Hybrid-Agile projects are different – in fact quite different from the traditional waterfall ones or the Agile ones. It combines both waterfall and Agile, but your thought process, mindset and application will be different.
In fact, going further, I'd say that your mindset and thought process must be different as you manage both traditional and agile parts together in a single project. It's not easy and hence, there is a dedicated certification (CHAMP) for it. See here.
Below are some common mistakes to avoid when tracking Hybrid-Agile projects. In addition, avoidance such mistakes or pitfalls can give you right data and hence reports.
Pitfall – 1: Not Setting the Status Date.
While tracking, setting a status date is a must. Many forget to do it, and I’ve seen it repeatedly. In the CHAMP certification course, I’ve emphasized it frequently.
It takes a matter of seconds to set the status or data date, and that makes tracking systematic.
Pitfall – 2: Not differentiating Traditional and Agile Tasks.
As you proceed with a Hybrid-Agile project, you are likely to have thousands of tasks to be managed by a number of resources—human, physical, asset, material, among others.
It’s always good practice to clearly differentiate and segregate such tasks. Later on, when you manage and report, it’ll prove to be immensely valuable.
Pitfall – 3: Not using the Planning Boards.
If you’re using Scrum to follow Agile in Hybrid-Agile projects, there will definitely be a Sprint Planning Board. If the software tool doesn’t provide it, then don’t use that tool.
Now, when you don’t use the Sprint Planning Board(s) but directly update the tasks in the Gantt Chart view, you’ll face a number of problems. For example, you won’t get the data properly updated, including the Board Status!
Note:For Hybrid-Kanban, the creation, usage, and management of boards will be different.
Pitfall – 4: Not Customizing the Board States.
This is another mistake you must avoid. If you have five workflow states, then use five boards. If you have three, then use three boards. Use them, but don’t overcomplicate it.
Boards have other uses, such as linking states with % Complete values, reporting, and of course, clear visualization.
Pitfall – 5: Not Using the Visual Indicators and Bars.
Visual indicators and bars are given for your benefit. A large number of visual indicators and bars should be available while tracking. MS Project Agile, which is specifically used in CHAMP, has a large number of them. Other software tools such as Primavera P6 also provide them, though P6 doesn’t support Agile.
When you have visual indicators, bars, and boards, use them abundantly.
Pitfall – 6: Not Baselining the Hybrid Project.
Baselining is needed for traditional project management. Without baselining, there is no mathematical way to know the progress. And nobody can really dispute pure mathematics.
However, for the Agile part, you may not need baselining, except when mandated.
Do note that the baselining part is quite tricky. It becomes trickier when multiple baselines are involved. You’ve to be very careful in this regard.
Pitfall – 7: Not Tracking Variances for Traditional Parts.
Variance tracking and analysis are part and parcel of Waterfall projects. You’ve to do it and also do the reporting. This is linked to baselining, which has to be clearly and consciously done.
Agile elements with iterations, however, need not have variance tracking, except where customer or regulatory requirements mandate it.
Pitfall – 8: Not Having the Right Team Structure.
One of the key ingredients of a project’s delivery success is the team structure. The team structure should be clear with little hierarchy. And you must keep in mind the way delivery happens in traditional and Agile approaches.
Pitfall – 9: Not Following the Principles of Hybrid-Agile Management.
Principles are very important to be followed in any approach. The CHAMP course informs this explicitly. In fact, I’ve published two articles in this regard. You can read them here and here.
Pitfall – 10: Not Using a Combined View.
A combined view consisting of both the traditional and Agile parts is a powerful one. But many don’t know how to use it! This view gives a snapshot of the entire project in a quick time. Of course, it requires proficiency to track in such ways.
The CHAMP certification (see here) uses these views frequently and demonstrates them with a large number of practical exercises with solution files, so that you can master them.
The Certified Hybrid-Agile Master Professional (CHAMP) courseis highly practical as informed and written by many successful CHAMPs. It's also highly economical. As a matter of fact, it's world's only Practical Hybrid-Agile certification, where you learn hybrid-agile management with your own hands.
The below unique trailer (1m: 14s) informs more. For the best experience, go full-screen HD mode and plug-in your headphones.
A brief tabular differentiation between CHAMP and other certifications is shown below.
To know more about the CHAMP certification course, see here.
To have the complete course breakdown, check here.
For this course, many FAQs have been answered. See here.
Even with a number of Scaled Agile frameworks, even with a number of courses on scaling Scrum teams, even with many experienced professionals getting certified year after year, when I ask Scaled Agile practitioners to differentiate between the backlogs at a higher-level to the lower team-level and how it's done, they fail. They can’t demonstrate. And I’ve asked many.
The reason is not hard to fathom. It’s not their fault. Rather, it’s due to lack of practical applicability. In other words, they’ve not seen it in action or used any good (software) tool. Hence, there is no real understanding and internalization, except knowing some theoretical jargon here and there.
Scaling is complex, but it need not be complex to understand. As I write, the below age-old saying rings true:
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
In this article, we will follow the above wisdom. We will learn by visualizing and applying. We will learn by doing. We will learn by going from the Product Backlog to CIPSA Sprint Backlog, which will be executed by the whole team. Then we will also visualize and learn the individual Team Sprint Backlogs. Towards the end, we will see all of these backlogs fit together in action in a video demonstration.
So, let’s start with our current scenario. Exhaustive details are part of the CIPSA course. See here.
Our Scaled Scrum Scenario
For our Scaled Scrum project using the CIPSA framework, we have three Scrum teams working together on a single product backlog. The three individual Scrum teams have various usual roles such as Developers, Scrum Masters and Product Owners.
For the CIPSA team, however, we have two primary roles:
Chief Product Owner (CPO),and Principal Scrum Master (PSM).
These are unique roles for the CIPSA team and it’s shown in the below figure.
The CIPSA team encompasses all the individual Scrum teams and has the above additional two primary roles. The CIPSA team is shown in the bigger circle, whereas the individual Scrum teams are in smaller circles within the bigger one. Also note that both the CIPSA team and individual Scrum teams are in Sprint 1, i.e., the Sprints are synchronized.
Proceeding further, for our case, we are going to follow the CIPSA Scrum Framework. You can download the CIPSA Framework for free here.
Product Backlog to CIPSA Sprint Backlog to Team Sprint Backlog
The Product Backlog is for the entire CIPSA team. It’s a single one and has all the work items. The Product Backlog will have the Product Goal (see here) and a refined backlog will be presented to the CIPSA team in the CIPSA Sprint Planning meta-event by the CPO.
In this CIPSA Sprint Planningmeeting, the CIPSA team will create the CIPSA Sprint Backlog, which will have the CIPSA Sprint Goal.
Post this meeting, the individual Scrum teams will work on the items taken by them, break the items into individual tasks and create the respective Team Backlogs. In other words, for every Scrum team, we will have an individual Team Sprint Backlog. As we have three Scrum teams, we will have three Team Sprint Backlogs:
Team A Sprint Backlog,
Team B Sprint Backlog, and
Team C Sprint Backlog.
For your visualization, it’s shown in the below figure.
As shown above, the Team Sprint Backlog is created from the CIPSA Sprint Backlog and the later one is created from the Product Backlog. The Team Sprint Backlog has the Team Sprint Goal, which is in alignment with the CIPSA Sprint Goal. The CIPSA Sprint Goal, on the other hand, is in alignment with the Product Goal.
At the end of every Sprint, an integrated increment is given, which is known as the CIPSA Integrated Increment (see here). And with every Sprint, the CIPSA team is moving closer towards the Product Goal.
The Prioritized Product Backlog
As mentioned earlier, we have a single Product Backlog and the CIPSA team is going to deliver a large, complex Stock Trading system catering to millions of users, customers and paid subscribers.
When put into the MS Project Agile, the Product Backlog comes as shown below. At this stage, we have an unrefined backlog.
Also note that we have not associated teams with the backlog items. As the CIPSA team completes the Cross-Team Backlog Refinement session, the items will be ordered and the entire team will have a forward-looking plan for the next two or three Sprints.
Post our backlog refinement, we have the following Product Backlog shown again in the Sprint Planning sheet view.
As shown above, now the items are reordered. The teams as well as the Sprints are now associated with the backlog items. For example:
“Login to the trading system” is associated with Team A, whereas “Create a new user” and “Buy a stock” are associated with Team B and C, respectively.
All three teams are also associated with the upcoming Sprint, i.e., Sprint 1.
Similarly, some of the items are associated with Sprint 2 and Sprint 3. Such planning is known as rolling wave planning in Agile.
This can also be seen in the Sprint Planning Board view as shown below.
After reordering the items, one can drag and drop items into the respective Sprints in the Sprint Planning Board, which is for the entire CIPSA team.
The CIPSA Sprint Backlog
Next, we are going to build the CIPSA Sprint Backlog. The CIPSA Sprint Backlog will have the following meta-events.
CIPSA Sprint Planning,
CIPSA Daily Scrum,
CIPSA Sprint Review, and
CIPSA Sprint Retrospective.
These meta-events will be conducted in the Sprint 1 for the entire team. Hence, we will use the respective naming conventions. For example, for Sprint 1:
the planning meta-event will be CIPSA Sprint 1 Planning,
the daily stand-ups will be as CIPSA Daily Scrum (Sprint 1) 1, CIPSA Daily Scrum (Sprint 1) 2 …
the review meta-event will be CIPSA Sprint 1 Review, and
the retro meta-event will be CIPSA Sprint 1 Retrospective.
The naming convention is quite important to understand as we will run with multiple Sprints – possibly hundreds of them. You’ve to give clear naming conventions to differentiate between teams and Sprints. Otherwise, with multiple Sprints and multiple Scrum teams, it’s easy to get lost in the plan!
After we have the meta-events added, the first version of the CIPSA Sprint Backlog (specifically, the CIPSA Sprint 1 Backlog) is shown below.
Let’s interpret the above figure shown in the Gantt Chart. Similar one will be available in the Sprint Planning Sheet view.
The first meta-event is the CIPSA Sprint 1 Planning. It’s a line item.
The next one is CIPSA Daily Scrum for Sprint 1 and it’s a recurring item.
The last two meta-events are CIPSA Sprint 1 Review and CIPSA Sprint 1 Retrospective. Both of these are line items.
While the CIPSA Sprint Backlog related items are associated with “All Team”, the individual Scrum team items are associated with the respective teams.
All these items related to the CIPSA Sprint 1 Backlog are highlighted in blue. Again, do note the naming conventions.
The Team Sprint Backlog
Next, we will proceed to create the Team Sprint Backlogs for all the Scrum teams. In this case and per the CIPSA Scrum Framework, we will have the following events:
Team Sprint Planning,
Daily Scrums for individual teams, and
Team Sprint Retrospective.
Do note the CIPSA Sprint Review replacesthe individual Team Sprint Review, because our focus is on the CIPSA Integrated Increment, not the individual Team Increments.
These individual team events will be conducted in the Sprint 1 for the respective Scrum teams. Hence, we will use the respective naming conventions. For example, for Sprint 1:
the planning event for Team A will be Team A Sprint 1 Planning,
the daily stand-ups will be as Team A Daily Scrum (Sprint 1) 1, Team A Daily Scrum (Sprint 1) 2 …, and
the retro event will be Team A Sprint 1 Retrospective.
Here too, the naming convention is quite important to understand and use.
Once we have these events, the first-cut of the Team Sprint Backlogs will be prepared. The figure shown below is for Scrum Team A.
As you can visualize in the above figure, for Team A:
The first event is the Team A Sprint 1 Planning. It’s a line item.
The next one is Team A Daily Scrum for Sprint 1 and it’s arecurring item.
The last event is Team A Sprint 1 Retrospective and it’s a line item.
Next, we will break the work items taken from the Product Backlog for Team A and break it down to individual tasks. While the feature items can be in story points or in any other estimation, the tasks will be estimated in hours.
For the “Login to the trading system” feature for Team A, we will have the following tasks:
Design and develop,
Implement UI,
Prepare test plans,
Execute test plans,
Integration Work, and
PO Review.
Do note that the Team Increment can come anytime during the Sprint 1, but it has to be integrated into the main branch (or line) in order to have the CIPSA Integrated Increment at the end of the Sprint.
After we have these tasks items, the Team A Sprint 1 Backlog will look like the one shown below.
As shown above, the Team A Sprint 1 Backlog encompasses all the items, including the events, which will be executed or conducted in Sprint 1. Similarly, we will have two more Team Backlogs – Team B Sprint 1 Backlog and Team C Sprint 1 Backlog.
Demonstration – Backlog Management at Scale
Now, it’s a good time to see what we have learned so far with the help of MS Project Agile software tool. To support this, I’ve the following video [duration: 6m approx.], the content of which is taken from the newly launched Certified In Practical Scaled Agile (CIPSA) course. For the best experience, you may want to go full-screen with HD mode and plug-in your earphones.
Exercise – Comparison of the Backlogs
We have understood how these Backlogs are prepared and we also looked at them practically. Next, can you think what are the differences among these backlogs?
Below are the five areas – creation of the artifacts, goal associations, the content inside followed by the life cycle of the artifact and events. In these areas, you can attempt to list out the differences.
The answer is explained in the below video [duration: 5m approx.]. While watching the videos, bring out your pencil and paper to learn better.
Conclusion
Slightly modifying the initial quote we started with, a related one is the following:
Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.
Indeed, we learn by doing. Because that is when we get truly involved.
There are connections among our fingers, hands and brains. When we do it with our own hands and our fingers are involved, coordination happens among our fingers, eyes and brains.
Visuals like figures and comparison tables coupled with practical, hands-on applicability are powerful. Because with that, we quickly grasp the explained concepts. And as we do it ourselves, it registers in our minds and memories for a long time.
I believe with this article you now understand how to manage the backlog items taken from a cross-team refined Product Backlog, build the CIPSA Sprint Backlog and multiple Team Sprint Backlogs.
The phrase "shades of grey" usually refers to situations that are not just black or white, right or wrong, left or right. Instead, they exist somewhere in between, where clarity is fuzzy, ambiguity is dominant, and absolutes don't really apply.
Hybrid is one such area. The predictive model of development relies on heavy upfront planning. In some cases, it's absolutely needed. At the other end of the development spectrum, we have adaptive, where there is very little detailed planning. The planning is mostly just-in-time (JIT) and usually happens before the iteration (as in Scrum) or when capacity is available (as in Kanban).
Hybrid development sits in between: between predictive and adaptive. It takes elements of both and delivers.
Understanding this need, the CHAMP certification has been specifically developed when Hybrid-Agile (or simply Hybrid) works best. CHAMP certification is all about hybrid. This certification is valuable because:
It blends rigid and flexible: Traditional Waterfall (predictive) is structured and sequential, while Agile (adaptive) is iterative and incremental. Hybrid-Agile? It weaves together the two. Hence, the term grey.
It's tailored, not textbook: With CHAMP and hence Hybrid-Agile, the project team doesn't follow the book. Rather, the team builds its own strategy based on the project's needs. The decision-making is in the grey zone, where trade-offs are not optional but essential.
It's highly practical with needed theory: The CHAMP certification is the world's only practical Hybrid-Agile certification. It’s also highly economical. See here.
Now, let's see the various Shades of Grey for Hybrid-Agile, as used in the CHAMP certification. Though there are many, I've highlighted a few.
Shade of Grey # 1: Hybrid-Scrum
In the hybrid world, Hybrid-Scrum is not just about stand-ups and retrospectives. It's not about upfront planning, either. It’s about embedding agility (Scrum) into a predictive framework — or predictive elements into an otherwise Agile project.
The CHAMP course teaches how to conduct Sprint Planning alongside Gantt charts; how to align features (or user stories) with a WBS; and how to hold Daily Scrums alongside routine meetings.
Shade of Grey # 2: Hybrid-Kanban
Scrum thrives on Sprints. Kanban thrives on flow. Hybrid-Kanban brings not only the flow, but also visualization with Kanban Boards, identification of work-in-progress (WIP) items, reporting with Cumulative Flow Diagrams, among other tools.
CHAMP doesn't just teach you Hybrid-Kanban management — it teaches you how to work with any type of Hybrid-Kanban project. Like Hybrid-Scrum, real-world projects are used here as well.
Shade of Grey # 3: Hybrid-ScrumBan
This is greyer than the greys! ScrumBan combines both Scrum and Kanban. Hence the name. Hybrid-ScrumBan goes a step further by blending Waterfall, Scrum, and Kanban.
As you progress through the CHAMP certification course, the Hybrid-ScrumBan approach becomes a powerful tool in your strategic toolkit. But how?
As a CHAMP, you learn when to iterate and when to go with flow. In other words, Sprints where needed, flow where it's a must. And once again, you'll master this through real-world, scenario-driven projects.
Shade of Grey # 4: Baselining Hybrid-Projects
Ask any professional, including management, and they’ll know the value of a baseline in a project. In predictive projects, baselining is essential to track progress, identify variances, perform variance analysis, and generate subsequent reports.
In Hybrid-Agile, baselining can still be applied because it includes predictive elements. But how do we apply baselines to the Agile parts? Sometimes, that’s necessary too — especially when regulatory requirements demand it. CHAMP teaches you exactly how to do that.
Shade of Grey # 5: Tracking Hybrid-Projects
Tracking is indispensable in any project. Even in Scrum projects, we use burndown and burnup charts. Once the initial scope is set, the schedule is defined, and cost expectations are established, it's time to track real progress against them.
But then tracking also comes with a shade of grey, as different elements may follow different approaches.
With CHAMP, you learn techniques such as Earned Value Analysis integrated with Agile metrics, and how to use MS Project’s tracking tools to update percent complete, actuals, and forecast variances.
Other Shades of Grey
There are other shades of grey. In the CHAMP course, they are explained, elaborated, and demonstrated hands-on through real-world projects using the practical software tool MS Project Agile. I’ve highlighted a few above.
Want to know more? Consider becoming a CHAMP. See here.
Conclusion
CHAMP is not a paper tiger course. It’s a hands-on, tool-driven, scenario-based certification.
You don’t just learn theory needed, you also build hybrid plans hands-on, track real metrics hands-on, and generate reports hands-on.
The CHAMP certification exam is not a quiz! It’s a proving ground and practical-driven. The question standard, as reported by CHAMP certified professionals, is high.
The course includes over 100 exercises, two full-length practice Q&A sets, and a 15-day money-back guarantee. The emphasis is on hands-on mastery: from project setup, board configurations, and board management to applying Hybrid-Agile principles and management techniques.
All of these are crucial for both your hybrid-agile certification and real-world application.
The Product Goal, which is part of the Product Backlog, is an essential element of the CIPSA framework. Though this term is well-known in the Agile community, its usage within a single Product Backlog supporting multiple Scrum or Kanban teams, is often not clearly understood when applied at scale.
In this article, we will explore what a Product Goal means for a large team and clarify some common misconceptions about this goal.
Among many, I’ve outlined the following points. These clearly distinguishes a Product Goal for Agile at Scale. Do note that both Product Backlog and Product Goal are commonly used terms for both CIPSA Scaled Scrum and CIPSA Scaled Kanban.
1. Not Short-term, but Long-term: The (CIPSA) Product Goal is not short-term. The Product Goal provides a long-term objective to the CIPSA team.
The Product Goal spans beyond immediate Sprints (as in CIPSA Scrum) or Integrated Increments. It offers guidance and path to meet final Product vision.
2. Not Per Team, but Shared: The Product Goal is not per individual teams - individual Scrum teams or Kanban teams. The Product Goal is shared by the entire CIPSA team working on a single product.
All individual teams (Scrum or Kanban) align under one unified Product Goal rather than having separate ones. This promotes cohesion and reduces conflicting priorities.
3. Not Just for CIPSA Team, but for All: The Product Goal is not only for the CIPSA team. The Product Goal provides vision, context and direction to the stakeholders.
The Product Goal informs and involves all stakeholders, not just the CIPSA team. It helps everyone understand the product direction and purpose.
4. Not Many at Once, but One at a Time: The Product Goal is not multiple at a time. The Product Goal is a single objective at a time.
There is only one Product Goal at a time. It ensures focus and clarity.
5. Not Static, but Evolving: The Product Goal is not static. It changes when needed. When one goal is completed, another is taken up.
The Product Goal adapts over time based on progress and feedback. Once a goal is achieved, a new goal emerges, continuing the product evolution.
6. Not Outside, but Inside: The Product Goal is not outside of the Product Backlog. Product Goal is part of the Product Backlog.
The Product Goal is clearly embedded within the Product Backlog and evolves with it. Such practice ensures that the goal remains visible and connected to the team's daily work.
7. Not Backlog-Driven, but Backlog-Driving: The content of the Product Backlog does not drive the Product Goal. The Product Goal drives the content of the Product Backlog.
This is another misconception, which needs clarity. The Product Goal shapes what goes into the Product Backlog, not the other way around! It ensures alignment between features to be taken and strategic direction.
Product Goal – Summary Table
In summary, Product Goal is indispensable for the success of the CIPSA team. The Product Goal is the ultimate one to achieve with the help of CIPSA Goals (or CIPSA Sprint Goals) and individual Team Goals (or Team Sprint Goals).
The above points that we just learned is summarized in the table below.
In Conclusion...
It’s the responsibility of the CPO to clearly communicate and emphasize the importance of the Product Goal. The CPO is accountable for it. For the CPO role, see here.
On the other hand, it is the responsibility of the CIPSA Team and individual teams to achieve the Product Goal through CIPSA Goals and individual Team Goals. Mark the extra "s" in other goals.
In other words, for one Product Goal (one objective at a time), there can be multiple CIPSA Goals and individual Team Goals.
The above explanations are only partial. Want to dive deeper? Consider becoming a CIPSA. When you subscribe to this course, you’ll learn:
What are the other uses of a Product Goal?
How do you define and add a Product Goal?
Where and when should it be added?
How can it be used by the CIPSA team?
How can it be used by the individual Scrum or Kanban teams?
And more.
To reiterative, the CIPSA certification is not only highly practical with a large number of exercises and solution files, it also comes at a very low cost.
The Certified In Practical Scaled Agile (CIPSA) courseworld’s only Practical Scaled Agile certification, where you learn scaling with your own hands. It’s also highly economical.
The below second trailer (1m: 4s) informs more. For the best experience, go full-screen HD mode and plug-in your headphones. For the earlier one, see here.
A tabular differentiation is shown below. Do note that CIPSA supports both Scrum at Scale and Kanban at Scale. There are many differences compared to other Scaled Agile certifications; I've outlined a few.
For example, cadence management for Kanban at Scale is complicated, but with CIPSA, you'll learn it in-depth. Similarly, you'll have visualizations with Cumulative Flow Diagrams (CFD), determining WIPs, among others.
To know more about the CIPSA certification course, see here.
For this course, many FAQs have been answered. See here.
In the CIPSA Kanban (not Scrum!) Framework, one key primary role is that of the Principal Flow Master (PFM). Very few Scaled Agile frameworks, if any, support team-level Kanban. CIPSA is unique not only in its practical, hands-on, tool-driven approach but also in its support of Kanban.
As the PFM role is new and not available in most Scaled Agile approaches, it is often misunderstood. Note that this role is unique to CIPSA certification.
In this post, we will learn more about the PFM role and how it differs from the individual team-level Flow Master. In addition, we will explore what this person actually does. This post explains “what it is and what it is not” to bring more clarity.
Principal Flow Master – What It Is and What It’s Not
1. Not a Manager, but an Enabler: The Principal Flow Master is not the manager of flow for the CIPSA team. The Principal Flow Master enables the flow for the CIPSA team.
This role of the PFM is not about command and control, but about creating the conditions for flow to happen naturally for the CIPSA Kanban team.
2. Not Intra-, but Inter-team: The Principal Flow Master is not concerned about intra-team bottlenecks. The Principal Flow Master is focused on inter-team bottlenecks (in flow).
The focus of the PFM is on how teams interact, not how they operate individually. The PFM looks for inter-team bottlenecks and works to remove them.
3. Not Team Metrics, but Product Flow: The Principal Flow Master does not track the individual Kanban team Increments. The Principal Flow Master tracks the overall product work and progress.
The PFM does not micro-manage team Increment or team-metrics, and indeed, he or she plays no role in that! The goal is to maintain visibility into the flow of value at the product or system level.
4. Not Local Fixes, but Systemic Resolution: The Principal Flow Master does not check for the issues and impediments within individual teams. The Principal Flow Master ensures resolutions of cross-team issues and removal of cross-team impediments.
It’s well-known in management that local issues are best handled by the team itself. The Principal Flow Master, on the other hand, focuses on complex, multi-team issues that block the CIPSA Team’s overall flow.
5. Not Individual Team Risks, but Cross-team Risks: The Principal Flow Master is not concerned about individual risks arising within individual teams. The Principal Flow Master is focused on cross-team risks.
Cross-cutting risks can impact multiple areas and jeopardize delivery. It’s the job of the PFM to manage the. By managing them, the CIPSA Team can have smoother coordination and predictability.
6. Not Setter, but Facilitator of WIP Limits: The Principal Flow Master does not set the work in progress (WIP) limits. The Principal Flow Master supports the team in deciding the WIP.
WIP can be set for the workflow states in the CIPSA Kanban Board. The CIPSA Team is trusted to self-regulate their capacity. The PFM’s role is to facilitate, not impose it.
Principal Flow Master – Summary Table
The following table contrasts common misconceptions with the true nature of the role of PFM, highlighting key differences in focus and approach.
Live Video Explanation
For the PFM role, I've prepared the below video [duration - 13m: 30s]. I've also explained the false pride in having "branded" certification. A certification should be useful to you. Watch the video alongside this article for a better learning experience. Plug-in your headphones and go full-screen HD.
Conclusion
The Principal Flow Master (PFM) plays a facilitative and enabling role, rather than a directive or managerial one. The PFM’s focus is not on managing individual teams or resolving team-specific issues, but on fostering cross-team alignment, enabling flow, and removing bottlenecks that hinder the CIPSA team’s ability to deliver.
Just as the Principal Scrum Master (PSM) is a key role in CIPSA Scrum (see here), the PFM is also a vital and indispensable role in CIPSA Kanban. Like the PSM, the PFM is a leader who servers the CIPSA Kanban team. However, unlike the Scruma@Scale+CIPSA mindset for the PSM, the thinking here for the PFM must be rooted in Kanban@Scale+CIPSA mindset.
The above list of “what it’s and what it’s not” is a partial and brief one.
Want to learn more with hands-on practical software tools?
Want to know how the PFM is assigned and part of the Flow Master group?
Want to visualize the workflow across the Integrated Kanban Board at Scale?
Want to build the Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) at Scale?
Want to resolve overallocations for Kanban at Scale?
Want to determine the Work in Progress Limit (WIP) at Scale?
To gain in-depth knowledge on all the above and more, consider being a CIPSA! You’ll learn Kanban at Scale in a hands-on manner with direct usage of software tool. The course is thoroughly practical and highly economical.
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