Topic: Nexus: How We Do Scrum with 150+ People Nexus is a framework for scaled Scrum developed by Scrum co-creator Ken Schwaber and Scrum.org community. It addresses the most painful problems of scaled development – dealing with dependencies and building ‘Done’ integrated software every iteration. In our short talk, we are going to explain the key concepts of Nexus and illustrate them with our own case study where 150+ people successfully do Scrum to build software for a big North American retail company using Nexus. About Artem: Delivery, delivery, delivery… Senior Delivery Manager with wide experience in successful product delivery and implementation of value-oriented Agile processes for projects of different size and complexity. Currently implementing Scrum Nexus Framework in account of 150 + ppl. Speaker of Ukrainian and international conferences on flexible development and project management. Believes that Agile is the best approach to project implementation. About Konstantin: My passion is to see how individuals, teams, and organizations become more happy and more effective by embracing Agile mindset and practices. Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/razumovsky/

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NEXUS:
HOW WE DO SCRUM WITH 150+ PEOPLE
ARTEM KOLYSHKIN
KONSTANTIN RAZUMOVSKY
October 12, 2017

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• Artem Kolyshkin
– Senior Delivery Manager
• Konstantin Razumovsky
– Agile Coach, PST by Scrum.org
ABOUT USABOUT US

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CONTENTSCONTENTS
The Pain1
Nexus Framework2
Our Experience with Nexus3
Nexus+4

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THE PAIN

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• 100% re-engineering of existent warehouse system that runs on the AS/400
(iSeries Server).
• The product is used by stores for day-to-day operations: ordering, inventory
management, shipping and receiving, reporting, and much more.
• Accessed through either “dumb terminals”, thin clients or using a PC. The
“dumb terminals” are “Green screen” interface, rather than
Windows/Graphical Interface. Also, keyboard-driven, little or no mouse use.
CUSTOMER & PRODUCTCUSTOMER & PRODUCT
Customer
Product
• A big retail company in North America, that offers a broad range of retail
products, home and financial services.

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THE PROJECT:
FROM GREEN SCREEN TO WEB BROWSERS
THE PROJECT:
FROM GREEN SCREEN TO WEB BROWSERS

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• Which process to use?
THE QUESTIONTHE QUESTION

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IS SCRUM ALONE ENOUGH FOR SCALED DEVELOPMENT?IS SCRUM ALONE ENOUGH FOR SCALED DEVELOPMENT?
cbn Group work by Eldan Goldenberg
• Discuss with your neighbor!
• Vote at http://etc.ch/Y6Tp
• 1 min

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THE NEW PAIN: DEPENDENCIESTHE NEW PAIN: DEPENDENCIES
Data Management
Claims &
Settlements
Order ManagementDeal Management
APO
Placing &
Seasonal
Signage
Reporting
Employee
Purchase
Workforce
Management
Security
Inventory Management
Shipping & Receiving
Store Analysis
Management
Reporting
Operational
Reporting
System Utility
Daily Sales
Fast Find
Inquiry
Returns
Management
Price
Management
Search
Multi-Store
Functions
APAP
AIM
Merchandising
Regular
Order

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NEXUS FRAMEWORK

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• Created by Ken Schwaber and Scrum.org
• Fully defined in 11 page Nexus Guide
• Focused on dependencies
NEXUS FRAMEWORK: OVERVIEWNEXUS FRAMEWORK: OVERVIEW
Nexus (noun) - a relationship or connection
between people or things

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NEXUSNEXUS

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WHAT DOES NEXUS LOOK LIKE?WHAT DOES NEXUS LOOK LIKE?
cbn Group work by Eldan Goldenberg
• Look at the visualization of the Nexus process.
What does it look like?
• 1 min

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“We need multiple-teams Scrum,
not multiple Scrum teams.”
Craig Larman
#ScaledScrumIsStillScrum#ScaledScrumIsStillScrum
cbn Group work by Eldan Goldenberg
“Nexus is an exoskeleton of scaled Scrum”
Ken Schwaber

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NEXUS EXPLAINEDNEXUS EXPLAINED

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OUR EXPERIENCE
WITH NEXUS

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• Dependencies
• Nexus Integration Team
• Technical Excellence
LET’S FOCUS ON…LET’S FOCUS ON…

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• Dependencies
• Nexus Integration Team
• Technical Excellence
LET’S FOCUS ON…LET’S FOCUS ON…

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DEPENDENCIES: 1. ORGANIZING TEAMSDEPENDENCIES: 1. ORGANIZING TEAMS

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DEPENDENCIES: 2. ORGANIZING WORKDEPENDENCIES: 2. ORGANIZING WORK

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IDENTIFYING DEPENDENCIES: OUR PRACTICEIDENTIFYING DEPENDENCIES: OUR PRACTICE

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IDENTIFYING DEPENDENCIES: OUR PRACTICEIDENTIFYING DEPENDENCIES: OUR PRACTICE

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OUR PRACTICE: ROADMAPPINGOUR PRACTICE: ROADMAPPING

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HOW WE DO THIS?..HOW WE DO THIS?..

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• Dependencies
• Nexus Integration Team
• Technical Excellence
LET’S FOCUS ON…LET’S FOCUS ON…

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INTEGRATED INCREMENT MUST BE “DONE”INTEGRATED INCREMENT MUST BE “DONE”

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• Accountable for Nexus integration
• In normal mode acts like a virtual team
• Raises awareness of dependencies
• Ensures integration tools and practices are
known and used
• Serves as consultants, coaches, and
communication links
• Facilitate shared architecture
NEXUS INTEGRATION TEAM: THEORYNEXUS INTEGRATION TEAM: THEORY

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• Facilitating cross-location communication and decision
making issues
• Facilitating grooming sessions for dependencies
identification
• Ensuring Nexus rules are understood and followed, e.g:
– Integrated Increment meets DoD and deployed to STG env
– Sprint-related information is transparent for all stakeholders
• Continuous deployment process runs like clockwork
• Common engineering excellence practices are in place and
supported by all teams
NEXUS INTEGRATION TEAM: OUR PRACTICENEXUS INTEGRATION TEAM: OUR PRACTICE
Product
Owner
Solution
Architect
DevOps QA
Delivery Manager
Project Manager
BA

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• Dependencies
• Nexus Integration Team
• Technical Excellence
LET’S FOCUS ON…LET’S FOCUS ON…

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TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE IN NEXUS: THEORYTECHNICAL EXCELLENCE IN NEXUS: THEORY
“Many software development practices are
needed to create an Integrated Increment.
Most of these practices require automation.
The automation helps manage the volume
and complexity of the work and artifacts
especially in scaled environments.”
Nexus Guide

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TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE: OUR PRACTICETECHNICAL EXCELLENCE: OUR PRACTICE
Auto
Manual
Automated tests cover
97% of requirements

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NEXUS DEFINITION OF ‘DONE’NEXUS DEFINITION OF ‘DONE’
DoD
• All acceptance criteria are met
• All required types of auto-tests are created
• Story tests are all green
• The story is in the QA environment
• All smoke tests are green
• Regression tests are more than 85% green
• Code review is done before merge and all review
issues are resolved
• Non-functional requirements are implemented
• Architectural, developer's guidelines, standards
conventions must be obeyed
• REST API is documented
• There is no new sonar ‘major’ issues
• Git branch is deleted after merge
• PO has accepted the story

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NEXUS+

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1. Low cohesion between some parts of the Nexus.
2. Complexity of long-term scaled planning.
3. Monotony of scale.
4. Difficulty/cost of changes.
5. Keeping up engineering excellence (moving to level 4).
NEW CHALLENGESNEW CHALLENGES
As we grow and have exceeded 150 size we have faced some new challenges:

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AT SCALE YOU ARE UNIQUE (TRIBUTE TO JURGEN APPELO)AT SCALE YOU ARE UNIQUE (TRIBUTE TO JURGEN APPELO)
Product
Backlog
https://medium.com/agility-scales/stop-your-agile-transformation-right-now-6cf2ef2fa1a#.vbk4oydgh

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OUR BARBAPAPA (TODAY)OUR BARBAPAPA (TODAY)
APO Area
(9 squads)
Original Nexus (now 12 teams)
Integration Area
(5 squads)
Product
Backlog

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NEXUS POINTS OUT FAULTS AT ENTERPRISE LEVELNEXUS POINTS OUT FAULTS AT ENTERPRISE LEVEL
cbn Group work by Eldan Goldenberg
“Scrum is like your mother-in-law,
it points out ALL your faults”
Ken Schwaber
© Mountain Goat Software, 101 Inspiring Quotes about Agile

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1. Nexus helps to capitalize on your existing Scrum experience.
2. Nexus (scaled Scrum) is still Scrum.
3. New roles/artifacts/rules address the pain of dependencies and integration.
4. Automation and technical excellence are crucial at scale.
5. Nexus+ recognizes uniqueness at scale and only provides guiding principles.
6. Nexus is a catalyst for business agility, but not a silver bullet.
LESSONS LEARNEDLESSONS LEARNED

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REFERENCES

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REFERENCESREFERENCES
www.scrum.org/Nexus Scaled Professional Scrum with Nexus
2 day course about Nexus and ~50 scaling practices
Minsk, 20-21
November 2017

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• Artem Kolyshkin
– Artem.Kolyshkin@gmail.com
– linkedin.com/in/akolyshkin
• Konstantin Razumovsky
– www.proscrum.by
– linkedin.com/in/razumovsky
QUESTIONS?QUESTIONS?