Coaching Agile Organizations helps Scrum Masters leverage Scrum to become effective change agents, and move from coaching a single team to coaching the entire organization. Drawing on extensive experience scaling Scrum at multiple companies worldwide, Cesario Ramos and Ilia Pavlichenko address the unique challenges Scrum Masters encounter when adopting Scrum at the organizational level, and working on organizational design for large products that engage multiple teams across departments.
After reviewing the principles, history, and essential roles of the Professional Scrum Master, Cesario and Pavlichenko present concrete tools for facilitating, coaching, and teaching Scrum in the enterprise, from facilitating successful meetings to asking more powerful questions. You’ll find Product Definition Guides to help plan your product and project; Feature Heat Maps for defining your team and organizational structures; and much more. Everything’s product- and technology-independent, so you can use these tools and techniques in any large environment — solving or avoiding the specific problems that arise when organizations scale Scrum.
Cesario Ramos works worldwide as a senior management consultant on large-scale Agile adoptions in the financial and high-tech industries. His international experience, a strong background in technology, and passion for people make him an influential partner in organization design and in leading the adoption of Agile. Cesario has a MSc in mathematics and computing science from the University of Eindhoven and is also a Certified LeSS Trainer and Professional Scrum Trainer from Scrum.org. Outside of his consulting work, Cesario has served as a Java/C# developer, lead software architect, CTO, and as a product manager. He is also the author of Create Agile Organizations, A Scrum Book, and EMERGENT -- Lean & Agile Adoption for an Innovative Workplace.
Ilia Pavlichenko leads Agile transformations in companies around the world. He is an organization design consultant with a rigorous focus on coaching senior management. Ilia regularly speaks at international Agile/Scrum conferences. Ilia is also a Certified LeSS (Large-Scale Scrum) Trainer and a Professional Scrum Trainer from Scrum.org. In the past he was a programmer, project manager, Scrum Master, and an Agile Coach at multiple product organizations. Ilia is a candidate for the Master of Sports in table tennis and streetlifting, and is a fan of Queen and Brian May.
Foreword by Craig Larman xix
Foreword by Dave West xxi
Preface xxiii
Introduction xxvii
Acknowledgments xxxv
About the Authors xxxvii
Part I: Foundational Concepts 1
Chapter 1: Organizing for Adaptability 3
Hello, VUCA World! 3
What Is an Agile Organization Design? 4
Typical Problems When Adopting Agility 6
Avoid Copy–Paste Scaling: A Typical Scaling Approach 10
Overview of an Agile Organization Design 11
Summary 16
References 17
Chapter 2: Systems Thinking 19
Basics of Systems Thinking 19
Applying Systems Thinking 31
Summary 48
References 49
Chapter 3: Optimize for Adaptiveness 51
What It Means to Be Adaptable 53
Flow Efficiency 54
Behavior of Queues 54
Queueing System Structures 61
Algorithm for Dealing with Queues 62
Choose an Operational Strategy 63
Summary 67
References 68
Chapter 4: Agile Organizational Design 69
Why Organizational Redesign? 70
Business Strategy Drives Organizational Design 71
Overview of a Design Process 72
Agile Organization Design Guidelines 73
Agile vs. Traditional Human Resources Management 101
Summary 104
References 105
Chapter 5: An Agile Adoption Approach 107
Principles of an Agile Adoption 107
Overview of an Adoption Approach 109
Overarching Adoption Guidelines 111
Applying Systems Thinking in Organizational Coaching 120
Summary 130
References 131
Chapter 6: Coaching for Change 133
Guideline 1: Influence People 134
Guideline 2: Co-Create the Change 136
Guideline 3: Voluntary Participation 139
Guideline 4: Acknowledge the Loss 144
Guideline 5: Deliver the Message Continually 147
Guideline 6: Help People to Cross the Edge 149
Guideline 7: Axes of Change 153
Guideline 8: Find the Right Balance of Radical/Incremental Change 159
Summary 161
References 162
Part II: Applying the Concepts 165
Chapter 7: Group Facilitation 167
Principles of Facilitation 167
Workshop Design 172
Facilitating Scrum Events 178
Summary 195
References 196
Chapter 8: Preparing the Product Group 197
Areas of Concern for Successful Preparation 197
Area 1: Involve the Managers 198
Area 2: Understand the Current Reality 204
Area 3: Create a Vision of the Future 221
Area 4: Identify the Product Group 233
Organizational Design to Eliminate Dependencies 242
Summary 249
References 250
Chapter 9: Launching the Product Group 251
Menu of Available Choices 252
Initial Product Backlog Refinement 253
Define the Definition of Done 257
Feature Team Adoption Map 260
Self-Designing Team Workshop 265
Team Lift-Off 270
Identify and Launch Communities 282
Identify Coordination Mechanisms 284
Create Useful Checklists 286
Summary 288
References 289
Chapter 10: Coaching Teams 291
The Building Blocks of the Agile Organization 291
Observations of an Agile Team 292
Building on the Team Lift-Off: Coaching Multifunctional Learning 296
Dealing with Recurrent Complex Problems in Teams: Systems Team Coaching 315
Improving Team Dynamics: Trust 329
Facilitate Feedback Loops for Learning: Learning New Practices 332
Summary 335
References 335
Chapter 11: Guiding the Product Ownership 337
What Makes a Team Product Owner? 337
The Product Owner in a Senior Position 341
Product Ownership Measures 345
Customer Understanding 347
The Product Owner Process 349
Stakeholder Alignment 351
Product Owner Leadership 354
Summary 356
References 357
Appendix Case Studies and Workshop Examples 359
Index 413
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