Unveiling the Pitfalls of Water-Scrum-Fall: The Glass Ceiling
by Ariel Pacay.-
Welcome to our exploration of Water-Scrum-Fall, an intriguing concept making waves in today's agile landscape. As organizations embark on their transformation journey, the amalgamation of traditional Waterfall methodologies and Agile Scrum practices has cast a spotlight on the notion of Water-Scrum-Fall. Coined by Dave West and endorsed by Forrester, this now ‘named’ framework represents what I understand is a detached attempt to bridge the gap between traditional and Agile practices. It serves as a tangible consequence of the push towards agility, often driven by company executives, without a comprehensive understanding of (and/or interest on) the necessary mindset shift and thoughtful action required for genuine success.
Join us as we delve into the depths of Water-Scrum-Fall, uncovering its nuances and implications for organizations navigating the complexities of modern project management methodologies.
Amidst the fervor of agile transformation, Water-Scrum-Fall has become a common sight in many organizations. However, its integration is not without its pitfalls. Often, companies implementing this approach encounter a set of challenges that hinder the true agile spirit.
In a previous entry, we have explored the notion of the "glass ceiling" in the context of agile transformation. This conceptual limit arises when companies confine agile values within their development areas but fail to extend them to the conception and implementation of products. Today, we'll delve into the nuances of Water-Scrum-Fall, uncover its intricacies, and shed light on the common pitfalls that companies frequently stumble upon in their pursuit of agility.
How do we get a project to start in an organization under this framework?
Water
In many organizations, the Water-Scrum-Fall approach takes shape due to the nature of project funding. Only a few large projects receive approval due to the yearly budget allocations and extensive prior analysis.
The decision-making for these projects often relies on financial modeling and ROI, sometimes influenced by market trends or the Highest Paid Person's Opinion (HiPPO).
This Water element represents the traditional, sequential approach to project management and decision-making.
Scrum
Once a project receives funding and approval, the development teams are only brought in during the architectural overview, often at "sprint 0," to start the iterative and agile development process. The teams work with the latest techniques and best practices, embracing the Scrum methodology to deliver the project incrementally. This phase represents the adoption of agile principles to drive the project forward in a more flexible and responsive manner.
Fall
As the development and testing phases progress, a unified QA process is implemented, leading to a new bottleneck. Subsequently, the deployment and operations aspects are handed over to another team, leading to a fragmented handoff and potential delays in the final delivery. This "Fall" phase highlights the pitfalls of a disintegrated approach, where the focus on development and testing often overshadows the crucial operational and deployment aspects, ultimately leading to inefficiencies and project delays.
By your process decisions combined, you get captain water-scrum-fall 🦸♂️.
Let's take a moment to think about the traditional waterfall approach versus the agile methodology. If you've worked mixing both, you might have noticed that the initial gains from transitioning to agile seem minimal. But have you considered that maybe we're not fully grasping the real value of agile?
When we dive into the agile process, one of the first things we're asked to do is estimating. It's a crucial step, no doubt. However, perhaps we're too focused on estimating costs and constantly adjusting them, when we should be spending more time understanding the potential business value of the project.
So, let's ponder this: What do you think are the important factors to measure in a project?
Have you ever considered if a project will be canceled, how quickly it can be rolled out, and whether people will actually use it? These three aspects hold immense value according to a study, yet often, we get caught up in trying to predict costs, making it the main guide of our product.
Do you believe that we may have skewed our priorities by placing too much emphasis on cost predictability? How can we shift our focus to prioritize the potential business value and the likelihood of project success instead?
It's essential to acknowledge that cost is important, but it shouldn't overshadow the overarching goals of our product development. So, what are your thoughts on recalibrating our approach to better align with the core values of agile?
We've seen that in most cases, with the interest of keep a strong delivery pace and grasp the advantage of having people working towards a product, we try to release more features, as if more features will get a more valuable product. Often then small value stuff goes together with high value stuff, just for the sake of doing. It really shouldn't be like that. If we do something is because is the most valuable thing we can do. Teams often get lost on the value prioritization of the small list we have with the next one or two sprints. And there's where the PO should step up and offer a vision perspective so that everyone is on the same page. As a user, you don't go to ebay or amazon to see what's the recent new feature that will blow your mind, you go there to buy stuff, aim to fulfill the simple premise and with a good quality first.
Prioritizing Value First: Making the Most of Your Time and Resources
When it comes to determining what tasks and projects to tackle first, one effective approach is to consider the cost of delay. By evaluating how much money an organization is losing in opportunity cost each week a particular feature or project remains incomplete, you can easily pinpoint what should take precedence.
Identifying the costliest items can offer valuable insights. Some features may stand out significantly in terms of their impact on opportunity cost compared to others. In such cases, it's crucial for teams to swiftly reallocate their focus and resources. Any efforts not directly related to these high-priority tasks should be paused, allowing the team to pour their energy into expediting the completion of these crucial elements.
Taking this approach ensures that resources are utilized in a way that maximizes their impact on the organization's bottom line. By addressing the most costly items first, teams can effectively minimize the financial impact of delays and steer the organization toward greater success.
Remember, by prioritizing value first and tackling high-impact tasks without delay, you can drive the organization towards its goals efficiently and effectively.
Deliver Value Faster
When it comes to delivering value, slicing things down is the secret sauce. By breaking tasks into smaller increments, you not only speed up the delivery process but also open up more opportunities for feedback. This approach is at the core of agile methodology – the holy grail of fast and efficient project management.
Embracing this approach doesn't just mean working faster; it's about creating tighter feedback loops. When you can course-correct swiftly and with ease, the risk of failure diminishes. Think of it as agile's superpower – the ability to pivot and adapt at lightning speed.
Feedback loops! That's why you do agile in a first place.
It's crucial to recognize that feedback loops are not solely for the team and the customer, but also for the users. Iterating on the full flow, not just within development and sprint review, is essential to avoid the common mistake that most transitioning companies make.
By incorporating feedback from all stakeholders, including end users, throughout the entire process, companies can better understand their needs and pain points. This comprehensive approach allows for more effective and user-focused iterations, ultimately leading to the development of products and services that truly meet user expectations and needs.
Failing to involve users in the feedback loop can result in solutions that are disconnected from real user experiences and requirements. To truly harness the power of agile methodologies, it's essential to extend feedback loops to encompass the insights and inputs of all relevant parties, ensuring that the iterative process is informed by a comprehensive understanding of user needs and market dynamics.
Transitioning from a structured learning environment to the professional world is a significant shift. No longer will you have a clear roadmap or textbook answers to rely on. Instead, you'll navigate through the terrain of real-world challenges, leveraging the power of experimentation.
In this context, running experiments becomes your compass. Whether it's testing a new feature or revamping a process, the scientific method becomes your trusted ally. Instead of being spoon-fed instructions, you'll learn and innovate through hands-on exploration.
So, as you dive into the realm of rapid value delivery, remember the magic formula: slice it down, embrace full-feedback loops, and run those experiments. This is where the real magic happens – and where you'll deliver value faster than you ever thought possible.
What to do:
Don't optimize the process in a way that assumes you are right. Most likely you are not, optimize it to realize how to adjust and rearrange quick.
Focus on value, not cost. Value is the one that will give you a greater ROI than reducing costs.
Create feedback loops to validate if you are right.
Make it economic to work in small batches, the value-cost relation of doing stuff in small batches resides in your ability to iterate on that fast. Remove the waste you have at the beginning and end of your delivery process, enable an experimental way to Prod development.
How: some tools to get there
1.- Impact mapping.
Impact Mapping: A Guide to Effective Planning and Collaboration
Impact mapping is a powerful technique for achieving a shared understanding of the objectives and impacts of a project or initiative. By effectively communicating the intended outcomes to all stakeholders involved, it enables teams to align their efforts towards a common goal and understand their contributions to a holistic solution.
Steps to Using Impact Mapping
Establish a Shared Vision - Initiate impact mapping to define the primary action or experiment, aligning customers and the team on the core objective and purpose.
Identifying Key Outcomes - Evaluate the potential impacts to prioritize efforts and achieve meaningful outcomes.
Set Target Outcomes - Establish guiding beacons for the project, serving as "poka yokes" to prevent deviations and mistakes with clear and measurable benchmarks for success.
Define Clear and Measurable Targets - Deconstruct desired outcomes into factors influencing achievement, establishing specific and measurable targets for a clear understanding of what needs to be accomplished.
Explore Impacts and Create Goals - Map out potential impact areas and set corresponding goals, providing a roadmap for achieving the overarching objective by understanding interconnectedness.
Slice Goals into Stories - Break defined goals into actionable tasks enabling incremental progress towards desired outcomes, ensuring the team understands the necessary steps to fulfill the overarching vision.
You start with a desired outcome and begin to explore it separating
this outcome in what are the areas that can impact it in a
way we can achieve that.
Get goals for each, and slice those down in the actual stories.
By following these steps, impact mapping empowers teams to align their efforts, prioritize effectively, and work towards meaningful outcomes in a structured and collaborative manner. Incorporating impact mapping into your project planning and execution unlocks the team's full potential, achieving greater clarity and alignment towards shared goals.
2.- HDD Hypothesis driven delivery
We believe
[building this]
[for these people]
will achieve [this outcome]
We will know we are successful when we see [this signal from the market]
Hypothesis-Driven Development is a powerful framework for achieving impactful results. By setting clear and measurable objectives based on specific hypotheses, teams can focus on what truly matters and validate their assumptions through testing. For example, if a company wants to improve user engagement on their website, they can create a hypothesis that changing the layout of the homepage will increase user interaction. They would then set objectives and metrics to measure the impact of this change, such as increased time spent on the homepage or higher click-through rates. By working within the framework of Hypothesis-Driven Development, they can systematically test and iterate on their ideas, leading to tangible improvements.
Implementing this approach can guide organizations in aligning their teams around clear objectives and fostering a culture of data-driven decision-making. By integrating this framework, organizations can unlock greater benefits and drive meaningful progress within their organization. Embracing this approach means accepting that there isn't absolute truth on what's needed, but starting to move forward iteratively and getting those feedback loops on the move.
3.- Get support from leadership
When navigating the delicate balance between waterfall and agile approaches, securing support from leadership is paramount. Without leadership buy-in, any attempt to drive change from the bottom-up is likely to stagnate.
From experience, it's clear that significant shifts in organizational mindset often stem from a sense of urgency, often triggered by a crisis. However, waiting for a crisis is not a viable strategy. Instead, seek out individuals in leadership positions who already exhibit this "sense of urgency" for change. These are the individuals who are open to innovation and willing to embrace new methodologies.
By aligning with leaders who are eager to champion change, their enthusiasm and commitment will naturally filter down through the organization. As a result, the momentum for transformation will gain traction, creating a more fertile environment for the successful integration of agile methodologies without sacrificing the stability of established processes.
Engaging with leaders who share a sense of urgency for change paves the way for a smoother transition, ultimately fostering a workplace culture that is both adaptable and resilient.
Embracing True Agile: A Path Forward
As organizations find themselves entwined in the web of Water-Scrum-Fall, it's imperative to take a step back and reflect on how they've arrived at this intersection. It's often a journey riddled with compromises and incremental adjustments, where the true essence of change gets lost in the tides of routine.
At Forward Mindshift, we understand that many companies may not realize why or how they ended up in this position. This realization represents an opportunity for growth and evolution. As seasoned professionals in modern methodologies, we recognize the significance of navigating the complexities of the hybrid approach and guiding organizations towards achieving true agility.
It's essential for companies to recognize that the quest for balance between rigidity and adaptability demands a profound shift in mindset and approach—not just a superficial overlay of Agile practices onto existing processes. This shift necessitates a cultural transformation towards collaboration, continuous improvement, and customer-centricity.
For those seeking to delve deeper into this transformative journey, we at Forward Mindshift are here to offer our expertise. Our time-tested methodologies not only ensure a painless transition but also facilitate organizations in transcending the limitations of traditional project management. We are here to help companies exceed customer expectations and thrive in today's ever-evolving marketplace.
If you are looking for guidance or support in embracing the evolution of project management in its truest form, consider reaching out to us at Forward Mindshift. We are here to explain, help, and pave the way towards a future where your organization confidently and wholeheartedly embraces the essence of change.
