How can you leverage agile principles and practices in program management?

To define a clear vision and roadmap for programs, Program Managers need to involve stakeholders early on and gather their input. They should conduct market and user research to understand the needs and expectations of customers and align the program with market requirements. Creating a program charter that outlines objectives, scope, and success criteria helps maintain alignment. Collaborating with teams & subject matter experts ensures a shared understanding. Prioritizing features based on value and dependencies is crucial. Embracing an iterative approach & fostering collaboration through regular communication & ceremonies facilitate progress. Continuous refinement of plans based on feedback & changing circumstances ensures adaptability.

Every Program needs to have a clear Vision, as well as a roadmap to get to that vision. In agile ways of working we understand that the roadmap is a forecast. Here is where most traditional program managers get confused. They view the roadmap as a commitment. It's not. The Vision is the commitment. How we get there? That's gonna change. Be ready for it and allow the roadmap to be used as a forecast.

When integrating agile principles with program management routines, a common mistake is the tendency to shift the overall responsibility for creating a transparent, creative, adaptive, and flexible environment solely onto the program manager. It's crucial to remember that sponsors and senior leaders play a vital role. They need to make timely decisions and empower execution teams by instilling confidence and support. This collaboration ensures that the agile principles truly enhance the program management process.

While the vision serves as the foundation for any program, the roadmap's agility for adaptation is critical to meeting its intended outcome and deliver value to clients. Agility is easiest and convenient for all stakeholders when tools are utilized for timely, relevant feedback loops.

Knowing the destination alongside the gameplan to get there is a non negotiable for all Program teams. As a leader, it's key for us to represent the leadership needs to the teams and convert their work into measurable success stories back to the leadership. Unless you equip the team with the big picture, it gets hard for them to envision the impact their work would yield!

Program Managers can align and empower teams by establishing clear roles, values, and communication channels. They should foster a culture of trust, autonomy, and collaboration. Empowering teams to make decisions, solve problems, and share knowledge enhances their effectiveness. Regular updates, training, and recognition further motivate and engage team members, leading to program success.

Empower cross domain teams involved in the program by having method adoption workshops (MAW) to provide them a clear and safe work environment : 1. Goal tree covering problem statement, objects and key results 2. Vertical slicing of objectives spanning cross functional areas, in-order to deliver continuous value to customers and business 3. People Availability and leave management process 4. Release management 5. Ways of working 6. Sprint cycle, Product increment planning and retrospective 7. Create a repository where teams can quickly refer to all these (on demand reference material) 8. 360 degree feedback culture & communicate channels The above sets the ball rolling for a seamless portfolio integration within 2-3 sprints.

The bedrock of alignment and empowerment is inclusivity. Project teams consist of diverse groups with insights, perspectives, and experiences that are invaluable to the success of the program. Agile frameworks like Scrum that include chances for daily standups, reviews, and retrospect to learn and pivot if necessary as you work towards a shared goal ensure output and a pleasant experience during the process.

A team will remain a directed team unless we empower them! Empowerment loosely translates to giving them their space, acknowledging their expertise, trusting their judgement, creating visibility for them, owning their failures and celebrating their successes.. As a great leader we would all of the above and at the same time alter between the roles of a visionary, director, mentor, the teams PR and at times the devil's advocate.. When we are able to spin through roles effectively for the team, they begin to trust themselves, us and the process! Gaining trust is vital towards creating an environment of result driven culture and innovation!

Team acquisition can be a long process affecting the program's performance. So make sure you allocate enough time to gather a great team and incorporate realistic timeframes into the program's roadmap.

Agile principles and practices are designed to work together to create feedback loops for learning rapidly. Too often I see "sprints" without some of the cultural aspects (retrospectives, demos, release planning, etc.), technical aspects (TDD, no broken code on trunk, refactoring, etc.), and customer interaction woven into _each_ iteration. It's easy to think of Agile practices as a buffet menu, but they work best as a coursed and paired meal, to realize the full benefits and promise of Agile. It takes discipline and teamwork, but it is worth the effort.

One scenario where I've seen teams struggle in the application of Agile principles to Program Management is when they try to plan and execute work in the Agile cadence. I've often heard team members new to Agile ask "Why do we need to keep grooming our backlog? Didn't we complete planning last year/half/quarter? Aren't we going to just work toward those milestones?" This is particularly evident in Operations-focused programs, where the output is typically aligned to steady value delivery. The benefit that Agile brings is the ability to adapt to changing circumstances and allow teams to pull the right opportunities from the backlog when appropriate. This empowers the team to find quicker ways to deliver, and therefore, deliver value faster.

Program Managers can further deliver value incrementally and iteratively by embracing continuous improvement and adaptive planning. They should encourage teams to regularly reflect on their work, identify areas for improvement, and implement changes. By incorporating feedback from stakeholders and end-users, they can ensure that each increment addresses their evolving needs. Program Managers should also foster a culture of learning, where teams are encouraged to experiment, learn from failures, and leverage insights to refine their deliverables. This iterative approach enables the program to adapt to changing requirements and maximize value delivery throughout its duration.

To expand on Kristen’s note, it’s not only important to include all Agile components; they need to be interconnected. Agile is circular, sprint to sprint, but also within sprints. Each component must work with all others. To take one slice, story prep sets the sprint baseline, standups refocus that plan, demos show results, and retrospectives examine what needs to be improved. Each step is critical, but they need to work together. Standup notes become the retrospective base. Retrospective planning influences what you demo, and demo results are redirected back into the retrospective (which is why the retrospective should follow the demo). The demo and retrospective results help define the next story sessions, and the cycles begin again.

Continuous improvement provides project teams to bring the best version of a product, service, or process to market AND the best version of yourself is a by-product. Feedback and learning with every iteration develop a work culture that embraces growth, development, and collaboration.

In addition to the mentioned practices, Program Managers can effectively manage risks and uncertainties by fostering a proactive risk management culture. This involves encouraging open communication and collaboration among teams to identify potential risks early on. They can establish regular risk assessment and review sessions to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of risk mitigation strategies. Program Managers should also ensure that risk management is integrated into the program's decision-making processes, allowing for timely adjustments and contingency plans. By promoting a mindset of risk awareness and resilience, Program Managers can navigate uncertainties and mitigate potential disruptions to the program's success.

✅☔️ Agile principles aid risk management by promoting early and continuous delivery, allowing early identification and mitigation of risk. Regular reflections on progress optimize effectiveness in dealing with uncertainties. Agile methodology breaks down work into smaller parts, making uncertainty more manageable. Uncertainty is addressed progressively through iterative development and frequent feedback, leading to better predictability. Risks are converted into learning opportunities, with a ‘fail fast, learn faster’ approach. Thus, Agile ensures risks are not just managed, but also leveraged for continuous improvement. 💡

Agile embraces the dynamic nature of projects and actively manages risks and uncertainties. Identify potential risks early in the program and develop strategies to mitigate or respond to them. Regularly reassess the risk landscape and adjust plans accordingly. Embrace the concept of 'inspect and adapt' to ensure that risk management remains an integral part of the program's lifecycle. Agile risk management promotes resilience, allowing the program to navigate uncertainties effectively.

Program Managers can engage stakeholders by involving them in decision-making, seeking input, and sharing progress transparently. Regular feedback and satisfaction surveys help improve engagement strategies and build strong relationships for program success.

Based on recent experience, the value of stakeholder engagement cannot be underestimated…and is a recurring activity throughout the life of any complex project. While we do our best to identify all stakeholders up front there is bound to be new stakeholders that will need to be engaged and brought up to date on the purpose, objectives and important events/milestones of your project/program. When a new stakeholder comes to your awareness, even if…or when they come to light and you are running tight to an impending deliverable, take the time and request to meet with their management or executive team. Present a high-level overview of your project and highlight ‘opportunities’ for collaboration that have arisen. Highlight the positives!

One key challenge in programs utilizing Agile is stakeholder education. In every instance where I've had to set up an Agile-based program model, our stakeholders required a crash-course in Agile principles to understand how we were going to deliver program outcomes. This is important because: 1) There's an organizational learning curve to adopting Agile principles. For example, executive stakeholders typically don't understand Agile outputs well (how progress is communicated, goal setting, etc) and fall back on traditional metrics. 2) You can install Agile principles, but you need to lean into the concept of Continuous Improvement to purposefully engage stakeholders as collaborators - this requires constant education and reinforcement.

Stakeholder engagement is an important but underrated quality that a star program manager needs to possess. Knowing your audience, deciphering their needs, translating them into work components, building rapport to suit their impact on the project and documenting progress in an understandable format are the key pieces of the jigsaw puzzle Program Managers need to ace!

✅👨🏼⚖️👩⚖️ Agile engages stakeholders actively throughout the development process. Frequent communication allows them to provide constant feedback and clarify requirements. This continuous dialog establishes a partnership model where stakeholders are integral to the decision-making process. They can see and adjust real-time progress during Sprint Reviews, which foster transparency and trust. Agile's focus on customer satisfaction ensures their needs drive the program. ✔️ Thus, Agile turns stakeholders from passive recipients to active contributors with a vested interest in the program's success. Their continuous involvement leads to more effective and satisfying outcomes.

It's easy for program teams, sponsors, and stakeholders to agree to implement Agile principles at program inception but quickly discard them as roadblocks arise. The core of Agile is the mindset, which focuses on teams, commitment, and delivery - but this requires discipline! You chose the Agile approach for a reason - whether it's faster execution, quality, or any other goal, your program won't reap the benefits like Kristin W. illustrates above unless you continuously reinforce Agile principles.

In addition to the previous points, Program Managers should prioritize continuous learning and improvement. They should encourage a culture of reflection and adaptation, where teams and stakeholders are empowered to learn from successes and failures. Program Managers should also promote cross-team collaboration and knowledge sharing to leverage collective expertise and drive innovation. Additionally, they should monitor key performance indicators & use data-driven insights to make informed decisions & optimize program outcomes. By embracing flexibility, embracing change, & fostering a collaborative & learning-oriented environment, Program Managers can effectively leverage agile principles & practices to drive the success of their programs.

- Breaking programs into smaller, more frequent releases rather than big bang implementations. - Prioritize features that deliver the most customer value early on. - Actively involve stakeholders throughout rather than just initial planning. - Empower cross-functional teams. Promote collaboration between teams and customers over siloed work. - Deliver MVP fast. - Set up frequent reviews, demos and feedback loops for continuous customer input. Re-evaluate priorities and realign resources often. - Use incremental metrics rather than big bang milestones to measure progress. Regularly inspect performance and adapt approaches as needed. - taking an iterative, customer-focused approach built on transparency, inspection and adaptation.

Agile practices for Program Management can be found throughout the program lifecycle and in all Program Management Practice areas. I recently (April 2023) published "Program Management Redefined: Techniques to Improve Organizational Agility" to address this need. The book includes dozens of agile practices for programs and can be found on Amazon.com, BN.com or at my site ProgramAgility.com.

While the mentioned subheads are crucial, additional considerations contribute to successful agile program management. These include: Continuous Improvement: Foster a culture of continuous improvement where teams regularly reflect on their processes and outcomes. Lean Thinking: Apply lean principles to eliminate waste and optimize processes. Agile Governance: Establish lightweight governance mechanisms to ensure oversight without stifling team agility. Balance control with flexibility to maintain adaptability. Invest in Team Learning: Provide opportunities for ongoing skill development and training. Keep teams informed about industry trends and emerging best practices to foster a culture of learning and adaptability.