Introduction

“Our history is based on extending the brand to categories within the guardrails of Starbucks.” - Howard Schultz (Starbucks)

Decisions to make

• Define and implement an operational model that facilitates collaboration and fosters trust between programs
• Develop and implement a governance plan that enables fast, well-informed decision making at the most appropriate level
• Determine what is relevant guardrail data, as well as how it will be used, by whom, and in what context
• Establish a program kanban to apply guardrails around the movement of work, including work-in-process limits
• Establish themes so that our investments will be categorized, prioritized, funded, executed, managed, and ultimately closed
• Define how work will be categorized (e.g. "change the business", "run the business", "balance business and IT projects", etc.)
• Define expectations for business owners to ensure they understand their role in support of the program
• Balance budgeting, spending, and governance guardrails to achieve optimal flow

Context

• Sometimes for agile organizations, guardrails play an integral role in the ability to quickly and inexpensively create value (small teams with decentralized decision-making authority are central to success)
• Sometimes programs will focus on feature cycle-time measures, leveraging a program kanban board to support the operations and governance of the program
• Sometimes we see organizations use strategic drivers as the first step toward classifying and prioritizing work to establish a common view shared by programs
• Sometimes programs have a backlog of ongoing projects that they're unaware of (pet projects, death marches, etc.), or learn that they're still supporting products that no longer produce revenue

Why we care

• Since the early 21st century, decentralized decision-making has been central to fostering high-performance organizations and attracting and retaining talented knowledge workers
• Guiding investments by horizon grants organizations the ability to see the whole picture and to ask questions with game-changing potential
• When all work is made visible, companies become aware of how precious capital, time, and talent is being invested
• When a company applies the product lifecycle framework it inspires investment decisions (e.g. do we spend $1M on an emerging technology, or on a product close to retirement?)
• Understanding how work stands in relation to guardrails allows the organization to buy back capacity to support less sexy but just as important "run the business" efforts
• Guardrails give leaders the facts they need to make decisions about capital, time, and talent
• Decentralized decision making creates a jointly-constructed governance model whose purpose is to maintain a steady, predictable flow of work by eliminating bottlenecks around common issues that require localized context and which are time critical
• By jointly constructing a predictable and transparent decision-making process, an organization builds both accountability and trust
• Incorporating a decentralized decision-making model creates a sense of autonomy and purpose among teams, which shapes a purpose-driven culture
• Countless books by authors such as Adam Grant and Simon Sinek detail how organizational culture, governance models, and structure go hand-in-hand to shape organizations

The Atlassian view

• Atlassian products (like Jira Align) offer robust out-of-the-box functionality that helps support planning horizons and decentralized decision-making guardrails with data-driven reports, planning roadmaps, and role- and level-based process checklists
• Jira Align data structure enables themes classification (e.g. "change the business" and "run the business"), as well as feature scheduling and in-flight tracking, all of which improve confidence in, and effectiveness of, decision making