Agile and Lean Program Management

Praise Quotes

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Introduction

1.Defining Agile and Lean Program Management

1. 1.1Review the Twelve Principles of Agile Software Development
2. 1.2Review the Seven Lean Principles
3. 1.3Agile and Lean Together Create Adaptive Programs
4. 1.4A Program Is a Strategic Collection of Several Projects
5. 1.5Program Management Facilitates the Program to Release
6. 1.6Program Management Coordinates the Business Value
7. 1.7Agile Program Management Scales Collaboration
8. 1.8Agile and Lean Effect Change at the Program Level
9. 1.9What Program Managers Do
10. 1.10Take a Product Perspective
11. “I Think ‘Product’ Now”
12. 1.11Principles of Agile and Lean Program Management

2.Consider Your Program Context

1. 2.1Cynefin Helps with Decisions
2. 2.2Understand Your Product’s Complexity
3. 2.3Know Which Program Teams You Need
4. Do You Have A Process Program?
5. 2.4The Core Team Provides Business Leadership and Value
6. 2.5Do You Need a Core Team?
7. 2.6Principles of Consider Your Program Context

3.Organize Your Program Teams

1. 3.1Create Your Core Team
2. 3.2Beware of Forgetting Core Team Members
3. 3.3The Product Owner Role Is Key to the Program’s Success
4. 3.4Organize the Software Program Team
5. Avoid Coordination Chaos
6. Do You Need a Hardware Program Team?
7. 3.5Don’t Manage More than One Program Team Yourself
8. 3.6Principles of Organizing Your Program Teams

4.Start Your Program Right

1. 4.1A Program Charter Sets the Strategy
2. 4.2Develop the Program Charter with the Core Team
3. 4.3We Can’t Afford the Travel
4. 4.4Lead the Program Chartering Effort
5. “Working Agreements Helped Us Charter”
6. 4.5Create Your Own Program Charter Template
7. Do You Need Landing Zones?
8. Specify Neutral Dates
9. 4.6Iterate on the Program Charter and Plans
10. 4.7Create the Agile Roadmap
11. 4.8Create the Big Picture Roadmap
12. 4.9Principles of Start Your Program Right

5.Use Continuous Planning

1. 5.1Differentiate Between Internal and External Releases
2. 5.2What Do You Want to Release This Month?
3. 5.3Create Minimum Releasables
4. “Our Product Grew Differently Over Time”
5. Continuous Delivery and Quarterly Planning
6. 5.4Plan for External Releases
7. 5.5Deliverable and Rolling Wave Planning Helps
8. 5.6Small is Beautiful for Programs
9. 5.7How Often Can You Replan?
10. “It’s not the Plan; It’s About Planning”
11. 5.8Separate the Product Roadmap from the Project Portfolio
12. 5.9Ways to Rank Items in the Roadmap or Backlogs
13. 5.10Decide How You Will Evaluate Value
14. 5.11Update the Roadmaps Often
15. 5.12Principles of Continuous Planning

6.Create an Environment of Delivery

1. 6.1Visualize Program Team Work
2. 6.2Keep the Program Team Work Small
3. 6.3How Features Flow Through Teams
4. 6.4How Often Can You Release Your Product?
5. 6.5Release Internally, Even with Hardware
6. 6.6Are You Integrating Chunks or Products From Others?
7. “Gantts Helped Everyone See Deliverables”
8. 6.7Manage the Risks of Integration from Other Vendors
9. 6.8Create a Culture of Delivery Throughout the Program
10. 6.9Principles of Create an Environment of Delivery

7.Encourage Autonomy, Collaboration, and Exploration

1. 7.1Software is Learning, Not Construction
2. 7.2Scaling Agile Means Scaling Collaborative Practices
3. 7.3Create Autonomous Feature Teams
4. 7.4Create Small-World Networks to Optimize Learning
5. 7.5Communities of Practice Create Connection and Collaboration
6. 7.6Avoid Hierarchical Titles
7. 7.7Continuous Integration and Testing Supports Collaboration
8. 7.8Beware of Technical Debt
9. 7.9Invite People to Experiment
10. 7.10Principles of Encourage Autonomy, Collaboration, and Exploration

8.Conduct Useful Meetings for Your Program

1. 8.1Explaining Status: Do Not Use Standups at the Program Level
2. 8.2Define a Rhythm for Your Program Team
3. How Often Should Your Program Team Meet?
4. How to Manage Long Lead Items
5. 8.3Organize Your Program Team Meetings
6. “Right Size” Your Program Team Meetings
7. 8.4Program Team Meetings Solve Problems
8. 8.5Retrospect at the Program Team Level
9. 8.6Principles for Conduct Useful Meetings for Your Program

9.Estimating Program Schedule or Cost

1. 9.1Does Your Organization Want Resilience or Prediction?
2. 9.2Ask These Questions Before Estimating
3. 9.3Targets Beat Estimates
4. 9.4Generate an Estimate with a Percentage Confidence
5. 9.5Present Your Estimate as a Prediction
6. 9.6Spiral in on an Estimate
7. 9.7Supply a Three-Date Estimate
8. 9.8Do You Really Need an Estimate?
9. 9.9Beware of These Program Estimation Traps
10. 9.10Estimation Do’s and Don’ts for Program Managers
11. 9.11Principles of Estimating Schedule or Cost

10.Useful Measurements in an Agile and Lean Program

1. 10.1What Measurements Will Mean Something to Your Program?
2. 10.2Never Use Team-Based Measurements for a Program
3. 10.3Measure by Features, Not by Teams
4. 10.4Measure Completed Features
5. 10.5Measure the Product Backlog Burnup
6. 10.6Measure the Time to Your Releasable Deliverable
7. 10.7Measure Release Frequency
8. 10.8Measure Build Time
9. 10.9Other Potential Measurements
10. 10.10Measure Performance or Reliability Release Criteria
11. “We Learned to Measure Performance”
12. 10.11How to Answer the “When Will You Be Done/How Much Will Your Program Cost” Question
13. 10.12Principles

11.Develop Your Servant Leadership

1. 11.1Program Managers No Longer “Drive” the Program
2. 11.2Consider Your Servant Leadership
3. 11.3How Servant Leaders Work
4. 11.4Some People Don’t Want Servant Leadership
5. “I am the Wall Around the Program”
6. 11.5Welcome Bad News
7. “Think of Bad News as an Opportunity”
8. 11.6Use the Growth Mindset
9. 11.7Ask For the Results You Want
10. 11.8Principles of Develop Your Servant Leadership:

12.Shepherd the Agile Architecture

1. 12.1Architects Write Code
2. 12.2Many Developers Become Architects
3. 12.3Encourage Iterative and Incremental Architecture
4. 12.4Architects Can Help Expose Risks
5. 12.5What the Program Architect Accomplishes Daily
6. 12.6Architecture is a Social Activity
7. 12.7Problems You May Encounter With Architecture
8. When Should You Consider Architectural Stories?
9. 12.8Break the Architecture with Purpose
10. 12.9Principles of Shepherd the Agile Architecture

13.Solve Program Problems

1. 13.1Ask For the Problems or Impediments First
2. 13.2People on the Core Team Don’t Deliver What They Promise
3. 13.3Your Product Owners Have Feature-itis
4. 13.4People on Teams Are Multitasking
5. 13.5How to Start a Program With More People Than You Need
6. “Consider a Hackathon”
7. 13.6Principles of Solve Program Problems

14.Integrating Hardware Into Your Program

1. 14.1Hardware Risks Are Different Than Software Risks
2. 14.2Understand Cost and Value for Hardware
3. 14.3Understand Each Part’s Value
4. 14.4See the Work
5. 14.5Design Incrementally and Iteratively
6. 14.6Use Continuous Design Review
7. 14.7Integrate Hardware Often
8. 14.8Manage Hardware Risks
9. 14.9Develop the Software Before the Hardware Is Available
10. 14.10Principles of Integrating Hardware Into Your Program

15.Troubleshooting Agile Team Issues

1. 15.1The Teams Are Not Feature Teams
2. 15.2Teams Think They Are Agile, But They Are Not
3. 15.3The Teams Have Dependencies on Other Teams
4. 15.4Your Features Span Several Iterations
5. 15.5You Don’t Have Frequent-Enough Deliverables
6. 15.6Teams Don’t Finish When They Say They Are Done
7. 15.7Principles of Troubleshooting Agile Team Issues

16.Integrating Agile and Not-Agile Teams in Your Program

1. 16.1Waterfall Teams Are Part of Your Program
2. 16.2You Have Teams that Produce Incrementally, But Not in an Agile Way
3. 16.3You Have Teams that Prototype and Don’t Complete Features
4. 16.4Principles of Integrating Agile and Not-Agile Teams in Your Program

17.What to Do If Agile and Lean Are Not Right for You

1. 17.1Try an Incremental Life Cycle
2. 17.2Organize by Feature Team
3. 17.3Learn to Release Interim Deliverables
4. 17.4Learn How to Reduce Batch Size With a Large Program
5. 17.5Try Release Trains
6. 17.6Principles for What to Do if Agile and Lean Are Not Right for You

Annotated Bibliography

Glossary

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