Breaking Through with Agile Change Management

Katy Saulpaugh, Agile Practice Lead

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Overheard on Agile

You go ahead and do Agile, I’ll keep using

my process that works for me

Agile doesn’t work for the

kind of creative work I do, which

takes time

I need to know what we’re delivering

because I have to plan next year’s

budget

Can you show me how to matrix

someone across 20 Agile projects?

• Limited collaboration

• Out of sync with product cycles

• Expectation setting becomes onerous

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What’s the problem with keeping Agile in IT?

Managers

• Don’t want to make decisions quickly.

• Afraid of teams losing accountability.

• Don’t want ownership without control.

Team Members

• Don’t want ownership of process improvement.

• No longer rewarded for hero syndrome.

• Afraid of being punished if an experiment fails.

Cultural factors that make Agile adoption hard

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Solutions to business barriers

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1. Translate Agile to business terms

2. Show Agile can thrive outside IT

3. Show results of cultural

transformation

#1: TRANSLATE AGILE TO BUSINESS TERMS

Definitions of Agile

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An approach emphasizing learning and adapting with your customers

A process or methodology to run IT projects

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.

• Working software over comprehensive documentation.

• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.

• Responding to change over following a plan.

• Agile is more about interactions than technology.

• Quality products and knowledge over quantity.

• Don’t create in a silo.

• Leave room in your plan for emergent solutions.

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EK’s Take On the Agile Values – beyond software!

How Scrum and Agile are usually explained

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A more business-focused alternative

#2: SHOW AGILE CAN THRIVE OUTSIDE IT

Where is Agile appropriate?

• When your project is long-term or complex.

• When you expect the problem you are trying to solve will change during the course of the project.

• When you need constant feedback from your clients, customers or users.

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Agile in other disciplines

MANUFACTURING LEGAL

MARKETING CUSTOMER SUPPORT

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Agile in other disciplines

#3: SHOW RESULTS OF CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION

How can you measure an Agile organization?

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Controlling Flexible

Destiny Choice

Deliberation Urgency

Reward Risk

Informal Formal

Individual focused Team focused

How can you measure an Agile organization?

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Controlling Flexible

Destiny Choice

Deliberation Urgency

Reward Risk

Informal Formal

Individual focused Team focused

• Spread awareness of why the change is taking place.

• Helping people understand benefits to them of going Agile.

• Create feedback loops, fostering trust and transparency.

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How conversations around storytelling can help

What’s in it for

me?

Recap: Our three techniques

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1. Translate Agile to business terms

2. Show Agile can thrive outside IT

3. Show results of transformation

Katy Saulpaugh ksaulpaugh@enterprise-knowledge.com

@katysouthpaw

www.enterprise-knowledge.com info@enterprise-knowledge.com

@ekconsulting