Agile2019

Abstract:
Are you a Product Owner(PO) or Scrum Master(SM) who has been given a new role as your company scales their agile approach? Like many, I started as a Team PO and was "blessed" with a promotion to Product Manager of a SAFe Agile Release Train (ART) when my client implemented SAFe. At first, I was a little flummoxed of how to manage 7 teams backlogs that were reporting to the train and handle the bigger group of business stakeholder providing input to the program vision.
Luckily, I remembered many of the tools I used as Team PO and began to tweak and rework them to handle the increased scope of my new ART world. Come and join me as we learn about two visual models that are typically used at the team level by POs and SMs but can easily be scaled to any level of the organization. First, we'll learn about the Business Objectives Model which helps us ensure we're building the highest business value items first at the team level and how that scales to programs and portfolios. THen we'll discuss how Feature Trees, used at the team level to organize scope in a one-page view, can be scaled to show similar information at any level.
At the end of this workshop, attendees will have two new tools in their toolkit to take back to their organizations regardless of the level of enterprise they are working in. I love using visual models as a PO on an individual product, but I've come to learn over the past several years, that they are incredibly useful for all levels of management (program, portfolio, and large solutions if you are doing SAFe), so come, have fun and build some new visual models in a scaled way!

Learning Outcomes:

• -Understand why we need to scale the backlog
• -Understand the major varieties of scaling the product backlog
• -Ability to define and create a Business Objectives Model
• -Ability to define and create a Feature Tree

Attachments:

• Hands On_Scaling Product Backlogs.pdf
• Scaling product backlogs exercises.pdf

Abstract:
The research is compelling—our brains work best when focused on one task at a time. Switching between tasks results in a host of negative consequences—including dramatic losses of productivity, lower quality work, and increased burnout. At the agile team level, scrum masters, product owners, and coaches teach the principles of prioritization, focus, and getting to done.
But what happens when multitasking is built into the culture of an organization? Organizational multitasking happens when the efforts of the organization are divided across multiple work streams. It shows up in the form of competing priorities, high numbers of projects in progress, spreading people too thin, and employee turnover. The cost of organizational multitasking is expensive and devastating.
You know this already? Great! This session is for you. The workshop is focused on how to shift the mindset and culture that leads to organizational multitasking. We will explore the cost of organizational multitasking through science, games, simple illustrations. Participants will walk away with tools to influence change from a portfolio management culture of getting more started to a culture of getting more of the right things done.

Learning Outcomes:

• Translate the science to support the case for more focus, less multitasking at the highest level of the organization.
• Practice creating simple illustrations to explain the cost of multitasking for individuals and organizations.
• Play games! Also, develop skills to play similar games with a leadership team, managers, and team members to shift the organizational mindset that perpetuates multitasking.

Attachments:

• Start Less-Finish More_Agile2019_PDF.pdf
• The Real Costs of Organizational Multitasking_Research_Public.pdf
• Humans are Indivisible Game (Org Multitasking) (1).pdf
• All The Important Things Game (Org Multitasking) (1).pdf

Abstract:
You’re a project manager and you’ve just been given an Agile project to look after. You ask for reports and you get burndown charts, velocity graphs, and cumulative flow diagrams. What in the world are these, and why do you suddenly have a migraine headache?
Metrics are different in Agile, but the questions remain the same. Come and see what your brain needs to understand the tracking of products built in an Agile way. We’ll build an Agile dashboard that you can take into your next meeting.

Learning Outcomes:

• Learn:
• • why standard metrics are not well suited for agile products,
• • how to pick a good metric and focus on what you need to measure
• • what an Agile dashboard might look like for your next product.

Attachments:

• Agile Dashboard.pdf
• Agile Reports for the PM Brain- Agile2019.pdf
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Abstract:
Markets are changing faster than typical strategic planning cycles can support. Additionally, digital strategies are increasing interdependencies and exacerbating the strain on execution. Strategic planning often falls short because it’s not as fluid as it needs to be.
One thing we must consider, is that there are—typically— a lot of assumptions being made about markets as well as the organization’s capacity to execute. Those assumptions often miss the mark when attempting to meet the ever-changing needs and expectations of shareholders and customers. Agile provides the opportunity to create the requisite adaptability to validate and adapt to as we understand our ability to deliver and the realizable value of our strategies.
This talk is targeted at senior managers seeking to understand how to leverage Agile to improve Strategic Execution. This talk will show how to build market sensing into strategic planning, how to design the execution model to provide valuable feedback, and how to prioritize learning to maximize return. The model has been developing over years and has successfully responded to the assumptions and ambiguity facing firms. The reality is that it’s not that simple, but we have a model that can help.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand how agile can enable strategy execution in rapidly evolving markets
• Quanitify opportunities to accelerate learning to maximize business return
• Determine when and how to prioritize for learning over earning

Attachments:

• Develop a Strategy to Embrace Change.pdf

Abstract:
Traditional approaches to project and portfolio management inhibit the flow of value and innovation in the enterprise. They were not designed for a global economy and the impact of digital disruption. This new reality puts pressure on enterprises to work with a higher degree of uncertainty yet deliver innovative solutions much faster and with higher quality. Despite this new reality, many legacy project and portfolio practices remain.
One of the main problems with projects is that they were designed to be temporary endeavors with temporary people to achieve a project’s requirements. As a result, the primary focus of projects is on completing tasks on time and on budget rather than achieving and measuring ongoing business outcomes.
Clearly, a different approach is needed. The system must change from planning the delivery of projects to collaborating on the development of products. The portfolio goes from managing projects to a managing a set of value streams that deliver products or solutions that help the enterprise meet its business strategy, either by providing value directly to the customer or in support of internal business processes. This workshop will provide useful concepts and practical guidance on how to implement this new and proven approach that delivers extraordinary business outcomes on a predictable cadence. It will also help create an environment where people can thrive and are truly empowered.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand why traditional portfolio management inhibits agility
• Learn to better organize teams for value delivery
• Apply Lean-Agile principles to empower the portfolio
• Establish Lean budgeting and guardrails
• Implement portfolio flow with a Kanban system
• Measure Lean portfolio performance
• How to implement the new approach

Attachments:

• From Projects to Products.pdf

Abstract:
Are your delivery teams challenged with striking the right balance between creating scalable, high quality, releasable software with ensuring they are addressing the most important problems and opportunities for your customers? Does it take the full investment of building and launching a product to validate an idea? Do you have a nagging feeling that you may not be working on the right things?
At Pearson Online & Blended Learning, we met these challenges head on by creating and implementing a framework that includes early collaboration within a cross-functional team and a light-weight process. Based on Design Thinking principles and practices, the framework effectively balances discovery and delivery efforts. It ensures that, across the portfolio, our investments are focused on the right things, and the efforts of our delivery teams are aligned to solving the most important problems for our customers and addressing the most valuable opportunities for our business.
In this interactive session, we’ll reveal our discovery framework, approach to implementation, and share our triumphs and challenges. Each participant will have the opportunity to reflect on how a similar approach may help them address challenges within their own organizations. We will also collaboratively identify and troubleshoot potential problems you may encounter while implementing such a framework.

Learning Outcomes:

• After the completion of this session, participants will be able to:
• Relate to how our discovery framework helps solve some commonly expressed organizational challenges
• Apply Design Thinking principles, tools and techniques to discovery efforts in an Agile environment
• Decide when and how to engage customers in identifying and validating the right solution to their problems
• Flex and fit the discovery framework for their individual environments

Attachments:

• Getting Ahead of Your Agile Delivery Teams with Formalized Discovery Process AGILE2019.pdf
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Abstract:
During Agile transformations teams are often told to become adaptive and flexible - all within a clearly defined, rigid five (or more) year strategy that severely inhibits true agility. Some companies are aware of this problem. As a solution they don’t engage in any kind of strategic planning whatsoever. Unfortunately, they often discover that without any direction every decision can be passed off as the right one and confusion reigns.
What’s usually lacking is an agile approach to strategy on an enterprise level. One that takes the reality of dynamic markets and an uncertain future into account and creates an environment for development teams to actually be agile in. At the same time it needs to provide enough guidance and clarity for everybody to make great decisions for the company as a whole.
Join this session to learn a different approach to strategy-making that is based on the use of several Liberating Structures. It’s an approach that walks the fine line between rigidity and planlessness. One that includes more people than just the top executives in the creation of strategy. One that seamlessly takes everybody from broad exploration to direct action. A Liberated Strategy.

Learning Outcomes:

• Develop a strategic narrative along six core questions while including more people than ever before
• Plan for uncertain futures and align your product portfolio accordingly
• Seamlessly go from sensemaking and planning straight to action

Attachments:

• Liberating Strategy.pdf
• Liberating Strategy at Agile2019.pdf
• Liberating Strategy at Agile2019.pdf

Abstract:
Large organizations with multiple product lines and divisions that compete for funding, talent and scarce dollars have a problem. While they live on past successes, their future survival is at risk. Why? Because product funding comes from portfolio managers and executives so far removed from their organization's customers and the markets they serve that they are unable to empathize with users, understand their needs and provide workable solutions that people will actually buy.
As a result, executives and managers fund products and projects that are a “solution in search of a problem”. Worse, the funding cycles are often multi-year undertakings, taking away the organization’s ability to experiment, adapt and deliver real customer value.
This leaves these “successful” companies vulnerable to the team working out of a garage, able to prototype, test, pivot when necessary, and learn.
So how can these organizations fund, and build, solutions that customers want and will pay for? How can these organizations own the future rather than fall victim to it? Through Agile portfolio management, which includes short funding cycles, rich feedback loops and an innovation investment strategy that balances near team needs with future opportunities.
If you are a portfolio manager, product manager and/or making investment decisions for your organization, then this session is for you. You will learn both the mechanics and the "why" behind Agile portfolio management as well as how it differs from traditional portfolio management. You will do a deep dive into a prototypical Agile portfolio kanban including states and exit criteria.
As a result of this session, you will:

• Gain an understanding of the mechanics of Agile portfolio management
• Understand how to match capacity to demand and fund small batches
• Discover a method to run experiments and use feedback loops to create a learning organization that can identify and adapt to customer needs
• Find out how to leverage the Three Horizons portfolio strategy to encourage innovation and plan for the future

You will also get to experience Agile portfolio management through an interactive breakout session where you will make trade-offs leveraging a framework that considers the time value of money, innovation, risk and your organization's core capabilities.

Learning Outcomes:

• Gain an understanding of the mechanics of Agile portfolio management
• Understand how to match capacity to demand and fund small batches
• Discover a method to run experiments and use feedback loops to create a learning organization that can identify and adapt to customer needs
• Leverage the Three Horizons portfolio strategy to encourage innovation and plan for the future

Abstract:
Do you ever wonder 'Why?' Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) practices are not more prevalent? Do you think about 'Who/What?' is the laggard in your organization's lean-agile journey? Would you agree that adopting LPM can result in exponential improvements?
We know only too well, that managing agile teams in a traditional project management structure is like sticking a square beg in a round hole. If you are managing agile teams with 'traditional' management practices then you are slowing down the teams, and slowing down how the company operates. Essentially stifling the companies ability to improve on all levels. I assume that we all know this. Right? So, what is preventing greater adoption of LPM? Is it fear? Is it a lack of knowledge? A lack of experience or practical guidance?
This session is going to explore the latter. Essentially the session is a call-to-action for implementing Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) practices: it melds theory, practice and introspection to provide actionable insights. In the spirit of agile let us quickly define the problem, examine a hypothesis, and share experiments you can try/test.
As art imitates life, and music never fails to inspire us: can a song written in the summer of 1976 inspire us about the importance of Lean Portfolio Management, and help influence a call-to-action? Let's have a little fun as we explore the world and benefits of LPM.
The session explores the theory, and practices of LPM, with the main focus on LPM success patterns, know-how, tips/tricks that you are encouraged to take back to the office, and start experimenting with. The major practices/processes of a mature LPM will be covered: Ideation, Planning/Re-Planning, Prioritization, Budgeting etc. Remember, a LPM mindset can deliver the next level of (exponential) improvement for your organization.

Learning Outcomes:

• 1). Every audience member becomes a strong advocate and influencer for implementing LPM.
• 2). Learn small experiments, practices, tips/tricks, techniques for how to start implementing [and iterating on], the fundamentals of LPM budgeting and planning.
• 3). How to use an agile mindset to help with the adoption of LPM: challenge the frameworks, the naysayers, and continuously improve, so agile ways of working may thrive in organizations. Reinforce the need for test and learn cycles at the Portfolio level is a key part of this message, and the examples that will be provided.

Attachments:

• Agile 2019 - My LPM Toolkit The Gambler and Sizing Chart - Shared.pdf

Abstract:
It is quite easy to say that we are drowning in work, and most business leaders accept the fact that they're trying to do too many things, too quickly, and not getting the impact they want. At the same time, they are confronted with coaches and advisers stating the obvious that they need to do less and focus more. Unfortunately, this is not useful, merely correct.
In this talk, we will explore the underlying reasons behind too much work in process, and use those common patterns as the basis to identify a set of directional approaches that will support every company, as well as a number of tactical solutions to the specific root causes that are most commonly identified. Through applying these techniques, leaders will see common patterns and be able to apply directional corrections and specific countermeasures. These techniques will both create immediate wins and sustainable paths to improving business impact.

Learning Outcomes:

• Recognize the various sources of WIP (Work in process)
• Articulate the impact of excess WIP in the enterprise
• Apply simple tools to create focus at any level

Attachments:

• Escaping the Tragedy of WIP.pdf

Abstract:
We were lucky when we started our agile transformation in 2008: there were no scaling frameworks yet.

So we needed to find out ourselves how the question of scaling can be solved fitting exactly our company's culture and needs. We found, that scaling is very much about orchestrating operations. In the past we had a large, central project office. With the agile transformation we changed that. We created a small program & portfolio management function and distributed all operational management across the organization down into the cross-functional teams.
The results were exceeding or wildest hopes: one year into the journey our delivery delays were down to almost zero. Collaboration across the organization had significantly improved as we had started to truly co-own the promises we make to the customer. Planning has been a huge stress before. Now it is a constant flow of knowledge and decisions.
In this talk you will hear about what we did and why we did it. You will hear how we have structured and distributed our program and portfolio management across our very large (2000 people) organization. You will hear about the change in mindset we created. And you will hear about our journey through our lessons learned: how we gradually improved the new setup over 5 years - sorting out all the emerging phenomena we experienced - the good, the bad and the ugly.
To some extend we have found similar approaches as you can find in the scaling frameworks you hear about today. The big difference is, that this was our journey from the beginning. Starting from a mindset change and then inventing practices and structures following the mindset. In this talk you will also learn about how we successfully managed that aspect of the transformation.

Learning Outcomes:

• Know an example how an agile program & portfolio management function can be distributed across a very large organization.
• Understand and apply an approach how the needed mindset change can be driven across a large internationally distributed organization.
• Understand and apply concrete structural and practical concepts and approaches to build a large distributed program & portfolio office.

Attachments:

• CreatingAnAgilePMO_BeyondTheFrameworks_HendrikEsser_final.pdf

Abstract:
A big part of Agile is about delivering small product increments, but if you are like most organizations, you might struggle with breaking down your grandiose ideas into independent pieces of value. Some user stories have too many dependencies to be valuable on their own. Business stakeholders have a hard time seeing the larger picture with smaller increments. Multiple stories have to be delivered in order for any real functionality to be released. You wind up with over bloated stories or small stories with very little independent value.
In this session, we will explore a creative way to slice stories using a more detailed take on story mapping I like to call Visual Story Slicing. We will use personas and a very specific goal to identify the simplest steps required to connect the two. By using an "out of scope" line and identifying functionality that are candidates for stubs, we will ruthlessly prioritize parts of a user story and focus on delivering the thinnest slice with the most value. This technique has allowed us to trim user stories everyone already thought were as small as possible and start to get our teams laser focused on solving specific, independent user issues first. Join the session to find out how to get your stories nice and slim just in time for swimsuit season!

Learning Outcomes:

• Learn how to identify attributes of a bloated user story.
• Learn how to use personas and goals to focus your slicing on product value and learning.
• Learn how to use Visual Story Slicing to get to small, independently valuable user stories.

Attachments:

• agile2019-visaul-story-slicing.pdf

Abstract:
Organizations today struggle with remaining innovative in an ever-changing environment. Disruptive innovation continues to be a threat for large organizations, especially when they are not investing in R&D that is directed to innovative products.
Innovation Pipelines and Lean Startup can help protect your organization from disruptive ideas by discovering and implementing the disruptive products first.
How long does it take for a good product idea to die in your organization? How long can a bad product idea live? Can innovative or disruptive ideas get funding? Do they get parked? Are they ever seen by the right people? If you are dissatisfied with any of your answers to the above questions, the ideas presented in Lean Startup and Innovation accounting might be what you are looking for. In this talk we will discuss the lifetime of an innovative idea, and how to nurture new and relevant ideas to make innovative products and prevent stagnation in your product catalog.
Key Takeaways:

• Reasons for investing in disruptive innovation
• Innovation pipelines and getting good ideas to the right people
• Lean Startup concepts like Innovation Accounting and Pivoting
• Ideas on communicating the value of lean startup to the business.

Learning Outcomes:

• Lean Startup based on key concepts realized through changes made to the example organization
• Innovation Accounting through discussion around the financial aspects of Lean Startup
• Innovation Pipelines via personal examples given
• Customer Development via Lean startup examples

Attachments:

• Agile 2019 Innovation pipelines and the need for Lean Startup.pdf
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Abstract:
No matter how Agile your development teams are, it doesn't matter unless you're building the right things in the right order. And the bigger the initiative, the more critical this is. Indeed, a reliable and logical approach to 'prioritizing portfolio investments' is THE fundamental economic driver for a digital enterprise.
In this interactive workshop, Dean Leffingwell will lead attendees through a lean portfolio prioritization process. Topics include: insight and thinking tools for strategy formulation; synthesizing strategy into portfolio strategic themes; creating the portfolio vision; identifying, defining and prioritizing portfolio initiatives; establishing Lean budgets, defining MVPs; bringing visibility to work and matching demand to capacity with a portfolio Kanban system; and finally, sequencing approved work for maximum benefit by applying the lean mechanism of weighted-shortest-job-first (WSJF). The central interactive activity of the workshop will be to initiate development of an attendees 'portfolio vision'. This will be done using a variant of Osterwalder's business model canvas.
Attending this workshop will give you the experience of going through the lean portfolio prioritization process, starting the development of your own portfolio vision. You will leave the workshop with some work in process, along with guidance as to how to continue this work outside of the workshop setting."

Learning Outcomes:

• Identify simple and effective thinking tools for logically sequencing a lean portfolio prioritization process.
• Experience lightweight business modeling suitable for technical solution portfolios.
• Identify mechanisms and thinking tools for prioritizing portfolio work

Attachments:

• Agile 2019 PPI example.pdf
• 01 LPM Workshop Templates-Tabloid.pdf

Abstract:
Traditional approaches to portfolio prioritization based on annual planning cycles and a small number of executives making decisions behind closed doors create apathy and distrust, fail to leverage the wisdom of the organization and too often result in underfunded initiatives that fail to realize their goals. Simply put, traditional approaches to portfolio prioritization aren't very Agile.
Inspired by the Agile Manifesto value of "Customer collaboration over Contract Negotiation", this workshop presents a new approach to portfolio prioritization based on seven principles and four collaborative frameworks. The seven principles helps reframe how to engage the act of portfolio prioritization while the collaborative frameworks provide the tools for collaboration. This interactive workshop will briefly present the seven principles and then move to a thorough exploration and hands-on case study of the following frameworks:

1. 20/20 Vision: A framework to help participants prioritize strategic objectives.
2. Prune the Future: A framework to create roadmaps and longer term plans aligned to strategic objectives.
3. Participatory Budgeting: Most organizations will generate more good ideas than can be funded. Participatory Budgeting is a process through which a group of stakeholders decides on, or contributes to, decisions made on the use of shared resources, such as portfolio budgets or development team capacity, resulting in fully funded initiatives.
4. Investments by Horizon: This frameworks helps portfolio teams in making choices that balance near-term objectives with long-term innovation.

Each participant will also be given a learning log and an ebook that provides further insight into how to leverage these frameworks.

Learning Outcomes:

• Identify problems with traditional approaches to Portfolio Prioritization
• Identify the different planning processes that are required for different planning time horizons (strategic vs tactical time horizons)
• Distinguish between project prioritization and resource allocation
• Distinguish between "new business" and "run the business" and "infrastructure" investments
• Ensure that initiatives are properly funded before execution
• Gain experience with collaborative frameworks that support portfolio management

Attachments:

• 2019-Aug-09-Collaborative Frameworks for Portfolio Prioritization.pdf

Abstract:
How many times have you been asked the million dollar question: "When will this (feature, project, product) be done?" Most agile teams and organizations often grapple with being able to confidently answer that question when communicating with stakeholders. We often try to "guesstimate" when something will be done based on gut, fear, or hope.
We should take great pride in building a culture of "Hope Killing" by understanding what it takes to build (and deliver) realistic road maps in order to have meaningful conversations with leadership teams allowing them to confidently predict and deliver, manage expectations, and facilitate decision making.

Learning Outcomes:

• Participants will be able to:
• Gain an overall understanding of the concepts of a roadmap framework
• Build visual roadmaps to facilitate road mapping sessions
• Understand the various components needed to build a roadmap
• Identify and understand the link between value delivery and dependency management
• Discuss and understand the impact of "curve balls"
• Facilitate the process to recast the roadmap
• Understand how to manage stakeholder expectations to facilitate decision making

Attachments:

• Predictable Roadmaps-Final.pdf