#JiraCustomerTemplates: Learn how Lumen structures Agile collaboration
#JiraCustomerTemplates: Learn how Lumen structures Agile collaboration
At Atlassian we take great pride in the success our customers achieve when they use our products. #JiraCustomerTemplates is a monthly spotlight series where we share customer solutions using Jira, including easy-to-install template bundles based on their workflows.
Who is Lumen ?
Lumen is a multinational technology company that empowers organizations to unlock the full potential of their data, quickly adopt game-changing technologies that will revolutionize their business operations, and seamlessly deliver digital innovations that redefine our everyday lives.
Rob Mulvaney, Senior Manager, Agile Transformation, walks us through Lumen’s journey to standardize Agile best practices across teams using a common workflow and project structure in Jira Software.
(Watch Bryan Djunaedi, Product Manager, walk us through his team's workflow)
What was the challenge being solved?
Over the past 3.5 years, Lumen has been on a journey to transition from a waterfall mentality to a scaled Agile framework. Their transformation included over 9 value streams and 90 release trains across hundreds of teams — ultimately, over 5,500 people.
To make this framework successful, they needed to be consistent in the standardization across their Atlassian toolset.
How did Lumen create their solution?
For a transformation of this size, standardizing the language being used and aligning on a common project structure was key. Lumen plans around strategic goals (as showcased in the slide below), allowing everyone to talk within the same context and framework.
Rob explains, “At the top of the pyramid is the portfolio epic. From there, it works its way down through a capability, epic feature, user story, and finally a task. This example is a story of decomposition, both defined by the roles that are visible at each layer of the process, as well as a time horizon.”
Lumen uses a 90-day planning period. This cadence allows them to meet on a quarterly basis to align on what value the teams will be delivering over that time. During a 90-day cadence, they use two-week sprints where the teams align around consistent terminology for capabilities, features, and user stories.
Using the above slide, Rob explains, “(On the left-hand side) We show the Lumen use of the hierarchy, as well as the Jira Software naming convention (on the right-hand side). We start with a portfolio epic for what we plan to deliver in a year’s period.”
Lumen primarily uses two portfolio projects: an enterprise portfolio and a consumer portfolio. Knowing a planning period is about 90 days, the portfolio epic is broken down into multiple capabilities, which are delivered at the value stream level.
Value stream projects in Jira Software are named with a specific convention and abbreviation — that keeps everyone aligned, so when teams come into Jira Software they’re able to quickly identify what project work at a glance. That naming convention continues down to the release train level, known as the ART.
“At the ART level is where the features live, the children to the capability,” Rob says. “Features are an issue type that would be planned and delivered over the 90-day period. The release trains take on the naming convention of their parent, so you will have a naming convention of the value stream abbreviations, then with the Agile release train as the suffix.”
Finally, teams complete work in the release train under a specific sprint board — usually 6 sprints per each 90-day planning schedule.
Lumen’s release train board workflow is broken down by the following: Funnel > Analyzing > Approved > Implementing > Validating > Deploying > Releasing > Done.
“One of the benefits of having a consistent workflow is allowing from a reporting perspective. There’s standard reports that we use across teams, and by having all the teams use the same workflow, measurements and reporting are also consistent,” Rob says. “We’re able to measure lead time consistently from the time the work entered the Funnel stage until it was done.”
What was the outcome?
“When there are 90 release trains and hundreds of teams, being able to have a common framework for reporting is a benefit of using Jira Software,” Rob says. “We’re been very happy with our agile success using Atlassian products and being able to standardize best practices across our teams.”
Lumen has leveraged other Atlassian products for additional collaboration between software development teams and business teams, Allowing them to:
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Enable new users through forms and automation with Jira Service Management.
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Connect Jira Software and Jira Work Management for seamless collaboration between software development and business teams.
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Communicate and document OKRs in Confluence pages to keep teams aligned on big picture goals.
Interested in trying Lumen’s workflow for yourself? You can use the same process as Lumen with their template bundle (or modify it for your own needs). This bundle includes:
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3 pre-configured Jira Software project templates
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Jira Work Management
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Jira Service Management
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Confluence
Join us for a webinar to learn more from Lumen about cross-team agility and collaboration
Maintaining a competitive edge in any industry today requires agility and alignment across the entire organization. Join this webinar to learn how Lumen’s software development and business teams move fast while staying connected with Jira Software Advanced Roadmaps and Jira Work Management.
Choose the time that works best for you:
May 24th — 11:00 am US (Los Angeles time)
May 25th — 11:00 am AU (Sydney time)
May 25th — 11:00 am NL (Amsterdam time)
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