Our Journey to Agile in the Microsoft Developer Division Prior Year Content

This is the story about the Microsoft Developer Division and their two-year journey to agile—from shipping every three years to shipping every three weeks. In the old days, long stabilization phases were part of its DNA. Managers were rewarded for micromanagement. Commitments were made months in advance. Maintaining the appearance of meeting commitments was valued over transparency. Gregg Boer shares how this organization within Microsoft transitioned to one that values agile principles—controlling technical debt, enabling teams, eliminating bogus commitments, and rewarding transparency. When applying agile to such a large, traditional organization, the key to success is allowing autonomy at the team level, while ensuring alignment with the organization. Gregg shares successes as well as colossal failures. Learn how management sets direction while teams own their own backlog, how communication up and down can be transparent and healthy, and other lessons on their journey to agile.