Management is so important on agile delivery teams that we do it every single day, but that doesn't imply that we need team managers. Having said that, there are still some manager roles needed, albeit far fewer than in the past, when we scale agile both tactically and strategically within our IT organizations. So where do the rest of the managers go? This presentation examines what happens to traditional managers when their organization adopts agile and lean strategies. We work through the implications of several critical forces that enable us to thin out the ranks of middle management. First, agile methods push many technical management tasks into the hands of the team, thereby taking that work away from managers. Second, leadership tasks are assigned to new team roles such as the Product Owner, the Team Lead/Scrum Master, and the Architecture Owner. Third, the move away from a project-based mindset to a product-based one results in stable teams that require far less functional/resource management. Fourth, application of business intelligence technologies to implement automated team and portfolio dashboards reduces the need for manual status reporting. Some management-oriented work remains. Teams that haven't yet automated reporting will find that someone needs to track and report progress. Large teams, also known as program teams, will likely need a Program Manager or more accurately a Program Coordinator. To support IT-level functions you are likely to need people in roles such as Portfolio Manager, Operations Manager, Help Desk Manager, and Community of Practice (CoP) Lead. Managers are still clearly needed, but in practice there tends to be far fewer management positions within agile organizations than what we find in traditional ones. This implies that many existing managers will need to reskill and transition into one of the new agile roles. The good news is that there is room for everyone within agile if they're willing to learn new skills and change with the times.

1. (In Agile)
Where Do All
The Managers
Go?

2. Scott W. Ambler
• Pioneered Agile Modeling and Agile Database
techniques in the early 2000s
• Co-creator of the Disciplined Agile Delivery
(DAD) framework
• Executive Transformation Coach
• scott [at] scottambler.com
• @scottwambler
© Disciplined Agile Consortium
Helps IT departments around the world become awesome
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3. Our strategy:
Observe what
happens in practice
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4. Let’s explore
three important questions….
What important trends are happening?
Where do managers fit into agile?
What can you do?
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5. Important
Trends
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6. Trend #1: Technical management tasks
are performed by the team
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7. Trend #2: Leadership is addressed by
new roles
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Team Lead Architecture
Owner
Product Owner
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8. Trend #3: Experienced organizations
are moving towards stable teams
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Work
Work Work
Work
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9. Trend #4: Status reporting is being
automated away
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10. Implications for Existing Managers
1. Empowered teams
è Less work for managers to do
2. New leadership roles
è Leadership is the responsibility of non-managers
3. Stable teams
è Much less “resource management” is required
è Budgeting is greatly simplified
4. Automated status reporting
è Less work for managers to do
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11. Where do managers fit
into agile?
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12. Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD) Roles
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Primary Roles
Secondary Roles (for Scaling)
Team Lead
Independent
Tester
Architecture
Owner
Product
Owner
Team
Member
Technical
Expert
IntegratorSpecialist
Domain
Expert
Stakeholder

13. Team Lead
• Responsible for the effectiveness and continuous
improvement of the team’s process
• Facilitates close collaboration between team members
• Keeps the team focused on the project vision and goals
• Removes impediments for the team and escalates
organizational impediments
• Protects the team from interruptions and external
interference
• Maintains honest communication between everyone on the
project
• Coaches others in the use of agile practices
• Prompts the team to discuss and think through issues when
they are identified
• Facilitates decision making (but does not make decisions or
mandate internal team activity)
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© Disciplined Agile Consortium

14. Potential “Management Responsibilities” for a Team Lead
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© Disciplined Agile Consortium
Managing the project budget
Producing project status related metrics
E.g. Iteration burn downs, defect trend charts,
task boards
Assessing team members

15. Product Owner
• The Stakeholder “proxy”
• Go-to person for information on the solution
requirements
• Prioritizes all work for the team
• Participant in modeling and acceptance testing
• Has access to expert stakeholders
• Facilitates requirements envisioning and
modeling
• Educates team in business domain
• May demonstrate solution to key stakeholders
• Monitors and communicates status to
stakeholders
• Negotiates priorities, scope, funding, and
schedule
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© Disciplined Agile Consortium

16. Team Member
• Is a cross-functional, generalizing specialist
• On small teams every team member is typically a
developer, but on larger teams non-developers may
appear
• Volunteers to do any work that allows the team to most
efficiently deliver the work committed to for the
iteration
• Seeks to both learn about other specialties as well as
coach others on their own specialty
• Goes to the product owner for domain information and
decisions
• Works with the architecture owner to evolve the
architecture
• Follows enterprise conventions and leverages and
enhances the existing infrastructure
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© Disciplined Agile Consortium

17. At scale you may need a few
people in specialized
management
roles
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18. Potential Management Roles at Scale
• Community of Excellence (CoE) Lead
• Community of Practice (CoP) Lead
• Data Manager
• Functional Manager
• Governor
• Operations Manager
• Portfolio Manager
• Program Manager
• Release Manager
• Support (Help Desk) Manager
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19. The Bad News: There Are Fewer
Management Positions in Agile Orgs
Before Agile
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After Agile
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20. The Good News: You Have Several
Choices Available to You
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21. What can you do?
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22. Observe what is actually happening
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23. Be flexible
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24. Choose to evolve
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25. Questions and Answers
• During the webinar on February 23, 2016 we received numerous
questions. We answered many of them during the webinar but did
not get to all of them.
• We have written a blog answering the questions in detail at
http://www.disciplinedagiledelivery.com/where-managers-go/
• There is also a recording of the webinar available from the
Disciplined Agile YouTube channel at
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcWJ20C86Mzxcsqb73AReHQ
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26. Thank You!
scott [at] scottambler.com
@scottwambler
AgileModeling.com
AgileData.org
Ambysoft.com
DisciplinedAgileConsortium.org
DisciplinedAgileDelivery.com
ScottAmbler.com
Disciplined Agile Delivery
Disciplined Agile Delivery
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27. Disciplined Agile Delivery
(DAD) is a process decision
framework
The key characteristics of DAD:
– People-first
– Goal-driven
– Hybrid agile
– Learning-oriented
– Full delivery lifecycle
– Solution focused
– Risk-value lifecycle
– Enterprise aware
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28. Shuhari and Disciplined Agile Certification
At the shu stage you are beginning to
learn the techniques and philosophies of
disciplined agile development. Your
goal is to build a strong foundation from
which to build upon.
At the ha stage you reflect upon and
question why disciplined agile strategies
work, seeking to understand the range
of strategies available to you and
when they are best applied.
At the ri stage you seek to extend and
improve upon disciplined agile
techniques, sharing your learnings with
others.
© Disciplined Agile Consortium 28

29. Would You Like This Presented
to Your Organization?
Contact us at ScottAmbler.com
© Disciplined Agile Consortium 29

30. Scott Ambler + Associates is the thought leader behind the Disciplined
Agile Delivery (DAD) framework and its application. We are a boutique
IT management consulting firm that advises organizations to be more
effective applying disciplined agile and lean processes within the
context of your business.
Our website is ScottAmbler.com
We can help
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