Ever wonder what the “Young Frankenstein” movie has in common with Agile transformations? Me neither. Until now. While channel surfing recently, I ran into the great Mel Brook’s classic movie. It still holds up today. In summary, some Agile transformations have an “abby normal” brain.  Bear with me and I’ll try to explain…

 

Situation – the Abby Normal Brain

Dr. Frankenstein’s dimwitted assistant, Igor (pronounced Eye-Gore), is tasked with fetching the brain from the brain depository (after 5PM, slip brains through slot in door). The selected brain is to be installed into the beast, culminating in Dr. Frankenstein’s finest scientific achievement and oodles of fame.

Igor selects the designated brain (Hans Delbruck, Scientist & Saint), but a clap of thunder scares him, and he drops it rendering it a useless mess. He chooses the next brain, this one labelled “Abnormal”. Watch the scene here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw6xBdXl1Aw.

Later on, when confronted Igor admits to choosing a brain with the name “Abby. Abby Normal”. Watch the scene here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7L3PcrhnEg.

Hilarity ensues, but the “transformation” not only doesn’t live up to expectations but goes awry. Watch the scene here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab7NyKw0VYQ.

 

Abby-Normal Agile Thinking

Some Agile transformations can feel like a beast with an abby-normal brain. They come to life through careful planning and good intentions, but then are sidetracked by disastrous decisions.

The abby-normal brain of an Agile transformation might say the following:

  • “We need to install SAFe ‘as is’ to gain the benefits.”
  • “We just paid millions to a big consultancy, so we need to follow their checklist approach to becoming Agile.”
  • “We will install Water-Scrum-Fall because the iterative development phase will make us Agile.”
  • “We have no idea what our agile transformation business objective is. We just want to go Agile.”
  • “We are different. Our complex situation requires a complex solution. SAFe looks like a good fit!”
  • And check this one out: “All teams must start with Scrum. There are no Kanban teams, even for ticket-driven support teams that have no concept of an iteration. Once these teams prove they can use Scrum, then and only then we will allow them to switch to Kanban!”

None of these are contrived, I have heard each of these before.

 

Normal Agile Thinking

Now on to the “good” brain. Poor Hans Delbruck (Scientist & Saint) – probably turning over in his grave as we speak. What would Hans say?

  • “Start by defining our business objective for the Agile transformation. Make it measurable!”
  • “Spend time understanding the local context before recommending any changes. There is a historical perspective.”
  • “Pick & choose Lean-Agile principles and practices that influence towards the business objective.”
  • “Keep the practices that work. Ditch the ones that don’t.”
  • “Each team is unique. Let’s introduce them to proven Agile principles and trust them to devise their own improvement path.”

 

Wrap – the Abby Normal Brain

Don’t install an abby-normal brain into your Agile transformation. Test your decisions against the Agile Manifesto values and principles. Coach Leadership to not shoot themselves (and the beast) in the foot. Read more here: https://agilemanifesto.org.

Check out our Resources page with all kinds of other Agile-related goodies: https://agileauthority.com/resources/.