Scrum Portfolios & Programs: Introducing Change

Change in Scrum portfolios and programs is inevitable and must be properly managed. The impact of changes is frequently wide spread and involves a variety of stakeholders in an organization. The request for modifications begin with the change request, the primary instrument used for initiating, gaining approval and recording actions. The change request form needs to be completed by the stakeholder proposing the adjustment(s). The program or portfolio manager makes sure that the approved change process is implemented so that there are no adverse impacts on constraints and/or scope. Prior to changes being approved, the Scrum teams (Scrum Master, Product Owner and Development Team) collaborate to analyze the impact of the recommended amendment. Lastly, the sponsor provides the final feedback with regards to the enactment of accepted change requests. Changes that have been approved should never adversely impact the delivery of value or expected benefits for an organization.

The main objective at the program level is the focus on business objectives. The goal is to ensure that the organization meets its objectives: benefits realization, project interdependencies and structured change. At the portfolio level, the focus is on enterprise value. Goals at this level are strategic objectives, economic costs and corporate risk. Finally, at the project level, which is more familiar to most, is aligned toward defining business capabilities within the constraints of time, cost and resources.

Scrum Portfolios & Programs: Program Level Change Management

Effective Change Management should be structured and provide organizations with the processes to achieve their business strategies. Programs are open-ended and centers on continuous process improvements. The duration of programs is longer than that of projects. Program Management involves long term tactical planning. The program manager has responsibility for the delivery of results that are aligned with the organization’s fiscal calendar. Organizational quarterly results are the focus for many program managers.

Programs are generally overseen by board members who provide direction, oversight and control. A program manager must have the ability to influence others. They must be able resolve differences to reach consensus on important issues. An achievable objective(s) must focus on and deliver attainable goals for the program. Program level change has more complexity than project level change. Once more, change at this level is driven by business strategy. Market conditions and business objectives are drivers of program strategy. Change management at this level requires strong executive leadership skills.

Scrum Portfolios & Programs: Program Change Management

Program Change Management focuses on transformations to the in-progress portfolio of projects to ensure that program goals will be realized. The Program Manager and the Change Control Board(CCB) manages change at the program level. The focus is on balancing change within the context of objectives and the budget. Impacts of change (cost, risk and schedule) are evaluated and assigned a priority level. Companies use strategic initiatives to implement their business strategies in alignment with integrated program level change management. This results in increased organizational agility and successful alliance between business strategy and programs. Programs are comprised of a group of related projects that are managed to obtain benefits that are not realized from the individual management of projects. The Integrated Change Management process that starts with the carrying out of the corporate strategy and ends with project management work being executed.

Integrated Change Management

Integrated Change Management is the enabler at the program level to manage a Change Program and to obtain the desired benefit or expected results. Change Mangement for a single program or project should commence before the start of the initiating period and continue after the program or project closes. During the application phase, reinforcement and measurement takes place.

Within Program Management, the scope of the strategic initiatve and change mangement should be intergrated. Scope is typically the focus at the project level, especially if a change project is executed. Program or Project Management and Change Management are critical to success. An organization needs project and program managers with skills to lead and maneuver change and at the same time, making sure that proposed changes are strategically in alignment with the goals of the business. The organization must be prepared for changes, by obtaining stakeholder approval and the engagement of participating sponsors to lead and support change, both during and after the implementation of the change.

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Scrum Portfolios & Programs: Categories of Change

The categories of change are: the recipients, levels of difficulty, length of the change initiatives and level of difficulty for reversal of the change. An integrated program-project change management methodology assists with planning and executing change for second and third-order change goals. The volume and difficulty of the work needed for the change effort should be evaluated in terms of the steps involved and the complexity of the activities need to affect the modification.

Scrum Portfolio Change Management

The Scrum Portfolio Management process is used by a company to select the correct projects to take on. The selection process is very thorough and it involves the alignment of the selected projects with the business strategy. When the projects are selected, project life cycles for them are centrally managed. In addition to the Scrum portfolio management teams and managers’ oversight of these projects, change within the organization will be implemented. Organizations implement projects that support performance improvement of operations, industry obligations or performance issues. As the Scrum portfolios of projects are fully executed and utilized, individuals in the organization will need to adjust to the new responsibilities of job duties and/or changes in actual job performance. The Change Management process is used and the goals are to prepare, support and provide guidance to persons to ensure of a smooth adoption that result from project implementations.

Kotter: Successful Change Management

According to Kotter, successful Change Management can be obtained by following 8 steps.

  1. Establish a sense of urgency
  2. Form a powerful coalition
  3. Create a Vision
  4. Communicating the Vision
  5. Empowering others to act on the vision
  6. Planning for and creating short term wins
  7. Consolidating improvements and producing still more change
  8. Institutionalizing new approaches

Program and Portfolio Product Backlogs

The Agile Project uses a prioritized product backlog containing a single group of user stories, product features and development tasks that a Scrum (or agile) team can use to complete work on a project. Program-level backlogs contain work that has been given approval for implementation by project teams. When items are moved into a program backlog, this means that they are ready for decomposition, estimation and scheduling in an upcoming Release. At the Scrum Portfolio level, the backlog contains epics or large user stories that are representive of the work to be accomplished across multiple project teams toward a shared goal. At the portfolio level, items in the backlog will serve multiple programs across a portfolio. Items in a portfolio backlog are in process to be reviewed and prioritized for scheduling and implementation into the Program, Release and Sprint level backlogs.

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