Generic Agile Process - Agile Operating Model
While specific frameworks differ, we can outline a Simplified Generic Agile Process that most AOMs follow.
Steps in the Generic Agile Process
Backlog Evolution: The Customer, Team, and Stakeholders continuously evolve the product backlog.
Planning: Planning occurs at different levels. The team create releases, backlogs and/or iteration/sprint backlogs
Daily Coordination: Teams use Daily Stand-ups to synchronize within an iteration/sprint or possibly less regularly for releases.
Visualization: Visual Boards are used by everyone to monitor status of sprint.
Review: Show and Tells are performed to demonstrate the product to stakeholders. opportunity to comment on the current product and highlight suitability and the next planning period
Iterative Delivery: The team delivers product increments via iterations (sprints) or releases. and governed in a ‘project’ or ‘BAU’ delivery style
Improvement: Retrospectives are held to inspect and adapt the process. to discuss what went well, what didn’t go well and what to do differently next time.
Risk Management: Risks, Issues, Assumptions, and Dependencies are monitored via a RAID log.
The Agile lead is responsible for facilitating and enabling the Agile process and for coaching the team to be the best they can be.
Agile may be scaled up from the iteration/sprint and release level across many teams. This may be delivered in a combination of projects and/or in a BAU style.
Agile Operating Model (AOM)
An Agile Operating Model is the practical application of Agile within a specific business context. It acknowledges that "one size does not fit all" and No single Agile framework provides everything a business requires. Businesses need to combine different agile frameworks to cover all aspects of delivery, governance, and technical engineering.
Agile Operating Model (AOM): The holistic and simple definition of what an organization, programmer, project, or team means when they use the term "Agile." It aligns with the Agile Manifesto and often involves the integration of multiple frameworks (e.g., combining Scrum with XP). The solution depends entirely on the business implementing it; there is no single "correct" AOM.
Agile Business Operating Model (BOM): The wider organizational structure that encompasses the Agile Operating Model. It includes the AOM as well as the organizational "knowledge cube" (standards and guidelines).
Knowledge Cube: A repository containing everything the organization needs to run effectively, distinguishing between Standards (mandatory and audited) and Guidelines (can be inspected and adapted by the team).
Structure of an Agile Operating Model
Different frameworks can be layered to cover different levels of responsibility, from technical coding to project management.
Processes: Integrating Frameworks (The Hierarchy)
An effective AOM often layers frameworks based on their specific strengths. A typical integration might look like this (from the bottom up):
Technical Engineering Level: eXtreme Programming (XP).
- Used for the technical aspects of software engineering and team practices.
Team and Product Delivery Level: Scrum, Kanban, or DSDM.
- Used to manage the team dynamics and the delivery of the product.
Project Governance Level: AgilePM (Agile Project Management) or DSDM.
- Used if Agile project governance is required (e.g., for reporting, business cases, and higher-level tracking).
Scaling Level (Multi-Team): SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) or others.
- Used if the delivery involves many teams working together.
The Wrapper:
- Values & Principles: All of the above are wrapped within the Agile Manifesto values and principles to ensure cultural alignment.
When the frameworks are integrated and work together in this way, they create the Agile operating model.
The Agile Business Operating Model (BOM)
The AOM does not exist in a vacuum; it sits within the wider Business Operating Model (BOM):
BOM Composition:
AOM: The delivery mechanism. The key is to keep the AOM as simple as possible so teams can understand it easily and therefore use it.
Knowledge Cube: The repository of standards and guidelines that the organisation or department needs to run effectively.
Quality Assurance: If an organization uses quality systems like CMMi or ISO standards, these systems will reference the BOM to verify how compliance is being achieved.
NOTE
A standard is something that is mandatory and audited, whereas a guideline is something that can be inspected and adapted by the team.