Hans Samios' Personal Lean-Agile Knowledge Base

... absolutely #noabsolutes ...

User Tools

Site Tools

Trace:
what_is_the_benefit_of_having_a_cadence_of_meetings_etc

Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

Link to this comparison view

Both sides previous revisionPrevious revision
Last revisionBoth sides next revision
what_is_the_benefit_of_having_a_cadence_of_meetings_etc [2018/10/03 06:41] – Added sustainable pace discussion hpsamioswhat_is_the_benefit_of_having_a_cadence_of_meetings_etc [2020/05/22 08:26] – Readability hpsamios
Line 36: Line 36:
   * Cadence helps smooth the work and therefore makes it more sustainable. If we are planning to a 2 week iteration for example, then there is a limited scope we can do in that period, and limited impacts that can occur, so it’s easier to commit to and do this amount of work helping to building a sustainable pace.   * Cadence helps smooth the work and therefore makes it more sustainable. If we are planning to a 2 week iteration for example, then there is a limited scope we can do in that period, and limited impacts that can occur, so it’s easier to commit to and do this amount of work helping to building a sustainable pace.
   * Cadence makes wait times more predictable. The heartbeat says “every two weeks” or “every quarter” there is another event where you can engage. Average wait time is half that interval.   * Cadence makes wait times more predictable. The heartbeat says “every two weeks” or “every quarter” there is another event where you can engage. Average wait time is half that interval.
-  * When working a set of work that crosses Teams (or Trains), cadence allow us to more easily synchronize activities; is it in this time box or the next time box. While this may seem obvious at a Feature level (I.e. multiple Trains or Teams working together on a Epic or Feature), it can also be used to synchronize organizational (for example, we need to change business direction), personal (for example, we need to move work to this offshore center), and process issues (for example, we need to adopt this more effective approach to security).+  * When working a set of work that crosses Teams (or Trains), cadence allow us to more easily synchronize activities; is it in this time box or the next time box. While this may seem obvious at a Feature level (I.e. multiple Trains or Teams working together on a Epic or Feature), it can also be used to synchronize organizational (for example, we need to change business direction), personnel (for example, we need to move work to this offshore center), and process issues (for example, we need to adopt this more effective approach to security).
   * When working at multiple levels aligned cadence allows two-way flow of information between the various levels: plans come down and feedback goes up. A multi-level cadence is when we have iteration cadence for Teams (say every two weeks) and a quarterly cadence for the Program, and so on up the levels of an organization. For these cases to work well, the sub-cadence should be a whole subset of the major cadence. For example, if the Program is running a 12 week cadence, the Teams would look to running a 2 week cadence as these sub-cadences would line up exactly with the Program cadence and so allow maximum flow of information.   * When working at multiple levels aligned cadence allows two-way flow of information between the various levels: plans come down and feedback goes up. A multi-level cadence is when we have iteration cadence for Teams (say every two weeks) and a quarterly cadence for the Program, and so on up the levels of an organization. For these cases to work well, the sub-cadence should be a whole subset of the major cadence. For example, if the Program is running a 12 week cadence, the Teams would look to running a 2 week cadence as these sub-cadences would line up exactly with the Program cadence and so allow maximum flow of information.
   * When working a set of work that requires synchronization, cadence allows us to pull things together and objectively see what we have done. We can easily set up an integration of all the work because we understand what is available at each and every cadence point. You can say “by the end of this time box we expect to see all this working together”, including testing of the integrated solution, and use that demonstration to determine what’s next (pivot, continue, stop).   * When working a set of work that requires synchronization, cadence allows us to pull things together and objectively see what we have done. We can easily set up an integration of all the work because we understand what is available at each and every cadence point. You can say “by the end of this time box we expect to see all this working together”, including testing of the integrated solution, and use that demonstration to determine what’s next (pivot, continue, stop).
   * Cadence, with a buffer, allows us to deal with uncertainty. We know what we are need to achieve and because we have a buffer, as we discover things or as we are impacted by others that effect our plan we can make adjustments. For example, if the business cannot wait for the next planning event or if we learn something that will allow us to leverage more value out of the work, we can still deal with that situation.   * Cadence, with a buffer, allows us to deal with uncertainty. We know what we are need to achieve and because we have a buffer, as we discover things or as we are impacted by others that effect our plan we can make adjustments. For example, if the business cannot wait for the next planning event or if we learn something that will allow us to leverage more value out of the work, we can still deal with that situation.
-  * If you can’t predict delivery, existing programs become feature magnets. A regular, short time box of delivery helps build understanding of what is priority, what is up next, and what is possible (capacity). This reduces the need to say “yes” to anything feature request by encouraging business level discussions on what Is important.+  * If you can’t predict delivery, existing programs become feature magnets. A regular, short time box of delivery helps build understanding of what is a priority, what is up next, and what is possible (capacity). This reduces the need to say “yes” to anything feature request by encouraging business level discussions on what is important.
   * Cadence helps us to develop the habit to do the important things, not just those currently considered urgent. It helps by scheduling these in advance, thus making a habit of it and providing the capacity to do this. Specific examples of this include the retrospective; which we schedule in advance to ensure we take the time to get better. Similar things can be said for planning meetings to ensure we have taken the time to plan and not just respond to the latest event.   * Cadence helps us to develop the habit to do the important things, not just those currently considered urgent. It helps by scheduling these in advance, thus making a habit of it and providing the capacity to do this. Specific examples of this include the retrospective; which we schedule in advance to ensure we take the time to get better. Similar things can be said for planning meetings to ensure we have taken the time to plan and not just respond to the latest event.
   * Cadence helps to reduce the need for ad-hoc status meetings. If we know that the next demonstration is in two weeks time, do we really need intermediary status meetings.   * Cadence helps to reduce the need for ad-hoc status meetings. If we know that the next demonstration is in two weeks time, do we really need intermediary status meetings.
Line 95: Line 95:
   * Logistics: As said, pragmatically most organizations set things up so that “all planning is on this week” and the main reason is logistics. Logistical reasons can include things as simple as room availability and as esoteric as bandwidth availability. However once the base schedule is set up, the good news is that this discussion does not have to be revisited. We can use the same sequenced schedule going forward.   * Logistics: As said, pragmatically most organizations set things up so that “all planning is on this week” and the main reason is logistics. Logistical reasons can include things as simple as room availability and as esoteric as bandwidth availability. However once the base schedule is set up, the good news is that this discussion does not have to be revisited. We can use the same sequenced schedule going forward.
   * Philosophical: The main objection is related to the notion that teams are “self managing” and that therefore they can do “whatever makes sense for them.” This is a misunderstanding. Nobody does an agile transformation to “be agile”. We are doing it to solve business problems. For many, synchronization of value delivery across multiple teams is a business problem. One approach to deal with this is to establish a common cadence. The business environment defines some of the guardrails of team self management in this instance. Care must be taken when establishing this idea - we need to help the teams understand why we should do this.   * Philosophical: The main objection is related to the notion that teams are “self managing” and that therefore they can do “whatever makes sense for them.” This is a misunderstanding. Nobody does an agile transformation to “be agile”. We are doing it to solve business problems. For many, synchronization of value delivery across multiple teams is a business problem. One approach to deal with this is to establish a common cadence. The business environment defines some of the guardrails of team self management in this instance. Care must be taken when establishing this idea - we need to help the teams understand why we should do this.
 +
 +
 {{tag>Consultant Tools Meetings FirstSprint Cadence FAQ}} {{tag>Consultant Tools Meetings FirstSprint Cadence FAQ}}
  
  
/home/hpsamios/hanssamios.com/dokuwiki/data/pages/what_is_the_benefit_of_having_a_cadence_of_meetings_etc.txt · Last modified: 2020/06/02 14:22 by 127.0.0.1