BC1-Make Meet Commitments – IT Center of Excellence

Why

In order for teams to successfully deliver to the customer, they must have a viable plan to make and meet commitments for an iteration (a.k.a. sprint). The Delivery Team works together to meet these commitments; their mentality needs to be “make a promise, keep a promise”. Product Teams are focused on the future backlog and making sure that each Delivery Team has work in their pipeline. The Product Team is focused on the “what”, letting the Delivery Teams define the “how”. The Product Team works with the Portfolio Team to ensure work is aligned with strategy and prioritized. The Product Team’s mentality needs to be “Respect the promise, help you keep the promise”. They are responsible for helping to remove any impediments, identifying risks and dependencies and keeping the team blocked from distractions.

How

Teams are adjusting to the new cadence of their sprint, they must follow this scheduled cadence to help plan what they will deliver, and how they will deliver it. Work is beginning to flow through the system; Sprint Planning is used to focus on refining the work in the Backlog and breaking it down into work that is consumable within the defined sprint timeline. The quality of each refined work item is integrated into the User Story via testing and validation. Teams are using their Daily Standup to share completed items, what is on deck and what impediments exist that they need the Project Manager to take.

Product Line and Product Category Teams better understand, document and manage both Risks and Dependencies. Where possible, they are able to understand how to eliminate them or help teams mitigate them. A Risk Register is being used to track all known risks.

As User Stories that satisfy a Feature are completed, teams are showing the Product Owner and other stakeholders the completed items in the Sprint Review. The Product Owner is providing the validation of the Features, making sure all success criteria is met.

Success Criteria

Teams are consistently making and meeting commitments
Product Category and Product Line Teams have a minimum of 3 months of defined Epics and Features
Delivery Teams have a minimum of 3 sprints of refined backlog
Risk and Dependency Management are given active focus by Product Line and Product Category Teams

Supporting Material

Coaching Activities

Plan to Manage Risk

Teams must be able to identify risks both internal and external to the team and create a plan to eliminate or mitigate them

Plan to Manage Dependencies

Teams must be able to identify dependencies both internal and external to the team and create a plan to eliminate or mitigate them

Establish Portfolio & Product Team Interactions

Operations Reviews should occur at regular intervals to review the overall health of the Program and discuss action items completed or pending

A process to validate Epics must be in place with both the Portfolio and Product Teams aligned on acceptance criteria

Establish Product and Delivery Team Interactions

A process to validate Features must be in place with both the Product and Delivery Teams aligned on acceptance criteria

Sprint Planning agendas should be outlined and participation from both Product and Delivery Team members understood

Establish Delivery Team Accountability & Operations for Planning & Delivery

All teams working within a Scrum environment must have a complete understanding of all ceremonies, their cadence, and the work that happens within each. Team members must actively participate in ceremonies

Basecamp 1 Outcomes

Form Teams | Establish Flow of Work | Make & Meet Commitments | Improve the system | Stable Throughput | Road Map | Release Plan | 90 Day Rolling Backlog