Is Your Agile Development SAFe?

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1 Is Your Agile Development SAFe? David P. Quinn SM SCAMPI is a service mark of Carnegie Mellon University 1

2 What Is Agile? The Agile Manifesto We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more. 2

3 Great Benefits to Agile Quick iterations focused on working software Greater collaboration with fewer extended meetings Plan the work and work the plan Continuous develop, build, integrate, and test cycles Adaptable to changes Insight into work in progress Working most important items/functions first Clear definition of what done means 3

4 Inhibitors to Agile Dependencies on other teams Not practicing Agile Different iterative cycles Lack of interactions Poorly timed enterprise architecture changes Won t allow a cycle to complete Stakeholders who don t stay involved in the project Lack of support mechanisms outside of the project team 4

5 Addressing the Problems The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) SAFe is a proven, publicly-facing framework for applying Lean and Agile practices at enterprise scale Synchronizes alignment, collaboration, and delivery Well defined in books and on the web Scales successfully to large numbers of practitioners and teams Core values Alignment Code Quality Program Execution Transparency 5

6 The Great Melting Pot Practices and principles from: Scrum XP Lean Kanban Various levels (don t think CMMI levels) addressing implementation Portfolio Program Team Let s look at SAFe in more detail with an eye towards CMMI-DEV practices Capability Maturity Model and CMMI are registered in the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. 6

7 The Big Picture of SAFe Page 7 7

8 SAFe and CMMI-DEV Like many Agilists, people involved in SAFe view CMMI- DEV as an impediment to Agile This is usually based on misinterpretations and stereotypes of CMMI-DEV SAFe provides a standard process/framework that is tailored to an organization s specific needs Programs and projects then tailor SAFe practices at their level to their specific needs Sounds a lot like OPD and IPM from CMMI-DEV So, can SAFe and CMMI-DEV coexist in an organization? Let s examine SAFe with an eye towards CMMI-DEV practices Capability Maturity Model and CMMI are registered in the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. 8

9 The Big Picture of SAFe Page 9 9

10 Portfolio Level Strategic direction for business goals and enterprise technology needs [RD SP 1.1] Business Epics span multiple releases and adjust to the market direction and business climate Technical Epics continuously evolve the architecture to address changes in technology Value Streams help prioritize business needs [RD SP 3.2] Most value for the available effort Maintained in a Portfolio Backlog [RD SP 1.2] The beginnings of requirements traceability [REQM SP 1.4] 10

11 Program Level - 1 Program Backlog incorporates Portfolio Backlog items and Product Management features into a vision and roadmap Besides traceability, aids in balancing requirements [RD SP 3.4] Agile Release Train coordinates activities across teams, establishing a cadence for teams to match [IPM SP 1.4, SP 1.5] Release Planning Session gets all teams and product owners together to discuss features to be developed [IPM SP 2.1] All teams commit to what they will work in the coming time box [PP SG3] 11

12 Program Level - 2 At the end of each time box, integrate potentially shippable increments [PI SG3] Scrum of Scrums coordinate needs across project teams and ensure everyone is able to meet their commitments [IPM SP 1.5 and PMC SP 1.2] 12

13 Team Level Sprint Planning Session defines what the team will work during the time box [REQM SP 1.2] Sprint/Team Backlog lists work that needs to be performed during the time box [PP SP 1.1] Team visually tracks work in progress, work completed, and work waiting to be started [PMC SP 1.1] during daily stand up meeting [PMC SP 1.6] 13

14 Team Level - 2 Sprint Review demonstrates work completed to the Product Owner for acceptance [PMC SP 1.7, VAL SP 2.1] Sprint Retrospective reviews team performance to identify potential performance improvements [GP 3.2] 14

15 Key Roles Scrum/Agile Master Facilitates daily stand up meetings; updates Sprint Backlog [PMC SP 1.2]; ensures process fidelity [PPQA SP 1.1; GP 2.9] Agile Team Cross-functional team fully capable of defining, building, and testing increments of customer value in a short time box. [TS SG2, SG3] Release Train Engineer Facilitates program-level processes and execution; drives program-level continuous improvement [IPM SG2] System Architect Focuses on making design decisions that must be made now to support future features [TS SG 1] Release Management Team Coordinates and facilitates the delivery of productized software (the whole product solution) developed by its associated Agile Release Train [CM SP 1.3] 15

16 Standardizing the Defined Process As a framework, it is not a methodology (just like CMMI) but it provides the guidance for consistent performance of Agile processes and team operations [OPD SG1] Agile Teams constantly measure their performance to ensure they are making adequate progress and to calculate their general velocity for planning future time box workloads [MA SG2] Various retrospectives at both the team and program levels actively seek improvement suggestions to improve performance for the next time box [OPF SP 1.3] SAFe requires that people be adequately trained to perform specialized roles such as the Release Train Engineer [GP 2.5, OT] Successful SAFe organizations incorporate tools to automate process flow and minimize data entry [GP 2.3, IPM SP 1.3] These tools often act as the repository for SCAMPI evidence 16

17 What Does SAFe Miss in CMMI-DEV? Like many Agile approaches, reporting measures outside the project team is not emphasized Not differentiating measures that are truly team specific (velocity, story points) from measures that could be shared (defect closure rate, cost/effort variance) Improvements tend to be held at the team level, not shared across teams Common problem in many organizations starting up CMMI Objectively evaluating compliance with processes, standards, and procedures Though the Scrum Master provides most process enforcement 17

18 What Detractors Have to Say SAFe Not real Agile Constrains developers with specified time boxes It s a linear model Value processes over people It s a top-down control approach for management CMMI-DEV Doesn t support Agile Turns developers into automatons It focuses on Waterfall Check the box exercise It s a top-down control approach for management 18

19 SAFe and CMMI Agile can have a great impact on software organizations Inhibitors frequently block Agile teams from getting the greatest benefits from Agile The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) defines an enterprise approach for Agile Each program and team tailors Agile practices based on Lean principles This is very similar to the concepts within the CMMI-DEV Maturity Level 3 SAFe has its detractors, which make the same arguments against CMMI-DEV With some fairly straightforward interpretation, organizations implementing SAFe should be able to successfully be appraised against the CMMI-DEV 19

20 MOSAIC Technologies Group, Inc Maple Lawn Blvd, Suite 430 Fulton, Maryland Tel: (301) Fax: (301) David P. Quinn Chief Quality Officer Certified SCAMPI SM Lead Appraiser Introduction to CMMI Instructor Direct: (240) Mobile: (717)