Spirals: Scaling Down, Looking In

The whole universe is based on rhythms. Everything happens in circles, in spirals. (John Hartford)

All agile scaling begins with this phenomenal team, called the scrum team, and the fantastic work they are doing, and the magical products they are producing. Suddenly, disembodied voices speak in mystical jargon, framework runes are carved in PowerPoint, and with a puff of smoke ... agile scaling happens.

Then there is you.

The only way you can describe the chaos is akin to those science animations that show the creation of the solar system: rocks of all sizes flying chaotically, large pieces crashing into each other quite violently, smaller chunks flying off in the collisions, slowly focal points of gravity forming, and eventually in a million years a solar system begins to form.

Hands on your hips you gaze at the chaos. "Yup! It's a Monday."

First call to action: Please read to the very end to see to see to whom this applies.

Scaling Up. Looking Out.

Typically, "implementing" agility, or at least agile practices, all begin with a singular unit called the scrum team. For our current purposes, we need not delve into the details. Suffice to say that there are three roles designated, three artifacts crafted, and five events or ceremonies. The scrum team produces incremental value on (or for) a "product" in fixed timebox periods called sprints or iterations.

"Ceremonies"? I rather like "ceremonies". It has a rather nice flair to it, don't you think? Will there be costumes? But I digress. (read in the voice of the 13th Doctor)

Once a few teams are set up and running, the next step in scaling is to ensure that groups of these scrum teams start to work together. This configuration is called a team-of-teams, a Scrum of Scrum (SoS), an Agile Release Train (ART), and so on and so forth. Basically, just as the scrum team is a single unit focused on delivering value in a single iteration, this larger configuration is a meta-unit focused on delivering integrated - and thus, larger - value in a longer cumulative iteration.

Scaling larger just takes the same approach. In other words, collect yourself a collection of meta-team and stir them together into an even larger team-of-meta-teams. At some point the organization, or the company, will have many teams-of-meta-teams delivering value to their customers.

Like we read earlier: phenomenal, fantastic, and magical.

But where does that leave you?

Spirals

Let us begin with the aforementioned scrum team, one to which we belong.

Draw a circle to represent your scrum team. Next, draw a larger circle, centered on your scrum team. This is your meta-team (or scrum of scrums, or agile release train, or team-of-teams). Once again, draw an even larger circle, still centered on your scrum team. This is the next level of scaling, or the team-of-meta-teams.

Connect the team circle to the meta-team circle with a curve, or an arc. Do the same for the meta-team to the team-of-meta-teams. You now have a spiral.

All spirals have two ends. A center at one end and infinity at the other. Our spiral does have an infinity, but no center.

Let us add this, the true center. Add a dot, or a very small circle, in the center of your newly formed spiral. Connect this newly identified, and freshly drawn, center to the team circle.

Your spiral now has center, a beginning, a fountain from where all things spring forth.

This beginning, this center, is You!

Figuring Out The Center

Spirals are abundant in nature, from DNA to snails to galaxies. Some postulate that growing through spirals is the smartest way to grow. All growth begins from the center. A single point. In other words: You!

Agility is a mindset (jargon alert). But it is true, isn't it? Before you get good at anything, or even mediocre at anything, you need to establish a mindset to make it happen. Once you get your mental frame of reference, the next thing to is to practice. But sometimes, in many many arenas, it is the practice that helps set your mental frame. Once you see yourself doing something, even small beginner-level repetitive tasks, the mental mode sets into place.

Often we confuse the term "desire" with "mindset". After the pomp and circumstance of the corporate presentation, the veiled threat to your job, you suddenly have the desire to be agile, rah-rah team, and all that. But you still do not have the mindset. Because, honestly, even after the posters of eagles soaring and pebbles dropping and ripples forming, you still have no clue what to do.

Let's break agility down by looking at it from a different perspective. I commonly like to employ Kipling's "Six honest serving men." To understand agility and scaled agility and scrum and all of that, you will force this amorphous (as yet undefined, by you) mass to answer you six questions.: why, where, when, how, what, and who. The answers you are seeking will be personal to you and very very tactical to your day-to-day job. Anything beyond, and you have strayed too far from the center.

Six ... umm, Five Honest Serving Men

Let's begin.

Question: Why -- Why are you here?

• Answer: Specifically, you are here to do the job asked of you.

Question: Where -- Where are you headed?

• Answer: Specifically, your personal "where" are your annual goals and the set of expectations aligned upon between you and your leader. In agile terms, these are your roadmap and your personal backlog, respectively.

Question: When -- When do you get there?

• Answer: Specifically, for you, you get there "one timebox at a time". Your first timebox is generally a week or two, depending your job. In agile terms, this larger timebox is called the iteration. Within the iteration, will divide your time into equal slices. Each slice is a period of time for you to fit a typical task, or set of typical tasks, into. Personally, based on my job I use a slice of half-a-day to capture a set of tasks. Your slices will be different, of course. Remember that you may not get it right the first time, so don't fret. Just pick a slice and adjust accordingly. Scaled Agile, or SAFe, calls this a normalized point. You will simply refer this to a point.

Question: What -- What are you going to be doing exactly?

• Answer: Specifically, you need to align with your leader on the what their expectations mean. If needed, breakdown larger expectations into smaller ones. You need to align upon specific, measurable, achievable (including realistic), relevant, time-bound goals, or SMART goals. If there are specific measures or metrics, even better. You will then take these SMART goals and break them down into objectives, which are groups of tasks that can fit into your time slices or points. In other words, break down your goals into objectives that are multiple of your "one-point" time slice. Your responsibility is to obtain and to document clarity. Your SMART goals and your pointed objectives are called agile stories. The breakdown process is called backlog refinement.

Question: Who -- Who is going to be doing all this?

• Answer: Really? <wink> The answer here is 'You' because this is about your personal work and what is being asked of you personally. However, you will be playing three different roles, each with their own responsibilities. In your first role you have to clearly understand and articulate what is expected of you. In your second role you will be planning out your iteration of a week or two, as well as ensuring that you are in a position to deliver what is being asked. The third role is to heads-down be focused and get the work done. These three roles are the product owner, the scrum master, and the deliverer.

The Sixth Honest Serving Man

Originally all six questions were going to be written in a single section of this article. However, as I was writing this I realized that the last question required a space of his own.

Question: How -- How do I get from here to there?

Answer: There are a few things you need to do. They may seem complex at first, but you will get the hang of it.

At the end of every iteration, which also signifies the beginning of the next iteration, you will set up a meeting with your leader. Remember that an iteration is the week or two you have designated as your timebox for delivering work.

In the very first of these meetings, you and your leader must come to an alignment on the work that will be executed in the upcoming iteration. You do this by deciding the priority and the volume of your pointed (time sliced) objectives that can fit into the total points, or total time slices, in your iteration. This is your iteration planning. The list of pointed objectives that you will be executing is called the iteration backlog. All outcomes, significant or otherwise, should be called out. These are your iteration objectives.

Every subsequent meeting will be broken into three parts. In the first part, you and your leader will begin by reviewing the stories (pointed objectives) you accomplished, as well as the outcomes that you had planned for. These are your cumulative accomplishments for your mid-year and you year-end reviews. They also count towards your product-increment. This segment is called the iteration review, where you only review the work: the planed vs. the delivery. In the second segment, you and your leader discuss what went well, what could be improved, and with what challenges or impediments you require their help. This is your iteration retrospective. The last segment is your iteration planning for the next iteration.

Other than the work you are delivering and the meeting discussed above, it is extremely advisable that you start each day with a minor review and planning session. You should take about fifteen minutes to review what you accomplished (or not) the day before, what you plan to do the current day, what went well, what you can improve, and what were any impediments or challenges. The last three items feed into your iteration retrospective - the regularly scheduled repeating meeting with your leader. This fifteen minute planning is your daily stand up.

The Other Who ... The Whom

Question: Whom -- To whom does this apply?

Answer: Everybody.

As long as you are working for someone, even if it is for yourself, a little planning goes a long way. Becoming agile is important no matter where you are in the corporate or entrepreneurial or creator hierarchy. You still have to understand what is needed of you, you still have to plan, you still need to measure, you still need to deliver, and you still need to improve.

Be Whelmed

Lastly I leave you with this. I know this is a lot to take in. It may seem like more jargon and more PowerPointy-ness. But I assure it is not. It is simply a way to help you get more out of your own productivity. It is a way forward to help you alleviate your stress.

And this is not a silver bullet, a magic wand, the "best" practice. It is simply a "good" practice. One that, I hope, helps you.

If you need help or a mentor, please feel free to contact me on LinkedIn and we can chat.

Feeling scrumish yet? How's your agile machinations? Don't worry. We'll get there. Together. Easy peasy! (also, the 13th doctor)