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YEAR   O F  L I V I N G  DANGEROUSLY Steve  Greene  |  Chris  Fry Scrum Gathering, Stockholm  October 2008 How Salesforce.com delivered Extraordinary Results through a “Big Bang” Enterprise Agile Revolution
 
 
 
 
A little history…
from the beginning
3 Number of people in R&D
fast innovative smart
4 Number of Major Releases per year
7 years later
rapid success
49,600+ Customers
1,100,000 Subscribers
150 Million transactions per day
500+ people in R&D
it was getting more difficult to deliver
2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006   Features Delivered per Team  Days between Major Releases
1 Number of Major Releases in 2006
Why?
Lack of visibility
Resource Bottlenecks
Unpredictable release dates
Lack of responsiveness, lack of team alignment on priorities
Unhappy customers
Gradual productivity decline as the team grew
What did we do about it?
Major enterprise-wide Agile Transformation to ADM in just 3 months another 18 months of continuous improvement +
I knew we needed radical change to get us back on track to regular releases and agile delivered. ” Parker Harris Founder and Executive Vice President, Technology Salesforce.com “
Transformation Results 2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006   2007 Features Delivered per Team  Days between Major Releases
Agile Transformation Timeline “ Agile Launch” Big Bang Rollout January October April October January July Rollout Adoption Excellence Expansion April 144 146 148 150 152 154
Customers
Our customers are happy…
Agile has delivered total visibility, total transparency and unbelievable productivity… a complete win! ” Steve Fisher  Sr. Vice President, Platform Product Management Salesforce.com “
On time delivery? Last waterfall release 146 148 150 144 152 154 156
No really.  Every agile release has been deployed on-time (down to the exact minute)
Since implementing our iterative development methodology which enables us to deliver more frequent releases, we have seen statistically significant improvements in our satisfactions scores across our service attributes from our features to our platform.   ” Wendy Close Salesforce Customer Satisfaction Survey Sr. Manager Product Marketing Salesforce.com “ (Source: Salesforce.com Relationship survey, conducted by independent third party CustomerSat Inc., July 07 and Feb. 08. Sample size equals 4000+ randomly selected worldwide respondents from all size companies and industry sectors.)
94 % of customers that indicate they definitely or probably will recommend salesforce.com to others % * Source: Salesforce.com Relationship survey
+ 61 improvement in “mean time to release” for major releases in 2007 %
+568%
+ 94 Increase in feature requests delivered - 2007 v. 2006 %
+ 38 Increase in feature requests delivered per developer - 2007 v. 2006 %
Simple is better.  With our agile approach to product development we've put our amazing people in charge.  They work as a team to do the right thing for the customers, their fellow employees and our shareholders. ” Todd McKinnon  Sr. Vice President, Research & Development Salesforce.com “
Our teams are happier…
92 of respondents believe ADM is an effective approach for their scrum teams %
88 of respondents believe the quality of our products have improved or stayed the same % * 51% say our quality has improved
89 of respondents are having the “best time” or a “good time” at Salesforce % * 49% improvement from pre-ADM
94 of respondents would recommend ADM to their colleagues inside or outside Salesforce %
 
What is it and how did we do it?
 
What is ADM? ADM is a modified Scrum/XP style of product development that is specific to Salesforce. It employs Scrum project management framework, adopts certain XP practices and is based on lean principles.
What is ADM? Re-factoring Self-organizing Predictable releases Transparent Ftest - Selenium Continuous integration Debt free Just-in-time Iterative Always Potentially Releasable Time-boxed User stories Agile Lean Early feedback Code Reviews Collective Code Ownership Self-correcting
Launched organizational change program
Created a dedicated, cross-functional rollout team
Everyone jumped in together
Positioned as a return to our core values
Listen to your customers Iterate KISS
Distributed Ken Schwaber’s Agile book Developed 2-hour Agile overview
Sent 30 ScrumMasters to ScrumMaster Certification Sent 35 Product Managers to Product Owner Certification
Created weekly ScrumMaster and Product Owner forums
Created internal, wiki-based website as a reference for team members
Just get started. (the rest will come later)
Change isn’t easy. (get ready to be hated)
“ In many ways, scrum seems like an inflexible, bureaucratic process akin to something at the Department of Motor Vehicles.” “… ditch the stupid annoyingly dumb excel spreadsheet.” “ Scrum doesn't account for the fact of the reality of the waterfall.  You cannot deny this by superimposing scrum over it.” “ Management is not proactive as we wait for decisions from management. Scrum gives me the feeling that Big Brother is watching and monitoring everything we do…” “ It seems like we spend more time talking about scrum…than we spend time talking and working on salesforce.com.”
They don’t like us. (and may never like us again)
“ Stop trying to implement scrum, and look at how many releases we can really do in a year.” “ The lingo is ridiculous” Team is effective but productivity is lower “ Scrum does not meaningfully affect the team's effectiveness; it is structure and process that often distracts the team from their goal, and can be used to micromanage the team.” “ We've managed to take a lightweight process and attach enough … to it to make it just as bad as our previous process, good job!” Lack of innovation. No innovation. I can't innovate. I am at the mercy of my product owner, who cares not for innovation, only the chirpings of customers...
But, they got over it.
And. Finally. The rollout is over! (but we’re not done)
Now for the later stuff.
Continuous Improvement “ Agile Launch” Big Bang Rollout January October April October January July Rollout Adoption Excellence Expansion April 144 146 148 150 152 154
Continuous Improvement “ Agile Launch” Big Bang Rollout January October April October January July Rollout Adoption Excellence Expansion April Scrumforce Office Hours Release Management Sustainable Velocity Virtual Architecture System Testing PTOn Open Space SoS Cross Team Impact Dependencies Release Planning
Continuous Improvement – Excellence & Expansion October April January July 2008 April October July 2009 IT Rollout Customer & Partner Agile consulting Technical Operations Rollout
Don’t be like us. (or what would we’d do differently)
Involve more individual contributors early
Train Product Owners earlier and with more intensity
Get  outside coaching  earlier
Give key executives concrete deliverables around the rollout
Be more clear about what the agile ‘rules’ are
Keys to success?
Ensure executive commitment to the change
Focus on principles over mechanics
Focus on getting several teams to excellence
Focus on automation
16332 5752 2656 27967 Automation
 
Provide radical transparency
 
When the heat is on stick to your guns
We failed. (all along the way)
Experiment,  be patient  and expect to make mistakes
100% Commitment to agile can radically transform your company
 

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Scrum Gathering 2008 Stockholm - Salesforce.com

  • 1. YEAR O F L I V I N G DANGEROUSLY Steve Greene | Chris Fry Scrum Gathering, Stockholm October 2008 How Salesforce.com delivered Extraordinary Results through a “Big Bang” Enterprise Agile Revolution
  • 2.  
  • 3.  
  • 4.  
  • 5.  
  • 8. 3 Number of people in R&D
  • 10. 4 Number of Major Releases per year
  • 17. it was getting more difficult to deliver
  • 18. 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Features Delivered per Team Days between Major Releases
  • 19. 1 Number of Major Releases in 2006
  • 20. Why?
  • 24. Lack of responsiveness, lack of team alignment on priorities
  • 26. Gradual productivity decline as the team grew
  • 27. What did we do about it?
  • 28. Major enterprise-wide Agile Transformation to ADM in just 3 months another 18 months of continuous improvement +
  • 29. I knew we needed radical change to get us back on track to regular releases and agile delivered. ” Parker Harris Founder and Executive Vice President, Technology Salesforce.com “
  • 30. Transformation Results 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Features Delivered per Team Days between Major Releases
  • 31. Agile Transformation Timeline “ Agile Launch” Big Bang Rollout January October April October January July Rollout Adoption Excellence Expansion April 144 146 148 150 152 154
  • 33. Our customers are happy…
  • 34. Agile has delivered total visibility, total transparency and unbelievable productivity… a complete win! ” Steve Fisher Sr. Vice President, Platform Product Management Salesforce.com “
  • 35. On time delivery? Last waterfall release 146 148 150 144 152 154 156
  • 36. No really. Every agile release has been deployed on-time (down to the exact minute)
  • 37. Since implementing our iterative development methodology which enables us to deliver more frequent releases, we have seen statistically significant improvements in our satisfactions scores across our service attributes from our features to our platform.   ” Wendy Close Salesforce Customer Satisfaction Survey Sr. Manager Product Marketing Salesforce.com “ (Source: Salesforce.com Relationship survey, conducted by independent third party CustomerSat Inc., July 07 and Feb. 08. Sample size equals 4000+ randomly selected worldwide respondents from all size companies and industry sectors.)
  • 38. 94 % of customers that indicate they definitely or probably will recommend salesforce.com to others % * Source: Salesforce.com Relationship survey
  • 39. + 61 improvement in “mean time to release” for major releases in 2007 %
  • 40. +568%
  • 41. + 94 Increase in feature requests delivered - 2007 v. 2006 %
  • 42. + 38 Increase in feature requests delivered per developer - 2007 v. 2006 %
  • 43. Simple is better.  With our agile approach to product development we've put our amazing people in charge.  They work as a team to do the right thing for the customers, their fellow employees and our shareholders. ” Todd McKinnon Sr. Vice President, Research & Development Salesforce.com “
  • 44. Our teams are happier…
  • 45. 92 of respondents believe ADM is an effective approach for their scrum teams %
  • 46. 88 of respondents believe the quality of our products have improved or stayed the same % * 51% say our quality has improved
  • 47. 89 of respondents are having the “best time” or a “good time” at Salesforce % * 49% improvement from pre-ADM
  • 48. 94 of respondents would recommend ADM to their colleagues inside or outside Salesforce %
  • 49.  
  • 50. What is it and how did we do it?
  • 51.  
  • 52. What is ADM? ADM is a modified Scrum/XP style of product development that is specific to Salesforce. It employs Scrum project management framework, adopts certain XP practices and is based on lean principles.
  • 53. What is ADM? Re-factoring Self-organizing Predictable releases Transparent Ftest - Selenium Continuous integration Debt free Just-in-time Iterative Always Potentially Releasable Time-boxed User stories Agile Lean Early feedback Code Reviews Collective Code Ownership Self-correcting
  • 55. Created a dedicated, cross-functional rollout team
  • 56. Everyone jumped in together
  • 57. Positioned as a return to our core values
  • 58. Listen to your customers Iterate KISS
  • 59. Distributed Ken Schwaber’s Agile book Developed 2-hour Agile overview
  • 60. Sent 30 ScrumMasters to ScrumMaster Certification Sent 35 Product Managers to Product Owner Certification
  • 61. Created weekly ScrumMaster and Product Owner forums
  • 62. Created internal, wiki-based website as a reference for team members
  • 63. Just get started. (the rest will come later)
  • 64. Change isn’t easy. (get ready to be hated)
  • 65. “ In many ways, scrum seems like an inflexible, bureaucratic process akin to something at the Department of Motor Vehicles.” “… ditch the stupid annoyingly dumb excel spreadsheet.” “ Scrum doesn't account for the fact of the reality of the waterfall. You cannot deny this by superimposing scrum over it.” “ Management is not proactive as we wait for decisions from management. Scrum gives me the feeling that Big Brother is watching and monitoring everything we do…” “ It seems like we spend more time talking about scrum…than we spend time talking and working on salesforce.com.”
  • 66. They don’t like us. (and may never like us again)
  • 67. “ Stop trying to implement scrum, and look at how many releases we can really do in a year.” “ The lingo is ridiculous” Team is effective but productivity is lower “ Scrum does not meaningfully affect the team's effectiveness; it is structure and process that often distracts the team from their goal, and can be used to micromanage the team.” “ We've managed to take a lightweight process and attach enough … to it to make it just as bad as our previous process, good job!” Lack of innovation. No innovation. I can't innovate. I am at the mercy of my product owner, who cares not for innovation, only the chirpings of customers...
  • 68. But, they got over it.
  • 69. And. Finally. The rollout is over! (but we’re not done)
  • 70. Now for the later stuff.
  • 71. Continuous Improvement “ Agile Launch” Big Bang Rollout January October April October January July Rollout Adoption Excellence Expansion April 144 146 148 150 152 154
  • 72. Continuous Improvement “ Agile Launch” Big Bang Rollout January October April October January July Rollout Adoption Excellence Expansion April Scrumforce Office Hours Release Management Sustainable Velocity Virtual Architecture System Testing PTOn Open Space SoS Cross Team Impact Dependencies Release Planning
  • 73. Continuous Improvement – Excellence & Expansion October April January July 2008 April October July 2009 IT Rollout Customer & Partner Agile consulting Technical Operations Rollout
  • 74. Don’t be like us. (or what would we’d do differently)
  • 75. Involve more individual contributors early
  • 76. Train Product Owners earlier and with more intensity
  • 77. Get outside coaching earlier
  • 78. Give key executives concrete deliverables around the rollout
  • 79. Be more clear about what the agile ‘rules’ are
  • 82. Focus on principles over mechanics
  • 83. Focus on getting several teams to excellence
  • 85. 16332 5752 2656 27967 Automation
  • 86.  
  • 88.  
  • 89. When the heat is on stick to your guns
  • 90. We failed. (all along the way)
  • 91. Experiment, be patient and expect to make mistakes
  • 92. 100% Commitment to agile can radically transform your company
  • 93.