Agile scaling models tend to be based on scenarios where 5 - 10 agile teams are working on the same project/program/product/value stream.   The scaling models provide some good ways of organizing the work that needs to be done to plan, synchronize and demonstrate the outputs of the teams.  This case study describes the path of a development group that has 10-12 teams working on about 50 different software "products and services" within a reasonably narrow-focused energy company.  The case study describes how they went about paring down the SAFe model to meet their needs and then prioritizing the scaled-back scaling transformation using group inputs to a weighted shortest job first exercise.

Gerry Weinberg once said of consulting “There is always a problem, and it’s always a people problem.” The world of DevOps is emerging rapidly, and just like the early days of Agile, is still working on refining exactly what DevOps means.  So often, the focus is either on the technical aspects of the various tool, or on the people problem of “bringing Ops into the room”.  But what is the problem that DevOps addresses, and is that problem more of a technical problem, or a people problem?  We will explore this, and look at the possible intersection between the two “problems” and how a DevOps approach can help overcome them.

Agile software development methods are now well established in many commercial organizations, and are starting to make inroads into government contexts. There are reports of software development projects using Agile methods that achieve significantly higher levels of productivity and quality compared with projects that used traditional methods. When it comes to brand new “start from scratch” software projects, a wealth of information, advice, training, and literature exists to help guide practitioners and speed them along the path to agility. Unfortunately, most such publicly available resources have relatively little to say when it comes to legacy systems. However, there is a small but growing amount of evidence that agile practices can yield compelling benefits for legacy projects—even those that have been previously successful using traditional methods. Our experience suggests that agile practices need to be customized and introduced in a different order into a legacy project. This presentation provides an analysis of the differences between legacy projects and new software development and the implications for the adoption of agile methods.

Value Streams, an organizing principle within Lean Software Engineering and SAFetm, help executive leadership understand the concept to cash flow of value available from a properly scaled Agile implementation.   In the simplest cases, Value Streams are obvious and easy to cluster agile teams around but in the real world things are not always so simple.

This presentation presents a value stream definition accessible to any agile practitioner followed by an in-depth discussion to the fundamentals behind value streams. The session concludes with a class exercise on identifying and selecting one or more value streams and introduces the concept of a Release Trains.

You’ve read all the books, you’ve gotten your certifications and now you have a team staring at you waiting for you to take the lead. There is no hesitation about how to perform the basics -- determining roles and scheduling meetings -- but how do you kick off an effective, high performing team?

Whether you have a brand new team or you’re the new guy on an existing team, the tools and techniques you will learn in this session have proven to be effective from state government to private sector insurance.

As an accredited Leadership Gift Coach Jessica focuses on vocabulary, shared responsibility, and team agreements. You will leave the session able to facilitate more than one Innovation Games and utilize them during your kick offs to set the stage for a powerful and effective team no matter what methodology they use.