As an IT or business leader starting an Agile transformation, the enormity of it can appear quite daunting. The cost can be significant. The risks are real. What if it goes on forever with no real impact to the bottom line? How do I ensure it sticks? These are all valid questions and concerns for a leader about to kick off their Agile transformation.
Lead with Understanding
An Agile transformation should begin with empathy and understanding. If the consultancy (or Coach) you hire to lead the transformation says any of these statements in the first month or two of engagement:
- “We need to launch a train”
- “This team needs to use Scrum”
- “You need these 5 new roles”
- “We need to immediately start training”
- “Here is our well-known checklist of Agile things to do”
you need to exercise the Termination clause of your contract. That’s right – fire them.
Agile Coaches operating as true change agents will spend the first few months building relationships and understanding how your business works. They will lead with empathy and seek to understand. They will dig for the historical perspective of why things are the way they are, in a non-judgmental way. They will observe, ask questions, interview, and establish a “mental context” prior to making any change recommendations. Don’t short change this crucial time period – it is absolutely required for the upcoming Agile recommendations to be meaningful!
Observation Period
How long does this “observation period” typically take? The shortest observation period I have personally seen was 2 – 3 weeks, and this was for a single 8-person team. A small 50 person organization would likely take 1 – 2 months. Larger organizations could take 3 months of observation, whereas entire companies would take even longer.
OK, right now you are thinking “So the Coach does nothing for 3 months? Why would I pay for that?” No. This is the most crucial time period for the Coach. It takes time to understand the business and resultant organizational structure you have created over the last 10 – 30 years. It takes time to understand how work comes in. It takes time to visualize how work flows across your value stream. It takes time to empathize with your organizations, teams, and customers.
After the initial investment of an observation period, then and only then can a Coach make good recommendations for the introduction of Agile practices and right-sized frameworks that are a great fit for your needs!
Don’t Throw $$$ Away!
Not willing to give the Coach the time to establish this mental context? Fine. You will get Agile recommendations that are guesses at best.
You will get a recommendation to “go SAFe” with its enormous process and event overhead, wherein all you needed was a weekly cross-org collaboration meeting. You will get Agile Release Trains being launched in shared services organizations that are better off just amplifying their engagement levels in their internal customers. You will get Scrum forced onto teams that just need a simple Kanban board. I have personally witnessed each of these tragedies.
The bottom line: you will continue to throw money at another Agile transformation that will never end.
The choice is yours!
Final Thought
As Coaches, we naturally want to show our value and show it early when starting an Agile transformation. My advice is to resist the temptation of making recommendations for Agile practices and frameworks early on. That will come later. Instead, let’s show our value around obtaining a deep understanding of the client’s situation, their pain points, and their opportunities. Test our understanding with client leadership as a way of showing value in understanding their situation. If we spend the right amount of time doing this, then we can craft an Agile transformation plan that is right-sized, minimally expensive, and most of all targeted specifically to our client’s needs!
For more on SAFe, visit here. For more on what all is typically involved in an Agile transformation, visit here.