improved team collaboration, faster decisions and schedule accountability Consumer Electronics Case Study: A Step at a Time
- 17. February 2017 17Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 17 Instructor Biographies • The approach – Focus on “Show & Tell” @ end of Sprints (UX, SW, SI) – NO burndown charts, NO sprint estimates – Leave Design Control in place (FDA) • The Costs – More prototypes & more effort in stories • The Benefits – Breaks the work down into 3 week sprints, forcing decisions and schedule adherence – Accuracy of the overall project is much higher and the developers are much more engaged Medical Devices Case Study: How They Disrupted Waterfall
- 18. February 2017 18Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 18 Preventing Business Loss via Agile Project Leadership – A tussle in a traditional Functional Organization – Two weeks to decide a path forward • Sales of $40M / Year • Burn rate of $50K / Day! • 2 weeks spin = $700K LOSS! Loss of REVENUE1 • Salary of $200K (total costs) • Burn Rate of $13.5K / Day! • 2 weeks of spin = $220K EXPENSE! + $920K LOSS* (Avoided with Agile) Increase in COSTS2 1 Example of consumer launch around holidays 2 3 Teams of 9 people each
- 19. February 2017 19Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 19 In Summary… 1. AGILE methods CAN ACCELERATE product development 2. The business value of Agile is BIG and is QUANTIFIED by TIME 3. Not WATERFALL OR AGILE, but WATERFALL AND AGILE 4. FUNCTIONAL MANAGERS are likely the biggest barrier 5. CASE STUDIES show focused adoption leads to success
- 20. February 2017 20Agile Beyond SoftwareTCGen.comAgile – Not Just for Software 20 Thank you! John Carter jcarter@tcgen.com 650.283.9395 Jeanne Bradford jbradford@tcgen.com 408.828.5168 TCGen Inc. Menlo Park, CA www.tcgen.com