Scrum Or Kanban- Waterfall to Agile Transition
Here's the situation
1 common dev team to deliver 6 different products that all roll up to 1 "project"
2. PO's don't want to engage in release planning saying that " Clients' prioritize scope and have been changing deliverables mid sprint
3. Production defects that keep coming in for part of the product delivered to prod- so team stops everthing to fix these issues
4. Releasing new features to production is determined by PO and not a schedule, so whenever they want team stops other work to deploy to production
There are a lot of red flags here I understand. How do i approach this issue? PO's are adamant and would'nt budge, dev team is tied between management and PO's and I as the scrum master totally confused.
I tried setting up a Kanban structure - just to be able to get the individual tasks and deliverables at hand in the board.
How do i setup a release schedule for such a team? The dev manager can help, but I need the right pointers to convince everybody.
Thank you
Changing or implementing a process whether Scrum, Kanban or Pizza won't solve your problem. It doesn't sound like a process problem, it is a people one. Start with the people, work with them to understand their roles and the value that they bring to them. How to communicate and why communication is so important.
The process isn't being managed, so get a handle on that. If clients are making changes then you do not have Product Owners since they have lost control. They need to understand what ownership means and what they are trying to achieve and the value that they need to deliver.
How do i approach this issue?
Find out who wants the "Waterfall to Agile Transition" you refer to, and why.
- Is there a sponsor for this transformational initiative?
- Has that sponsor articulated their transformational vision to the company, and communicated a sense of urgency for change?
- Has that sponsor engaged with you regarding impediments, such as the "red flags" you describe?
Kanban is such a pervasive way of working, yet often ignored. It is a method that so many of us unknowingly imply, without knowing the where it comes from, or what it is called. Although our team uses Kanban as a part of working through Scrum, Kanban and Scrum are a match made in heaven honestly.
~Sanjeev Nanda
Thank you Eric and Ian.
The higher management wants to see this change and although they're lookign for enablers to bring about this change, they aren't pushing hard for it. There is no sense of urgency and they will be happy to point fingers at others when things go wrong.
However, I see this as an opportunity to bring about harmony to this chaotic team . As Eric pointed out, I have been communicating to people at the grass root level to be able to bring about a change.
Any suggestions to steer me in the right direction would help me.