Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 3
Beyond the Book 4
Where to Go from Here 4
Part 1: Getting Started with Enterprise Agility 5
Chapter 1: Taking It All In: The Big Picture 7
Defining Agile and Enterprise Agility 7
Understanding agile product delivery 8
Defining "enterprise agility" 12
Checking out popular enterprise agile frameworks 15
Practicing as much agile as your organization can tolerate 16
Achieving Enterprise Agility in Three Not-So-Easy Steps 18
Step 1: Review the top enterprise agile frameworks 18
Step 2: Identify your organization's existing culture 19
Step 3: Create a strategy for making big changes 21
Chapter 2: Reviewing Agile Team Practices and Frameworks 27
Exploring Common Agile Practices 28
Starting with user stories, epics, and themes 28
Estimating with story points 30
Queuing up work 33
Conducting stand-up meetings 34
Shifting to test-driven development 34
Developing product iterations through continuous integration 34
Delivering Products with Scrum 36
Wrapping your brain around Scrum theory 37
Getting up to speed on Scrum values 38
Working in a Scrum team 39
Stepping through Scrum events 41
Producing Scrum artifacts 46
Growing Scrum 48
Developing Better Software with Extreme Programming 50
Checking out XP's values 50
Following XP's software engineering practices 51
Noting the similarities between XP and Scrum 52
Mixing and matching agile frameworks 53
Learning from Manufacturing with Lean Software Development 54
Managing Workflow with Kanban 56
Innovating Quickly with Lean Startup 56
Using a build-measure-learn feedback loop 57
Focusing on the one metric that matters 58
Mixing Lean Startup with enterprise agile frameworks 58
Chapter 3: Simplifying Lean Agility with SLAM 59
Introducing the Simple Lean-Agile Mindset (SLAM) 60
Starting at the Bottom with System-Level Optimization 62
Shortening the cycle time 63
Clearing communication channels 63
Budgeting for value streams 64
Encouraging transparency 65
Timeboxing 66
Working in cross-functional teams 67
Respecting people 68
Removing fear of failure 68
Setting and Executing a Strategic Vision 69
Breaking it down 71
Prioritizing the work 72
Pulling work into the teams 73
Taking an Empirical Approach to Products, Operations, and Innovation 74
Pulling in ideas, features, and tasks 76
Getting real-time feedback by delivering in small batches 77
Building Toward Business Agility 78
Part 2: Reviewing the Top Enterprise Agile Frameworks 81
Chapter 4: Joining the Big Leagues with the Scaled Agile Framework 83
Getting Your Head in the SAFe Game 84
Meeting the SAFe framework and principles 84
Picking and choosing what to use 88
Approaching SAFe as a practical compromise 90
Avoiding water-agile-fall 92
Differentiating doing agile from being agile 94
Wait a minute: Is SAFe the right solution? 94
Stepping Through the SAFe Management Layers and Levels 96
Bottom up: Starting at the foundation 96
Heading to the top: The enterprise 98
Visioning at the Portfolio level 98
Tackling big jobs at the Large Solution level 107
Making things happen at the Program level 111
Getting to work at the Team level 120
Filling in the background with the SAFe spanning palette 122
Making Your Organization Agile with SAFe 124
Plugging the gaps 125
Making your organization agile instead of fitting agile into your organization 126
Starting communities of practice 127
Chapter 5: Growing Scrum with Large-Scale Scrum 131
Taking a Quick Tour of the LeSS Framework 132
Tracing the product development process 133
Brushing up on LeSS principles 136
Getting up to speed on LeSS structure 139
Understanding the importance of technical excellence 143
Meeting LeSS management 145
Supersizing your delivery with LeSS Huge 147
Descaling Enterprise Agility 150
Embracing the spirit of LeSS 151
Experimenting to create your own approach 152
Seeing software developers as craftsmen/women 153
LeSS is Scrum 154
Getting to Know the Key Players 155
Starting at the top: The head of product 156
Meeting the LeSS product owner 156
Getting to know the LeSS Scrum Master 159
Moving Up to Scrum at Scale: Adoption 160
Getting started: Laying the foundation 162
Committing to delivery in sprint planning 166
Coordinating efforts through communication 168
Refining the product backlog 170
Learning from achievements and mistakes: Continuous improvement 173
Avoiding common LeSS pitfalls 176
Chapter 6: Making Process Decisions with Disciplined Agile Delivery 181
Understanding What Makes DA Tick 182
Brushing up on the principles of effective process frameworks 183
Exploring the DA process decision framework 185
Seeing DAD as a goal-driven, hybrid approach 187
Looking at DAD as a group of process blades 187
Delivering in Lifecycles 191
Navigating the three-phase delivery lifecycle 193
Choosing a DAD delivery lifecycle 198
Striving to become enterprise aware and to consider the risk-value lifecycle 200
Governing the lifecycle with milestones 200
Getting to Know the Cast: Roles 201
Meeting the lead actors: Primary roles 202
Stepping behind the scenes with the supporting cast: Secondary roles 204
Deciding whether DA is worth the trouble 206
Appreciating the value in simplicity 207
Chapter 7: Working in Tribes with the Spotify Engineering Culture 209
Building Your Spotify Community 210
Starting with a squad 211
Forming tribes of squads 216
Setting up Chapters 218
Sharing interests and knowledge in guilds 218
Embracing a Creative, Failure-Friendly Culture 221
Driving agility and innovation through culture and values 221
Reducing the negative consequences of failure 223
Encouraging innovation 223
Developing an aversion to waste 224
Engaging in continuous improvement 224
Strengthening community and culture overall 225
Understanding Spotify's Approach to Product Development/Planning 225
Changing the game plan for larger products 226
Having a system owner 227
Deciding Whether the Spotify Approach Is Right for You 227
Chapter 8: Improving Workflow and Eliminating Waste with Kanban and Lean 229
Grasping Kanban Principles and Practices 230
Brushing up on Kanban principles 231
Embracing Kanban properties 231
Pulling rather than pushing work 233
Working in small batches 234
Making Systems Lean 235
Getting up to speed on Lean's core values 236
Connecting Lean manufacturing to software development 236
Implementing Kanban and Lean 239
Mapping your value stream 239
Eliminating waste 242
Identifying potential bottlenecks 242
Creating Kanban boards 243
Creating Kanban cards 247
Using Kanban boards to track workflow 252
Improving workflow 253
Using Kanban to reduce management meddling 257
Is Lean Kanban a Viable Enterprise Agile Framework? 258
Part 3: Leading a Large-Scale Organizational Change 261
Chapter 9: Sizing Up Your Organization 263
Agilebots Transform! Committing to Radical Change 264
Understanding What Culture Is and Why It's So Difficult to Change 265
Understanding why culture is so entrenched 266
Avoiding the common mistake of trying to make agile fit your organization 267
Identifying Your Organization's Culture Type 268
Running with the wolf pack in a control culture 270
Rising with your ability in a competence culture 272
Nurturing your interns in a cultivation culture 274
Working it out together in a collaboration culture 276
Laying the Groundwork for a Successful Transformation 279
Appreciating the value of an agile organization 279
Clarifying your vision 281
Planning for your transformation 282
Chapter 10: Driving Organizational Change 285
Choosing an Approach: Top-Down or Bottom-Up 286
Driving Change from Top to Bottom with the Kotter Approach 287
Step 1: Create a sense of urgency around a Big Opportunity 288
Step 2: Build and evolve a guiding coalition 289
Step 3: Form a change vision and strategic initiatives 290
Step 4: Enlist a volunteer army 291
Step 5: Enable action by removing barriers 292
Step 6: Generate (and celebrate) short-term wins 293
Step 7: Sustain acceleration 293
Step 8: Institute change 294
Improving your odds of success 295
Driving a Grass-Roots Change: A Fearless Approach 295
Recruiting a change evangelist 296
Changing without top-down authority 298
Making change a self-fulfilling prophecy 298
Looking for change patterns 300
Recruiting innovators and early adopters 301
Tailoring your message 301
Steering clear of change myths 301
Overcoming Obstacles Related to Your Organization's Culture 304
Seeing how culture can sink agile 304
Acknowledging the challenge 305
Prioritizing the challenge 305
Gaining insight into motivation 306
Chapter 11: Putting It All Together: Ten Steps to an Agile Enterprise 309
Step 1: Identifying Your Organization's Culture 310
Step 2: Listing the Strengths and Challenges with Changing Your Culture 312
Step 3: Selecting the Best Approach to Organizational Change Management 315
Step 4: Training Managers on Lean Thinking 316
Step 5: Starting a Lean-Agile Center of Excellence (LACE) 318
Step 6: Choosing a High-Level Value Stream 319
Step 7: Assigning a Budget to the Value Stream 320
Step 8: Selecting an Enterprise Agile Framework 322
Step 9: Shifting from Detailed Plans to Epics 324
Step 10: Respecting and Trusting Your People 325
Part 4: The Part of Tens 329
Chapter 12: Ten Reasons Enterprise Agile Transformations Fail 331
The Organization's Culture Clashes with Agile Values 331
Teams Aren't Interested in Making Changes 332
Executive Support Is Lacking 333
The Proposed Change Is Too Radical 334
The Customer Won't Cooperate 334
Leadership Refuses to Invest in Training 335
The Developers Insist on Requirements 335
Each Team Wants to Do Its Own Thing 336
Nobody Has a Plan to Measure Improvements 337
The Functional Areas Are Too Deeply Entrenched 339
Chapter 13: Ten Tips for Overcoming Common Obstacles 341
Develop a Clear Roadmap 341
Find Support at the Top 343
Set Realistic Expectations 343
Compensate Employees for Their Investment 344
Change Minds as Well as Systems 344
Be Objective When Assessing Your Organization's Culture 345
Build Broad Consensus on the Reason for the Change 345
Don't Rely Solely on Outside Consultants to Drive Change 346
Encourage Reluctant Executives and Managers to Embrace the Change 347
Listen to the Skeptics 348
Chapter 14: Ten Ways Enterprise Agility Improves Product Delivery 349
Increasing Agility 349
Boosting Innovation 350
Enhancing Transparency 350
Boosting Productivity 351
Making Product Development More Fun and Rewarding 352
Strengthening Customer Relationships 353
Enhancing Product Quality 354
Making Product Delivery More Predictable 355
Reducing the Risk of Failure 355
Improving Developer Discipline 356
Index 359
