Enterprise Agile at Symbian and Nokia Making Agile Happen in a Very Large Organisation

Nick Clare, David Hicks, Peter Measey, Josef Bacher Scrum Gathering, Munich, October 2009

© Nokia 2009

Nick Clare – Nokia

David Hicks – RADTAC

•  Principal Agile Coach

•  Using Scrum since 1998

•  Certified ScrumMaster

•  Agile Alliance Founder in 2002

•  Testing Specialist for 20 years

•  Certified Scrum Trainer

•  Process Improvement

•  Other Certifications •  DSDM Trainer •  Agile Leadership Practitioner

Peter Measey – RADTAC Josef Bacher – RADTAC © Nokia 2009

© Nokia 2009

•  Specialists in Agile Enablement and Delivery •  Founded in UK in 1998 •  Scrum, XP, DSDM and Lean •  Traditional methods as well •  Track record in enterprise Agile transformations

© Nokia 2009

•  Very Large •  Homogeneous •  Mass consumer products •  Mobile phone hardware •  Phone software •  Merger with Symbian •  The Initial Target •  System Software •  2000+ staff (1200+ engineers) •  Geographically distributed •  Mergered organisations © Nokia 2009

•  Scrum "with a pinch of XP" •  3-Layer Enterprise Agile •  Clusters and Sub-Clusters •  Scrum ‘Component’ Teams

Programme

Epic Owner

Feature Owner Key Internal Customer (‘What’ not ‘How’)

Package Owner For OSS Issues

1 2

Product Owner Engineering Lead For Technology Issues

Scrum Team © Nokia 2009

3

• Is there a role for a ‘Project Manager’ in this model and if so, what is that role and how do we make a success of it?

© Nokia 2009

Nokia technology stack

F1

F2

F3

Epic

Application

F2.1

Coarse-Grain Feature Fine-Grain Feature

F2.2

Story

Epic 1

‘Coarse-Grain Features’ (e.g. F3) are statements of requirement that deliver customer-value

F2.3

‘Fine-Grain Features’

Hardware

• can be delivered in a Train by a single Component Scrum Team • are the unit of planning

© Nokia 2009

Layer 2 Planning Events 2-3 weeks before Train Boundary

Up to 1 week before Train Boundary

Within a few days of the last contributing Sub-Cluster Planning Checkpoint

Up to 1 week after Train Boundary

Train = multiple Sprints to fit a fixed period e.g. two months

Sub-Cluster Sub-Cluster Planning Checklist

Train Objectives

Sub-Cluster Planning Seminar Sub-Cluster Rough Plan

Top-down plan of Fine Grain Features by each Sub-Cluster

Sub-Cluster Sub-Cluster Planning Checklist

Sub-Cluster Detailed Plan

Programme

Project Project

Programme Planning Checklist

Project Planning Checklist

Sub-Cluster Planning Checkpoint

Project Planning Checkpoint

Sub-Cluster Planning Delta

Bottom-up plan of Stories per Sub-Cluster cross checked with Top-Down Plan

Project Plan

Plan of FGFs by each project – synthesised from plans of each relevant Sub-Cluster © Nokia 2009

time

Programme Planning Checkpoint Programme Plan

Plan of CGFs by each programme through synthesis of plans from each project

• How to maintain integrity of a vertical Feature when it has to be delivered by many Scrum ‘Component’ Teams?

© Nokia 2009

Scrum Team Members

Product Owners

Internal Coaches

Scrum Masters

Managers, Architects etc.

2 day Tailored Agile Training 1 day Advanced ScrumMaster Skills

1 day Agile PM

1 day Advanced Product Owner Skills 2 day CSM 2 day Coaching Skills Ad-hoc Briefings

½ day Master Classes 1 day Conversion © Nokia 2009

RADTAC Coaches

Agile Rollout PM

Planning Seminar Facilitation Project Communication

Coach the Coaches

Principal Internal Coach

Internal Coaches Scrum Teams

Scrum Coaching and Assessment

Feature Area Planning Team

•  Story-based Coaching •  Acceptance Criteria •  BRAG Status

Scrum Teams © Nokia 2009

• What skills and attributes do you need to be an Internal Agile Coach and how do we get the right kind of people on board?

© Nokia 2009

•  Software engineering •  Manufacturing industry based •  Productivity focused •  Individualistic, highly educated •  Academic, opinionated

•  Individualistic

•  Collectivist

•  Can be hierarchical

•  Relatively hierarchical

•  Individualistic

•  Collectivist

•  Conservative

•  Very hierarchical

•  Absence of cascading communication •  Nothing is enforced

•  Relatively un-hierarchical © Nokia 2009

•  Selling Agile •  Productivity vs. Value added •  Measuring ROI •  Measuring rollout •  Investment of time •  Full time PM

Keep Satisfied

Manage Closely

Just Monitor

Keep Informed

Power

Interest © Nokia 2009

• How does a Layer 2 team of Architects, POs, PMs, Managers etc. in different time zones do its Planning together?

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Conclusions •  Stakeholder management is key •  Structured rollout •  Scaled model •  Timescales in years rather than months •  Benefits real but not measurable

© Nokia 2009

• How to scale-up testing in a component-based agile organisation where the overall product is enormous like Symbian OS/S60 - what compromises in agility may become necessary?

© Nokia 2009