A few posts back, I asked if an agile team should be expected to call their shots. In other words, should we expect that over time, an agile team should be able to accurately predict what they'll be able to deliver at the end of the iteration? My assertion was that predictability at the iteration level is the only thing that separates an agile project from total chaos. Without the ability to make small commitments on a regular cadence, we have no ability to forecast what we can get done.
I'm working with one team right now that has gotten really good at calling their shots... but... people keep getting pulled in and out of the team. Having a stable velocity is predicated upon the team working together, staying together, and learning how to estimate and plan together. The constant churn at the team level is making it really tough to establish a consistent velocity iteration over iteration. While the team is great at calling their shots, they are still not able to really say what they can get done... and by when.
I'm a big believer that if we can't get some idea of what we are going to deliver, and when we are going to deliver it... pretty quickly after spinning up a team... agile is almost a non-starter for most companies. Many of the companies I work with are not prepared to make an indefinite investment, with no idea of what they are going to get in return. Sure... agile teams fix time and cost, and vary scope to meet iteration objectives... but we have to have some ability to look ahead and manage the expectations of our customers. We have to have good data to help them make good decisions.
What I am really saying here, is that while calling your shots is essential, calling your shots isn't really enough. You also have to get good at understanding the size of your bucket. What does that mean? It means that iteration over iteration, I need to establish some kind pattern for how much feature functionality I can deliver back to the business. Out of the gate, I don't really care what the team delivers... or even how much they deliver... I want to know their delivery capacity over time. Not a hard fixed number, but a stable trend that I can base product decisions.
Over time, we will remove the teams blockers and help them deliver more effectively, but initially... they need to get good at calling their shots... and establishing the size of their bucket. So please... let me know what you think. Am I expecting too much from our agile teams? Should teams just be able to do what they can with no expectation of committed delivery? Even at the iteration level?
Need training, coaching, or help leading an agile transformation?
email: mike@cottmeyer.com or call: 404.312.1471
Friday, August 20, 2010
How Big Is Your Bucket?
Thursday, August 12, 2010
How to Own a Really Big Complex Product #agile2010
Hey folks... here is the deck I am doing this morning at Agile2010. I am pretty excited to do this talk... I finally feel like I've got the slide sequence and story right. It's amazing what a good night sleep will do for you! My talk is in E-2 on the Ballroom level, hope to see you guys there!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Interesting Post... 7/31/2010 through 8/7/2010
Okay… we are going to do a Saturday evening edition of Interesting Post… Tomorrow I am going to get up early, do a little hike through the woods, bring home bagels for Kimi and the kids, toss the football with Noah, and then head to the airport for a week in sunny Orlando and the Agile 2010 conference. I'm totally geeked heading to Orlando as an independent agile coach. Did I say I'm geeked ;-)
There are so many people that I want to talk to and so many things I want to do and see while I am in town. I'm am looking forward to having one heck of a week. If you are going to be at the conference… give me a call, shoot me an email, or DM me and let's find a few minutes to get together. I'm doing my talk on How To Own a Really Large Complex Product… so come see me there too!
Travel safe and I'll see you in Orlando.
Interesting Post... Process: friend and foe http://dlvr.it/3WFjb
Interesting Post... Agile Conference - Speakers - Don Reinertsen http://dlvr.it/3VtlW
Interesting Post... What is Test-Driven Development? http://dlvr.it/3TsNz
Interesting Post... Kanban for Service Desks http://dlvr.it/3Tg81
Interesting Post... What's next for the agile community? http://dlvr.it/3TZT9
Interesting Post... 30 Days of Getting Results the Agile Way http://dlvr.it/3S085
Interesting Post... Kanban Experience Complete – Thank You LSSC10 http://dlvr.it/3S084
Interesting Post... PMBOK and detailing leadership http://dlvr.it/3Ryvj
Interesting Post... Agile Rollout Warning Signs http://dlvr.it/3Ryvd
Interesting Post... One Size Does NOT Fit All! http://dlvr.it/3QcGN
Interesting Post... Creating an Agile Environment Fit for a Marketing Team http://dlvr.it/3QbCC
Interesting Post... I won’t be staying late with you http://dlvr.it/3QbCB
Interesting Post... Bob Payne and the Art of Agile Philanthropy http://dlvr.it/3QbC9
Interesting Post... Re-Think Transactions http://dlvr.it/3QbC8
Interesting Post... Yes You Kanban! http://dlvr.it/3QbC7
Interesting Post... What Should Done Mean? http://dlvr.it/3Pqf0
Interesting Post... Scrum Butt and the Nokia test http://dlvr.it/3PpVP
Interesting Post... Can Agile Work If Some Of My Development is Outsourced? http://dlvr.it/3PmsC
Interesting Post... Agile Software Requirements: We Have a Foreword and a Cover – Can a Book be Far Behind? http://dlvr.it/3PlnJ
Interesting Post... The Gordon Pask Award http://dlvr.it/3PlnG
Interesting Post... DZone RefCard Update http://dlvr.it/3PlnC
Interesting Post... The Difference between Lean and Agile http://dlvr.it/3M1XT
Interesting Post... Agile 2010 Talk: Agile Transitions- Cannonball and Stealth Approaches Exposed/Compared http://dlvr.it/3KWGb
Interesting Post... Minimum Concepts for Earned Value Management http://dlvr.it/3KTlL
From Leading Agile: On Leading Agile... Change... The Only Constant http://dlvr.it/3GLFX
Interesting Post... Top Excuses Why Automatic Builds Suddenly Fail http://dlvr.it/3GCc1
Interesting Post... Agile Communications http://dlvr.it/3FGZZ
Interesting Post... Project Management Definition - Part Three http://dlvr.it/3FCJs
Interesting Post... If your dev team jumped off an agile bridge, should your marketing team jump too? http://dlvr.it/3FCJt
Interesting Post... Keeping in Tune http://dlvr.it/3FCJv
Interesting Post... Good Agile software team looking for an agent to represent us! http://dlvr.it/3F6Zs
Interesting Post... If It's Painful, Do It More Often http://dlvr.it/3F6Zj
Interesting Post... The painful reality of many meetings http://dlvr.it/3Dzpb
Interesting Post... Are We Agile Yet? http://dlvr.it/3DzpS
Interesting Post... Agile Coaches Gathering UK 2010 http://dlvr.it/3DzpR
Interesting Post... Getting unstuck: solving the perfect problem http://dlvr.it/3DzpN
Interesting Post... Ten Principles for Agile Testers http://dlvr.it/3DzpJ
Interesting Post... Design what you know http://dlvr.it/3Dzp9
Interesting Post... Fire everybody! How to start transitioning your marketing team. http://dlvr.it/3Dzp1
Interesting Post... Agile: It’s a Healthy Lifestyle Choice http://dlvr.it/3Dznw
Interesting Post... Every Team Must Be a Value Unit http://dlvr.it/3Dzns
Interesting Post... Do architects define the software development process? http://dlvr.it/3Dznm
Interesting Post... Traditional versus Agile — false war? http://dlvr.it/3Dzng
Interesting Post... A Pattern for Using Scrum and Kanban http://dlvr.it/3Dznf
Interesting Post... The Lean Product Backlog – Limit Variation and Prevent Overburden http://dlvr.it/3DznW

Should Agile Teams Have to Call Their Shots?
What do I look for day-one coaching an agile team? The first thing I want to know is if the team is really a team? Do they have everything (and everyone) they need to deliver an increment of working software? Do they plan together, do they work together, do they deliver together? I'm generally of the mind that if you aren't going to recognize the team as the fundamental unit of value creation, you will struggle with almost everything else agile has to say about product delivery. You might be doing something... it might even produce working products... but it probably won't look very agile.
Once I have the team in place... the next thing I want to know is if they can make and meet a commitment. I want to know if they can be predictable. Right out of the gate, I am not all that concerned if the team can deliver fast... I might go so far as to say, I don't even care that they deliver value. To me, the most important thing is that the team gets good at establishing some sort of baseline velocity metric. I want them to be able to break down work into small chunks, put some sort of reliable point estimate on their work, and get good at doing what they say they are going to do.
Making and meeting commitments on a regular cadence is the heartbeat of an agile team.
Any of you guys ever play pool with your kids? When my kids were younger, they'd just walk up the table, quickly eyeball their shot, and do what they could to get the ball in the pocket. Every now and again they'd actually make a shot, but they'd never beat me playing an entire game. They were doing their best, but they never won. To really be successful playing pool, you have to be able to sink the ball you are trying to sink... and do your best to set yourself up for the next shot (or two... or three). Unless you are able to call each shot, you really don't have any idea how you are going to win the game. Success is accidental at best.
If the team can't call their shot... in other words, if they can't predict their velocity at the beginning of the sprint, there is no point doing any kind of forward thinking, any kind of release planning, or even trying to make a guess at what you are going to put in market when. Your product delivery dates are nothing but fiction. Having a stable velocity is the fundamental prerequisite for managing the expectations of the business. It's essential if you are coordinating with other teams to deliver the release, and essential for making tradeoffs when things don't go exactly as planned. Stability builds trust with your product owner and it builds trust with your business.
Do what do you think? Is it important for agile teams to be able to call their shots? I think it's essential.

Sunday, August 1, 2010
Change... The Only Constant
Sorry to be so quiet lately... lot's going on with me, both personally and professionally.
I need to bring you guys up to speed on a pretty big announcement. As of last Friday, I've left Pillar to go out as an independent agile coach. Pillar was a great learning experience for me, and I am thankful to Bob Myers and the great team of folks at Pillar for everything they've done over the past year. In trying to spin this thing up in Atlanta, I found myself spending most of my time doing sales and business development... and not working hands-on with teams and organizations.
I'm going to try to flip that around a little and try to spend most of my time on the ground coaching teams, and maybe if all goes well, I'll get to spend less time on the sales side... we'll see. What was cool about this whole thing, is that the guys at Pillar totally understood and supported me through this transition. We've decided to maintain a partnership... and a friendship... and where it makes sense, Pillar will help me scale some deals that would be tough to scale as an independent.
So... where does that leave me now? I've incorporated LeadingAgile and managed to find enough work to keep me afloat for the next few months. While I'd love to work close to home, I've got no geographic limitations. I need to fill my calendar through the end of the year and am interested in working with interesting people, solving interesting problems... where ever they happen to be. If you think my brand of agile is interesting to you and your organization, give me a call.
I'd love to talk about working together.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Interesting Post... 7/4/2010 through 7/11/2010
Interesting Post... So easy to talk about lunch http://dlvr.it/2WY3V
Interesting Post... Insubordinate... 50th anniverary free ebook http://dlvr.it/2VSyB
Interesting Post... What Does $35 Billion Look Like http://dlvr.it/2V59q
Interesting Post... Assessing Agile pilot projects http://dlvr.it/2V59t
Interesting Post... Changing Agile Roles - The Programmers http://dlvr.it/2Sq2m
Interesting Post... Elements of Project Controls http://dlvr.it/2SVTc
Interesting Post... Tell People a Story http://dlvr.it/2SVTd
Interesting Post... New “Agility Now!” Newsletter http://dlvr.it/2SNmc
Interesting Post... PMBOK 5 - Rejected http://dlvr.it/2SNjr
Interesting Post... The Art of Agile Development: Incremental Requirements http://dlvr.it/2SNfh
Interesting Post... Beware Bloated Processes http://dlvr.it/2SNcH
Interesting Post... Quote of the Day - Complexity http://dlvr.it/2RVqR
Interesting Post... Yes I am mocking you http://dlvr.it/2RVpz
Interesting Post... Agile and Re-Engineering http://dlvr.it/2RVpY
Interesting Post... Should We Build It Again? http://dlvr.it/2RVnl
Interesting Post... Dr. Seuss Inspired by Personal Kanban http://dlvr.it/2R9fW
Interesting Post... Defining Program Management and How Agile Helps http://dlvr.it/2R7w8
Interesting Post... SCRUM vs. Kanban it’s like Football vs. Soccer http://dlvr.it/2QvdH
Interesting Post... The path to software Craftsmanship http://dlvr.it/2QvdJ
Interesting Post... Agile & Culture: The Results http://dlvr.it/2Qt2b
From Leading Agile: Okay… Just What are we Transforming? http://dlvr.it/2QsdN
Interesting Post... Physical Percent of Planned Progress http://dlvr.it/2Q3SM
Interesting Post... Lean or Six Sigma? http://dlvr.it/2Pd5J
Interesting Post... Our Divisive Scrum Terminology Needs to be Deprecated http://dlvr.it/2NxNY
Interesting Post... Musings About Agile Program Management http://dlvr.it/2My3p
Interesting Post... The Fourth Career Mistake... http://dlvr.it/2MxsX
Interesting Post... Agile and Technical Complexity http://dlvr.it/2Mxch
Interesting Post... Defense Industry and Scrum http://dlvr.it/2Ms3t
Interesting Post... Bad Requirements? Actually, That’s Your Fault http://dlvr.it/2MnF3
Interesting Post... 1 FTE http://dlvr.it/2M582
Interesting Post... Software Calculus - The Missing Abstraction. http://dlvr.it/2LxFd
Interesting Post... Object-Oriented Design and Mock Objects: for non-programmers http://dlvr.it/2Lx3v
Interesting Post... Types of Scenario Tools http://dlvr.it/2Lx3t
Interesting Post... This Is Why The Kindle Is Winning http://dlvr.it/2LFG5
Interesting Post... Measuring Progress - What Can We Use? http://dlvr.it/2LF61
Interesting Post... Design-Build-Run http://dlvr.it/2LF0N
Interesting Post... The Limited Red Society – Joshua Kerievsky http://dlvr.it/2Ks5L
Interesting Post... 3 Aspects of Team Boundaries http://dlvr.it/2Ks2G
Interesting Post... How to do agile when we only have 50 crap developers? http://dlvr.it/2KGWP
Interesting Post... VIDEO: "I've already got the prize. The prize is http://dlvr.it/2Jk7j
Interesting Post... Four Type of a Program Management Office (PMO) http://dlvr.it/2JQyF
Interesting Post... Silos Aren’t Evil: They’re Just Icky. http://dlvr.it/2JJ3C
Interesting Post... The A - Z of Agile - W is for: http://dlvr.it/2J2RT
Interesting Post... Happy Independence Day! http://dlvr.it/2HzzC
From Leading Agile: Southern Fried Agile Conference... It's Gravy for your Brain! http://dlvr.it/2Hx3Q
Interesting Post... A Day of Independence http://dlvr.it/2HppL
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Okay... Just What are we Transforming?
I'm constantly reminded that context is king... that words have meaning... and that the meaning of our words is almost entirely dependent on our context.
Last night I had coffee with an agile coach here in the Atlanta area. We got to talking about the idea of 'agile transformation'. It became pretty clear, pretty quickly we were using the phrase in two very different ways.
His perspective was that 'agile transformation' involved taking a project team, teaching them agile values and agile practices, and helping them deliver better products to market faster, and with higher quality.
Worthy goals... no doubt.
My perspective on agile transformation looks a little different. To me, agile transformation involves influencing the structures and culture around the team. Only by influencing the systems around the team, can we achieve true end-to-end business agility.
Meaningful, long-lasting agile transformation starts by establishing a clear vision for the organization, and how we want it to operate when we get there. It involves creating a change management strategy that will get us from here to there as safely as possible.
Without transforming the organization around the team, the transformation within the team won't be sustainable. The forces that act on the team are often too great for the changes to stick. It's too easy to go back to the old way of doing things.
It helps to understand just what we are trying to accomplish with our agile transformation. If we just want to get a project team really humming... team transformation might be enough to meet our goals.
If we want ongoing, sustainable business benefit from our investment in agile, we are going to need to think beyond the team. We are going to need to think about the rest of the business and how we collectively deliver value.
No right or wrong here... you just gotta be realistic about what you are trying to accomplish.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Southern Fried Agile Conference... It's Gravy for your Brain!
I wanted to let everyone know about a new regional conference coming up on July 23rd. The conference is called Southern Fried Agile. Pillar is sponsoring and helping organize the event in partnership with the Agile Carolinas group. The conference is featuring many of the premier Agile Coaches in the Southeast. We'll have three tracks... one for those learning agile... one for more advanced practitioners... and an open space so you guys can get in on the action.
Speakers and Talks:
Bill Gainennie - All That You Need to Know is that It's Possible
Joe Little - What's Lean Got to do with it?
Dennis Stevens - Using Agile and Lean to Lean Business Transformation
Paul & Ian Culling - Collaborative Chartering and Story Mapping
Bill Krebs - 10 Years of Scrum Meetings
Jared Richardson - Agile Testing Strategies
Mike Cottmeyer - How to Own a Really Big Complex Product
Head over to the Southern Fried Agile site for more information about the conference, the sessions, and our speakers. We've also got a link for you guys to register... and at only $49 for a full day of agile goodness, you'd be crazy not to make this happen! If you are within three or four hours of Charlotte, NC... this is a must attend event.
Interesting Post... 6/25/2010 through 7/4/2010
Hey everyone. It is a great week for my Interesting Post... updates. I finally gave up on Twitterfeed and went to dlvr.it. This new service is faster and more accurate that Twitterfeed ever thought about being. I finally have confidence that all the stuff I share in my Google Reader feed is making it out to the Twittersphere. I'm guessing that you'll notice the list here is longer than usual... now you know why.
Anyway... for all you guys in the US, happy 4th of July! My family has started a series of traditions around this holiday that I think are really fun. The kids and I got up early yesterday and drove to South Carolina to buy some fireworks. The really good fireworks are illegal to sell in Georgia, so the good people of South Carlolina provide stores just on the other side of the border so we don't have to drive too far.
The past few years, our tradition had been to cook many, many pounds of baby back ribs. We changed it up this year and made a shredded BBQ concoction of beef, pork, chicken, sausage, and bacon... plus my secret blend of sauce and seasonings. Very tasty.. we made it yesterday, but I'm really looking forward to leftovers later this afternoon. We did the whole fireworks thing last night and have plans to spend the evening with some good friends and launch the fireworks we got yesterday in South Carolina!
Have a great day and enjoy this weeks installment of Interesting Post...
Interesting Post... A Day of Independence http://dlvr.it/2HppL
Interesting Post... Organizational Complexity http://dlvr.it/2HHGN
Interesting Post... Who’s Got Your Back? http://dlvr.it/2H0VX
Interesting Post... Microblogging in Project Management 2.0 http://dlvr.it/2GMmT
Interesting Post... My Three Biggest Career Mistakes http://dlvr.it/2Fm4X
Interesting Post... Agile Metrics http://dlvr.it/2Fhp6
Interesting Post... The Southern Fried Agile Conference is Coming! http://dlvr.it/2FLqT
Interesting Post... How to be a Bad Manager http://dlvr.it/2FCMh
Interesting Post... How to improve a team's velocity http://dlvr.it/2Dzp1
Interesting Post... The difference between running and managing a project http://dlvr.it/2DkFF
Interesting Post... Which Compliment Do You Want? http://dlvr.it/2DfK3
Interesting Post... Agile Friday: "The Planning Game" Now Online http://dlvr.it/2DfBL
Interesting Post... Big Bang vs Evolution – A software look http://dlvr.it/2DBSs
Interesting Post... Agile 2010 – The words we use http://dlvr.it/2DBBw
Interesting Post... The Phrase That Should be Banned from Product Managers’ Vocabulary http://dlvr.it/2CwdK
Interesting Post... How can you know you're headed to the Ditch? http://dlvr.it/2Crsb
Interesting Post... Guest Post: Not Putting Out Fires http://dlvr.it/2ChgR
Interesting Post... TDD and Agile – What Does the Research Say? http://dlvr.it/2ChMc
Happy Day!!!
Leading Agile... Agile Atlanta in July... Dennis Stevens and Kanban! http://goo.gl/fb/RkDce
Interesting Post... New Chapter – Use Cases http://bit.ly/92URe0
Interesting Post... 19 Feeds for ProdMgmt, Product Marketing and Marketing Operations types: http://bit.ly/aOM5XY
Interesting Post... It’s The Values That Matter. Or Maybe It’s The Culture. http://bit.ly/cz0UQp
Interesting Post... Shorten and Reduce Variability in Lead Times using Kanban http://bit.ly/9ZB5me
Interesting Post... Refactoring with Fire http://bit.ly/agWuGK
Interesting Post... The Notion of a "Master" http://bit.ly/bXL6BU
Interesting Post... Web services in Java http://bit.ly/cnbjU0
Interesting Post... Ten Rules of Common Sense Program Management http://bit.ly/asxYow
Interesting Post... Define: ScrumMaster http://bit.ly/aqSKQZ
Interesting Post... The Art of War - Chapter 2 - Entry 1 - Knowing the Cost*"To http://bit.ly/aSTOuO
From Leading Agile: Ro-Sham-Bo... Shoot! http://bit.ly/9Zp8fH
Interesting Post... Always have a plan B when negotiating http://bit.ly/bHuuYG
Interesting Post... "Heavy Use of Math Puts People Off" http://bit.ly/aeYo5I
Interesting Post... Book Review: Your Career Game http://bit.ly/9gYZve
Interesting Post... Video: Kanban for Video Game Development http://bit.ly/9Zo92C
Interesting Post... New Trends In The Project Ecosystem http://bit.ly/9Z0ws0
Interesting Post... The Declaration of Interdependence http://bit.ly/aTHjGH
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Agile Atlanta in July... Dennis Stevens and Kanban!
Next Tuesday, July 6th, Dennis Stevens will be teaching us how to get started with Kanban.
Speaker: Dennis Stevens
Date: July 6th, 6:45 PM
Location: Matrix Resources, 115 Perimeter Center Place, Suite 250 (South Terraces Building - facing Dillard's at Perimeter Mall)
Learn what Kanban is and how to implement it on your teams. Kanban Software Development focuses on the flow of work to lower delays to delivery and increase quality. It provides significant visibility into how a team works, enabling evolutionary improvement and an improved relationship with management. Kanban can be used in a wider range of environments than many Agile methods because of its ability to be tailored. It also compliments existing Agile methods as it scales beyond the development team and across more complex efforts. There will be plenty of time for Q&A to learn how Kanban may specifically fit into your environment.
Upcoming meetings:
August 3rd: Mike Cottmeyer, How to Manage a Really Big Complex Product

