This document provides an overview of a LEGO simulation of Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS). It discusses key principles of LeSS including customer focus, lean thinking, empowered teams, transparency, and constant learning. It outlines the product being built, which is a transportation system connecting European cities using LEGO sets. It also describes the initial setup process for the LeSS framework simulation including forming cross-functional teams, refining product backlogs, and getting ready for the first sprint.

1. Welcome to the
LARGE-SCALE Scrum
simulation with lego

2. LeSS = Large-Scale Scrum
more with less!
h"p://less.works/

4. What am I supposed to learn?
1. Complexity thinking, system, customer-focus and lean
thinking applied to organizational design
2. Role of the top management and managers in LeSS adoption
3. Local vs. global optimizations
4. “IKEA affect” and difference between owning vs. renting
systems
5. Some ideas how to de-scale (simplify) organizations and why
6. Scaling of agility is about doing more with less
(not more with more)

5. More with less
Less management
Less focus on processes
Less standardization
Less hierarchies
Less complexity
Less inner-ward focus
More empowered teams
More learning
More global optimization
More transparency
More thinking
More customer focus

8. I’ve done this before… It kinda works.

9. … And it also seems chaotic,
messy and disorganized.
In fact it should be this way.

11. LeSS is Customer-Focused and
product-oriented
The perfection vision (something that is
unreachable but guiding all decisions,
the “true north”) of a LeSS-like organization:
Create and deliver a product almost all the
time, at almost no cost, with no defects, that
delights customers, improves the
environment, and makes lives better.
Do endless humble and radical improvement
experiments toward that goal.

12. LeSS is about constant learning
and creating learning organizations

13. So what can we learn about our customers?
1. Our potential customers are interested in
traveling among the capitals of Europe.
2. They are willing to pay for bus rides among
the cities.
3. They are attracted by sightseeing sites.

14. Market Demands
Amsterdam <-> Rome: 2M
Amsterdam <-> Berlin: 3M
Amsterdam <-> Barcelona: 2M
Amsterdam <-> Paris: 5M
Amsterdam <-> London: 3M
Rome <-> Berlin: 8M
Rome <-> Barcelona: 12M
Rome <-> Paris: 10M
Paris <-> London: 20M
Paris <-> Kiev: 8M
Kiev <-> Berlin: 15M
Kiev <-> Barcelona: 25M
For every sightseeing on the tour +1M

15. Price of materials
LEGO bus set: 10M
LEGO standard set: 2M
Flipchart paper sheet: 1M
Tape: 1M / meter

16. Engineering constraints
Each city needs to be recognizable
Distances between the cities should be in relative scale
Buildings and buses should be made from LEGO
For transportation to function there should be roads
Other stuff can be done on paper

17. What is our product?
1. How many products are we building?
2. How many Product Backlogs will we need?
3. How many Product Owners do we need?

18. What is your product?
What is your product?
What is your product?
hat is your product?
What is your proyour product?
product?

19. Q: How long does it take to add an edit field to your product?
A: it depends how badly f**cked your company is.

20. LOCAL
optimization
tRaP

21. WHOLE PRODUCT FOCUS
LeSS Principle:

22. What is our product?
1. How many products are we building?
=> one
2. How many Product Backlogs will we need?
=> one
3. How many Product Owners do we need?
=> one, and exceptions are known …

23. The “Less Framework”
3-7 teams

24. LeSS Principle: LeSS is Scrum
Product Owner (for overall product)
Single Product Backlog (for overall product)
Single Sprint (for all teams)
Single Product Increment (from all teams)

25. The “Less Huge Framework”
8-108 teams

26. Initial Investments
60 M
for the product

27. The goal of the simulation
Is to build a profitable
and sustainable business.
And also enjoy it!

28. LeSS Principle: LEAN THINKING
eliminate waste!
What are the top activities managers are
kept busy with in traditional organizations?
1. Management of resources
2. Management of dependencies
3. Management of managers

29. Hiring managers
We need 10 people with good management
experience (5+ years, PMP is a plus).

30. Why one has to manage “resources”?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?

31. Why one has to manage “dependencies”?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?

32. free your managers!
1. Teams are the minimal building blocks
of an organization
No external resource mgmt needed.
2. Teams are cross-functional with minimal
outbound dependencies who learn to
coordinate with others when needed
No external dependency mgmt needed.

33. Culture Follows Structure
Craig Larman’s Laws of Org Change

34. “Your Structure is Your Strategy”

35. less.works/case-studies/ericson.html
“Culture Follows Structure”

36. 16 Shades of Self-management
Setting overall direction
Designing teams and its
org context
Monitoring and
managing work process
and progress
Executing team task
“Leading Teams”
book by Richard Hackman
Most Scrum
teams
Some LeSS
adoptions
Is there
life of Mars?Pre-agile

37. Assign yourself a Primary Skill
“birthday randomizer”
1-10: Drawing ‘D’
11-20: Construction ‘C’
21-31: Transportation ‘T’

38. Team self design workshop
1. 6 people per team is ideal
2. Team members like each other to the
extend that they can work together for
about two hours
3. Each team has all necessary skills
(‘D’, ‘C’ and ‘T’)

39. Who
assigns
scrum masters
to teams?

40. LeSS and Lean thinking
What are the top activities managers are
kept busy with in LeSS organizations?
1. Management of resources
2. Management of dependencies
3. Management of managers

41. What do you do with
free managers?
Fire? RE-Hire? Admire?

42. Re-hire project managers
1. As Area Product Owners (good skillset)
2. As general managers (yes, we need them)
3. As team members (now go and do good!)
4. As ScrumMasters (nah…)

43. (1) Getting Ready
1. Product Owner Team (PO and APOs) get
together to build an overall Product Backlog
(write on A4 sheets)
2. Team representatives go study the API (LEGO
and other stuff)
3. Meanwhile each team picks a city and
brainstorms sightseeing (sketch them on paper)

44. (2) Getting Ready
1. Product Owner pitches the vision to
everyone
2. Area Product Owners select teams
based on their relatedness to cities
(2-5 teams per an area)

45. (3) Getting Ready
1. Each Area Product Owner and her teams
select a war space (enough wall and
floor space)
2. They are getting ready to run their Initial
Product Backlog Refinement session (in
parallel to the others)
3. They go find the real users

46. (4) Getting Ready
Initial product backlog refinement
1. Each APO explains the vision of the city to her
teams
2. Teams brainstorm ideas of PBIs on post-its
with real users
3. Team do a two-level prioritization:
effort (S, M, L) vs. value (Low, Mid, High)
4. They prioritize their Area Product Backlog: smallest
and highest-value items have higher priority (we’re
optimizing for value delivery)

47. Let’s get to work!

50. LEARN MORE!
• Official LeSS website:
www.less.works
• My attempt developing LeSS awareness
on the Russian-speaking market
www.krivitsky.com/large-scale-scrum