Agile Program Management is a means of managing, planning, and coordinating interrelated work in such a way that value delivery is emphasized for all key stakeholders. Agile Program Management (AgilePgM) is a disciplined yet flexible agile approach to managing transformational change within an organization.
Aspect
Explanation
Definition
– Agile Program Management is a holistic approach to managing multiple Agile teams and projects within an organization to achieve strategic objectives. It involves coordinating, prioritizing, and delivering value through Agile practices while ensuring alignment with the organization’s vision and goals. Agile Program Management often utilizes frameworks like SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) or LeSS (Large Scale Scrum) to facilitate collaboration and coordination.
Key Responsibilities
– Coordination: Agile Program Managers are responsible for coordinating the activities of multiple Agile teams to ensure they work toward common goals. – Alignment: They align the program’s objectives with the organization’s strategic vision and communicate this alignment to all teams. – Risk Management: Identifying and mitigating risks that may affect the program’s success. – Performance Measurement: Tracking and measuring the performance of Agile teams and the program as a whole. – Stakeholder Engagement: Engaging with stakeholders, including executives, customers, and team members, to ensure transparency and collaboration.
Framework Usage
– SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework): SAFe is a widely used framework for scaling Agile principles and methods across large organizations. It includes roles like Release Train Engineer (RTE) and Program Increment (PI) planning to manage programs effectively. – LeSS (Large Scale Scrum): LeSS extends the principles of Scrum to large-scale projects, emphasizing simplicity and minimalism while scaling Agile practices. – Nexus: Nexus is a framework that builds on Scrum, providing guidance for scaling Scrum to large programs.
Benefits
– Flexibility: Agile Program Management allows organizations to adapt to changing market conditions and customer feedback more effectively. – Faster Delivery: It promotes quicker delivery of value by breaking work into manageable increments. – Alignment: Ensures that the efforts of multiple Agile teams are aligned with the organization’s strategic goals. – Improved Collaboration: Facilitates collaboration and communication among teams and stakeholders.
Challenges
– Complexity: Managing multiple Agile teams and dependencies can be complex and challenging. – Change Resistance: Transitioning to Agile Program Management may face resistance from teams or individuals accustomed to traditional management approaches. – Scaling Issues: Ensuring that Agile principles are effectively scaled to larger programs requires careful planning and execution.
Real-World Application
– An enterprise software company adopts SAFe to manage its software development programs. Agile Program Managers use SAFe principles to align development teams, release software on regular intervals, and respond to market changes quickly.
AgilePgM was designed for practicing or aspiring program managers and team members.
Using this approach, participants manage large-scale transformational activities (programs) with discipline, collaboration, and flexibility.
Primarily, this is achieved through the iterative and incremental delivery of outputs and benefits.
This allows businesses to be adaptable to change in what is becoming an increasingly dynamic business environment.
Benefits of AgilePgM for individuals and businesses
Individuals who undertake AgilePgM training will:
Gain a more advanced understanding of agile principles in the context of program management.
Recognize that successful agile programs will require a different style of management than traditional programs.
Learn how to facilitate collaboration and trust between key stakeholders by making operations more visible.
Encourage active stakeholder involvement, feedback, and controls to realize incremental and iterative benefits.
For organizations, AgilePgM will enable them to:
Deliver transformational change that is faster, cheaper, and lower risk by assessing program goals and benefits against the wider organizational strategy.
Complement existing corporate methodologies such as Prince2, MSP, and AgilePM. This also encompasses quality control and auditing processes.
Increase the professionalism of employees through the inclusion of agile certification in professional development opportunities.
Adopt a proven approach to agile management instead of committing to a costly and less-effective company-specific plan.
The five principles of Agile Program Management
Agile Program Management has five core principles, listed below:
Program goals must be clearly and continuously aligned with the overall business strategy.
Benefits are realized incrementally and as early as possible.
Governance focuses on creating a coherent capability.
Decision-making powers are delegated to the lowest possible level.
Agile programs are iterative. They can contain both agile and non-agile projects.
Who will benefit from undertaking AgilePgM training?
Employees who are responsible for implementing program change within an organization will benefit the most from AgilePgM training.
This includes a vast array of positions and responsibilities, including:
Project management office (PMO) staff.
Governance staff, such as those employed in finance, strategy, or compliance.
Risk managers.
Agile program procurement professionals.
Agile program project managers.
Sponsoring groups.
Key takeaways
Agile Program Management addresses the needs of businesses that are seeking to scale agile practices to the program level.
Agile Program Management allows businesses to deliver transformational change that is more efficient and with lower risk than traditional change strategies. This is achieved through aligning company goals with agile change management strategies. Such strategies are cost-effective since they do not need to be tailored to the individual needs of the company.
Agile Program Management certification is suitable for anyone who is involved in implementing program change within an organization. Examples include PMO officers, governance staff, and those involved with agile program procurement.
Key Highlights of Agile Program Management:
Definition and Purpose:
Agile Program Management (AgilePgM) is a disciplined and flexible approach to managing large-scale transformational change within an organization.
It emphasizes value delivery to all stakeholders through collaboration, adaptability, and iterative delivery of outputs and benefits.
Target Audience:
AgilePgM is designed for program managers and team members responsible for managing and implementing large-scale transformational activities (programs).
It provides a framework for managing such activities with a combination of discipline, collaboration, and flexibility.
Iterative and Incremental Delivery:
AgilePgM emphasizes iterative and incremental delivery of outputs and benefits.
This approach enables businesses to adapt to the dynamic business environment, allowing for quicker responses to change.
Benefits for Individuals:
AgilePgM training helps participants gain a deeper understanding of agile principles within the context of program management.
It highlights the need for a different management style for successful agile programs compared to traditional programs.
Encourages facilitation of collaboration, visibility, active stakeholder involvement, and feedback to achieve incremental and iterative benefits.
Benefits for Organizations:
AgilePgM enables organizations to achieve faster, more cost-effective, and lower-risk transformational change aligned with the organizational strategy.
It complements existing methodologies like Prince2, MSP, and AgilePM, and encompasses quality control and auditing processes.
Increases employee professionalism through agile certification and professional development opportunities.
Offers a proven approach to agile management, avoiding costly and less-effective company-specific plans.
Five Principles of Agile Program Management:
Program goals must align continuously with the overall business strategy.
Benefits should be realized incrementally and as early as possible.
Governance focuses on creating a coherent capability.
Decision-making authority is delegated to the lowest possible level.
Agile programs can include both agile and non-agile projects.
Target Audience for Training:
AgilePgM training is beneficial for various roles involved in implementing program change within an organization, including:
Agile Program Management extends agile practices to the program level to deliver efficient, low-risk transformational change.
It aligns company goals with agile change management strategies, eliminating the need for custom-tailored approaches.
Suitable for individuals involved in program change implementation, such as PMO officers, governance staff, and agile program procurement professionals.
Related Frameworks, Models, or Concepts
Description
When to Apply
Scrum
– Scrum is an Agile framework that emphasizes iterative and incremental delivery of software products. – It relies on cross-functional teams, time-boxed iterations (sprints), and regular ceremonies (such as sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives) to manage and adapt to changing requirements. – Scrum fosters collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement, enabling teams to deliver high-quality products efficiently.
– Software Development: Apply Scrum in software development projects to manage requirements, prioritize tasks, and deliver increments of functionality iteratively. – Product Development: Use Scrum to develop and launch new products or features in a dynamic and customer-centric manner. – Project Management: Implement Scrum principles and practices to manage projects with evolving or unclear requirements, promoting adaptability and stakeholder engagement throughout the project lifecycle.
Kanban
– Kanban is an Agile method that visualizes work, limits work in progress (WIP), and optimizes flow to improve efficiency and effectiveness. – It uses Kanban boards, which visualize work items moving through different stages of a workflow, and sets WIP limits to prevent bottlenecks and overburdening of teams. – Kanban promotes continuous delivery, flexibility, and focus on customer value, making it suitable for both software development and non-IT projects.
– Workflow Management: Implement Kanban to manage workflow processes, streamline task execution, and visualize work progress across teams. – Continuous Improvement: Use Kanban to identify and address bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and opportunities for process optimization through iterative changes. – Service Delivery: Apply Kanban in service-oriented environments (e.g., customer support, marketing, HR) to improve service delivery, responsiveness, and customer satisfaction through visual management and flow-based approaches.
Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
– SAFe is a framework for scaling Agile practices to the enterprise level, enabling coordinated delivery of large-scale solutions. – It provides guidance on roles, responsibilities, ceremonies, and artifacts necessary for aligning multiple Agile teams within a program or portfolio. – SAFe incorporates principles from Agile, Lean, and DevOps to foster collaboration, innovation, and value delivery across the organization.
– Enterprise Agility: Adopt SAFe to scale Agile practices and principles across multiple teams, programs, and business units within large organizations. – Program Management: Use SAFe to coordinate and align Agile teams working on complex projects or solutions, promoting visibility, synchronization, and risk management at the program level. – Portfolio Management: Implement SAFe to prioritize and manage strategic initiatives, investments, and value streams effectively, ensuring alignment with business objectives and optimizing return on investment (ROI).
Lean Agile Principles
– Lean Agile principles emphasize delivering value continuously, optimizing flow, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. – They include concepts such as customer focus, minimizing waste, empowering teams, embracing change, and measuring outcomes. – Lean Agile principles guide organizations in adapting Agile practices to their specific context, promoting agility, responsiveness, and value creation.
– Organizational Transformation: Embrace Lean Agile principles to drive cultural change, innovation, and organizational agility, enabling adaptability and resilience in dynamic business environments. – Value Stream Mapping: Apply Lean Agile principles to identify and streamline value streams, eliminate waste, and optimize the flow of work from concept to delivery, enhancing efficiency and customer satisfaction. – Product Development: Incorporate Lean Agile principles into product development processes to prioritize customer value, reduce time to market, and improve product quality and competitiveness.
Agile Program Management (APM)
– Agile Program Management (APM) is an approach that extends Agile principles and practices to manage and coordinate multiple Agile teams working on interconnected projects or initiatives within a program. – It focuses on aligning goals, facilitating communication, resolving dependencies, and ensuring delivery of value through iterative planning, execution, and feedback loops. – APM promotes transparency, collaboration, and adaptability, enabling organizations to respond effectively to changing priorities and market dynamics.
– Complex Projects or Programs: Implement APM to manage complex projects or programs with multiple Agile teams, dependencies, and evolving requirements, promoting alignment and synergy across teams. – Cross-Functional Collaboration: Use APM to facilitate collaboration and communication among cross-functional teams, stakeholders, and product owners, ensuring shared understanding and commitment to program goals and priorities. – Continuous Improvement: Apply APM practices to foster continuous improvement, learning, and innovation within program teams, promoting adaptability and responsiveness to customer needs and market changes.
Agile Portfolio Management (APfM)
– Agile Portfolio Management (APfM) extends Agile principles to the strategic level, focusing on aligning investments, prioritizing initiatives, and optimizing resource allocation to maximize business value. – It involves continuous evaluation of portfolio objectives, initiatives, and performance metrics to ensure alignment with organizational goals and market needs. – APfM promotes portfolio transparency, flexibility, and value optimization, enabling organizations to adapt quickly to changing market conditions and customer demands.
– Strategic Planning: Adopt APfM to align portfolio investments and initiatives with strategic business objectives, ensuring focus on high-value initiatives and maximizing return on investment (ROI). – Resource Allocation: Use APfM practices to optimize resource allocation and capacity planning across the portfolio, balancing demand, and capacity to minimize bottlenecks and optimize value delivery. – Risk Management: Implement APfM to evaluate and mitigate portfolio risks, uncertainties, and dependencies, enabling proactive decision-making and adaptation to changing market dynamics and business priorities.
DevOps
– DevOps is a cultural and technical approach that promotes collaboration between development (Dev) and operations (Ops) teams throughout the software delivery lifecycle. – It emphasizes automation, continuous integration, continuous delivery, and feedback loops to accelerate delivery, improve quality, and increase reliability of software applications and services. – DevOps integrates Agile principles with Lean practices to streamline processes, reduce cycle times, and foster a culture of shared responsibility and continuous improvement.
– Software Delivery: Integrate DevOps practices into Agile development processes to automate build, test, deployment, and release activities, enabling rapid and reliable delivery of software products and features. – Cross-Functional Collaboration: Use DevOps to bridge the gap between development and operations teams, promoting collaboration, transparency, and shared ownership of software delivery outcomes. – Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Adopt DevOps practices like Infrastructure as Code (IaC) to automate provisioning and configuration of infrastructure, improving scalability, consistency, and reliability of IT environments.
Agile Coaching and Mentoring
– Agile coaching and mentoring involve providing guidance, support, and training to individuals, teams, and organizations in adopting Agile practices and principles effectively. – Agile coaches and mentors facilitate learning, collaboration, and self-organization within Agile teams, promoting continuous improvement and high performance. – They help teams overcome challenges, develop new skills, and embed Agile values and mindset into their daily work practices.
– Team Development: Engage Agile coaches and mentors to support teams in adopting Agile practices, roles, and ceremonies, fostering collaboration, and enhancing productivity and morale. – Leadership Development: Provide Agile coaching and mentoring to leaders and managers to develop Agile leadership capabilities, promote servant leadership, and drive organizational agility and change management. – Organizational Transformation: Utilize Agile coaching and mentoring to guide organizational transformation efforts, build Agile capabilities, and foster a culture of learning, experimentation, and continuous improvement.
Agile Tools and Technologies
– Agile tools and technologies support Agile practices by providing capabilities for project management, collaboration, communication, and automation. – They include tools for Agile project tracking, sprint planning, backlog management, version control, continuous integration, and automated testing. – Agile tools and technologies enhance visibility, transparency, and efficiency of Agile processes, enabling teams to deliver high-quality products iteratively and incrementally.
– Tool Selection: Choose Agile tools and technologies that align with team workflows, preferences, and project requirements, supporting Agile principles and practices effectively. – Process Automation: Implement Agile tools to automate repetitive tasks, streamline workflows, and reduce manual effort, enhancing team productivity and focus on value-added activities. – Collaboration and Communication: Use Agile tools to facilitate collaboration, communication, and information sharing among team members, stakeholders, and customers, promoting transparency and alignment with project goals and priorities.
AIOps is the application of artificial intelligence to IT operations. It has become particularly useful for modern IT management in hybridized, distributed, and dynamic environments. AIOps has become a key operational component of modern digital-based organizations, built around software and algorithms.
Agile started as a lightweight development method compared to heavyweight software development, which is the core paradigm of the previous decades of software development. By 2001 the Manifesto for Agile Software Development was born as a set of principles that defined the new paradigm for software development as a continuous iteration. This would also influence the way of doing business.
Agile Program Management is a means of managing, planning, and coordinating interrelated work in such a way that value delivery is emphasized for all key stakeholders. Agile Program Management (AgilePgM) is a disciplined yet flexible agile approach to managing transformational change within an organization.
Agile project management (APM) is a strategy that breaks large projects into smaller, more manageable tasks. In the APM methodology, each project is completed in small sections – often referred to as iterations. Each iteration is completed according to its project life cycle, beginning with the initial design and progressing to testing and then quality assurance.
Agile Modeling (AM) is a methodology for modeling and documenting software-based systems. Agile Modeling is critical to the rapid and continuous delivery of software. It is a collection of values, principles, and practices that guide effective, lightweight software modeling.
Agile Business Analysis (AgileBA) is certification in the form of guidance and training for business analysts seeking to work in agile environments. To support this shift, AgileBA also helps the business analyst relate Agile projects to a wider organizational mission or strategy. To ensure that analysts have the necessary skills and expertise, AgileBA certification was developed.
Agile leadership is the embodiment of agile manifesto principles by a manager or management team. Agile leadership impacts two important levels of a business. The structural level defines the roles, responsibilities, and key performance indicators. The behavioral level describes the actions leaders exhibit to others based on agile principles.
The andon system alerts managerial, maintenance, or other staff of a production process problem. The alert itself can be activated manually with a button or pull cord, but it can also be activated automatically by production equipment. Most Andon boards utilize three colored lights similar to a traffic signal: green (no errors), yellow or amber (problem identified, or quality check needed), and red (production stopped due to unidentified issue).
Bimodal Portfolio Management (BimodalPfM) helps an organization manage both agile and traditional portfolios concurrently. Bimodal Portfolio Management – sometimes referred to as bimodal development – was coined by research and advisory company Gartner. The firm argued that many agile organizations still needed to run some aspects of their operations using traditional delivery models.
Business innovation is about creating new opportunities for an organization to reinvent its core offerings, revenue streams, and enhance the value proposition for existing or new customers, thus renewing its whole business model. Business innovation springs by understanding the structure of the market, thus adapting or anticipating those changes.
Business modelinnovation is about increasing the success of an organization with existing products and technologies by crafting a compelling value proposition able to propel a new business model to scale up customers and create a lasting competitive advantage. And it all starts by mastering the key customers.
A consumer brand company like Procter & Gamble (P&G) defines “Constructive Disruption” as: a willingness to change, adapt, and create new trends and technologies that will shape our industry for the future. According to P&G, it moves around four pillars: lean innovation, brand building, supply chain, and digitalization & data analytics.
That is a process that requires a continuous feedback loop to develop a valuable product and build a viable business model. Continuous innovation is a mindset where products and services are designed and delivered to tune them around the customers’ problem and not the technical solution of its founders.
A design sprint is a proven five-day process where critical business questions are answered through speedy design and prototyping, focusing on the end-user. A design sprint starts with a weekly challenge that should finish with a prototype, test at the end, and therefore a lesson learned to be iterated.
Tim Brown, Executive Chair of IDEO, defined design thinking as “a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” Therefore, desirability, feasibility, and viability are balanced to solve critical problems.
DevOps refers to a series of practices performed to perform automated software development processes. It is a conjugation of the term “development” and “operations” to emphasize how functions integrate across IT teams. DevOps strategies promote seamless building, testing, and deployment of products. It aims to bridge a gap between development and operations teams to streamline the development altogether.
Product discovery is a critical part of agile methodologies, as its aim is to ensure that products customers love are built. Product discovery involves learning through a raft of methods, including design thinking, lean start-up, and A/B testing to name a few. Dual Track Agile is an agile methodology containing two separate tracks: the “discovery” track and the “delivery” track.
eXtreme Programming was developed in the late 1990s by Ken Beck, Ron Jeffries, and Ward Cunningham. During this time, the trio was working on the Chrysler Comprehensive Compensation System (C3) to help manage the company payroll system. eXtreme Programming (XP) is a software development methodology. It is designed to improve software quality and the ability of software to adapt to changing customer needs.
Feature-Driven Development is a pragmatic software process that is client and architecture-centric. Feature-Driven Development (FDD) is an agile software development model that organizes workflow according to which features need to be developed next.
A Gemba Walk is a fundamental component of lean management. It describes the personal observation of work to learn more about it. Gemba is a Japanese word that loosely translates as “the real place”, or in business, “the place where value is created”. The Gemba Walk as a concept was created by Taiichi Ohno, the father of the Toyota Production System of lean manufacturing. Ohno wanted to encourage management executives to leave their offices and see where the real work happened. This, he hoped, would build relationships between employees with vastly different skillsets and build trust.
GIST Planning is a relatively easy and lightweight agile approach to product planning that favors autonomous working. GIST Planning is a lean and agile methodology that was created by former Google product manager Itamar Gilad. GIST Planning seeks to address this situation by creating lightweight plans that are responsive and adaptable to change. GIST Planning also improves team velocity, autonomy, and alignment by reducing the pervasive influence of management. It consists of four blocks: goals, ideas, step-projects, and tasks.
The ICE Scoring Model is an agile methodology that prioritizes features using data according to three components: impact, confidence, and ease of implementation. The ICE Scoring Model was initially created by author and growth expert Sean Ellis to help companies expand. Today, the model is broadly used to prioritize projects, features, initiatives, and rollouts. It is ideally suited for early-stage product development where there is a continuous flow of ideas and momentum must be maintained.
An innovation funnel is a tool or process ensuring only the best ideas are executed. In a metaphorical sense, the funnel screens innovative ideas for viability so that only the best products, processes, or business models are launched to the market. An innovation funnel provides a framework for the screening and testing of innovative ideas for viability.
According to how well defined is the problem and how well defined the domain, we have four main types of innovations: basic research (problem and domain or not well defined); breakthrough innovation (domain is not well defined, the problem is well defined); sustaining innovation (both problem and domain are well defined); and disruptive innovation (domain is well defined, the problem is not well defined).
The innovation loop is a methodology/framework derived from the Bell Labs, which produced innovation at scale throughout the 20th century. They learned how to leverage a hybrid innovation management model based on science, invention, engineering, and manufacturing at scale. By leveraging individual genius, creativity, and small/large groups.
The Agile methodology has been primarily thought of for software development (and other business disciplines have also adopted it). Lean thinking is a process improvement technique where teams prioritize the value streams to improve it continuously. Both methodologies look at the customer as the key driver to improvement and waste reduction. Both methodologies look at improvement as something continuous.
A startup company is a high-tech business that tries to build a scalable business model in tech-driven industries. A startup company usually follows a lean methodology, where continuous innovation, driven by built-in viral loops is the rule. Thus, driving growth and building network effects as a consequence of this strategy.
As pointed out by Eric Ries, a minimum viable product is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort through a cycle of build, measure, learn; that is the foundation of the lean startup methodology.
Kanban is a lean manufacturing framework first developed by Toyota in the late 1940s. The Kanban framework is a means of visualizing work as it moves through identifying potential bottlenecks. It does that through a process called just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing to optimize engineering processes, speed up manufacturing products, and improve the go-to-market strategy.
Jidoka was first used in 1896 by Sakichi Toyoda, who invented a textile loom that would stop automatically when it encountered a defective thread. Jidoka is a Japanese term used in lean manufacturing. The term describes a scenario where machines cease operating without human intervention when a problem or defect is discovered.
The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle was first proposed by American physicist and engineer Walter A. Shewhart in the 1920s. The PDCA cycle is a continuous process and product improvement method and an essential component of the lean manufacturing philosophy.
RAD was first introduced by author and consultant James Martin in 1991. Martin recognized and then took advantage of the endless malleability of software in designing development models. Rapid Application Development (RAD) is a methodology focusing on delivering rapidly through continuous feedback and frequent iterations.
Retrospective analyses are held after a project to determine what worked well and what did not. They are also conducted at the end of an iteration in Agile project management. Agile practitioners call these meetings retrospectives or retros. They are an effective way to check the pulse of a project team, reflect on the work performed to date, and reach a consensus on how to tackle the next sprint cycle. These are the five stages of a retrospective analysis for effective Agile project management: set the stage, gather the data, generate insights, decide on the next steps, and close the retrospective.
Scaled Agile Lean Development (ScALeD) helps businesses discover a balanced approach to agile transition and scaling questions. The ScALed approach helps businesses successfully respond to change. Inspired by a combination of lean and agile values, ScALed is practitioner-based and can be completed through various agile frameworks and practices.
The SMED (single minute exchange of die) method is a lean production framework to reduce waste and increase production efficiency. The SMED method is a framework for reducing the time associated with completing an equipment changeover.
The Spotify Model is an autonomous approach to scaling agile, focusing on culture communication, accountability, and quality. The Spotify model was first recognized in 2012 after Henrik Kniberg, and Anders Ivarsson released a white paper detailing how streaming company Spotify approached agility. Therefore, the Spotify model represents an evolution of agile.
As the name suggests, TDD is a test-driven technique for delivering high-quality software rapidly and sustainably. It is an iterative approach based on the idea that a failing test should be written before any code for a feature or function is written. Test-Driven Development (TDD) is an approach to software development that relies on very short development cycles.
Timeboxing is a simple yet powerful time-management technique for improving productivity. Timeboxing describes the process of proactively scheduling a block of time to spend on a task in the future. It was first described by author James Martin in a book about agile software development.
Scrum is a methodology co-created by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland for effective team collaboration on complex products. Scrum was primarily thought for software development projects to deliver new software capability every 2-4 weeks. It is a sub-group of agile also used in project management to improve startups’ productivity.
Scrumban is a project management framework that is a hybrid of two popular agile methodologies: Scrum and Kanban. Scrumban is a popular approach to helping businesses focus on the right strategic tasks while simultaneously strengthening their processes.
Scrum anti-patterns describe any attractive, easy-to-implement solution that ultimately makes a problem worse. Therefore, these are the practice not to follow to prevent issues from emerging. Some classic examples of scrum anti-patterns comprise absent product owners, pre-assigned tickets (making individuals work in isolation), and discounting retrospectives (where review meetings are not useful to really make improvements).
Scrum at Scale (Scrum@Scale) is a framework that Scrum teams use to address complex problems and deliver high-value products. Scrum at Scale was created through a joint venture between the Scrum Alliance and Scrum Inc. The joint venture was overseen by Jeff Sutherland, a co-creator of Scrum and one of the principal authors of the Agile Manifesto.
Six Sigma is a data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating errors or defects in a product, service, or process. Six Sigma was developed by Motorola as a management approach based on quality fundamentals in the early 1980s. A decade later, it was popularized by General Electric who estimated that the methodology saved them $12 billion in the first five years of operation.
Stretch objectives describe any task an agile team plans to complete without expressly committing to do so. Teams incorporate stretch objectives during a Sprint or Program Increment (PI) as part of Scaled Agile. They are used when the agile team is unsure of its capacity to attain an objective. Therefore, stretch objectives are instead outcomes that, while extremely desirable, are not the difference between the success or failure of each sprint.
The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an early form of lean manufacturing created by auto-manufacturer Toyota. Created by the Toyota Motor Corporation in the 1940s and 50s, the Toyota Production System seeks to manufacture vehicles ordered by customers most quickly and efficiently possible.
The Total Quality Management (TQM) framework is a technique based on the premise that employees continuously work on their ability to provide value to customers. Importantly, the word “total” means that all employees are involved in the process – regardless of whether they work in development, production, or fulfillment.
The waterfall model was first described by Herbert D. Benington in 1956 during a presentation about the software used in radar imaging during the Cold War. Since there were no knowledge-based, creative software development strategies at the time, the waterfall method became standard practice. The waterfall model is a linear and sequential project management framework.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
