Microwave Thinking – Lean Agile PMO – focus on the right things
Lean Agile PMO – focus on the right things – deliver the features that drive value
Really?
Again?
She asked me.
Aren’t you going to change the subject of your talk? You’ve been going on it for years.
It is still relevant – the same way microwaves are still around – I replied.
Microwaves?
Yes, microwaves; I’ll get to that later.
Is that so – she asked – why are you so passionate about the agile PMO?
Well, I answered, project program and portfolio management offices (PMO) are here to stay and making them agile is crucial.
Actually, organizations separate between teams that are agile, and program and portfolio structures that follow rigid top down mandates. In other words; agile project management is limited to teams using a mish-mash of scrum and kanban methods with little business understanding or any buy in.
But everyone has been saying that we have crossed the chasm – and that agile is king!
Lean Agile PMO – connect business to agile teams
Well, many of the scrum masters are project managers in disguise.
We keep lying to ourselves about it.
We haven’t adopted an agile mindset to delivery. Traditional approaches still guide program and portfolio execution in the organization. And, these approaches often contradict the emergent leadership, self-organizing and self-directing agile teams.
In this hybrid playing ground, some teams are successful others less so, however the end result isn’t better delivery of products that make customers happy.
That’s sad…you’re actually saying that the teams are ‘free’ to plan and estimate as long as they are within the top down roadmap timeline, budget control and scope directions.
Exactly!
And therefore, it is the agile project management offices (agile PMO) that must drive business agility. They are the connection between the business mindset and the teams – that’s the agile pmo!
So why are they failing?
Mostly because they are misguided!
When you read the PMBOK – PMI®’s project management body of knowledge are you inspired?
Not really, they describe that the PMO main task is to standardize project-related governance processes, I don’t find that inspiring and visionary.
YES, not that there’s anything wrong with processes… However to change the organizational mindset we have to rethink the value PMOs provide to projects, programs and portfolios.
Okay, I get it, but how? And why do you keep mentioning microwaves?
We identified four fundamentals in how agile project management offices (Lean Agile PMO) can be more agile.
Yes, I remember watching the video.
Actually, my thinking has adapted since…. I recently revisited the ideas.
Lean Agile Project Management Office (Lean Agile PMO) – focus on the work that matters
The second fundamental of the four in our model, is: Pivot quickly from wasteful features and products. An agile project management office (Lean Agile PMO) makes sure that the teams are working on the valuable stuff.
Why is that important?
Because most of the features and projects we deliver are waste, wrong and don’t deliver customer value. At a client we worked with several years ago, a software shop, we analyzed the return on investment for features we delivered. (read more on this Harvard Business Review article).
The analysis validated existing research: approximately sixty to seventy percent of the features that are created are not used. In other words, we wasted about seventy percent of our engineering and product development capacity.
To put it bluntly, we could have fired seventy percent of our five hundred engineers and still appreciated the same revenue for that year. This thinking, however, is flawed, since we never know which of the features would be revenue generating and which wouldn’t.
Wow – are we that misguided?
Yes – our program and portfolio delivery approach is mismatched with the results we need.
Lean Agile PMO – the microwave challenge – how many features are needed?
Take a trip to your kitchen and look at your microwave, how many buttons and features does it have?
Mine is really advanced – it has 30 buttons and probably 50 programs.
That’s great, now, how many do you use? Because if you are like me, I use only 2 options! I know that there are various options to heat chicken, bake a potato, make rice and boil pasta. But I end up just pressing the one minute button several times until my dish is warm enough.
I see your point – you’re saying that we deliver way too many features, that are not used. And the actual way we are using the device is totally different then the way it was envisioned.
Exactly!
So what’s the solution?
An effective agile PMO promotes a culture of experimentation, failure and learning. However that’s very foreign to how we operate!
Tell me more.
You can review this image to guide you in the lean startup assumption validation cycle.
The agile PMO is best suited to lay the required foundations of this approach and then lead and manage the experimentation. To remove the extra features that are not used, and to develop what the consumer actually needs. This removes waste from the development process.
In other words, the agile teams are focused on executing assumption validation.
The agile PMO pulls work based on the ongoing result of the experiments.
We achieve business agility.
I agree, that’s a more inspiring role for the PMO compared with process creation and control. I understand why you are passionate about the role an agile PMO has in promoting business agility.
Not to mention that most organizations have too much process as it is, and often process gets in the way of delivery. We could discuss how to remove process… Did you know that reducing the scope of a template (for example a project charter) takes ten times longer than adding a template?
Maybe next time, as VP of programs, you’ve just given me an idea of how we can better use our enterprise PMO, thanks!
