Agile Transformation

Serious gaming to encourage and nurture an agile mindset, beyond just software and product delivery teams, using jargon-light agility cards.

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Observatory is of immense global consequence, with a mission to build and operate cutting edge radio telescopes that will transform our understanding of the universe. They are doing this by building an unprecedented number of receivers across multiple continents. The SKA is designed to observe radio emissions such as those radiating from neutral Hydrogen. Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, spanning our planetary neighbours all the way out to the very early beginnings of our universe but is invisible at optical wavelengths. Studying its...

Welcome to the amalgamation of a short series of articles on crafting effective, well-formed objectives as part of the SAFe® Program Increment (PI) / Big Room Planning activity. We have seen a lot of confusion surrounding the use of PI objectives; confusion that often results in: Resistance to their use and; The production of poorly formed team objectives that appear to be completely redundant as they just list the Features being addressed. The first step to creating well-formed, useful objectives is for everyone to understand why they are so important. Covered in this document: Why do we need PI Objectives when we have Features? Writing good PI Objectives PI Objectives and the PI Planning Process PI Objectives Beyond PI Planning: Reaffirming and Monitoring Your Commitments  

Our industry loves a fad - and in particular, we love to discover the Next Big Thing in development approaches. Each time we are promised a new (or improved) framework or playbook that will solve all our problems, and that we should immediately roll out to all our teams. And each time, we end up disappointed, without the results promised or anticipated, needing to look for a new Next Big Thing to repeat the cycle. It doesn't have to be that way, and the alternative needn't be as scary as it may seem. And it isn't another big framework!

The following blog provides a set of free, downloadable agile coaching cards that can be used by Agile Coaches, Scrum Masters and teams working in many different contexts. These cards have been developed while working outside of software and product development with government Defence teams and I’ve used these cards to teach agility and help develop an agile mind set.

Hapag-Lloyd are using Essence to provide proven agile practice options for teams to adopt and adapt, enable coaches to facilitate practice adoption and improvement, provide for tailored approaches for different types of project, and achieve transparency of status and health for effective governance.

In August 2017, Skandia began their transformation to a Scaled Agile way of working using SAFe® with the support of Ivar Jacobson International (IJI). Prior to the programme, Skandia's work culture was very much a centralized, plan driven over analytical approach. Since the introduction of the Scaled Agile Framework from IJI, they have changed to a 'let’s get going', experiment, trim and adjust approach that has impacted the entire business in very positive ways.

In a recent blog by Fujitsu’s Rob Devlen, Fujitsu and IJI go Agile with Essence, Devlen describes how Ivar Jacobson International (IJI) worked with Fujitsu to create a workshop to build an understanding of Agile for their top 100 executives and senior managers in the EMEIA region. The blog article describes how we created that interactive workshop with them, facilitated the session and the results obtained. In this article we’ll show you a flavour of some of the content.

Reduced time to identify inter-dependencies and deliverables from months to days Able to prioritize IT operations alongside business goals Learned to develop effectively as a team

In this article I base my observations and opinions on my experience of applying the Use Case 2.0 Practice and Behavior Driven Development’s Gherkin language, within an online products division of a major US Bank that is undergoing an Agile transformation. “I’m not dead yet,” Is a classic line from the movies that Monty Python fans will instantly recognize. I start with this because I could win a lot of money betting on the response from Agile practitioners when I tell them I am using Use Cases in an Agile environment to great benefit. “Use Cases? They’re dead and buried!” “That’s RUP! (Rational Unified Process). They aren’t agile.” “What are you thinking? Use Cases are dinosaurs.” “You should know better, Bernie.” Rarely, I get a response from an experienced coach who will not poke fun, but seek the powerful questions such as, “Now why do you think that’s a good idea?”, and a valuable conversation ensues.