Core IT practices and delivery model
Below is a graphic depiction of our operating model delivery process. We have outlined our product management cycle according to the Atlassian way, leveraging existing processes where we can.
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Baseline delivery expectations
As a team, we are agreeing to hold ourselves accountable for implementing the following standards:
All products have a vision statement and 12-month roadmap with business outcomes clearly defined
All products or product groups are holding external and internal QBRs quarterly business reviews where they are reviewing progress against product roadmaps, reporting business outcomes, and updating roadmaps accordingly
Product groups are holding quarterly planning exercises for multi-product efforts and involving shared services where needed
All product teams are logging major epics and features in Jira
All product teams should begin tracking capacity and velocity (not yet standardized)
All product teams are on some sprint cycle (2 weeks ideally) and holding retrospectives at the end of each sprint
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IT operating rhythm
Along with the delivery expectations, we will also be governing ourselves according to the below set of cadences. This is to ensure we stay consistent and agile, while also providing an extra layer of transparency between business stakeholders and the IT teams.
Cadence | Meeting | Lead | Recipients | Description |
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Annual → Shifting to Quarterly | Quarterly planning (TBD) | CIO | Whole company |
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Quarterly | Quarterly planning / PI Planning (optional) | IT Teams | IT teams |
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Internal quarterly business review (internal to IT) | IT Strategy | IT executives |
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External quarterly business review (optional for business) | PM/IT Strategy | IT executives & business |
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“Rolling 4” quarterly planning | IT Strategy | Whole company |
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State of IT | IT Strategy | Whole company |
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Monthly | Portfolio review | Group PMs and IT Strategy | IT leadership |
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Ad-hoc | Project review | PMs and business partners | IT and business stakeholders |
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Standard processes
Processes and shared services | Description | Execution (centralized vs. decentralized) |
|---|---|---|
Intake and demand management | Intake of requests, projects, and business priorities; prioritization of work; management of approval process of requests and handling of cancelled or duplicated requests | Centralized: organizational alignment on process of intake and qualification of business priorities (e.g. request submitted through Jira, certain requests require business case, etc.) Decentralized: Product Owner will be responsible for prioritization, demand management and delivery |
Resource and capacity management | Management of resource capacity and allocation for IT and per product team (via quarterly capacity analysis, run/grow framework, etc.) | Centralized: program management org tracks resource capacity and allocation at the portfolio level. May provide tools for teams to use in managing resources Decentralized: product leader is responsible for assigning resources and ensuring capacity is within target at product/project level each quarter |
Budgeting and financial management | Management of investments and budgets, and quarterly review of financials | Centralized: financial (investments, budgets, etc.) planning and tracking done at org-level Decentralized: management of team budgets done at product/project level |
Program management organization / Portfolio management | Define and maintain standards on methodology and templates for project execution; center of excellence for reference on how to run a product/project successfully and effectively | Centralized: program management org defines some standard templates for project/program management including roles and responsibilities, dependencies. etc. Decentralized: teams leverage tools if needed |
Enterprise architecture (EA) | Develop organization’s systems and processes in line with business strategy; provide big-picture long-term view for the org; develop a system of steps and procedures for staff to support organization of data | Centralized: team defines EA standards; manages enterprise architecture Decentralized: EAs create reference architecture for product teams; ensures adoption of architectural tools; helps define 3-year roadmaps with business teams |
Software development lifecycle management | Define phases of lifecycle, including requirement analysis, planning, design, development, test & QA, and delivery/ deployment | Centralized: program management org defines standards and methodologies for agile best practices for each product/project team to implement; provides training to business teams to assist with gradual adoption of agile Decentralized: product teams manage backlog and deliver independently, but follow overarching agile guidelines and principles laid out by the program management org |
Story writing | Map user journeys; document business requirements and user stories | Centralized: alignment on taxonomy (e.g. epic, features, etc.) Decentralized: product owners conduct story writing and story pointing |
Organizational change management | Manage and enable the change of new business processes, organizational structure, culture, etc. | Centralized: change team provides change management approaches for major releases of new technology Decentralized: individual teams execute on change management with their stakeholders |
Communications | Facilitate communications at each level, within teams, with leadership, to business teams, and across other IT teams
| Centralized: communications function manages comms for major programs and external facing communications Decentralized: product teams have planning and execution communications, and communications with business teams and other IT teams for cross-functional projects |
Service management (ITIL process change, CM, releases, incident, QA, asset mgmt, etc.) | Implementation and management of quality IT services that meet the needs of the business | Centralized: service providers/ITIL process team is responsible for establishing guardrails for and configuring systems for core ITIL processes such as change, incident, problem mgmt. Decentralized: Teams responsible for executing ITIL processes within established framework. |
Data management | Collect, keep and use data and business intelligence securely, efficiently and cost-effectively in order to create value | Centralized: definition of data strategy; implementation of data management platforms, establishment of data governance process. Decentralized: Data analysis, intelligence |
Security | Ensure business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) plans are in place and process exists if needed to be executed on | Centralized: IT security team accountable for all security needs with IT org and vendors (meets with the security team, ensures BC/DR maturity by developing and maintaining standards, develops and enhances security policies, etc.) |
Infrastructure operations | Administration and management of technology, information, and data | Centralized: infrastructure ops team manages computers, servers, processes, networks, storage, data, software, security, and cloud-based services |
Vendor management | Manage vendor renewals, new contracts, and vendor relationship | Centralized: vendor management team works with vendors to deliver on roadmap, enhancements, and info affecting the product; manage service level agreements, metrics, and conduct quarterly business reviews |