SOS
Scrum Off the Shelf
Key Benefits
- Agile Teams use Scrum in larger Kanban context. Upstream workflows that Product Owners manage, such as Initiatives and Epics, do not follow typical Scrum processes. They do utilize Kanban boards to visualize the upstream work status and manage customer expectations. With SOS, Agile Teams that still want to execute Scrum once an Epic’s Stories have been defined, can do so without concerns even though the customer value stream is inherently executing Kanban.
- Multiple methods possible at the same time. Our integrated Kanban and Scrum Agile solution allows an organization to have both Scrum and Kanban Agile Teams operating at the same time under an over-arching Kanban workflow.
- Evolution not Revolution. While we believe it is only a matter of time before Scrum Teams move to Kanban, it can happen at their own pace.
Key Features
- Solutions designed for popular tools. We support tools such as Jira and Rally and of course “sticky notes on walls”.
- Introduction of new metrics. We introduce Lead Time and Throughput as key metrics for all Agile Teams. Velocity can still be measured for each Agile Scrum Team, but as a metric it does not extend to other agiledoyens products.
Currently available for Jira Cloud.
Introduction
Since its inception in 2001, the Agile Manifesto and its supporting twelve principals have encouraged many organizations to move on from legacy Waterfall processes and adopt Agile Scrum. At agiledoyens, we feel that Kanban is the next evolution of Agile and many of our solutions center around Kanban principals. However, we recognize that just as it took many organizations years to move from Waterfall to Agile, it will take some organizations just as many years to evolve from Scrum to Kanban.
Blended Reality
Even the most diehard Scrum advocates must accept that upstream workflows that Product Management typically owns (Initiatives, Epics, Features, etc.) are not executed using Scrum. Product Owners don’t conduct Sprints, hold Scrum ceremonies, or point portfolio level work items. However, they do typically view status and progress via a visual Kanban board and the overall customer value stream from Idea to Delivery is viewed as a single continuous Kanban workflow. This blended reality of Scrum and Kanban is why SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) was created. Our Scrum Off the Shelf product allows Agile Teams to apply their existing Scrum practices to their day-to-day operations while keeping alignment with the big-picture Kanban customer value stream.
Challenges
Agile Scrum Teams are dependent upon Story Point estimates as a means for estimating and measuring progress via burndown or velocity charts. Story Points as they relate to actual time and effort are relative and unique to each team. Some organizations try to establish rules around the value of a point in terms of hours or days so that they can plan releases that are dependent upon multiple teams. This directive moves teams away from the reasons behind relative sizing back to Waterfall principals.
When Will It Be Ready?
Regardless of the methodology your organization is using, the question “when will it be ready?” will never go away. Luckily, there are two metrics that can answer that question regardless of the Agile methodology teams are executing. Lead Time measures the average amount of time it takes to get a work item from off the Backlog to Done. Throughput measures the average number of work items completed in each time period. This combination of how long and how many metrics allows teams to answer the question regardless of the process they are executing.
Solution
We introduce Lead Time and Throughput as baseline metrics for all Agile Teams within an orgainzation’s Agile Management Tool (Jira or Rally). This requires establishing a commitment and delivery point for every Agile Team’s Development workflow. These metrics can be extended to portfolio work item types as well.
Pricing
$3,000 plus customization costs at $150 per hour.