• Agile Transformation

Are Agile and Scrum not bringing you what you expected? Here’s why!

You started working Agile in good spirits and introduced Scrum as a new way of working. The team enthusiastic, the management curious and you as the booster completely in your element. But then … when you pull up the net to find out what groundbreaking changes have taken place, your spirits sink.

You discover that the time to market is as long as ever. And you may be working Agile in the team, but the rest of the organization is not. As a result, the flow gets out of the value chain and you still depend on other departments. That in turn causes delays and long lead times. Oh well, the customer is also still out of the picture, which means that real feedback from the most important stakeholders is not included. If these examples seem familiar to you, then this is the question I ask you: what is your next level?

Working differently, same result

Replacing your previous workflow for that of, say, Scrum was already a big step. Replacing your meetings with Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective was quite a task. Fortunately, by now we are all on the same page and it has become a new routine. Until you think: we did start working differently, but are we really delivering more now? Are we faster? Does it really benefit the customers? In short, does our new way of working produce new results? Unfortunately, this is often not the case. I like to share my vision on why this is the case.

Three types of changes

In change management , there are 3 types of change. The first is the easiest. You improve your current situation, go from A to A+. For example, by optimizing processes. The second change is more difficult: you want to go from A to B. A substantial change, but still manageable. For example, you are changing the way you work. Exciting, but it still feels like an organized journey, with a fixed program. The third is the most difficult of all: you are changing from A to something completely new and often unknown. That has an impact on everyone, on the whole system, and so it’s also hard to plan. Think of it as a backpacking trip. A journey of discovery. An expedition. On to the new unknown.

The biggest misunderstanding

If you look purely at changing one way of working to Agile and Scrum, then at most we are talking about the second change mentioned above. But that alone won’t get you there. Do you want the transformation to Agile to really make an impact? Then you have to work on the third change. After all, through that transformation you touch the structure, culture, processes, technology, teamwork, leadership and dealing with customers. This is why I advocate more knowledge and expertise in shaping and guiding these transformations.

These are 3 current challenges

Okay, of course I can just orate this. But concrete and substantiated real-world examples say a lot more, of course. So I decided to talk to experts and customers who already have the necessary experience in Agile and Scrum work. I asked them what concrete challenges in this area they have on their plates in the near future. Their answers paint the following picture:

• Waiting times of more than 1 year are certainly not an exception. Budgets keep rising, especially IT budgets. As it becomes more unclear what value will be delivered when, this creates a huge queue of initiatives to pick up. It remains to be seen whether there are enough people and resources to pick everything up.
  
• A lot of budget goes into keeping current (IT) systems and processes up and running. Which leaves far too little room for real innovation and customer-focused innovations. How do we make the “run” work simpler so that we free up more capacity for truly groundbreaking work?
  
• We are working Agile, but still working toward the same end result. Sprints have thus become waterfall back planning. This does not involve better management to reduce risks and increase value for customers. In addition, we still work in silos which slows things down. Or as someone said, “I thought I made a fast car, but don’t get above 50 km/h.

What is your next level?

What challenges do you see in your path in the near future? Let me know. I am very curious about it, because I believe inside that in the principles of Agile there is a human way of organizing that we are not yet fully exploiting. An untapped way that is well needed in this complex era, where just about everything is in question. High Impact. Happy Teams is not an empty slogan, but one with which I like to contribute to a successful working Netherlands. And beyond.

Call me or schedule an appointment. I’m curious about your current Agile challenge.