Agile + DevOps Virtual 2020 - Agile/DevOps Transformations
Wednesday, June 10
Cultivating a Culture of Teams
The desire to transform an organizational culture to one that's inspired by teams is understandable. There is no shortage of evidence, both anecdotal and scientific, that suggests teams (and teamwork) are a competitive advantage. But despite the label of “team,” most organizations explicitly and implicitly manage teams like a matrix of individuals. This lack of support causes teammates to work independently, silo knowledge, and degrade the presumed results. What can managers and coaches do to encourage an environment where real teams can form? Zach Bonaker will provide managers, team...
Make It Worse to Make It Better: Hacking DevOps with TRIZ
How is your DevOps transformation going? If safety culture isn’t a part of your organization’s DNA, you might be running into some resistance on your journey. Time to bring out the power tools! Liberating Structures (LS) is a collection of collaboration patterns designed to tap into groups' creativity, engage every voice, uncover unexpected angles, and change the way organizations solve problems. We will look at the current state of your DevOps transformation through the lens of creative destruction—LS TRIZ, a problem-solving analysis tool. Working in small groups, you will explore what...
DevOps, Chapter 2
What do you do after you’ve started adopting DevOps principles? Teams have been embracing DevOps principles to the point that they've become widespread, and now organizations are questioning how they optimize DevOps to realize the value of their investment in this change of culture. An optimized DevOps approach to software delivery is critical as businesses are moving to a new stage of innovation. They are no longer just experimenting with emerging technologies like artificial intelligence—they are embedding them in their business. They are using a mix of container platforms and multi-...
Thursday, June 11
Creating an Agile Test Team Isn’t a Game—or Is It?
PreviewWhen it comes to our agile testing teams, the best we can hope for is to hire people with the right attitude and necessary aptitude, and then nurture their QA and testing skills. How do we accomplish such a monumental task? Several years ago, Bob Crews had an epiphany: games! He recalled his military days and the war games the Army would play, and then consulting for the Navy to teach them how to automate tests against flight simulators. History tells us games go back over 2,300 years as a tool to teach. Bob began using games, puzzles, and brainteasers to provide ongoing development...
Happier Engineers with Less Management
When an organization is growing, having teams of half a dozen or so engineers focused on a specific product area causes several issues for management. Scaling the number of teams can be challenging, as every time a team member moves, it means pausing that product area's development for months. A bit more than a year ago, Kadri Pirn's organization decided to convert teams to tribes and remove team leads. Instead, they now have one people manager and temporary teams inside the tribe—every team has a lead, but with this approach, any engineer can volunteer for that lead role. This gives the...
Make New Mistakes: Leadership Lessons from an Agile Success
Do you ever feel like the market moves faster than your marketing team? Could you imagine what’s possible if you’d be forgiven for making an honest mistake? Organizations introduce agile believing it will lead to greater responsiveness, resiliency, and resourcefulness, but agile is more than a process. Achieving agile’s full benefits comes from shifting the culture and mindset of a whole organization, sometimes as radically as leadership allowing teams to make mistakes. This philosophy was a driver in the fastest division in HP’s history to reach $1B, a hardware division focused on...
From Concept to Reality: A Modern Approach to Large-Scale Scrum in Government
The US Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) was chosen as the software development agent for a brand-new, multimillion-dollar acquisition program with an aggressive timeline. To meet this timeline, program development will utilize agile, DevOps, and user-centered design best practices. This effort requires adaptation of government business practices, plus a shift in culture. To maximize the likelihood of success, a new organization was established to pilot necessary changes. This session describes that organization's creation and how it is designed to embrace change...