There are many considerations on how to make the move from Project Orientation to Release Orientation. Probably more than any other, the key is a belief in moving your organization’s mindset to the new of way of thinking and recognizing that the value of the old project container has vanished in an agile delivery model.
The third foundation –Agile Enterprise Portfolio Management– A lean project funding and tracking process that ensures Just In Time funding of ideas, so that the rest of the machinery can deliver the value at a rapid pace. In traditional organizations, budgeting and pre-planning ideas for the long term and short term – many a times put the organization in a position to not pick up and work on ideas that are demanded by the market because the internal processes of the companies do not aid the company to be agile and nimble to react to market conditions. So, while your development organization may have adopted agile delivery processes, it does not truly help if your project intake process is still stuck in the 60’s.
Project oriented organizations focus entirely on getting a related set of intent packaged into a container called a project and seeing that entire container move through from requirements generation to software release. Release-Orientated organizations are singularly focused on continuously getting releases out the door that maximize business value delivery without being constrained to only releasing related business intent in the portfolio. To achieve the continuous release of software systems, organizations must apply lean thinking and principles to every aspect of their delivery frameworks and minimize the overhead associated with making releases with high quality. While Continuous Delivery has become a very popular destination for many software engineering and IT shops, Release Orientation goes well beyond the rapid feedback and rapid test and release cycles of Continuous Delivery. Release Orientation is focused on realizing value through regular and frequent solution releases going into production (or customers’ hands) – thereby realizing continuous value for the business. In other words – Continuous Concept to Cash.
We are happy to announce that Naeem and Brian will be Keynote Speakers at Agile PA on Wednesday, May 14th, at 6 PM. Our session is called “Hop Onto the Release Orientation Trolley”. This session will first be presented at Scrum Gathering on Tuesday May 6. This session builds on concepts from our Scrum Alliance article, “The Big Lever” - so take a look!
Here is a reprint of my article originally published with Scrum Alliance in March 2014. Enjoy!
Been blazed and confused for so long it’s not true . . .
So, your Agile transformation journey has been underway for a few weeks, a few months, or maybe almost a year. You have blazed a path toward agility. But, much like the Led Zeppelin song (Dazed and Confused– please, you don’t have to be from the ’70s to get the Led out!), there is a huge pause in the middle of the journey, and now you are not really sure if you are going anywhere.
We are happy to announce that Naeem and Brian will be speaking at the Global Scrum Gathering New Orleans 2014. Our session is called "Hop Onto the Release Orientation Trolley" (in the New Orleans theme) and will be held on Tuesday, May 6th, at 11 AM. This session builds on concepts from our Scrum Alliance article, "The Big Lever" - so take a look!
As experienced leaders, we expect that our managers and executives trust us as well as give us autonomy in decision-making. Some call this empowerment. The secret for this empowerment begins with trust.
Inspired at @gwu @uchicago
Ever tried getting a recipe book and recreating your favorite dish made by your favorite chef? You have followed all the instructions, gotten the right ingredients, and channeled your inner Emeril, but the dish still does not come out a 5-star meal. What has this got to do with agile transformation? Read on.