Rolling out Scrum?
Remember the Product Owner
Presented by Lonnie Weaver-Johnson
1
Welcome – The Menu
•
•
•
•
•
Who is in the room
Share the problem
Look at three implementations
Recipes and ingredients for success
Discussion with a Product Owner
2
Welcome – Our Special Guest
• Stephen Gumnit
• Formerly Product Owner on a very successful
Scrum team
• Currently Program Director for an Innovations
Lab
• Turning an R&D Lab into an Agile Team
3
Who Are We?
• In which Mix do you currently belong?
A. Team Member, technology/IT leader, or
ScrumMaster
B. Coach or trainer, either in-house or external
C. Product or business leader, Business Analyst,
Product Manager
• Information applies to all of us
4
The Problem
• IT and the business have different levels of
interest for transitioning to Scrum
• The benefits of Scrum are not always crystal
clear to the business partners
• The business is typically driven by financials
yet they don’t understand how Scrum (when
done right) can deliver value
5
Current State
• Business & IT are not collaborative (win/lose, lack of trust)
• The Business has different pressures than IT (sales, customer
demands, market changes)
• Technology development processes have been bureaucratic
(slow, cumbersome, one sided, expensive)
• Technology is more interested in Scrum than the business
– Eliminating all other certification combinations*, there are:
• 121,100 Certified ScrumMasters
• 14,162 Certified Product Owners
– There is about one PO class for every five SM classes
• Gap between the business and IT with Scrum involvement
*Data provided by Scrum Alliance May 2011
Three Scrum Implementations
Summary of three Scrum implementations:
• The similarities and differences
• The problems
• The learning
7
Scenarios
8
Scenario Summary
• What problems have you seen?
• Each had their differences but traits in
common were:
– IT was responsible for the implementation
– Business came second (training, needs
consideration, and communication)
• Learning outcomes will be shared in the
recipes and ingredients
9
Business Transition Success
• Use four recipes for success from Guy
Kawasaki’s book Enchantment:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Enchant the business
Prepare them for the change
Launch the change
Overcome their resistance
• Within those recipes, there are key ingredients
for solving the business problems when
transitioning to Scrum
10
Enchant the Business
• Enchantment is where we fill someone with
great delight
• Enchantment is not persuasion or sales
• Enchantment is necessary when one is trying to
overcome entrenched habits*
• Ingredients for delighting our business partners
include:
– Engaging the business early
– Sharing Scrum’s benefits
– Securing a Business Follower
*from the book Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki
11
Ingredient:
Engage the Business early
• Scrum success is only gained with business
involvement – there is no value to anyone but
the business
• Have early business involvement in the
planning and decision making
• Find out what kinds of support they’ll need
and then do it
12
Ingredient:
Share the Business Benefits
• Discuss the benefits of Scrum
• Help the business see that they can’t afford
NOT to make the change
• Share examples of what they’ll gain:
– Transparency
– Value more often / quicker
– Heightened innovation brings better solutions
– Greater predictability
– Collaboration leads to increased quality
13
Ingredient:
Secure a Business Champion
• Win someone over and use that individual to
demonstrate to all areas that the business is onboard
• Have an executive business champion be on the
leadership implementation team
• Use that person for:
–
–
–
–
New ideas
Communicating with other areas like finance
Making leadership decisions
Encouraging business participation
14
Prepare the Business
• Preparation is necessary when one is trying to
overcome entrenched habits*
• Keep things simple, set the change up for
success, and establish goals
• In this recipe we’ll discuss these ingredients:
– Training for the business
– The change to Scrum
– Sharing new behaviors
*from the book Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki
15
Ingredient:
Provide Business Focused Training
• Provide business leader training
• Ensure Product Owner training includes
business benefits
• Suggest Product Owner certification
• Talk through expectations and why
• Attract POs /business people to Scrum
Gatherings
• Increase business interest and involvement (user
user groups, etc.
16
Ingredient:
Prepare Them: The Change to Scrum
• Help people through organizational change
phases*
– Ending, Losing, Letting Go - deal with losses; prepare
to move on
– The Neutral Zone - capitalize on all the confusion;
encourage innovators
– The New Beginning - develop a new identity
• Changes initiatives often fail because “they are
change-heavy and transition-light” William Bridges
*From Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change by
William Bridges
17
Ingredient:
Share the “New” with the Business
• Instead of only training the new topics, make
them a part of daily activities and
conversations
• Discuss new:
Process, deliverables, behaviors, and expectations
• Walk through new potential scenarios
• Help them understand what will happen
around them
18
Launch with Care
• Business Impacts must be considered
• Immersing the business in the Scrum launch is
critical
• Use your business champion
• In this section we’ll discuss the ingredients:
– Assign a coach to the business
– Aligning resources
19
Ingredient:
Assign a Coach to the Business
• Coach provides training to business team (PO,
BA, Leaders, etc.)
• Coach works with the PO on building their
vision, backlog prep, and prioritizing using
value
• Conduct business readiness meetings
ensuring all levels understand the “new”
• Support business partners with the Scrum
process
20
Ingredient:
Align Resources
• May be some prep work involved before the
business is ready
• Look at resource alignment
– Pooled structure
– Dedicated PO
• Encourage knowledge sharing activities
21
Overcome Business Resistance
• Often times resistance is due to fear, inertia,
or a lack of proof*
• To overcome resistance we will look at the
following ingredient:
– Understand and Address their Pain Points
*from the book Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki
22
Ingredient:
Address their Pain Points
• Why are they reluctant?
– Discover issues
– Address issues
• Determine which issues Scrum can address
and be truthful about those it cannot
• Share ideas and set expectations
23
Summary and Q&A
• Scrum will have limited success without early
business considerations
• Take steps to mitigate risks by applying the
recipes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Enchant the business
Prepare the business
Launch with care
Overcome resistance
• Use the ingredients to ensure success
• Q&A – with Lonnie & Stephen
24
Thank You for your time!
•
•
•
•
Want to talk more - I’d love to hear from you!
Lonnie Weaver-Johnson
651-343-8087
[email protected] or
[email protected]
• Make a LinkedIn connection
25