Agile Methodology at SVB

Agile at SVB

• Agile is a project management methodology focused on iterative development and customer collaboration.
• SVB (Silicon Valley Bank) uses Agile principles to enhance product development.
• Agile methodology focuses on values and principles to improve development processes.

Agile Principles

• Core values focus on individuals, interactions, working software, and responding to change.
• 12 principles include prioritizing customer satisfaction, welcoming change, delivering working software frequently, building projects around motivated individuals, providing the environment and support needed, and trusting team members.
• Face-to-face conversations are the most effective way to communicate.
• Emphasizes simplicity in development.
• Regularly reflect on and adjust processes for greater effectiveness.

Agile Principles (Non-Dev Ops)

• Principles focus on clarity, prioritization, and visualization of work.
• Minimizes waste, emphasizes iterative and incremental development, and focuses on maintaining a manageable work load.
• Collaborative learning and communication, involving people across departments, is emphasized.

Benefits of Agile at SVB

• Enhanced Quality: improved products through iterative development and testing.
• Better Customer Experience: enhanced quality leads to better customer satisfaction when software and products are refined for user needs.
• Transparency: everyone can see the projects' progress.
• Predictability: project timelines and deliverables are more predictable.
• Ease of Doing Alterations: Agile processes are very adaptable to changing environments.
• Continuous Engagement: project teams and stakeholders are continuously involved.

Scrum at SVB

• Scrum is a framework for agile development, widely used for complex projects.
• It is a lightweight framework, minimizing overhead and maximizing productive time.

Benefits of Scrum

• Increased Revenue: improving quality and customer satisfaction could increase revenue.
• Improved Quality: through iterative development and customer feedback.
• More Transparency: the process is visible to all stakeholders.
• Lower Risk: more frequent feedback and testing, leading to adjustments, thereby reducing risk.
• More Flexibility/Agility: ability to adjust to changing requirements.
• Better Cost Control: cost savings through improved efficiency.
• Improved Business Engagement/Customer Satisfaction: focused interaction with customers and stakeholders improves engagement and satisfaction.
• Greater Speed to Market: rapid delivery of working products leads to getting products to market more quickly.
• Increased Revenue, Improved Quality, Enables Transparency, and Lowers Risk.

5 Scrum Values

• Courage: employees have the courage to do the right thing in projects.
• Focus: Everyone focuses on the goals and work of the sprint.
• Respect: everyone respects each other as independent individuals for optimal collaboration.
• Openness: the team ensures to be open about the work for better interaction.
• Commitment: team members give their personal commitment to achieve project goals.

How SVB and Scrum Values Align

• Respect: SVB and Scrum values alignment is achieved by demonstrating respect for others in the company, and empathetically understanding their needs.
• Courage: Embracing risk-taking and adapting through challenges is essential for success in SVB and Scrum values.
• Openness: open communication and transparent processes align the values of both frameworks.
• Commitment: SVB commits to improving their projects' quality by applying Scrum values such as perseverance and ensuring commitments are upheld.
• Focus: through focus, collaboration, and alignment amongst team members, SVB aligns with the values of Scrum.
• Responsibility: SVB and Scrum value responsibility as core principles to ensure project success and individual accountability.

Product Owner

• Prioritizes User Stories, identifies requirements, writes User Stories, represents stakeholder needs, and provides product directions and guidelines to the team.
• Validates completed tasks, clarifies stakeholder needs and keeps stakeholders informed.
• "Owns" the product on behalf of business stakeholders, maintains stakeholder vision during development.
• Cares about user needs and business goals, guides the project in the right direction through strategic decision making.

Collaboration With The Scrum Team

• Product Owner and Scrum Team must work closely to achieve goals defined by the project.
• The Product Owner is responsible for ensuring team members are aligned to the project goals.
• The Product Owner inspects and validates Scrum deliverables during Sprint Review Meetings.

Scrum Master

• Ensures agile values and principles are applied across their teams.
• Responsible for clearing obstacles and ensuring workflow.
• Creates an environment of effective work and addresses team dynamics.
• Develops a good relationship between the team and the Product Owner and also other stakeholders outside of the team.
• Protects the team from interruptions and distractions to ensure optimal performance.

Scrum Master Service to the Scrum Team

• Facilitates face-to-face communication and accountability
• Helps the team organize and adapts to changes with ease.
• Provides information radiators such as burndown charts or status boards.
• Facilitates meetings and scrum ceremonies.
• Works with stakeholders and ensures the team is bonding effectively.
• Coaches teams on agile related topics as well as providing regular feedback.
• Celebrates success to acknowledge well-done tasks for motivation.
• Mediates conflicts and resolves impediments, protecting the team from external obstacles.

What a Scrum Master isn't:

• A police officer, hero, scribe, secretary, coffee clerk, chairman, admin, team boss.

What a Scrum Master is:

• Impediment remover, facilitator, coach, teacher, servant leader, manager, change agent, mentor.

Scrum Team Facts

• Self-organizing, cross-functional group responsible for development and testing.
• Team has autonomy to make decisions on how to work.
• Breaks tasks into smaller, manageable tasks.
• Teams should ideally have between 5 and 9 members.
• Product backlog and user stories are the work items. Each member may produce user stories.

Test Your Knowledge

• Who refines stories: The Product Owner
• Who captures work to be done: The Scrum Team

Overview

• Scrum framework focuses on the Product Owner, the Scrum Master, and the Development Team.
• The Product Owner is responsible for defining, maintaining, and prioritizing the product backlog.
• Clear understanding of the product strategies, markets, and customer needs is essential.
• Communication is vital for the Product Owner to work collaboratively with stakeholders.
• Scrum Masters facilitate process and strategy coaching for the Development Team.
• Impediments can be identified and resolved by addressing issues with other stakeholders and ensuring the team follows effective scrum values.
• The Development Team is responsible for delivering high-quality products, working collaboratively with the other two Scrum team members.
• Teams should be kept to between 3 and 9 people.

This quiz explores the Agile project management methodology as employed by Silicon Valley Bank. You'll learn about Agile's core values, principles, and how they enhance product development through iterative processes and customer collaboration. Test your understanding of principles designed for clarity, prioritization, and effective communication.