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The Rollout: A Novel about Leadership and Building a Lean-Agile Enterprise with SAFe®
Ethan, the newly appointed Transformation Team Leader at VeraComm Systems—a large product development organization—finds himself in the middle of violent the company has failed to cope with the increasing complexities of building competitive communications solutions and is rapidly losing market share. Caught between a traditional approach to program and portfolio management, and half-baked Agile methods at the team level, he struggles to help his company find a way out. Faced with a nearly impossible quest, he attends a conference desperately seeking a solution. There he finds a glimpse of hope—a method that applies the notion of Agility at a much higher scale. Inspired by this discovery, Ethan charges into action, launching the rollout of a new method at his company. But in no time, he runs into a brick wall which puts the rollout, and his own career, in grave danger. He comes to realize that the basic culture and his enterprise’s way of thinking are its biggest impediments to success. His quest leads him to understand that his own mindset is also part of the problem.... The reader will be pulled into the exciting action unfolding as Ethan leads his organization towards enterprise agility. Fictional, but based on a broad range of real-life implementations, this novel by Alex Yakyma provides a war chest of techniques and tools to support large-scale rollouts of Lean and Agile methods.
419 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 18, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 10, 2017
I read "The Rollout" on the back of "The Phoenix Project" as I thought it would complement the other nicely.
Have to say, "The Phoenix Project" worked a lot better for me than this one. I found "The Rollout" a little less relevant, a little lower on actual detail -- I got the feeling that a LOT was left out of the practical application of SAFe (the Scaled Agile Framework). I can see how it all works at a high level but I ended the book feeling there was a lot less practical application than I'd like.
It's still a good book, though. It does handily point up some of the problems of combining the output from multiple agile teams, to make sure they're all heading the same direction.
The author has an annoying tendency to break into rapturous contemplation of nature. I think he was trying to point out that there's more to life than work, but these junctures felt ill-fitted, not blended well with the whole.
Still, as I say, a good read and I recommend it to you if you're at all interested in applying agile to application development.
Have to say, "The Phoenix Project" worked a lot better for me than this one. I found "The Rollout" a little less relevant, a little lower on actual detail -- I got the feeling that a LOT was left out of the practical application of SAFe (the Scaled Agile Framework). I can see how it all works at a high level but I ended the book feeling there was a lot less practical application than I'd like.
It's still a good book, though. It does handily point up some of the problems of combining the output from multiple agile teams, to make sure they're all heading the same direction.
The author has an annoying tendency to break into rapturous contemplation of nature. I think he was trying to point out that there's more to life than work, but these junctures felt ill-fitted, not blended well with the whole.
Still, as I say, a good read and I recommend it to you if you're at all interested in applying agile to application development.
December 18, 2016
Excellent book on the implementation of Agile Release Trains or how to implement Scaled Agile. Nicely wrapped in a business novel it explores the do's and don'ts, starting from one ART to many.
December 21, 2019
I picked up this book for professional reasons, and I am so glad that I did. I stumbled upon this boon while looking for some literature on Scaled Agile Framework for Enterprise (SAFe). Written as a novel, the author does a good job of walking you through the challenges the organization in the story was facing. The story of the transformation, told through the protagonist's point view, is pretty straightforward to follow. It was quite easy to understand how why SAFe is needed, how it could potentially be implemented and the challenges one might run into during its assimilation into the organization. All in all, good read, and I am so happy I came across this book at the right time.
September 20, 2020
The Phoenix Project and The Unicorn Project set the foundation of agile knowledge. This book is a great addition for companies that partially implemented Agile/SCRUM and thought they were done. My favorite parts of the story were about the legacy mindset that has to be overcome otherwise the team will just waterfall SCRUM, the PI, and the Agile Release Train.
However, I do not hink this is a good book for people who do not already know the basics of the Agile Manefesto, SCRUM, and the lean movement.
However, I do not hink this is a good book for people who do not already know the basics of the Agile Manefesto, SCRUM, and the lean movement.
May 7, 2017
This book was great for any consultant that works in the agile space. It walks you step by step through a SAFe transformation and actually gives you a chance to practice the conversations, interactions, challenges and obstacles that you will face in your rollout. I use this book as a reference before any meetings that I have with clients around the SAFe Framework. This should be must read material for any SAFe SPC.
February 8, 2020
The novel is really a good way to convey the ideas behind SAFe and its ceremonies. This is really valuable when first getting introduced to SAFe or scanning Agile practices in general.
I did however find parts cheesy and I also thought how much Ethan explored London in a week a bit far fetched. Look past this and I would highly recommend it.
I did however find parts cheesy and I also thought how much Ethan explored London in a week a bit far fetched. Look past this and I would highly recommend it.
August 5, 2017
I liked the way to explain the position of change agent during the transformation, the values and the humility required in order to understand something new and let old mindset go away,
Leadership
Courage
Decision-making (decentralized).
Team empowerment
Leadership
Courage
Decision-making (decentralized).
Team empowerment
March 27, 2020
A wonderful book if you are struggling with SAFe Implementation or Transformation.
This book is written as a novel to add curiosity to the reader. Recommended read for all the Leaders in Organization.
This book is written as a novel to add curiosity to the reader. Recommended read for all the Leaders in Organization.
April 30, 2021
A fantastic novel highlighting transformation
One of the biggest obstacles in transformation is gaining leadership support and that of ability of leadership to trust teams to make decision. The novel has bought this aspect out in a very lucid way.
One of the biggest obstacles in transformation is gaining leadership support and that of ability of leadership to trust teams to make decision. The novel has bought this aspect out in a very lucid way.
July 26, 2021
Good way to learn SAFe
It was really interesting to read the approach in the form of a novel. It spurred more thoughts and ideas than the actual class. Only reason for a 4 and not a 5 is that some characters were either nearly perfect or stereotypically against lean Agile.
It was really interesting to read the approach in the form of a novel. It spurred more thoughts and ideas than the actual class. Only reason for a 4 and not a 5 is that some characters were either nearly perfect or stereotypically against lean Agile.
December 22, 2021
The book lacked some details, but did an overall good job laying out the methodology. Pair this book with a more technical and detailed book on SAFe and you’ll benefit from the story/application of this book, and the more intense details of the other.
May 22, 2018
The last chapter seemed overkill. I thought the author has dragged it a bit. Some dialogues seemed irrelevant. But overall a good book to read. Every software professional should read this once.
January 18, 2019
Good book
This story helped me to understand better the concepts of the framework end to end from a more practical point of view
This story helped me to understand better the concepts of the framework end to end from a more practical point of view
April 17, 2018
Really good book! I learned a lot about SAFe in a short time and it was an enjoyable read.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews