Maureen Weverka & Kathy Burnham Mutual of Omaha. November 9, Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company. All Rights Reserved.

Fortune 500 company which strives to help their customers protect what they care about and achieve their financial goals Maureen Weverka, Director Project Management Office, responsible for the SAFe Portfolio Management activities on the Agile Release Train within the Strategic Business Unit. She has held a variety of positions within Mutual of Omaha over that last 39 years. Kathy Burnham, Information Service Director, responsible for managing SAFe activities that support all new Products, non-product and Support efforts on our major administrative systems. She has held a variety of positions within Mutual of Omaha for over the last 39 years. 2

High-level overview of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe ) Understand the various Business Analyst (BA) roles and responsibilities within the SAFe environment Understand the impact to the BA role based on the introductions of new methodologies, processes and tools Review key challenges and lessons learned as the BA role evolved under a SAFe structure 3

Mutual initiated an Enterprise Business Agility (EBA) effort to transform how we deliver value to our customers by using Lean and Agile principles What is EBA? Multi-year Transform initiative to increase throughput and capacity through the use of quarterly initiative planning, stable teams and improved Lean-Agile practices and mindset Why? Increase Value Deliver value early & often Improve Flow Optimize flow of ideas for faster delivery How? Change the way we deliver value by addressing all components of business agility across the enterprise (people + process + technology) What s the scope? All work managed through the enterprise project portfolio processes Transform, Grow and Run 4

LEVERAGE SAFe FRAMEWORK 5

Aligns with our customer focus strategy Utilizes Agile scaled with cadence & synchronization Embraces lean and agile principles Architecture presence at every level Seventy percent of Fortune 100 companies use SAFe and recognize the benefits 10 50% happier, more motivated employees 20 50% increase in productivity Benefits Realized 30 75% faster timeto-market 25 75% defect reduction Scaled Agile, Inc. 6

SAFe Lean-Agile principles 9 Principles 1. Take an economic view 2. Apply Systems Thinking 3. Assume variability preserve options 4. Build Incrementally with fast, integrated learning cycles 5. Base milestones on objective evaluation of working systems 6. Visualize and limit WIP, reduce batch sizes and manage queue lengths 7. Apply cadence, synchronize with cross-domain planning 8. Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers 9. Decentralize decision-making 4 Core Values Alignment Program Execution Built in Quality Transparency 8 Scaled Agile, Inc.

Framework includes four levels built around Value Streams supported by Agile Release Trains (ART) 9 Scaled Agile, Inc.

A Value Stream is the sequence of steps (from concept to cash) used to deliver value to the customer. The Value Stream includes all the people who do the work, the processes and the flow of information and deliverables. AGILE RELEASE TRAIN ARTs are organized around significant value streams and align stable teams to a common vision, roadmap, strategic objectives, and program backlog. Virtual Organization (5-12 stable teams) that plans, executes and delivers value to the customer. 10 Scaled Agile, Inc.

Release Management RTE Business Owners DevOps Product Management System Team UX System Arch/ Eng Agile Teams Scrum Masters Product Owners 11 Scaled Agile, Inc.

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Stable Agile Teams (Often called Cars on the Train) Self-organizing with Plan-Do-Act-Check practices Integrates frequently Applies Test Automation Under Program Structure Align 50-125 practitioners to a common mission Apply cadence and synchronization, Program Increments every 6-12 weeks Provide Vision, Roadmap, architectural guidance Utilize Architectural Runway Technically enables near-term business features Inspects and Adapts every Program Increment 13 Scaled Agile, Inc.

Stable Team Model? Define the Stable Team Determine colocation plan Training & Kick-off Events Coaching Support Baseline Agility Health Assessment Assess DevOps Metrics Leadership triangles and dedicated resources identified & committed. Communication complete with Team Members and Resource Managers Co-location plan in place Stable Team understands what is expected of them and are practicing agile techniques & ceremonies Stable Teams coached for 8 weeks following kick-off. Team leaders and members understand their role & have necessary skills. Stable Team Health baselined & managing Team s growth areas Team has been assessed on DevOps Practices Capture & analysis of metrics to enable learning & improvements 14

Value Stream Leadership Vision Strategy Cars 15

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Connect the Portfolio to Enterprise Strategy Implement Lean Budgeting Establish Portfolio Flow Forecast and Budget Dynamically Measure Lean Portfolio Performance Coordinate across Value Streams Lean Governance Strategy & Investment Funding Agile Program Guidance Focus on Essential SAFe Practices Support Agile PMO and CoPs Sustain and Improve 17 Scaled Agile, Inc.

#1 Lean-Agile Principles #2 Agile Teams and Release Trains #3 Cadence and Synchronization #4 Critical Team and Program Rules #5 PI Planning (Program Increment Planning) #6 Systems Demo #7 Inspect and Adapt #8 IP Iterations (Innovation and Planning) #9 Architectural Runway #10 Lean-Agile Leaders 18 Scaled Agile, Inc.

1980 s: Business SME s, Planning Analysts 2003: First Business PMO Formed 2004-2007: Formal BA Training & Ongoing Improvements 2013-2015: BA Job Descriptions, Test Automation & Formed Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) Present: First SAFe ART 1990 s: Early 1990 s: BA Role Took Shape Mid 1990 s: BA Centralization Late 1990 s: I/T PMO Formed 2008-2010: Tools, Automation, Introduced Agile, Endorsed IIBA Model and PMO Reorg (Siloed BAs) 2011-2012: Process Improvements 2017: Merged Business PMO with IT 20

Business analysis job profiles can be organized into the following three categories: Generalist Competent across all areas of business analysis Uses a variety of techniques in initiatives of varying scope and circumstances Found at various levels in organization Specialist Possesses solid or advanced subject matter expertise in specific areas Applies a more focused set of techniques with greater levels of expertise to potentially resolve extremely complex business problems May be at any level of experience Hybrid Demonstrates some degree of competency across a more limited set of knowledge areas of tasks Requires some degrees of competency in business analysis and some other discipline Performs multiple roles: a jack of all trades 21 Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK )

Mutual s BA Roles Associate Business Analyst (BA) BA Sr. BA Quality Assurance Analyst (QAA) Sr. QAA Associate Business Consultant Business Consultant Sr. Business Consultant IIBA Alignment Specialist Specialist Specialist Hybrid Hybrid Generalist Generalist Generalist 22

Generalist Specialist Hybrid Business Analyst (Project) Agile Business Analyst Business Rules Analyst Domain Expert (SME) Product Owner Engineer/Manager Project/IT Executes Projects BA + PM QA, Development Information Architect Project Manager Systems Analyst (II) Management Consultant Business Intelligence Analyst Data Analyst Process Analyst Requirements Systems Analyst (I) DBA Product Manager QA Analyst Usability/UXP Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK ) 23

Discovery Team Discovery Team v v v 24

Role Product Owner Scrum Master Agile Team Release Train Engineer (RTE) Description Content authority for the team level. Responsible for the team backlog, prioritizing and accepting stories, and representing the customer to the Agile Train Servant leaders and coaches for Agile team. Help educate the team in Scrum, extreme programming, Kanban and SAFe, and ensure the process is being followed Consists of a small group of dedicated individuals (5-9 in Scrum), who together have the skills necessary to define (elaborate and design their component/feature), build (implement their component/feature), and test (run the test cases and validate the component/feature) increments of value in a short timebox. Servant leader and coach for the ART who facilitates the ART s processes, events and execution. Escalates impediments and helps manage risk, value delivery and continuous improvement. 25 Scaled Agile, Inc.

Role System Architect/ Engineer Product Management Business Owners Customer Lean Agile Leaders Communities of Practice Description Represents an individual or small team that defines a common technical and architectural vision for the solution under development. Participates in defining the system and subsystems, interfaces, validate technology assumptions and evaluate alternatives. Content authority for the program level and backlog. Responsible for identifying customer needs, prioritizing features and developing the program vision and roadmap. Small group of stakeholders who have the primary technical, fitness for use, governance and ROI responsibility for a solution developed by an ART. Anyone who consumes the work of a value stream. Lifelong learners and teachers who help team build better systems through understanding and exhibiting the Lean-Agile Mindset, SAFe Principles, and systems thinking. They exhibit the following behaviors: Lead the Change, Know the Way, Emphasize Lifelong Learning, Develop People, Inspire and Align with Mission, Minimize Constraints, Decentralize Decision-Making, Unlock the Intrinsic Motivation of Knowledge Workers. Group of people who share a concern or passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. 26 Scaled Agile, Inc.

Function Waterfall Agile Like SAFe BA Impact Documentation Over Under Just Right Lean Requirements Scope Solution Definition Facilitation 28 Project Manager (PM) Solicited End to End PM Lead PM Lead BA Solicited End to End (Never Ending) Scrum Master Lead Scrum Master Lead Product Owner Role (PO) / BA Collaboration MVP Capability (Value Stream) Team Collaboration Self Directed Team Collaboration Self Directed Testing Over Under Automation Lean Quality BA Lead BA Lead Team Collaboration Lean PO Role Potential Collaboration among Teams Increased BA Involvement Discovery Team Potential Increased BA Involvement

What went well: Increased Productivity in completing Epic work Collaboration within the Teams improved via co-location and during P.I. Planning BA Team members felt empowered to make decisions as Self-Directed Teams More opportunities to be creative and feel safe without fear of reprisal of failed solutions Greater opportunities to expand their knowledge by cross training to be Generalist 29

What needs Improvement: Communication between Car s within Train to ensure endto-end understanding of work Selection of work by Self-Directing Teams to ensure equality of participation Amount of SAFe Training at start-up overwhelmed BA s resulting in forgetting BA fundamentals Understanding Roles and Responsibilities between Product Owners, Scrum Masters and BA s Manage Program Iterations, Prioritization and Planning to ensure sustainable pace 30

Trends: BA s becoming more Generalists by moving between Car s Hiring BA s Strategically vs Functionality (Learner vs. Knowledge) More reliance on DevOps and Automating Testing resulting in BA s moving away from Testing Opportunities: BA s playing lead roles on Discovery Teams in Strategic Solution activities BA s assuming Product Owner Roles Formation of Community of Practice (CoP) for BA Roles/Skills BA s displaying more leadership in Self-Directed Teams due to collaboration and communication of facilitation activities 31