Tools over Processes over People

… or Not?

Martijn van der Kleijn

uh oh...

So what happened?

  • We had a good start
  • Bad practices and no right sizing
  • Stress and tensions
  • Increased importance & pressure
  • Dependent on other, non-agile, teams

Did our team survive?

YES

  • We set aside differences & tensions
  • Redefined our core values & goals
  • Re-explored the meaning of Agile & DevOps
  • Discussed & adapted our methods over months

It was tough but it worked

Agile Manifesto

  • Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
  • Working software over comprehensive documentation.
  • Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
  • Responding to change over following a plan.

Not just about a manifesto.

Intrinsic Motivation

The desire to do things because they matter, because we like it,
they're interesting, or part of something important.
Dan Pink - The Puzzle of Motivation @TED

Autonomy

the urge to direct our own lives

Mastery

the desire to get better and better at something that matters

Purpose

the yearning to do what we do
in the service of something larger than ourselves

Recognize this?

  • Did not start Agile (or DevOps)
  • Agile in name only
  • A "DevOps" department
  • The lone Agile team
  • Literally following "the rules"

In General

  • Restructure the organisation
  • Get strong scrum masters / agile coaches
  • Apply and explain agile practices across the organisation

Team building

  • Fund service & product teams, not projects
  • Just Right Sizing / Two pizza rule (5-8 people)
  • As a team, define your values and goals
  • Build trust & communication (takes 3+ months)
    Try to keep teams together for at least a year
  • Enable team members to be generalists

Autonomy

  • Do not micro manage
  • Trust your engineers
  • Hand over responsibility and take it
  • Build trust with customers & product owner
  • Take it!

Mastery

  • Don't punish mistakes
  • Be open & transparent about mistakes (Post mortem)
  • Make room for skill improvement
  • Continues improvement (Kaizen)
  • Don't be afraid to change the roadmap

Purpose

  • Define a vision on every level
  • Define team goals
  • Define a team API
  • Identify customers with your product owner
  • Guide your team in a development direction

Agile is a mindset and its hard

Its about working together with respect and dignity.
Working in a structured manner.
Learning and adapting constantly.

https://slides.hcs-company.com


martijn@hcs-company.com
chaosmonkey@hcs-company.com