When Your Agile Transformation Team *Is* The Primary Barrier To Your Agile Transformation

Daniel Gullo, CSC, CST

Abstract:

You have come to the realization that yourAgile Transformation Teamis actually the biggest impediment to your organization’s Agile Adoption efforts. Now what? Come to this session to hear about the patterns of dysfunction around transformation teams and 5 techniques to resolve and prevent these costly mistakes from happening. Daniel will share real world examples from his8+ years experiencecoaching enterprise Agile transformations. There will also be time for open discussion and questions.

INTRODUCTION

(5 minutes)

  1. – A funny story and background to make people feel welcome, allow them to settle-in, and set the tone of the session: participative and exploratory, somewhat humorous
  2. – The story is: Why I have always hated the Pig and Chicken Joke.
  3. – First, tell the joke.
  4. – Then, explain that the joke has always reminded me of George Orwell's Animal Farm; which is significant because so-called "Agile Transformation Teams" often play the role of the pigs in Animal Farm far TOO well. They begin by over-throwing an oppressive system of control only to replace it with an even MORE oppressive system of control.

THE PROBLEM

*(5 minutes)*

  1. – At least a half dozen times in my experience over the last 8+ years, an organization's internal transformation team has been the biggest barrier to their Agile adoption.
  2. – In speaking with other Agile coaches and transformation agents, I have found that this is a common problem.
  3. – I will share a case study (or a few) which will resonate with the attendees and their organizational transformation efforts and set the context for the remainder of the session: What happened at x client?
  4. – What happens when there is a executive mandate for Agile with no support?
  5. – What happens when there is an executive mandate for Agile with a tiger-team style transformation group? (I.e. command and control, heavyweight process and SDLC driven)
  6. – Signs that the transformation has stalled.

TABLE TALK: EXPLORING THE ATTENDEE PERSPECTIVES

(10 minutes)
Attendees reflect on the experiences I share and add their own experiences
These will be captured and collected for inclusion in a research study on barriers to Agile adoption

SHARE OUT

(10 minutes)
Attendees will share some of the things their table group came up with
I will comment on these and ensure that the time box is maintained

FIVE (5) TECHNIQUES TO DEAL WITH INEFFECTIVE TRANSFORMATION TEAMS

(15 minutes)

Organizational Vision / Create understanding across the organization of what they are trying to be and why.
Transformation Backlog / Build a backlog of changes and refinements and ensure that it is ordered by highest value at any given moment.
Communities Of Practice / Establish groups that will support learning and growth across the organization. Begin with people who are passionate about opportunities and innovation.
Regular Retrospectives / Conduct regular retrospectives for the transformation effort so that EVERYONE understands what is working well, what isn't working well, and what experiments they would like to run.
Think Globally, Act Locally / Decentralize decision making by de-emphasizing uniformity and "consistency" across the entire organization. We don't want battle droids or clones assembled into "teams". We want autonomous, free-thinking, knowledge workers who are motivated toward helping the organization be successful.

TABLE TALK: EXPLORING THE ATTENDEE PERSPECTIVES

(10 minutes)
Attendees will discuss the 5 techniques and also brainstorm their ideas for how to recover from a stalled Agile Transformation or prevent a stall.

SHARE OUT

(10 minutes)
Attendees share what they discussed and their take on the techniques
I will comment on these as they are shared and maintain the timebox

FINAL Q&A AND CALL TO ACTION!

(10 minutes)

Prerequisite Knowledge:

Knowledge of Agile Manifesto Values and Principles, Scrum, XP, Lean, Kanban, SAFe, and other basics will be referenced but not taught. This is not an introductory course. It's intended for practitioners and above.

Learning Outcomes:

  • How to identify when your Agile Transformation has begun to stall
  • How to reboot a stalled Agile Transformation using Five Proven Techniques