TOPICS

Agile Transformation

AUTHORED BY:

RABAB HAIDER | KNOLSKAPE EDITORIAL TEAM

What is Agile Transformation?

Agile transformation is the process of shifting an organization to agile ways of working. It sounds like what it means — agile transformation is about applying agile principles of adaptability and efficiency to teamwork, collaboration, processes, and measurement across the business.

Broadly speaking, agile companies strive to be streamlined. They avoid rigid processes and minimize bureaucracy, silos, and delays. Cross-functional teams work incrementally, and pivot based on customer feedback and business needs. The ultimate goal is to deliver value faster and improve customer experiences.

Read about KNOLSKAPE’s Agile Leadership here.

6 Areas of Change in Agile Transformations

Achieving this level of coordination takes time. Most companies move to an agile approach gradually over several years. No matter what approach your company takes, there are six areas of change that must be endorsed across teams:

| Mindset

Embrace learning and change. Instead of clinging to what worked in the past, place value on understanding how customer and team needs are changing. And invest in the tools and technology that will help you better meet those needs.

| People

Agile teams are not static — new skillsets and types of experience are always needed to make the team perform at its best. So, question the status quo, identify opportunities to improve workflows, and pursue additional training that will benefit the team.

| Process

Instead of following rigid workflows, aim to be iterative and responsive. Some agile teams do this by working in two- to four-week sprints and relying on lightweight frameworks to accomplish their goals. Pivot only after careful consideration — when company goals or customer feedback necessitate it.

| Technology

Better tools can help you work more efficiently and better serve customers. Agile company leaders invest in new platforms and technology not for the sake of adopting something new, but to help the team accomplish meaningful work faster.

| Go-to-Market

Long before releasing any new functionality or enhancements, agile product marketing teams collaborate closely with members of product management, engineering, and project management to ensure a smooth launch. And customer feedback informs changes to future launches — so give users the opportunity to submit feedback and ideas and listen carefully to what they say.

| Measurement

Track data and metrics that will help you determine the success of your agile transformation. Agile metrics might include sprint capacity, team velocity, or new customers over time. Your team might also use burndown charts or velocity reports to track and showcase key agile metrics.

5 Major Benefits of Becoming an Agile Organization

Agile transformations touch every aspect of your business. And when done correctly, you should see company-wide benefits in return. So, what should you expect to see after all this hard work?

| Better cross-team collaboration

An agile transformation should break down silos and bureaucratic red tape that slow down organizations and cause confusion, double work, and missed deadlines. Agile teams also prioritize face-to-face interaction and continuous interaction between members. There are regular (effective) meetings to help everyone work towards their shared goals.

| A shared purpose that boosts motivation

Agile organizations share values and understand their North Star metrics. Instead of getting caught up in the minor details, they’re able to focus on the bigger picture. Not only does this make your teams more effective, but a shared purpose is one of the biggest drivers of team motivation.

| Renewed focus on your users and customers

There’s no doubt now that customer-centric companies are more successful. Agile transformations put the customer back at the core of your strategy through better user research, constant feedback, and an openness to learning.

| Higher ROI on all your efforts

Agile organizations get better results with less effort. When your organization is built to learn quickly, adapt, and pivot, you spend less time and resources on wasted efforts. In just one example, Adobe’s Agile transformation led to a 30% drop in voluntary turnover (meaning their best team members were staying) and savings of 80,000 management hours annually.

| More creativity and innovation

The goal of any Agile process is to help you learn faster and unlock innovation. When you can apply those same principles across your entire company, it’s a game-changer. Agile organizations are constantly on the hunt for the next great idea instead of feeling stuck with doing ‘business as usual’ or ‘what worked in the past’.

Agile Transformation Roadmap: 10 steps to Embracing Agile

Agile transformations are challenging for both team members and managers. Follow these 10 steps to start down the path towards becoming a more Agile company:

STEP #01 | Take stock of where you are now

Any change starts with understanding your current state. Before you embark on an Agile transformation, take stock of where you are now. Ask questions such as:

What is your organization’s culture like?
What are your current leadership and management processes?
What is everyone’s awareness of Agile principles?
Do you have internal Agile teams that can share knowledge or are there industry champions you can learn from?
Where do you expect to get pushback within the organization?

It’s a good idea to do a ‘listening tour’ throughout your company. Meet with stakeholders, team leaders, and individual members to hear what they think about Agile.

You can also use popular user research methods, such as surveys, diary studies, or card sorting. The goal is to collect as much information as possible about where you are now so you can plan a successful path to where you want to be in the future.

STEP #02 | Build a leadership team that can get your required buy-in

Next, ask who will lead this transformation? An Agile transformation will change every part of an organization and needs support from top leadership. Executives and stakeholders need to be aligned and onboard in action and in words.

Put together an internal leadership team that will drive the transformation forward. Depending on the size and structure of your company, this could include the founder, CEO and other executives, select managers and team leaders, and influential individual contributors, such as senior project managers, lead developers, and Scrum masters.

You could also visit companies that are already on successful Agile journeys. Ask them about the core practices worth following and some pitfalls to avoid. You can even attend Agile conferences to meet with leaders and hear about their experiences.

STEP #03 | Create an Agile blueprint for your company

With a team in place and a deep understanding of where you are now, it’s time to define what you want to get out of this Agile transformation.

An Agile transformation won’t succeed if you’re only trying to remove specific pain points. Instead, everyone needs to be aligned on the goal of fundamentally transforming your company for the future. But what does that future look like? An Agile blueprint can help you define your ultimate goal and how you’re going to get there.

According to McKinsey, “The blueprint for an agile operating model is much more than an organization chart and must provide a clear vision and design of how a new operating model might work.”

There are five steps to creating an Agile blueprint. These should initially be done in a fast, iterative manner to get your company building and learning (in an Agile way!)

Value
Where does your company create value? How can you differentiate yourself? Start with an understanding of products, features, or processes that can benefit from an Agile approach and how those will impact your North Star metrics. Revisit your product strategy documents if you don’t know where to start.
Structure
How will your Agile company be organized? Agile organizations use cross-functional teams (sometimes called ‘cells’ or ‘tribes’) focused on common goals. Create a rough guide to how these teams will work together, what they’ll focus on, and how are different skill sets owned and managed.
Agile teams
Next, decide how to group these teams or ‘cells’ together. How will they be managed? What goals or missions are they going to be aligned on? What Agile processes will they use (or what ones are best suited to their goals?) Don’t just stick people together and tell them to use a new process. Help them discover the Agile elements that work best for the value they’re trying to create.
Backbone
Agile transformations need a strong foundation. What structural factors will need to be adjusted, updated, or thrown out for this to work? Think about everything from team structures to IT projects, communication processes, and culture. Many Agile companies fail by only focusing on launching more Agile teams and not giving them the structure they need.
Roadmap
Finally, define your scope and pace of the transformation. Treat this like any other Agile project by defining a backlog of ‘tasks’ and a sprint schedule you can follow to make sure you’re hitting your goals.

Together, these steps give you everything you need to start your Agile transformation. But we’re not ready to fire the starting pistol quite yet.

STEP #04 | Decide how you’ll implement your Agile transformation roadmap

How you roll out Agile across your company can make or break this transformation. Based on what you’ve learned in your own research, choose the implementation model that you think will work best:

Step-wise
This model includes multiple rounds of pilots that allow you to adjust your blueprint before committing to a full-on transformation. Many organizations prefer to iterate their blueprint a few times before committing to scaling up Agile across the company. This could take a year or more.

All-in
This model involves fully committing all resources to a clear Agile transformation plan that happens in waves. Think of this as long-term Agile planning for your business. You create a strong vision of your future goal (based on a pilot project or research) and then plan to execute all necessary steps to get there. Even in these organizations, it’s unusual to execute the transformation in one full swoop –– usually, the transformation continues in stages throughout the company.

Emergent
Sometimes an Agile transformation doesn’t start at the top. In this model, teams bring Agile processes in from the bottom-up until it bubbles up to leadership. Most agile transformations have emergent elements as it’s almost impossible to plan every detail of a transformation (and that wouldn’t be very Agile!)

There’s no ‘right’ way to roll out your Agile transformation. Use your judgment and follow the path that seems right for you. You can always adjust and pivot along the way.

STEP #05 | Start with an Agile pilot project

Almost every major transformation starts with a pilot project. This isn’t just to ‘prove’ that Agile works at your company. Instead, it’s a testing ground to see how engrained your current processes are (and how much resistance you’ll come up against when you push for a company-wide rollout).

Choose a pilot project that will create value for your company (as defined in your blueprint). Then bring a team or group of teams together to focus on it.

Give your pilot project an end deadline to start. Most teams begin with a rolling 90-day plan, which gives them enough time to plan projects, get feedback, and adjust as they create value. Make sure to conduct 30-day check-ins to assess how the pilot project is going and make any necessary changes.

As part of your pilot project, you may need to go through additional training and coaching. This is ok. Ensure everyone has the resources they need — both people and technical — to do their jobs.

Agile pilot projects also help you prove the value of an agile transformation –– before you can roll out transformation across the entire organization, you might need to convince skeptical stakeholders and get buy-in across the board.

STEP #06 | Scale and improve your Agile processes

After a successful pilot project, it’s time to think about how you can scale Agile throughout your company. But this is not an easy task. Most companies can perform a few small successful Agile projects but fail when they try to replicate those results across teams (especially customer-facing ones, such as support and sales).

Depending on your transformation model, you might scale differently. However, there are some key elements that can help you scale your Agile efforts:

Define end-to-end value streams
Rather than scale across departments, think about where you create value. Are there customer journeys or user stories that can be the focus of cross-functional Agile teams? The more pieces of your organization that use Agile, the more it will become a part of your overall culture.
Develop a solid communication plan
Transparency is critical to the success of your transformation. Think about how you can scale up communication and bring more teams together. If your company was previously defined by siloed teams, this may seem awkward at first. But push to bring people together through monthly ‘Town Hall’ meetings or optional ‘lunch and learns’. Get stakeholders involved as much as possible to show that this project has support from the top.
Shift goal setting from teams to individuals
Agile organizations empower their team members to create their own goals and self-manage their work. Help management (and project managers) shift from dictating goals and KPIs to becoming ‘servant leaders’ — the Agile term for leaders whose goal is to serve.
Replace outdated or non-Agile processes
Gradually reduce and then eliminate any old practices and processes that go against your new Agile ones. This could include goal-setting exercises or meeting cadence. Replace this overtime so you don’t catch your team members off guard. And remember, always explain why these changes matter (and ask for feedback).

STEP #07 | Update your ‘backbone’ to support the agile transformation

Pilots often exist on their own and succeed in spite of regular processes. However, your company’s ‘backbone’ will determine if you can scale Agile throughout.

A backbone includes how decisions get made, where resources and budget get allocated, how risks are managed, and even the technology infrastructure you use. Each of these will need to change in order for a successful Agile transformation.

Here are some key points to consider:

Decision-making
Flatten your hierarchy as much as possible. Agile teams need to feel empowered to make their own decisions (and have the data they need to make informed ones).
Planning
Understand that even the best plans can fail. Bring more Agile principles into your planning phase. Show teams that it’s ok to build, test, and still fail as long as you learn and adapt.
Roles and career paths
Build roles within the business to help support your Agile projects and team structures. Think about how to attract the right talent to help you implement agile effectively.
Risk management
Weigh up the risks and potential gains from implementing new Agile systems. Think about if your organization is stable enough to go through a rapid change or if you’re better off starting with more pilot projects.
Workforce management
Think about training and also team structure. Do you have the people you need? Can you hire quickly if needed? What does training look like?
Technology
Ensure you have the right IT infrastructure and tools to implement Agile processes. This is especially important if you’re a remote company.
Budgets
Consider how much your organization can spend on training leaders, team members, and stakeholders on new Agile processes and structures.

An Agile transformation will not succeed if you are only trying to remove pain points. Instead, everyone needs to be aligned on the goal of fundamentally transforming your company for the future.

STEP #08 | Bring in ongoing training

Successful long-term agile transformation depends on continuous learning. No team member can know everything about agile methodology from the onset. Think about how you can work consistent training into your organization’s structure and company values. This could mean creating internal resources like an Agile knowledge base or hiring coaches to train leaders.

It’s a good idea to formalize these educational processes so your team knows what’s expected of them (and to help bring new hires quickly up-to-speed). Set monthly or quarterly objectives and reward team members for their work.

STEP #09 | Make Agile a part of your company culture

Your pilot project, scaling efforts, and backbone will give you a successful start. But the only way an Agile transformation sticks is if your culture changes along with it. Think about how your company culture and values can change throughout this process to reflect your new focus on agility.

Here are a few questions you can start with:

How will your values change to reflect the Agile transformation?
How will leadership act in order to support this change?
How will you continue through the rough patches and chaos of any major change?

You might not have all the answers and that’s okay. The goal is to continually listen to your team, look at your metrics, and adjust your Agile transformation roadmap.

STEP #10 | Plan for the challenges you’ll face moving forward

Any kind of company-wide change will not be without its challenges. And a full-scale Agile transformation is no different. The good news is that tons of companies have gone through successful transformations, despite the common roadblocks and challenges.

As businesses and industries get more competitive, companies need to be quicker to adapt and change. And although it’s nothing new, Agile is the best way to get your team into that powerful cycle of building, learning, and improving.

Takeaway

Every company is different — there is no one right way to become agile. But strategy is paramount. Leadership must first clearly define and reiterate the “why” behind any agile transformation. KNOLSKAPE’s Agile Leadership course teaches leaders to demonstrate new mindsets and skillsets to encourage relentless iteration. This new reality calls for a reboot in the way we think about driving agility in our organizations.

Pivoting too frequently and failing to sync areas of investment to the overall company goals will quickly squash any benefits a company will enjoy from releasing faster. Organizations must also commit sufficient resources for agile training, tools, and technology.

Be patient. Some folks may resist change. Continue to reflect on your processes and refine them — defining (and redefining) a flexible approach that suits your specific team and situation. Cultivating more customer delight should guide you as you consider what to build, why, and how to build and deliver it faster. When you have an overarching vision to direct your work, it is easier to zoom in on the “why” driving the need for agile transformation in the first place.