Instead of looking for the details we should be looking for the structure
Instead of filling the backlog with everything we find we should be looking for how to fill it
Instead of cursing dependencies, treat them as your best friends.
This in my mind is the magic key to understanding and implementing agile at scale.
The better you understand the puzzle, the better you can do the pieces.
Agile at scale is about making both the puzzle and the pieces at the same time.
The question is how well you know the puzzle you are making pieces up front.
Normally people see dependencies as ‘bad’ – actually dependencies are our friends – they tell us about the static and dynamic structure – which can and must guide how we scale. It’s all about how much we know about the puzzle up front.
If this holds true as a thinking paradigm, then I believe there is a transformational and structural approach to achieving agile at scale on a very short time horizon for a large interdependent tech-organization or programme.
The ingredients are
. understanding what agility means at the organizational/programme level – see: ao.42stc.com
. finding out what holds you back at the moment and step-change your PMO level steering to match load to available capacity – see: as.42stc.com
. taking a structural approach to implementing agile at scale – see: aas.42stc.com
. driving your continuous improvement – you have talented people and am willing to learn with them, then it doesn’t matter where you start from – see: ae.42stc.com
Good morning. Time to go to work!
(PS: ‘we’ == us, working with scaling agile in large tech organizations)