SCALED AGILE FRAMEWORK Scrum Master

Task Splitting (why Not)

Task tend to draw the focus from achieving valuable stories to checking off technical tasks. They can reduse the overall team commitment to a Story in favour of a personal commitment to tasks.

Team Commitment #

Team doesn't commit just to the work, Commitments are to the work, other teams, the program and the stakeholders too.

SAFe 4 Lean Enterprises

is a Knowledge Base of proven, intgrated principles, practices and competencies for Lean, Agile and DevOps.

SM role on facilitation estimation

# Make sure everyone partecipate. # Ensure that relative estimates are used. # Focus the discussion on contested items. # Keep time spent estimating Stories to a minimum. # Identify subject matter experts who need to be present

SM in SAFe Enterprise

(manage timebox, dependencies, ambiguities) 1. Coordinate with other SMs , the System Team and shared services in the ART PI Planning events. 2. Works with the above teams throughout each Iteration and PI. 3. Coordinate with other SMs and RTE in the SoS. 4. Foster Normalized estimating within the team. 5. Helps teams operate under architectural and portolio governance, System Level Integration and System Demos.

SM & the TEAM

1. Coaches the Team to create better Solutions, improve business results and better their processes. 2. Facilitate Team & Program Events. 3. Remove Impediments to the team's progress. 4. Assist the team in implementing SAFe and working with the other teams who may or may not be using SAFe. 5. Foster Adoption of Agile Practices. 6. Assist the PO in preparing and refinig the backlog for PI and Iteratin Planning. 7. Coches the team in the team on the best way to refine their backlog and create stories.

Innovation and Planning - IP Iteration

... Of course, a focus on one thing —delivery— can lead to a lack of focus on another —innovation. Given the constant urgency for delivery, there's a risk that the tyranny of the urgent will override any opportunity to innovate. that's why SAFe provides dedicated innovation and planning iterations.

Waterfall, Agile and the Triple Constraint

1. Features (Requirements) 2. Estimates (Cost) 3. Schedule (Timeframe) 4. Quality (Often forgotten about since it is hard to see/define/measure)

Two Views from Iteration Review

1. How we did in the Iteration: @ Did we meet the goal?! @ Story-by-Story Review 2. How we are doing in the PI: @ Review of PI Objectives @ Review of remaining PI scope and reprioritizing if necessary

Sample team Iteration review agenda

1. Review Business Context, Iteration Goals & Team PI Objectives. 2. Demo & Feedback of each Story, Enabler and NFRs. 3. Discussion of Stories not Completed and WHY 4. Current Risks & Impediments 5. revised Team Backlog and Team PI Objectives

Iteration Retrospective

30 -60 min (Quantitative, Qualitative insights) Just the Agile Team enter improvement items in the backlog

SM role in Iteration Planning

> Maintain timebox. > Ensures that the team commits to the Iteration Goals. > Verify that the PO or other managers don't influence the team to overcommit. > Challenge the team to exceed their previous accomlishments. > Ensure that the improvement items form Retrospective are put into effect. > Ensure time is allocatd for tech. Debt attivities.

Scrum metrics commonly used

> Number and trend of production defects > Planned-to-done ratio > Customer happiness > Level of technical debt > Team communication and enthusiasm > Velocity > ......

Iteration Excecution

>> Tracking iteration progress - using story and Kanban boards to follow the progress of the iteration. >> Building stories serially and incrementally - this avoids mini-waterfalls within the iteration. >> Constant communication - continuous communication and synchronization via DSU meetings. >> Improving flow - optimizing flow by managing Work in Process (WIP), building quality in, and continuously accepting stories throughout the iteration. >> Program execution - working together as an ART to achieve program PI objectives

ALM

@2do : Agile lifecycle management (ALM) tooling.

Team Commitment

A Team meets its commitments by: # Doing Everything they say will do # In the event it is not feasible, must imediately rise the concern.

adjusted Fibonacci Scale

A modified Fibonacci sequence (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40, 100) is applied that reflects the inherent uncertainty in estimating, especially large numbers (e.g., 20, 40, 100)

Agile Turns development upside down

Agile Teams show the DATES matters and they MEET their commitments. Business Owners understand how PRIORITIES matter. Fix QUALITY, not Scope

Estimating Stories

Agile teams use story points and 'estimating poker' to value their work... A story point is a singular number that represents a combination of qualities: Volume - How much is there? Complexity - How hard is it? Knowledge - What's known? Uncertainty - What's unknown? Story points are relative; they are not connected to any specific unit of measure.

SAFe 4 Core Values

Alignment Built-in Quality Transparency Transparency is an enabler of TRUST Program Execution: Of course, none of the rest of SAFe matters if teams can't execute and continuously deliver value. But with alignment, transparency, and built-in quality on the team's side, they have a little 'wind at their back.' That enables a focus on execution.

Benefits of DoD

Aligns the expectations among Team members, PO, stakeholders regarding what Done means. Help to optimize Quality Help mantaining Predictability Avoid unfinished work that leads to Technical Debt.

BDD

BDD's goal is to express requirements in unambiguous terms, not simply to create tests The BDD process moves through three phases— discovery, formulation, automation - where the acceptance criteria are transformed into acceptance tests that are later automated. The process begins in the discovery phase, where the Product Owner or Product Manager creates acceptance criteria as part of writing a story or feature ...

Backlog Refinment (Program level)

Backlog refinement typically includes: Reviewing and updating backlog item definition and developing acceptance criteria and benefit hypothesis Working with the teams to establish technical feasibility and scope estimates Analyzing ways to split backlog items into smaller chunks of incremental value Identifying the enablers required to support new features and capabilities, and establishing their capacity allocation

SM role in the Team and System Demo

Begin to consider how and what to demo in the Iteration Planning Make sure the right partecipants are present Ensure that the team celebrate its accomplishments and that stakeholders acknowledge them Make sure different team memebers have the opportunity to demo Ensure that the team is ready for the System Demo and Coordinates with the Team

User Story 3C's

CARD: As a <WHO - User Role: person or device doing the action> I Want <WHAT - Activity: is what they can do with the system> So That <WHY - Business Value Why they want that activity > CONVERSATION: The collaborative conversation facilitated by the Product Owner which involves all stakeholders and the team. The conversation is where the real value of the story lies and the written Card should be adjusted to reflect the current shared understanding of this conversation. CONFIRMATION: Definiton of Done: Specific Acceptance Criteria created Agile Team and that must be well understood and agreed to by the Team; The Product Owner must confirm that the story is complete before it can be considered "done"

the Problem Solving Workshop

Facilitated by RTE after a short retrospective, The Workshop is done in organic and ad-hocs teams.

Scrum Values

Courage, Commitment, Focus, Respect, Openness

Good practices when the disussion on estimating stories go too deep....

Discuss a story non more than 5 mins :( Use The White elefant sizing method :)

ENABLER STORY

Enabler stories can be expressed in technical rather than user-centric language.. they support exploration, architecture, or infrastructure. Type of Enabler Stories (Exploration, Architecture, Infrasctructure) : Refactoring and Spikes (see XP) Building or improving development/deployment infrastructure Running jobs that require human interaction (e.g., index 1 million web pages) Creating required product or component configurations for different purposes Verification of system qualities (e.g., performance and vulnerability testing) ES are demonstrated just like user stories, typically by showing the artifacts produced or via the user interface, stub, or mock-up.

SM Role in team breakout#1

Ensure the team has a draft plan to present. Identify as many risks and dependencies as possible for the management review. Secure Subject matter experts and program level stakeholders as needed by the team. Facilitate the coordination with other teams for dependencies.

SAFe Artifacts that outline functional system behavior

Epic, Capability, Feature, Story. Along with NFRs , these Agile backlog items define the system and Solution Intent, model system behavior, and build up the Architectural Runway.

Estimation is done by ... Who ?!

Estimation is done by people who realy do the work... Estimation is a "Whole Team" exercise: @ It increases accuracy by including all perspectives @ Builds Understanding @ Creates Shared Commitment Estimation performed by a manager, architect or selected group negates the benefits

Nothing beats an Agile Team

Except a Team of Agile Teams

SAFe Practices for enabling TRASPARENCY

Executives, LPM, and other stakeholders can see the Portfolio Kanban and program backlogs, and they have a clear understanding of the PI Objectives for each ART or Solution Train. ARTs have visibility into the team's backlogs, as well as other Program Backlogs. Teams and programs commit to short-term, visible commitments that they routinely meet. Inspect and Adapt occurs with all relevant stakeholders and creates backlog improvement items from lessons learned. Teams and Agile Release Trains (ARTs) can see portfolio business and enabler Epics. They have visibility into new initiatives. Progress is based on objective measures of working solutions. (Principle #5) Everyone can understand the velocity and WIP of the teams and programs; strategy and the ability to execute are visibly aligned.

Acceptance Criteria

Express the conditions that need to be satisfied for the customer. Provide context for the team, more details of the story, and help the team know where they are done. Are written by the customer/Product Owner and refined by the team during backlog grooming and iteration planning.

Built-in Quality aspects of SAFe

Flow Architecture & Design Quality Code Quality System Quality Release Quality

Scrum of Scrums checkpoint

Help keep teams on track, Facilitate early identification of Risks.

INVEST on a good Story

I - Independent (among other stories) N - Negotiable (a flexible statement of intent, not a contract) V - Valuable (providing a valuable vertical slice to the customer) E - Estimable (small and negotiable) S - Small (fits within an iteration) T - Testable (understood enough to know how to test it)

Team Planning Radiators

ITERATIONS IP ITERATION OBJECTIVES RISKS:: Program Risks need to be escalated to the program level. they will be captured by ROAMed after the final PLAN REVIEW. Team Risks are under the team's control. they will not be presented here.

Agile & Triple Constraint

In Agile, we flip the constraints upside down. Rather than constraining requirements, we instead constrain the cost and the schedule. Based on the provided cost and schedule, we then estimate the features that can be delivered. This means we follow a process that tries to adapt to change.

Waterfal & Triple Constraint

In Waterfall, we constrain requirements, meaning we must deliver 100 percent of requirements. Based on the requirements, we estimate the time (cost) and schedule it will take to deliver those. We then define a plan and work to stick to that plan. This means we try to predict the future by estimating and limiting changes from occurring on the project YEAH!... If we were perfect, we would always be able to deliver 100 percent ... But we are not, and will never be, perfect :(. So when a project is behind, the cost and/or schedule (or quality) will have to change in order to deliver 100 percent of the functionality.

Built-in Quality

Inspection does not improve the quality, nor guarantee quality. Inspection is too late. The quality, good or bad, is already in the product. Quality cannot be inspected into a product or service; it must be built into it. W. Edwards Deming

Collaboration with other teams

Integrate the work with other teams (multiple times per iteration). Work with the System Team; >> Join their DUS when there issues arise, >> Join there Demo or planning, Work with the System Architect to better managing dependencies with other teams.

Team Increment

Is a Thin Vertical Slice of Functionality.... Backlog Items must be defined as vertical slices of functionality; otherwise you will have just ingredients. D) . Each Slice can be demonstrated & Consumed. Each Slice Represents a single piece of end2end functionality.

Terms: SAFe # Scrum

Iteration Planning # Sprint Planning Iteration Review # Sprint Review Iteration Retrospective # Sprint Retrospective Iteration Goals # Sprint Goals Iteration Backlog # Sprint Planning Daily Stand-Up (DSU) # Daily Scrum Team increment # Increment Agile Team # The Scrum Team

Iteration Review Guidlines

Limit demo preparation by team members to about one to two hours. Timebox the meeting to about one to two hours. Minimize the use of slides. The purpose of the iteration review is to get feedback on working software functionality, hardware components, etc. Verify completed stories meet the Definition of Done (DoD). Demo incomplete stories, too, if enough functionality is available to get feedback. If a significant stakeholder cannot attend, the Product Owner should follow up to report progress and get feedback. Encourage providing constructive feedback and celebration of the accomplishments.

SM role in Refine Backlog Meeting

Maintain Timeboxes Maintain the right level of deep backlog vs. ready backlog for two iterations MAke sure all team members partecipate Invite the right SME's Hold the event at regular intervals

SM role in PI Planning

Maintain the timebox. MAke sure the Team build a plan they can commit too. Ensure that the Team is honest in their confidence vote. Facilitate the coordination with the other teams but don't do it for the Team. Act as a request buffer for a team that has a lot of dependencies. Mange the program board. Facilitate the retrospective.

DSU

NOT a daily status meeting for management. NOT a problem solving session. it is used to: >> Share information about progress >> Coordinate activities >> Raise blocing issues What Did I Do, What I Will Do, Are there any Impediments.... Meet after.....

Why Write a story in an index card o sticky notes?!!

Often, stories are first written on an index card or sticky note. The physical nature of the card creates a tangible relationship between the team, the story, and the user: it helps engage the entire team in story writing. Sticky notes offer other benefits as well: they help visualize work and can be readily placed on a wall or table, rearranged in sequence, and even passed off when necessary. Stories allow improved understanding of the scope and progress: "Wow, look at all these stories I'm about to sign up for" (scope) "Look at all the stories we accomplished in this iteration" (progress)

Definition of DONE (Team Increment)?!!!!

Our Goal for the end of every Iteration: 1. Working System 2. No Remaining work 3. Everyone on the same page regarding what was completed 4. Satndard followed 5. Work Accepted by the PO

Agile Teams

Power the Lean Enterprise with Team & Technical Agility. Cross-Functional (5-11) self organizing entities that define, build, test and possibly deploy increments of value. Optimized for communication & delivery of value. Uses Scrum and Kanban for team Agility. Applies Built-in Quality practices for Technical Agility. Delivers Value every TWO WEEKS.

Draft Plan Review

Present the summary of your team's forst two iterations and one or more draft PI Objectives. includes: Velocity(Capacity) and load for each iteration Draft PI objectives Program Risks and Impediments

Iteration GOALS

Provide Clarity, Commitment, management information. They Serve Three Purposes: 1. Align Team members to a common purpose. 2. Align Agile Teams to common PI Objectives and manage dependencies. 3. Provide continuous management information.

ART Roles

RTE: Acts as Cheaf SM For the Train. PM: Owns, defines & prioritizes the Program Bcklog. SA/Eng: Provides arch. guidance and tech. enablement to the teams on the train. System Team:Provides processes and tools to integrate and evaluate assets early and often. BO: The KEY stakeholders on the ART

Agile Frameworks

SAFe, Scrum, Crystal, Kanban, XP, FDD

SMART team PI Objectives

Specific: (try starting with an action verb) Measurable: Achieveable: Achieving the objective should be within the team's control and influence. Realistic: Time-Bound: The time period for achievement must be within the PI.

How much Acceptance Criteria

Stop writing acceptance criterie when: You have enough to size the story. Testing will become too complex. You have made 2-3 revisions of the criteria....

STORY

Stories act as a 'pidgin language,' where both sides (users and developers) can agree enough to work together effectively. Stories are short descriptions of a small piece of desired functionality, written in the user's language. Each story is a small, independent behavior that can be implemented incrementally and provides some value to the user or the Solution. Stories are split into smaller ones so they can be completed in a single iteration. While anyone can write stories, approving them into the team backlog and accepting them into the system baseline are the responsibility of the Product Owner.

Stretch objectives

Stretch Objectives provide a reliability guard band. Stretch Objectives do not count to velocity/capacity. They are not included in commitment, thereby making the commitment more reliable. If a team has low confidence in meeting a PI Objective, encourage them to move it to stretch. If an item has many unknows, consider moving it to stretch, and put it in early spikes.

SYSTEM DEMO

The System Team, Product MAnagement, Product Owners demonstrate the Solution Increment to the ART Stakeholders.

Iteration Planning Flow

The Team establishes its CAPACITY The Team clarifies the STORIES The Team optionally Breaks Stories into TASKS The Process Continues while there is more CAPACITY The Team synthesizes Iteration GOALS Everyone COMMITS timebox - 4 hours subject matter experts (SMEs) may attend as required

Refine Backlog

The sole focus of backlog refinement is to look at the upcoming stories (and features, as appropriate), discuss, and estimate, and establish an initial understanding of acceptance criteria.

Velocity, Capacity, Load

The team's velocity is equal to the historical average of all the stories completed and accepted per iteration. Capacity is an estimated value that potentially can be delivered that is determined during PI planning. Using their historical velocity as a starting point, the team subtracts the unavailable time for each team member to determine the team's actual capacity for the iteration. Load is the committed value of the number of points the team intends to deliver in a sprint or PI. It is based on team capacity and the stories available in the backlog.

Agile at Scale Business Results (based on Case Studies)

Time2Market: 30-75% Faster. Quality: 25-75% defect reduction. Productivity: 20-50% increase. Engagement: 10-50% happier & more motivated employees.

Agile Practices

Timeboxing, User Stories, Daily Stand-Ups (DSU), Frequent Demos, TDD, Information Radiators, Restrospectives, Continuous Integration

Team Coomitment

Too much holding to a comitment can lead to burnout, inflexibility and quality problems. Too little commitment can lead to unpredictability and lack of focus on results.

Splitting the story

Workflow steps Business rule variations Major effort Simple/complex Variations in data Data entry methods Deferred system qualities Operations (ex., Create, Read, Update, Delete [CRUD]) Use-case scenarios Break-out spike

Integrate&Demo Together for agile teams Goal

from : ...scaledagileframework.com/agile-teams/ ... of Course, the Goal is not simply have the teams 'sprint' toward the goal :(. Rather the Objective is to have the SYSTEM sprinting forward in quality-based, Measurable Increments.

Agile Teams are on the Train

they: Plan Together Integrate and DEMO Together Deploy & Release Together Learn Together