Table 2: Summary of Steps in Prepare

Accelerate Quick start guide

February 2016 Material on this website is protected by copyright. Unless otherwise stated in relation to specific content, copyright in material on this website is owned by the Department of Internal Affairs on behalf of the Crown and is licensed for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence. In essence, under this licence you are free to copy, distribute and adapt such content and material, as long as you attribute it to the Department of Internal Affairs and abide by the other licence terms. Please note that this licence does not apply to any logos, emblems and trade marks on the website or to the website’s design elements, which may not be re-used without express permission. Where applicable, this website identifies specific copyright content that is owned by a third party and/or is subject to any licence or other terms in addition to (or in place of) the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence referred to above. Your use of that content is subject to those terms. 1. Introduction

Accelerate brings together tools from the disciplines of service design, architecture and agile project delivery. This guide is designed to get project managers and sponsors (senior responsible officers) up and running as quickly as possible, and describes one possible path through Prepare. This guide covers: Starting (page 2) Tailoring Accelerate (page 8) Hot tips (page 11).

Intended use Accelerate is intended to support experienced project team members in delivering benefits faster. Existing delegated authority, responsibilities and accountabilities continue to apply, including the Treasury investment management processes.

Who this guide is This quick start guide provides guidance for: for sponsors, and project leaders as they: start an Accelerate project tailor the Accelerate tools, likely resources and approach. It is strongly recommended that people who are new to Accelerate read the Accelerate Overview as well as this guide.

Tailoring The goal of tailoring Accelerate is to apply a level of project management Accelerate and control that: does not overburden the project, and provides an appropriate level of oversight given the risk, complexity and significance of the project.

Follow the phases,All the Accelerate phases and stages are considered in every project. choose your tools However, the effort and formality for each stage needs to reflect the project’s size, complexity and uncertainty. Effective use of Accelerate relies on the sponsor and project manager using their judgement to decide which tools will best benefit the project, and to what depth to complete the stages.

2. Starting

Get a coach All sponsors and project managers of Accelerate need to start by asking and/or navigator the Accelerate team at [email protected] for a navigator and or an Accelerate coach.

Starting Once the project has a navigator, start Prepare by: 3. Confirming your starting point in Table 2 on page 4 (A, B, or C). 4. Following the instructions from that point. 5. Using the Accelerate toolkit to clarify any stages as required.

Roles for Prepare Prepare involves a small number of people (typically 3 - 7) who form an ad-hoc team for 4-6 weeks to explore the proposed plan of action, and to develop the concept brief and the business case A3 summary. For a small business-as-usual project Prepare may be as short as 2-3 weeks. The team typically involves a project lead, an enterprise architect, a business architect, a service designer and business subject matter experts. Contact your Accelerate navigator in GCIO to discuss your team for Prepare.

Engaging future The following resources need to be identified by the end of Prepare so critical roles they can be engaged for subsequent work: the core team (when practicable, this team will include the members of the Prepare team): product owner architecture owner project manager key personnel (the larger or more complex the project, the greater level of experience required – see Table 1 below): Accelerate navigator assurance contact EPMO contact.

Table 1: Requirements for personnel

Factor Response Complex stakeholder landscape More experienced project manager and sponsor Complex business change More experienced project manager and sponsor Complex technical landscape More experienced architecture owner and technical leads Complex operations and More experienced product owner product Larger team More experienced project manager Inexperienced team More experienced project manager More engagement with navigator and subject matter coaches

Contact people for communication in supporting teams also need to be established, for example in EPMO, Assurance, SDLC groups, Security, ICT review boards.

Table 2: Summary of steps in Prepare

A Start here if you: are starting to investigate the strategic rationale for a proposal.

Objective Why How Clarify the To understand the Conduct an ecosystem scan. strategies and strategic environment Review the strategic objectives of the objectives that that surrounds this participating agencies to create a strategic guide this work. project along with the key objectives map. reasons for the Page 5 Objective Why How investment. Map the proposal to the strategic objectives of This is the base of the participating organisations identifying main value conversations with contributions. stakeholders and Output: strategic value map. participating organisations.

B Start here if you: understand why the proposal is important are starting to investigate the details of the opportunity.

Objective Why How Understand the To start researching the Review the relevant strategy and investment problem or basic facts of the problem objectives in the strategic value map. opportunity or opportunity to test the Conduct a problem definition (such as an evidence and create the investment logic map (ILM) or problem initial fact base for trajectory) workshop. subsequent work. Listen to the voice of the customer (service This helps the project design research). understand the Create a cause and effect diagram (aka fishbone Customer, their pain diagram), or a root cause analysis for the points and the proposal. opportunities and constraints for the Output: problem trajectory, cause and effect stakeholders. diagram, or ILM diagram.

C Start here if: the opportunity is already understood (e.g. ILM workshops have been completed).

Objective Why How Create a clear To understand and Research previous ILM materials if available. description of the present the “problem”, Interview staff and customers for key facts about problem or its root causes and the the current state situation. opportunity associated symptoms. Output: A problem trajectory diagram. This forms the core of the case for change and identifies the potential benefits that could be realised by the proposal. Understand the To understand the Conduct an ecosystem scan of the participating business business ecosystem, the organisations. environment customers, providers and Review information from the previously created the interactions and investment logic map or project trajectory relationships between diagram. them. Conduct workshop with subject matter experts This reveals the business to understand the business environment.

Objective Why How “landscape” and allows us Output: Business context, collaboration, and to understand the drivers interaction diagrams. for each of the parties, their perspective and involvement. Share the concept To validate with Create a concept brief from the information brief with stakeholders and created in the previous steps. participating customers the initial Create a summary business case on a page to act organisations to thinking about the as an early draft of the concept brief materials. validate and problem and options. Present to stakeholders the business case on a update the Provides an early page as “initial thoughts” to seek early reactions material. opportunity to and corrections. understand the view of Refine the concept brief and business case on a the participating page in light of feedback. organisations regarding their priorities and Output: Initial version of the concept brief and constraints. business case on a page. Start tailored To tailor stakeholder and Review business context. communications customer engagement Review stakeholder attitudes to the concept with stakeholders activities to their current brief (from step 5). and customer. attitudes towards the Categorise the influence and interest of proposal. stakeholders. This is to engage Update business context diagram with feedback customers and on current and desired viewpoints of stakeholders early in the stakeholders. design phase, shape their attitude to the proposal Develop a customer and stakeholder and identify areas of communication plan. highest value. Output: Initial stakeholder communications plan.

Identify the To provide a view of how Research investment priorities and strategic proposal’s the proposal supports the goals for each of the participating agencies. investment priority investment objectives Conduct an ILM benefits workshop; or and value for the and priorities for Conduct a workshop with subject matter experts participating participating from the business to understand Investment organisations. organisations. objectives and strategic priorities and map the This is a key part of the proposal to those. “what’s in it for me” for Conduct a ‘5 Whats’ workshop with subject each organisation and matter experts to understand the value forms the base of the proposition for each participant. engagement conversations with Write a WIIFM for each of the stakeholders and stakeholders and any share with the relevant organisation. agreement about Output: Initial investment objectives map for the participating in the proposal and a completed WIIFM document. “coalition of the willing”. Identify a range of To identify the initial Project workshop to identify and assess feasible feasible range of feasible strategic solutions and identify the preferred approach. approaches to fulfil interventions along with Output: Options analysis table

Objective Why How the proposal. assessment of the relative merits and drawbacks. Identify the service To identify how much Review the problem and business context design needed for service design input is material with a service designer to identify the the proposal. needed for during service design opportunity in Discover. Discover. Output: A service design proposal and resourcing plan for Discover. Identify the To describe the Project workshop to review problem statement solution concept conceptual solution and business context diagram and develop for the preferred identifying key building technically feasible approaches for the preferred option. blocks and areas of option. business change for Output: A description of the conceptual solution. customer and agencies. This identifies the capabilities required by the preferred option and any major areas of business and technical complexity. This provides material to help procurement. Create an initial To develop procurement, Engage the procurement team and review the approach for market engagement and problem statement, conceptual solution procurement of negotiation strategies (if description, and business context diagram. necessary required) and plan for Output: Procurement, market engagement, and components. procurement activities negotiation strategies documented (if required), during Discover. and a procurement schedule for Discover. This allows early engagement with the market, identification of new approaches and possible supply options. Seek funding and To summarise and Update the concept brief and related materials. support from present the material in Conduct a project workshop to develop the stakeholders for the project concept brief material for the business case on a page. Discover. for endorsement and Create and present a summary of the concept support by stakeholders. brief and business case on a page tailored to the This forms the base of stakeholders for endorsement. any mutual agreement to Output: An agreement to proceed and contribute contribute resources. resources to Discover. Includes estimated budget for Discover.

Once Discover is Following approval to proceed to Discover, the lead agency engages with approved their EPMO to formally establish the project during Discover.

6. Tailoring Accelerate

Goal of tailoring The goal of tailoring Accelerate is to apply a level of project management and control that: does not overburden the project, and provides an appropriate level of oversight given the risk, complexity and significance of the project. Accelerate navigators can advise on how to tailor the project.

Considerations The sponsor or project manager tailors the approach by considering the complexity of the problem, the level of uncertainty of the outcome and approach, and the possible impact of the project. They need to bear in mind: understanding the project is key to keeping the project manageable extra care is required for projects with a large impact. Possible factors to consider are given in Table 3.

Table 3: Factors to consider when tailoring Accelerate

Complexity factors Outcome uncertainty factors Effect factors Process Customer Organisational impact The degree of variability in the Our level of understanding of the process and business rules high value features The extent of the project impact on Organisational Change Our level of understanding of the the operations of customer journeys The number of agencies and the branch or branches involved Our level of understanding of the agency customer groups The degree to which the project is How constrained is changing attitudes and Organisation the project end behaviours Level of understanding of the date Multi-disciplinary processes involved Financial size The number of business groups Degree of change required for the Size of project involved in the delivery process budget The range of resources required Project The level of Stakeholders The predictability of project and financial commitment post- The number of stakeholders resource costs project involved Level of understanding of the Customer impact The degree of divergence system components between stakeholder goals Resources The extent of the project impact on Technical Availability of appropriate skills the customers and resources The number of technical systems Political impact requiring change or integration Availability of relevant previous

Complexity factors Outcome uncertainty factors Effect factors The level of legacy system experience The political involvement in the MVP Availability of relevant knowledge significance of the of the system outcome

7. Considering complexity and uncertainty

The size effect The size of the project amplifies the effect of complexity and uncertainty. The larger the potential impact, the more formal the recommended approach and communication.

As a matrix Accelerate can be tailored to address varying levels of uncertainty and complexity (see Figure 1). Each of the quadrants is discussed below.

Figure 1: Accelerate’s approaches to complexity and outcome uncertainty

High complexity, When the assessment shows the project and its business ecosystem will be high uncertainty complex, and the path forward is uncertain, consider: separating the project into smaller, simpler components and taking more steps to build the total solution using more rigorous and formal analysis tools to research the evidence setting up more formal engagement and communication processes with stakeholders engaging stakeholders in planning and benefits planning with frequent updates as more information becomes available. The following are strongly advised: strong governance and external assurance adherence to methodology experienced leaders and team members.

High complexity, When the assessment shows the project and its business ecosystem will be low uncertainty complex, and the path forward is certain: use: workshop approaches with larger groups from multiple areas more formal documentation wider socialisation of the workshop output make sure the problem statement is clear take care with stakeholder communications and commitment consider using prototypes to research areas of business and technical complexity. The following are recommended: external assurance more formal project governance an experienced project team.

Low complexity, When the assessment shows the project and its business ecosystem will be high uncertainty simple, and the path forward is uncertain, consider: multiple smaller workshops with a variety of groups to explore the situation and share insights and materials with the team several prototypes.

Low complexity, When the assessment shows the project and its business ecosystem will be low uncertainty simple and the path forward is certain, consider: an early release of the first MVP, and with quick iterations based on customer feedback less formal methods of analysis and communication lighter governance and assurance activities simpler project documentation.

8. Hot tips

9. Get an agile or Accelerate coach, or a navigator

Using coaches and navigators is strongly recommended in Accelerate. In Accelerate, a ‘coach’, including an agile or Accelerate coach, is someone with experience who can mentor less experienced practitioners. An Accelerate ‘navigator’ is someone based XXX(where) who has been specifically trained to support the sponsor, project manager and other core roles who are using (or deciding whether to use) the Accelerate framework.

Where to find a To find an agile coach, approach the professional services of (in preferred coach order): the lead agency other participating agencies other stakeholders. To find an Accelerate coach or navigator: ask the Accelerate support team at [email protected].

10. Collaboration and the business case

How to get buy-in When multiple agencies are involved in the outcome, it is important to develop the business case with a lot of engagement with agencies’ representatives. A jointly-created business case that presents their voice and objectives along with those of the lead agency will cross the negotiation phase more quickly than one where it is developed in isolation.

The hurdles Common reactions to the urgency created by deadlines are to: reduce the emphasis on collaboration reduce the scope of the material considered. These actions: bias the business case towards the concerns of the lead agency weaken the group commitment and endorsement of the investment lengthen the negotiation period for business case approval.

11. The importance of co-location

Co-location is important in Accelerate. Ideally, the whole team will all be located in the same place – not just the same office, but literally sitting side by side. This may cause some inconvenience, and require management intervention in order to achieve it, but it is worth it.

Why is co-location Having co-located teams: important? reduces coordination overheads speeds up communication fosters closer working relationships, creates the opportunity for continuous collaboration enables face-to-face communication ensures progress boards are visible to the whole team strengthens team spirit increases the immediately available knowledge. These factors, over the course of a project, can make or break it.

Co-location The benefits of co-location are: benefits fewer misunderstandings when people talk with each other, compared to telephone or written communication conversations can occur immediately individuals become a team by being in the same space while working on something together. Also any team issues become clear earlier, and can be resolved earlier. So co-location means: less misunderstanding fewer work blockages becoming more efficient as a team greater information sharing.

More information See more on this and other topics at www.allaboutagile.com/5-reasons- why-agile-development-must-be-driven-from-the-top.