Agile Coaching for Free?

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1 V. Lee Henson ~ AgileDad November 30, 2016 Agile 12 Step Program Who ever said Agile was an All or Nothing Proposition? Learn the steps companies take to implement Agile! Pages 2-4 Meet Our Clients! Who does AgileDad work with regularly? Page 5 About AgileDad Learn more about AgileDad ad the goals for the SLC Agile Meetup. Page 6 Agile Coaching for Free? ~V. Lee Henson, President and CEO of AgileDad Your eyes did NOT deceive you Coaching should not cost your company. After having trained and coached in over forty of the Fortune 100 companies and having a chance to assist multiple small Utah based companies grow very quickly, I believe the folks at AgileDad have found the formula for success when it comes to engagement. Using data from post engagement surveys, we have found that on average there is a four to seven times increase in productivity and cost savings compared to not having a coach. That number alone was enough to do the trick for me, upon further inspection, we found that organizations that underwent AgileDad training and then went on to engage in a block of coaching were highly accelerated at building their own Agile center of excellence and got on their feet much more quickly than teams that did not have the same guidance. The number one piece of feedback that we receive is that it becomes much easier and faster to see prototypes and get products to market using the AgileDad 12 step program. The approach is a practice in common sense and allows for structured decisions to be made in more frequent meetings featuring a smaller number of participants in each session. We also GUARANTEE our coaching and training with a first in the Agile community standard. The promise is that if we cannot save your organization more than what we are billing to be there, we will not charge a penny for our services! This gives larger companies peace of mind in knowing that they will see proven results and allows smaller companies a chance to experience world-class coaching and training at a cost that is affordable to them. Our tiered pricing model allows for companies of any size to match and benefit from having the right coach lead them. Selecting the right trainer or coach What are the steps to finding the right Agile Coach for your company? 1) As about credible on the ground experience. 2) Review public recommendations and see what others have had to say about this company. 3) Look for a company that will only bill you for time used at a fair rate.

2 Many Agile Coaches and Trainers have taught for years that Agile is an all or nothing proposition. This is NOT the case. This 12 Step Approach to Agile Adoption will help you accelerate learning and serve as a guideline for Agile Success. Many trainers, coaches, and training organizations have proclaimed that Agile is an all or nothing proposition. This could not be any further from the truth. In fact, back in 2001, shortly after the Agile Manifesto was written, I put together a white paper that made the skin of the Agile Community crawl. It was entitled Driving The Agile Hybrid. The subject matter debunked two very widely believed principles: 1) It was believed at that time that enterprise organizations would select one of the Agile Methods and implement a vanilla implementation of Scrum, XP, DSDM, etc. My prediction was that over time these large companies would discover that Agile is not one size fits all. I correctly predicted that organizations would select a method such as Scrum to use as a foundation and select best practices from the others in order to create their own Agile Center of Excellence. I was all but laughed out of the Agile community back then. Today, this has proven to be true in every facet. 2) Most believed for some time and many still believe you are either Agile or Non-Agile, Scrum or Scrum-Butt, Lean or just not efficient. This is also not true. In fact, I have created a roadmap for ANY size organization to follow that will allow them to see incremental improvement as they implement Agile processes within their organization. Just as the changes are incremental, the results of the changes are also incremental. It is indeed true that you will not stand to recognize all of the benefits of a pure Agile implementation without first implementing the core foundational pieces of what Agile means and how it should be applied. It is for this reason I have composed the Agile 12 Step Program. While I do not feel I am in position to make light of any program designed to help individuals through a struggle they may be facing in their personal life, I do feel like this document could assist organizations who are ready to make changes, but not quite ready to swallow the entire Agile pill. The following steps are tried and true. I have successfully transformed organizations of EVERY size using these steps. Consider this your first round free of Agile Transformation Coaching, compliments of AgileDad. 2

3 The Official Agile 12 Step Program: 1) Admit you have a problem that you are trying to solve and disclose why you have selected implementation of Agile to help you solve the problem: Knowing what you are trying to solve and why is the first step to a successful Agile Implementation. 2) Set Management/Executive level Expectations and establish an Agile Vision: Without a clear vision of where we are heading and who is involved, we are nothing less than lost. 3) Identify and establish a distinction of every Agile Role: When people know what their true role is and they are willing to embrace what they should be doing, best Agile practices become much easier to follow. 4) Focus on Product Ownership and Backlog Item Creation: Backlog preparation is the number one issue I see with most organizations attempting to embrace Agile. Many are waiting until too late in the process. Others are not creating Backlog Items using the INVEST model and not having them prepared prior to planning Continued The NEXT Salt Lake City Agile Meetup will be held at Usana on December 14, 2016! 5) Hold proper Agile Meetings with the correct purpose, attendees, and agenda: More money is wasted in organizations holding the incorrect conversations with the incorrect parties involved. The art of the Conversation is one that positively needs to be mastered. Every meeting should have an agenda and purpose. While this may seem simple on the surface, I see groups suffering from this issue regularly. 6) Clearly define product release cycles: Figuring out a cadence for release that is tolerable to both the organization and the customer can be challenging. Not to mention that the people on the ground frequently want to flex dates that have been set forth by the organization with regard to release timeframes. We need to define and stick to the release cycles that make sense. Include input from all key stakeholders, the product ownership team, and closely track consumer needs in order to best determine the best ultimate strategy for your release. Please make it a point to join us for our very next FREE Agile Meetup! The next scheduled Meetup is to be held on December 14, 2016 at Usana! Come out and take advantage of FREE lunch and a chance to learn how success is celebrated in one of the Salt Lake Valley s fastest growing organizations! Learn from Usana how they are succeeding in Agile and how you can incorporate celebration practices that they have applied in order to make Agile a HUGE Success! Here is the scoop: AgileDad Presents: The Official Agile 12 Step Adoption Program Usana 3838 Parkway Blvd. Salt Lake City, UT Wednesday December 14, 2016 from 11:00AM 2PM 3

4 7) Take time to measure end consumer satisfaction: In addition to the ever so critical acceptance criteria, we need to also note some form of measure for end consumer satisfaction. This information could be gathered with something as simple as frequent demonstrations of working product. Other times this requires more intense customer interaction. This is where we take the time to figure out a means of determining product success. 8) Enhance Programming Practices: Unit Testing = 100% Code Review = 100% Refactoring poorly designed code = 100% Coding Standard = In Place. This is the bread & butter when building software, (or anything else for that matter). The proof of forward progress rests in a demo of working results. 9) Enhanced Testing Practices: Every group should be working towards some form of TDD. In my world there is a test in place to validate before a line of code is ever written. Even acceptance tests should be written and set to fail prior to the beginning of any Sprint. This helps insure that we do not gold plate the code we create and that we work towards potentially shippable code at the end of every iteration. 10) Secure the appropriate Agile Tooling solution: While not every Agile implementation requires a large-scale tool implementation, keeping a close eye on the progress of the teams and organization is a must. What is visible is what gets done. The simple practice of selecting the correct Agile tool based on what information you wish to convey to management, is an important decision that should not be taken lightly. 11) Identify ways to measure team and group success: Take time to identify internal and external service level agreements and determine what metrics of success will be celebrated as a team. Do not let the team get into a mode where they feel like all they do is sprint and meet over and over again. They need to be recognized for positive accomplishments and need to build towards high performing teams. 12) Identify the top three issues that still may not have been addressed to date and plan a course of action to get these taken care of: While this list is comprehensive, no single list could include everything one organization needs to do in order to see all facets of Agile success. It is imperative to constantly look towards continuous improvement. This step allows you to review all previous steps and make certain there was nothing that was missed or overlooked. This also allows for time needed to inspect and adapt internally. It is always a best practice to look internally for additional opportunities to improve. Embrace each of the 12 Steps as groups within your organization are ready, not all at once ~ V. Lee Henson While no plan can be perfect for everyone, this plan is pretty comprehensive. Taking these steps and making minor adaptations where needed can certainly help the progress of your Agile transformation move forward more quickly. A couple of other quick points of note: In order to execute this Agile 12 Step Program, the organization needs to have an agreement in place that they accept and will adopt the 4 Pillars of Agile Success. They must also agree to identify, manage and eliminate outstanding technical debt. As long as debt remains in the picture, each of the additional steps become more challenging and make Agile on a whole much more difficult to implement. I still strongly recommend bringing in a qualified Agile Coach to assess the details of your situation. This outside assistance should pay for itself in no time and prove to give your organization the boost it needs to see true success. There truly is a lot more to these steps than just simple words on a page. I encourage you to reach out to AgileDad if we can be of additional assistance in helping you do a more thorough Agile Assessment and determining just what steps you can take to move you further along the path. The key is to help you internalize the Agile process. Our job literally is to work our way out of a job. We teach you to achieve Agile Excellence so that your customers can share in your newfound Agile Success. 4

5 What kind of companies hire AgileDad for Coaching and or training? Here are a few of the largest: Upcoming AgileDad Public Courses: Jan Sandy, UT Certified Scrum Product Owner Workshop Jan Sandy, UT Jan Tampa, FL Feb 7-8 New Orleans, LA Feb 9-10 Tampa, FL Feb Dallas, TX Feb Phoenix, AZ Feb Seattle, WA Feb Reno, NV Private sessions and workshops are always available. For more information please LearnMore@AgileDad.Com Or Call:

6 About AgileDad: What sets AgileDad apart you ask? We have personally trained, coached, and or certified Agile implementations in 46 of the Fortune 100 Companies! We have been hand selected by smaller organizations to help them be nimble with the talent and resources they have to perform at their absolute best. Our mantra is simple. With great power comes great responsibility. This advice sets the undertone for the objective of every AgileDad engagement. Selecting AgileDad means that you have entrusted us with your most valuable asset, your people. We take this responsibility very seriously. As a result we have provided nothing less than the highest quality training and coaching to a number of companies ranging in size from Startup to Fortune 100. We treat each engagement with the respect and depth that it warrants. We treat each customer the way we would want to be treated and wrap the human side into everything we do. Gone are the days where theory was enough, the new frontier takes us to a place where advanced experience matters. AgileDad has that experience and we look forward to our engagement with your organization. Advancing Agile and doing what makes sense in the Scrum & Agile Community since 2001! This Salt Lake City Agile Meetup Newsletter is intended for the educational enrichment of all those involved in the Agile Community. Please feel free to replicate and or duplicate this document in part or whole electronically or manually with proper attribution association. For more information about AgileDad course offerings, or Agile Coaching, please contact V. Lee Henson by using the information listed below All Rights Reserved.