The document discusses issues with business delivery pipelines and proposes solutions. It notes that pipelines are often broken, with requests coming from many sources and long chains leading to lost information. Common pitfalls include multiple input queues pushing decisions to development and top executives bypassing processes. The document recommends agreeing on a single input process, deciding priorities before development, and collaborating across handoffs with techniques like "three amigos". Explicitly mapping the pipeline and removing bottlenecks can help improve business delivery.

1. Our Pipeline is Broken!
Salah Elleithy (@selleithy) / George Dinwiddie (@gdinwiddie)
Business

2. What is the Business
Pipeline?

3. Business Delivery - limited view
Request Development Operations
Delivery PipelineRequirements

4. A system is
never the sum
of its parts,
it’s the
product of
their
interactions.
-Dr. Russell Ackoff
Seattle Municipal Archives

5. Business Delivery - holistic view
Request Development Operations
Business Pipeline

6. Theory of Constraints
&
Drum / Buffer / Rope

7. Video to illustrate TOC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s2VdtYw-
g0

8. Where is the Bottleneck?
Crea%ve
Commons
by
Nicolas
Sere,
Paul
Hamilton
&
George
Dinwiddie

9. The
Constraint
Set the
Drumbeat

10. Buffer the Inputs to the Constraint
❖ Pull based on need
❖ Don’t starve the
constraint
❖ Adjust just-in-
time to
maintain flow

11. Challenges with the
Business Pipeline

12. Where do requests come from?

13. Request Source Examples
Planned Work Unplanned Work
Marketing Department Customer Service
Accounting Department Operations
Business Managers Security Group
Customer Research Dependency changes
MVP Tests Analysis of log files
Legal Requirements

14. Breadth of inputs
End
User
Help
Desk
Development
President
Dept.
Manager
Legal
Dept.
Software
Architect
Test

15. Long Chains
End
User
Help
Desk
Triage
Future
Story
Bug
Fix
Discard

16. Complex Programs
Multiple sources
Competing interests
AndyBeecroft

17. “Big Picture” Not Visible
❏ Information lost
or modified in
the pipeline
❏ Information
trickles out a
little at a time
larsjuh

18. Old Backlog
★ Obsolete
information
★ Stale & fuzzy
understanding
★ Doesn’t reflect
recent learning
and decisions
JennaWorkman(jmawork)

19. Complicated Environments
★ Multiple sources of requirements
★ Product management team structure
★ Conflict between stakeholders with no
consensus or resolution
★ Poorly communicated shifting priorities

20. Value Stream Mapping
Request
Source1
Request
Source2
Request
Source3
Process Process
Process Process
Develop
User
Test
Deploy
Process
Backlog
𝝉
𝝉
𝝉
𝝉
𝝉
High-Paid
Executive

21. Ideas on
Fixing the
Business
PipelineJohnVachon,U.S.FarmSecurityAdministration

22. Common Pitfalls
● Multiple input queues
to development
o Pushes the priority
decisions from business to development
● Top Executives bypass process
o Prioritizes by HIPPO
©SalahElleithy

23. Agree on a process that works
Single input to
development

24. Common Pitfalls
● Business changes their mind
about selection of stories
after development has started
● Business changes the
acceptance criteria of stories
after selection for iteration
● Both of these pull the rug out
from under the feet of delivery
team
©SalahElleithy

25. Remedies
● Decide priority order before development
● Define scenarios to illustrate acceptance
criteria prior to development
● Manage interruptions and impediments

26. Progressive Elaboration
● Plan at different time horizons
● Just-in-time story refinement
● Avoid large, stale backlog of small stories
● Split stories as needed
● “Boulders to Rocks to Pebbles”

27. Collaborate Across Handoffs
Three Amigos
• Business people
• Programmers
• Testers
• … and other viewpoints
as needed
working together to produce
the best possible outcome
http://www.pictofigo.com/

28. Explicitly Plumb Your Pipeline
Business
Initiative
Develop
User
Test
Deploy
Product
Owner
Requirements
Analysis𝝉
Backlog
𝝉
?
3
Amigos
Enhancement
Request
Emergency
Changes
Defects
Steering
Committee
𝝉

29. Tweet This!
Plumb your business pipeline, remove clogs,
repeat! #businesspipeline #agile2015
-- @selleithy @gdinwiddie