Pos | English homework help

POS

shanta75- a year ago

• 20

Due: Sunday, 11:59 p.m. EST of Unit 7. Points: 100 Overview: In this assignment, you will read the agile case study (Valpak) in chapter 19 of the textbook and analyze the implications of the Scrum framework in agile versus the traditional method in an organizational transformational process. Transitioning an organization like Valpak from a waterfall traditionally managed organization to an agile managed organization could be a major transforming event. Understanding transformational processes and how to overcome some of these challenges gives you a practical insight into an agile implementation that we have discussed in the past six weeks. Instructions:

• Explain the implications of the agile implementation at Valpak. o What was the transformation that took place?

o What types of Agile methodologies were used? o What were the big challenges that were addressed? o What were the key success factors? o What were the lessons learned from Valpak regarding the implementation?

• Address how this approach could be implemented at your current company or a company earlier in your career.

o What would be the challenges? o How would they be overcome?

Assignment Guidelines:

• Four pages in length, excluding the Title and Reference page.
• APA format, including in-text citations for referenced works.
• At least two resources.

Be sure to read the criteria, by which your paper will be evaluated, before you write, and again after you write. PMG652 – Agile Project Management w/Scrum Marketing Unit 7 Assignment: Valpak Case Study Evaluation Rubric for Valpak Case Study Assignment CRITERIA Deficient Needs Improvement Proficient Exemplary 0–20 Points 21-27 Points 28–34 Points 35 Points Agile Implementation Explanation Explanation is missing or inadequate. Explanation somewhat addresses implications of agile implementation at Valpak; some instruction

questions

answered. Explanation mostly addresses implications of agile implementation at Valpak; most instruction questions answered. Explanation fully addresses implications of agile implementation at Valpak; all instruction questions answered. Current or Past Company Implementation Analysis Analysis is missing or inadequate. Analysis mostly addresses implementation at current or past company; includes some major challenges and suggested solutions. Analysis somewhat addresses implementation at current or past company; includes major challenges and suggested solutions. Analysis fully addresses implementation at current or past company including all major challenges and suggested solutions. 0 – 5 Points 6 – 7 Points 8 – 9 Points 10 Points Resources 0 resources. 1 resource. 2 resources. More than 2 resources. Paper Length 1 page or more than 3 pages. 2 page. 3 pages. 4 pages. Clear and Professional Writing and APA Format Errors impede professional presentation; guidelines not followed. Significant errors that do not impede professional presentation. Few errors that do not impede professional presentation. Few errors that do not impede professional presentation. Copyright Statement Post University’s courses contain copyrighted resources created by the University, licensed from various third parties, or unless otherwise noted. In compliance with U.S. Copyright Law, these resources may not be reproduced, revised, or distributed without the written permission of Post University. Students found to be in violation of this policy are subject to civil and criminal liabilities associated with the Federal Copyright Act and risk dismissal from the university under the Academic Dishonesty policy. Unless otherwise noted, access to these materials is limited to the duration of the course. Students should contact the library ([email protected]) for information on which resources can be printed. Managed Agile Development © 2012 by Charles G. Cobb Page 1

CASE STUDY – VALPAK

Background Established in 1968 and headquartered in Largo, Florida, Valpak is one of the leading direct marketing companies in North America, owned and operated by Cox Target Media (CTM), a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Cox Media Group (CMG). In addition, Valpak has one of the largest collections of digital coupons on the Internet with thousands of local products and services, as well as national brands. Working in partnership with its network of nearly 170 franchisees in the U.S. and Canada, Valpak helps more than 54,000 businesses a year to achieve their marketing goals. Valpak’s primary competitors are Money Mailer, Valassis (Red Plum), and Super Coups. Valpak’s secondary competition includes newspapers, television, Yellow Pages, and any other forms of advertising. All in all, Valpak is trusted by consumers and merchants alike to consistently deliver value. The Blue Envelope® delivers savings and value to nearly 40 million households each month. Annually, Valpak will distribute some 20 billion offers inserted in more than 500 million envelopes. Valpak also offers digital solutions with www.Valpak.com®, an online site for printable coupons and coupon codes, which has nearly 70 million offer views each month, as well as apps for smartphone platforms. Valpak’s IT group builds and supports technology for a wide variety of stakeholders and audiences including Consumers that are focused on saving money with coupons, Valpak Franchises that need systems to run their business and sales operations, Merchants interested in tracking and maximizing their returns on investment, and traditional internal corporate stakeholders that need to run the core business operations. Efforts for these distinct audiences include:

• Valpak Franchises – Order entry, office management, mobile/online sales tools and CRM applications are developed to support Valpak’s 170+ franchise locations located in the U.S. and Canada. These franchisees are independently owned and operated locations that utilize Valpak’s franchise system to sell Valpak print and digital products to local merchants.
• Consumers – Savings/coupon applications and websites are developed that provide daily value to consumers looking to save money on their purchases. Consumers can interact with Valpak savings anywhere @ anytime regardless of whether they are using Valpak’s traditional “print” mailer or one of Valpak’s several digital channels (web, mobile, SMS texting, email). Valpak’s savings content is also distributed to over 150 partner websites as well.
• Merchants – Online websites and mobile applications are developed to allow merchants to manage their advertising campaigns with Valpak.
• Corporate – Traditional back-office operations including Manufacturing, Marketing, Finance/Accounting, Order Processing and Sales. The IT group develops and supports various ERP and custom application solutions to automate these back-office operations.

Valpak’s ability to utilize technology to transform their business is a very significant factor in their business success and Valpak’s IT group is an integral part of the business transformation and growth of the company. To compete with the quickly changing Digital savings marketplace, Valpak transitioned the entire IT organization to Agile Scrum/Kanban processes with 2-week sprint delivery cycles. They embraced this change and quickly adapted. This effort was so well done in the IT organization that Valpak is now driving the Agile culture throughout the company, heading toward “The Agile Enterprise”. As Director of Agile Leadership at Valpak, Stephanie Stewart1 has been responsible for leading the Agile Transformation. In this role, she is responsible for process facilitation, portfolio governance, program management, project management, and of course, oversight of related people, processes and tools. Stephanie leads the team of Agile Project Leaders that handle everything from project management to ScrumMaster-ing to leading Kanban teams. A self-admitted Agile enthusiast, Stephanie 1 http://www.linkedin.com/pub/stephanie-stewart/31/317/a01 Managed Agile Development © 2012 by Charles G. Cobb Page 2 has worked passionately to encourage and support the IT organization at Valpak in fully embracing Agile software development, to move Valpak towards a greater vision of “The Agile Enterprise”. Chris Cate, CIO, is the Agile executive champion working with Stephanie and the executive leadership team in transforming the company over the past year. Chris also evangelizes “The Agile Enterprise” vision by encouraging the adoption of Agile values and the use of Agile methods for non-IT departments. Bob Damato, Director of Software Engineering, led the adoption of Agile technical practices such as test driven development, continuous integration, and evolutionary architecture. Strong leadership for technical practices across teams has been critical to maintaining and improving quality as part of the Agile transformation.

Overview

Valpak’s overall enterprise-level approach is based on the Scaled Agile Framework2 which is shown in Figure 1. The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) was described in more detail earlier in the book and consists of three primary layers:

• Portfolio Layer – The Portfolio Layer is the highest and most strategic layer in the Scaled Agile

Framework where programs are aligned to the company’s business strategy and investment intent.

• Program Layer – The Scaled Agile Framework recognizes the need to align and integrate the

efforts of multiple teams that are engaged in large, complex enterprise-level development efforts to create larger value to serve the needs of the enterprise and its stakeholders.

• Team Layer – The Team Layer forms the foundation of the Scaled Agile Framework and is

where the fundamental design, build test activities are performed to fulfill the development requirements for each major area of business. At Valpak, there are actually two different development processes that are used in the Team Layer as shown in Figure 2. In most cases, Scrum is used for more exploratory development while a Kanban process is used for “run the business” kinds of development.

Valpak implemented the SAFe from the bottom up:

• In October 2011, Valpak started with 6 Scrum teams and 3 Kanban teams at the Agile teams

(bottom) layer of the SAFe (Valpak currently has 10 Scrum teams and 3 Kanban teams)

• Shortly after the Agile teams were established, Valpak implemented road-mapping and

release management with the middle layer of the Scaled Agile Framework in mind

• Most recently, Valpak implemented the Portfolio Kanban at the top layer of the Scaled Agile

Framework with their leadership team of Executive Sponsors

• Last but not least, Valpak added the Architectural Kanban

2 http://scaledagileframework.com/ Managed Agile Development © 2012 by Charles G. Cobb Page 3

There are two key things that are most significant about this case study: