Agile on Romano Roth

How to Reduce Costs While Continuously Delivering Value

Sat, 25 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

How can organizations reduce costs while still delivering real value to their customers? This is a question I get asked frequently, and one that a client recently brought to me when they wanted a keynote for their solution architects. In this talk, I walk through the key principles and practical techniques for continuously delivering value while cutting unnecessary spending.

The Cybernetic Enterprise is Coming: Are You Ready?

Sat, 30 Nov 2024 23:00:00 +0000

In August 2025 I will release my new book, The Cybernetic Enterprise: How to Build a Future-Ready Organization.

It is the product of two decades spent guiding enterprises through DevOps, platform engineering and, more recently, AI-driven transformation. Today I want to give you a deeper look at what the book delivers, and why it matters right now.

SAFe Leadership Forum: Empowering SAFe with Platform Engineering for Fast Flow

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

What are the railroad tracks of your SAFe agile release trains? How are they built, and why do they matter so much? In this talk at the SAFe Leadership Forum, I explore how platform engineering creates the foundation that enables agile teams to continuously deliver value for fast flow.

Introduction to Modern Development Practices in Banking: A Playbook

Fri, 29 Mar 2024 10:47:16 +0000

Intdiuction the the eBook Moving to Modern Development Practices in Banking: A Playbook

Welcome to the “Modern Banking eBook”, a comprehensive guide for banking institutions embarking on the crucial journey of modernising their software development processes. I’m Romano Roth, and it’s my privilege to walk you through the transformative steps that can reshape the way banks operate in the digital age.

The Digital Factory: 90 Days of DevOps

Sun, 04 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

For the 90 Days of DevOps community, I presented the concept of the digital factory. After years of doing DevOps transformations across industries at Zühlke, I have developed a holistic approach to scaling DevOps that goes beyond just tools and pipelines. In this talk, I explain why we still struggle with walls of confusion, how platform engineering enables teams to do DevOps at scale, and how digital factories bring everything together.

DevOps Transformations: My Lessons Learned

Sun, 03 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

DevOps transformations look simple on paper. Take an existing environment, add the Spotify model, throw in SAFe, sprinkle some Team Topologies, add DevOps and platform engineering, stir well, add as many tools as possible, and stir again. What happens? It crashes. And people say “DevOps is bullshit.”

What are Digital Factories ?

Thu, 26 Oct 2023 18:24:38 +0000

a talk with Romano Roth, DevOps Thought Leader and Dr. Milan Milanović Architecture Thought Leader. Source: https://newsletter.techworld-with-milan.com/p/what-are-digital-factories

1. Romano’s short biography
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I’m Romano Roth, Chief of DevOps and Partner at Zühlke. My journey with Zuhlke began 21 years ago. Over the years, I’ve evolved from an expert software engineer and software architect to a consultant. Throughout this journey, one question has always fueled my passion: How can we continuously deliver value while ensuring quality and automation?

Overcoming Resistance: The Powerful Method You Need

Sat, 23 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In this podcast episode, I have a conversation with Peyton Einhaus about one of the most challenging aspects of any transformation: dealing with resistance. Whether you are running an agile transformation, a DevOps transformation, or any organizational change, resistance is always present. The question is how you handle it effectively.

Moving to Modern Software Development and Continuous Integration for Banks: Insights from Romano

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 14:28:56 +0000

By Anna Redbond and Romano Roth on August 2, 2023

A lot of banks are moving to modern software development despite the traditional industry hurdles like compliance, regulations, and legacy architecture. The shared goal: becoming more adaptable to meet customers’ changing demands.

DevOps Is Dead? Why Platform Engineering and SRE Need DevOps More Than Ever

Tue, 10 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The internet is full of posts claiming that DevOps is dead. “DevOps is bullshit.” “Platform Engineering will replace DevOps.” “SRE is the future.” In this video, I explain why all of these claims are wrong, where they come from, and how DevOps, Platform Engineering, and Site Reliability Engineering actually relate to each other.

Back to the future of software development

Tue, 03 Jan 2023 23:00:00 +0000

By Pia Wiedermayer and Romano Roth

In many organizations and projects, software development involves numerous employees and machines performing tasks separately. This approach results in problems. Here’s how going back to the original way of developing software and building an organic digital factory can help.

What is an Epic?

Fri, 15 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

How do you make sure your organization is not overloaded with too many projects, too many ideas, and too little focus? And how do you ensure you are building the right thing? This is exactly what epics are for. In this video, I walk through the concept of epics, show you a concrete example, and explain why epics are far more effective than traditional projects.

What is a Product Backlog Item (PBI)?

Tue, 28 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In my previous video, we explored what a backlog is. We learned that a backlog consists of Product Backlog Items, short PBI. In this video, we go one level deeper and look at what exactly a PBI is, how it evolves over time, and how it relates to the product backlog, the sprint backlog, and the product owner.

What is a Backlog?

Mon, 06 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

What is a backlog, and why is backlog management so important in agile software development? In this video, I break down the concept of a backlog, explain the difference between a product backlog and a sprint backlog, and show how tools like Jira support backlog management in practice.

Lean Portfolio Management at Zühlke

Wed, 20 Apr 2022 11:34:31 +0000

As a leading innovation company with 1600 employees in Germany, United Kingdom, Austria, Serbia, Bulgaria, Singapore, Hong Kong, Portugal, Switzerland and Vietnam, Zühlke has always some ongoing and planned strategic initiatives.

Participatory budgeting: next level financing

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 16:22:25 +0000

One size fits all? Nothing of the sort! Participatory budgeting calls for a tailored solution, one that can constantly evolve and adapt to the given situation. In this article, we describe how we do it at Zühlke.

What is SAFe® for DevOps Course?

Sat, 12 Mar 2022 17:58:51 +0000

The SAFe® for DevOps training is an assessment or a workshop that is ideally suited for teams. Why? Because the focus is on driving the value stream of these teams. Addressing questions, challenges, and any potential obstacles - we can work on the training to provide value to them. We will give them the theory input of what exactly DevOps is.

Participatory Budgeting V2.0: Next Level Financing

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 06:42:10 +0000

Together with my colleague Nadine, I presented an updated version of our participatory budgeting approach. We had already shared the first version at a previous event, but since then we made significant changes that we wanted to share. A quick disclaimer: we did not invent participatory budgeting. We built on the materials from the SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), so you will find the copyright on the relevant slides. If you want to introduce participatory budgeting in your own organization, we are happy to share our experience and always reference the original SAFe materials.

How Zühlke Implemented Lean Portfolio Management with Kanban and OKRs

Tue, 30 Nov 2021 06:29:52 +0000

Many organizations still rely on annual planning cycles with large upfront budgets, waterfall-style gate reviews, and business cases that are written solely to secure funding. The result is often a massive overload of initiatives, poor quality, delayed projects, and a fundamental disconnect between output and actual business impact. In this talk, my colleague and I share how we introduced Lean Portfolio Management at Zühlke Engineering, what we achieved in our first MVP after six months, and where we plan to go next.

How Zühlke Implemented Lean Portfolio Management with Kanban and OKRs

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

How can strategy be translated into execution in a transparent, lean, and scalable way?

What This Talk Covers
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In this session, we share how Zühlke introduced Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) based on SAFe and adapted it to the organizational context. We show how we built an MVP for LPM by combining a portfolio kanban, transparent epic and roadmap management, and group-wide OKRs to improve strategic alignment and decision-making.

Hey DevOps, you're killing my job!

Mon, 22 Nov 2021 18:02:18 +0000

Is DevOps really the reason why testing and quality assurance (QA) employees are being increasingly automated out of a job? Pia Wiedermayer, Head of QA, and Romano Roth, Head of DevOps, discuss different ways to incorporate the wealth of experience of testing and QA specialists into the agile team culture.

What is Synthesize? | SAFe DevOps Health Radar

Sun, 22 Aug 2021 16:17:07 +0000

In this video, I explain what Synthesize is and how it works within the SAFe DevOps Health Radar. Synthesize is the fourth and final step of Continuous Exploration, where we combine the outputs of Hypothesize, Collaborate and Research, and Architect into a prioritized backlog with a clear vision and roadmap.

What is Hypothesize? | SAFe DevOps Health Radar

Mon, 02 Aug 2021 12:00:33 +0000

In this video, I take a deep dive into Hypothesize, the first process step of the SAFe DevOps Health Radar and the continuous delivery pipeline. The core question is simple: how do you know you are building the right thing?

Participatory Budgeting: Funding in the 21st Century

Tue, 29 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

How can innovation and development budgets be distributed faster, more transparently, and more effectively? Participatory Budgeting offers a collaborative approach to steering investments not project-by-project, but along value streams and strategic priorities.

Participatory Budgeting: Financing in the 21st Century

Wed, 09 Jun 2021 10:58:01 +0000

In this meetup talk, Nadine Broghammer and I share our experience coaching a portfolio team on participatory budgeting based on the SAFe framework. We explain the problem with traditional top-down budget allocation and show how participatory budgeting creates transparency, fosters entrepreneurial thinking, and leads to better investment decisions.

What is SAFe for DevOps?

Sun, 06 Jun 2021 18:56:06 +0000

In this video, I explain what the SAFe for DevOps training is all about. Unlike traditional classroom courses, this training is a hands-on workshop where real teams work on their own value streams and leave with a concrete, prioritized action plan.

Test automation with Behavior-Driven Development (BDD)

Sat, 20 Feb 2021 20:44:14 +0000

Automating tests is a complex and demanding task. The iterative approach in the development process also means that the automated tests have to be continuously adapted. Behaviour-driven development (BDD) can be used to simplify and speed up test automation.

What is TDD? Test-Driven Development Explained

Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

What exactly is TDD or Test-Driven Development, and why do so many experienced engineers swear by it? In this short video I explain where TDD comes from, how the red-green-refactor cycle works, and I walk through a simple C# calculator example that shows the process in action. TDD is not only a development technique, it is a mindset that shapes how you approach every line of code.

What is the difference between traditional testing and agile testing?

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 21:32:09 +0000

When we are talking about traditional testing, we are talking about the V-model which is used in waterfall projects. We do requirement engineering, we write down features for our software, then we break them down and then write stories which are then given to the developer to implement this story. The developer then codifies this and then writes unite tests and integration tests.

What is waste 🗑 in Software Development?

Sun, 17 Jan 2021 21:14:49 +0000

I’ve identified 9 types of waste 🗑 in Software Development:

🧩Partially done work

💲Extra features

😤Extra processes

🤯Task switching

🧟‍♀️Nonstandard work

What is the history of the Waterfall Process?

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 21:04:36 +0000

The “inventor” of the waterfall process 💧 said in 1970: “I believe in this concept, but the implementation described above is risky and invites failure.” 😱

What is the difference between Waterfall and Agile?

Mon, 31 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Waterfall and Agile are not just two flavours of project management. They are two fundamentally different ways of dealing with uncertainty. If you understand that, the rest follows.

Waterfall: Linear and Sequential
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Waterfall is a linear sequential life cycle model. The team only moves to the next phase if the previous one finished successfully. Requirements first, then design, then implementation, then testing, then deployment, then operation. Each phase has a hand-off and a sign-off. Each phase produces a document that the next phase consumes.

How to start a DevOps transformation

Thu, 30 Jul 2020 18:20:54 +0000

At first glance, a DevOps transformation seems to be a major undertaking for any company. But with the right approach, you can keep the process lean and agile.

Insight in brief
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Start small with a small to medium sized project or product.
Select the right people to ensure sufficient credibility and influence.
Continuous improvement is key to success.

Better through the crisis thanks to DevOps

Sun, 26 Jul 2020 19:45:30 +0000

The coronavirus crisis is demonstrating how companies with an agile DevOps mindset can better respond to new circumstances and challenges than companies with rigid structures and processes.

By Romano Roth and Romeo Weber

Personal Kanban: Visualize Your Work, Limit Your WIP, Transform Your Life

Fri, 12 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

In a world overflowing with tasks, to-do lists, and competing priorities, staying productive and focused has never been more challenging. Personal Kanban is a lightweight, visual workflow management method rooted in the Toyota Production System and adapted for individual use by Jim Benson and Tonianne DeMaria Barry.

Agile on Romano Roth

How to Reduce Costs While Continuously Delivering Value

The Cybernetic Enterprise is Coming: Are You Ready?

SAFe Leadership Forum: Empowering SAFe with Platform Engineering for Fast Flow

Introduction to Modern Development Practices in Banking: A Playbook

The Digital Factory: 90 Days of DevOps

DevOps Transformations: My Lessons Learned

What are Digital Factories ?

1. Romano’s short biography #

Overcoming Resistance: The Powerful Method You Need

Moving to Modern Software Development and Continuous Integration for Banks: Insights from Romano

DevOps Is Dead? Why Platform Engineering and SRE Need DevOps More Than Ever

Back to the future of software development

What is an Epic?

What is a Product Backlog Item (PBI)?

What is a Backlog?

Lean Portfolio Management at Zühlke

Participatory budgeting: next level financing

What is SAFe® for DevOps Course?

Participatory Budgeting V2.0: Next Level Financing

How Zühlke Implemented Lean Portfolio Management with Kanban and OKRs

How Zühlke Implemented Lean Portfolio Management with Kanban and OKRs

What This Talk Covers #

Hey DevOps, you're killing my job!

What is Synthesize? | SAFe DevOps Health Radar

What is Hypothesize? | SAFe DevOps Health Radar

Participatory Budgeting: Funding in the 21st Century

Participatory Budgeting: Financing in the 21st Century

What is SAFe for DevOps?

Test automation with Behavior-Driven Development (BDD)

What is TDD? Test-Driven Development Explained

What is the difference between traditional testing and agile testing?

What is waste 🗑 in Software Development?

What is the history of the Waterfall Process?

What is the difference between Waterfall and Agile?

Waterfall: Linear and Sequential #

How to start a DevOps transformation

Insight in brief #

Better through the crisis thanks to DevOps

Personal Kanban: Visualize Your Work, Limit Your WIP, Transform Your Life

1. Romano’s short biography
#

What This Talk Covers
#

Waterfall: Linear and Sequential
#

Insight in brief
#