Agile Failed To Deliver On It’s Promise
Authored by:
Steve Walton,
Partner, ADAPTOVATE Australia
Jeffrey von Drehnen,
Project Lead,
ADAPTOVATE
Australia
At the turn of the millennium the Scrum Framework emerged, branded Agile, as the great hope to transform the way businesses delivered technology. This was against a backdrop of massive technology projects failing to meet expectations due to high costs, repeated delays and significant gaps in quality. This was especially true with corporate technology transformations, as they failed to migrate off unscalable and costly legacy systems. (1)
Things looked bright for Agile.
- Technology teams demonstrated a newfound ability to innovate and flex around changing customer needs
- Big name disruptors including Spotify and Netflix showed that Agile built a culture of empowerment and iteration to get results early and lead the market
- Scaled Agile frameworks emerged as simple tools that would deliver real benefits in connecting business and technology to get value to customers fast
Businesses around the globe began ambitious transformations to align their people around customer needs.
1 – Dilution of principles
Popular perceptions of the problems with Web3 technologies and renewable energy have taken hold over the past decade, without consideration of the advancements in these technologies. Megatrends and disruption however tell us one thing: the future will not look like the past. Applying a growth mindset to the two megatrends of virtualisation and renewables opens the opportunity for Australia to enable the full potential of Web3 through abundant renewable energy.
Today, Web3 technologies are at the forefront of innovation. Tomorrow, they will be commonplace. Ask ten different people what Web3 is and you’ll get ten different answers, ranging from “the next fad” to “a societal revolution”. Web3 encompasses a convergence of technologies and concepts, including blockchain, cryptocurrency, smart contracts, NFTs and the metaverse. Whilst we don’t yet know the details of how Web3 technologies will shape our world, what is clear is that it will increasingly matter for businesses and consumers, and will have significant energy requirements.
Power Demands of Web3
A key to successful transformation is the ability to articulate the purpose (why we are doing it) and the outcome we want to achieve (what success looks like). Additionally, leaders need to be aligned on these points and set design principles that they will follow when making decisions and to define the scope of change.
Failure to stick to design principles can result in:
- Not achieving the desired speed and cost reductions – When leaders are not united in a strong vision, and share their commitment to specific outcomes, a culture of low accountability develops. This is accompanied by a hesitation to make bold decisions, a willingness to accept the status quo and changes that are not significant enough to deliver the benefits being sought.
- Increased organisational conflict – Implementing a patchwork of ad hoc individual changes instead of applying an integrated approach creates organisational confusion across a range of areas including funding, prioritisation and dependency management. This confusion will drive comments like “Agile doesn’t work here” and increase resistance to change.
- Lack of culture change – Organisations which adopt a multiplicity of approaches often have leaders express a belief their group is so special, it will not benefit from adopting proven best practices, even when customised. By only implementing fragments of practices, change is surface only and does not impact how people plan, collaborate or deliver. Interactions are not codified and streamlined, the existing issues related to too much time in meetings, too many silos and slow speed to output will remain.
2 – Consultants behave as if you can apply rules to people
At its core, Agile is about people. Whilst frameworks and playbooks are very useful tools, they cannot be applied to people. For Agile to work, people must understand these tools and be interested in adopting them. Once adopted, they must be supported to learn how to embed them into how they work. This takes trust, time and empathy.
Getting outside help is still useful as partnering with experts can provide:
- Experience and insights from having achieved success previously, including across other organisations and industries
- Additional specialised capabilities and capacity, so you can continue to run your business while also delivering the benefits of an Agile transformation at the same time
- Unbiased advice as external experts do not have a personal investment in the current state, they are able to be bold in suggesting alternatives and challenging current thinking
This help must however be people and culture focused.
Agile frameworks cannot replace talking with people to change culture
The benefits of Agile come from “being Agile”, not “doing Agile”. Agile benefits are from the mindset and purpose behind the practices. For significant gains, this mindset must be embedded in the organisation’s culture from leadership to the front line.
Every organisation has a culture that evolved from multiple elements, including how the organisation’s purpose has evolved over time, the personality of its leaders and how people interact to do their work. Successful culture change requires understanding why the current attitudes exist and incorporating actions to drive appropriate changes.
Simply instructing people in isolated new practices, will achieve little. People may do as instructed for a while, then revert to previous practices. Rather than focusing on what to do, start with what you are trying to achieve and then provide the practices which assist. This requires conversation and listening to people and finding what is relevant to them.
Language must be meaningful and inclusive
Whilst we can all speak different languages, key terms, must not cause conflict or confusion. When there is debate over nomenclature, confusion and frustration will slow communication and build change resistant.
Agreements on what to call work items, or organisational groups can prevent progress for months. Where leaders do not reach agreement, and different parts of the organisation use the same term, such as Epic, confusion will repeatedly slow conversations and potentially stall delivery.
Language is powerful, as it allows us to share understanding and to note change. In Agile, language is used to mark a different way of thinking. For example – one client I worked with found the terms Cadence and Ceremony did not fit with their culture. After discussion, we agreed on the terms Rhythms and Routines, to describe how their Agile teams planned, aligned, got feedback and reflected.
Failure to respond to cultural feedback will create change resistance and potentially alienate the very people whose lives the transformation hopes to improve.
Change is a journey for most people
A move to Agile is more than a change to the types of meetings held and the way work is performed. It requires team members taking on a change in identity as they take on new roles, mindsets and practices. This is a big ask. However, usually when implementing a transformation, employees are not asked and yet there is an expectation they respond as if they are.
What do we ask of people? We ask them to let go of a role they understand and value, a role which they may have had success in. Duties may change and ideas of leadership may be challenged. It is important to consider how transformation outcomes, such as reducing the complexity of job titles, can be balanced with cultural sensitivity around being valued and recognised. Failure to get this right disempowers and demotivates people at all levels of the change.
Successful change must be led with people in mind. People need to be provided with information early and regularly, so they have time to process what is being asked of them. They also need to determine if and how they are willing to be part of the new future.
An individual’s transformation journey requires much more than being locked in a two-day training session with sandwiches and bad free coffee. It involves nine key elements:
- Understanding and agreeing with the need for change
- Awareness of the types of changes which may impact them
- Awareness of the high level timeframe, specifically how it related to them
- Frequent opportunities to ask questions
- Providing input and getting answers
- Tips on how to prepare for upcoming changes
- Training in the new way of working
- Access to simple “how to” information
- Supported in how to be successful after the change
3 – There is no upfront benefit for individuals to change
Announcements for change initiatives often include a “WHY” statement that describes the rationale behind an Agile transformation and typically consists of a variation of reduce costs, increase speed and improve quality. These are of course important, however when there is nothing in the “WHY” that makes individuals lives better, employees instead hear: job losses, longer hours, and increased complexity. This is not a compelling case for employees to go through sustained uncertainty and discomfort. The “WHY” is even less compelling if there is a perception that leadership are not aligned to the change vision and committed to the long term. At best, it will be seen as the latest corporate fad.
When individuals do not have a reason to put in the effort, there will be minimal change. There may be “Agile theatre”, where people perform as if they are working Agile but without the mindset and desire to gain the benefits, innovation, collaboration and incremental delivery of value.
It doesn’t have to be that way!
Organisations can get it right and it doesn’t cost more. There are simple ways that can significantly improve the quality and longevity of Agile benefits unlocked through a transformation.
Don’t go too small
If you don’t make enough change, you will be most likely optimising a part of your organisation and creating difficulties between them and everyone else.
- If change is too nuanced, people won’t be clear on what is expected of them.
- Benefits of small changes are often either transitory or minimal.
- If you are unsure, consider pilots and experiments as part of your approach rather than limit your ambition. This will build understanding on what will be required for future success.
Make it your transformation, your way of working, not someone else’s
Your people understand the challenges and what will be required to implement change, better than any external partner. What they may not know, is how to make and embed the changes. A key to step towards success is choosing a collaboration partner. Choose one who
- Shares your outcome aspirations and talks about the importance of adapting to your challenges
- Has done this before and can tell you both things that have and have not worked
- Possesses a drive to spend time to get to know your people to make things happen.
Consider your Agile transformation as the first step. Talk about how you can build the capabilities to continue to evolve your organisation as the environment it operates in continues to change.
Get leadership commitment
People are smart! They will sense a lack of commitment from leaders. Transformations where leaders talk with passion about improvement and express a willingness to support people are likely to achieve rapid adoption.
- Agile transformation is as much about leadership mindset and behaviour as it is about team structures and practices.
- Leaders who model positive behaviours create the environment for people to act in ways that drive the benefits being sought.
- Ensure leaders express they understand not everything will go well first time and that they are also on the journey.
Measure, adjust and celebrate to sustain success
It doesn’t matter if you go for a staged or ” big bang” approach, people are going to need different levels of support at different times.
- Make sure you have the right coaching support to both comfort and practical advice people.
- Measure changes with qualitative (survey) and quantitative (tooling) metrics to review performance to identify areas needing attention through actions such as training or process improvement.
- Share stories across your organisation and with others so people understand that their effort has been worthwhile.
Put people first and consider how Agile will improve your employee value proposition
People drive your organisation, be it customers, shareholders, employees or suppliers. All these stakeholders seek to be part of something rewarding and positive. Position your Agile transformation in a way that authentically explains how it will improve outcomes for all.
- Understand what your employees do and what their appetite for change is – even ask for their ideas.
- Use language with resonates and contributes to a positive identity to both individuals and the organisation.
- Describe how customers will benefit from the proposed changes – you may be surprised how interested your team are in providing better outcomes for them.
- Consider how improved returns for shareholders may provide more stability for the company, this is a big motivator to embrace change.
- Explore how you can use this as an opportunity to reset engagement with suppliers, there may be a hidden “win-win” ready to be unlocked.
Overall provide those impacted both directly and indirectly with a compelling reason to change. There are many positive reasons such as increased autonomy, a simpler way of working and a better life balance that will motivate and drive success.
ADAPTOVATE can help you with your journey
Reach out to our ADAPTOVATE team to understand what opportunities exist to improve outcomes for your customers, stakeholder and employees.
Data:
1 – https://www.investsmart.com.au/investment-news/telstras-it-sins/78225
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