How do you handle pushback when introducing agile?

I like to focus on not using the word "Agile" to start, it sounds lie something new and new is a scary change for many. So, I like to focus on the pain points of the current state and ways of working that make sense (to everyone) to address the pain. Then, once there is buy-in to new ways of working practices and how it will address the pain, we can introduce the terms "Agile" as needed. Many teams were working in a VERY agile ways before the term agile was even a thing over 20 years ago. Much of it is just common sense for complex work. Focus on solving problems, and improving your collaboration over using a new term. ;-)

Identify resistance causes like fear or misunderstandings. Listen and empathize with your team and stakeholders. Explain agile benefits with relatable stories, align with organizational goals, and avoid jargon. Address myths and invite questions. Start with a pilot project, provide training, and show results. Use feedback to improve and share successes. Involve your team in agile practices, encourage their input, and support self-organization. Model agile behaviors by being transparent and adaptable. Build a culture of trust and focus on delivering value. Continuously refine your approach based on feedback, learn from others, and stay engaged with agile communities.

Understanding the pushback will provide the basis for your transformation roadmap. If a consistent theme unfolds during empathy interviews, or key words are repeated across stakeholders, the biggest cultural roadblocks will become evident. Dig deeper - resistance can sometimes be addressed with a greater understanding of or improved implementation of agile... but if there are past failures, it may be a symptom of a larger cultural issue to address before agile ways of working can thrive.

Resistance to agile is often a symptom of deeper organizational challenges, especially in a digital bank that's 24 months into its agile journey. Begin by diagnosing the root cause: is it fear of change, lack of trust, or a misunderstanding of agile principles? Employ empathetic listening; understand stakeholder concerns to tailor your agile narrative compellingly. Illuminate how agile can solve specific issues or enhance certain aspects that resonate with each group, thereby offering a direct benefit in line with their objectives. As we navigate our own agile journey in this digital bank, it's vital to view resistance not as a roadblock but as an opportunity to clarify, refine, and demonstrate agile's transformative potential.

I addressed it by first understanding the source of the resistance, whether it was fear of change or uncertainty. Key Insight: Communicating a clear vision of Agile’s benefits is essential. Starting small with experimentation and quick wins helps ease the transition and build confidence within the team. What worked: Involving the team early, giving them ownership, and leading by example helped shift mindsets. Continuous learning and feedback ensured long-term commitment. Conclusion: Addressing concerns, communicating benefits, and leading by example are key to overcoming resistance and ensuring a smooth Agile transition.

Root the vision in data that is tangible and leverage the art of story telling to make it relatable. Employing value stream management to baseline the current state of agile delivery - and it's bottlenecks - can inform the vision with a starting point for improvement. Agile transformation is successful due to true cultural change, and a vision that is backed by a clear business case creates transparency, a tenet of good culture. Add the secret sauce of story telling, and people will believe that change is finally possible.

Amidst the complexity of digital banking, clearly articulating the agile vision becomes an imperative. Connect the agile transformation to the organizational strategy and customer needs, showing how it leads to faster delivery, improved quality, and insightful feedback. Favor compelling stories and real-world examples over jargon to illuminate agile's value and impact, making it relatable to diverse stakeholders. Cultivate an environment where questions are welcomed and myths debunked, fostering a more informed and engaged community. Clear, relatable communication transforms agile from a nebulous concept to a tangible strategy, capable of delivering measurable outcomes.

Don't communicate the value of agile. Agile is never the outcome that provides value. Communicate the places where change can add value and ensure that the changes are actually in line with the direction that the company is moving in. Faster delivery doesn't matter to Air Traffic controllers for example and daily changes would actually be life threatening. On the other hand, the stability and resilience are vital for those applications. Make sure that the changes in the new vision align with the needs of the organization that you are working with.

Less talking and more doing. Do not train everyone on everything. Start real work, start doing things the new way. Only real experimentation will give you a chance to succeed.

Senior leaders and executives may have never had the chance to be part of an agile team, even if conceptually they buy in to the organizational and cultural changes required. Inviting executives to participate in a guiding coalition that operates as an agile team is often one of the smallest, and most impactful ways to initiate the necessary change in culture. Demonstrating servant leadership with senior leaders can be a powerful way to spark true understanding and generate vulnerable discussion that can change hearts and minds, having an organizational ripple effect.

In the realm of digital banking, where rapid change is constant, 'starting small' is often the wisest course in an agile transformation. Select a willing pilot team or project and equip them with proper training and coaching. Consider this the prototype for your agile blueprint. Make the outcomes of this pilot transparent, celebrating both the victories and the teachable moments, as each provides invaluable insights. Utilize data-driven metrics and feedback loops to continually refine performance, and disseminate best practices to create a ripple effect across the organization. Starting small affords us the latitude to experiment, learn, and adapt, thereby laying a more resilient foundation for scaled agile adoption.

Agile transformation is not a big bang approach. It's not possible to get everything right first. There will be resistance from various quarters. To get everyone engaged and bring them into confidence, you will have to show small wins consistently. Start with small projects where there's more acceptance to change and experimenting new way of working. Ensure key stakeholders are involved. Consolidate small wins to create visibility and curiosity. Collect metrics on key business objectives to be presented as case study for wider adoption

From my experience, implementing Agile in a small part of the organization or on a pilot project works well. Seeing or sharing the success in a smaller scope can demonstrate the value of Agile and help build confidence. This helps highlight the successes and benefits of Agile. Also, use metrics and case studies to show improved efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction.

According to my experience, starting small is the single best way to do. Instead of trying to set up a full methodology, study several agile approaches and take the elements that seem the most promising. In one of my (non-IT) project I divided the project group into pairs and they tried "pair programming". For projects with high uncertainty, I set up a backlog, we groom that and work on that instead of trying to create a project plan. Even in waterfall projects, you get deliver in smaller increments by using progressive elaboration and iterative approaches. If it works, you can introduce something else and expand the agile mindset of your teams. If it doesn't you can benefit from the Agile concept of failing fast.

Empowering staff and teams to learn about how agile ways of working can achieve their goals more effectively and efficiently can help to ensure that agile adoption is inclusive, and can encourage teams to take ownership. It's likely that the team will require time to iron out challenges with shifting to a new way of working. Give them that time. Allow them to learn from 'safe to fail' mistakes and to adapt their techniques to optimise progress and outcomes. Demonstrate the progress that they are making and recognise positive outputs and progress.

Resistance is a natural response from fear of change. Communicating benefits, addressing concerns, and showcasing success stories can help ease pushback. It's crucial to emphasize the value Agile brings, such as adaptability, quicker delivery, and improved collaboration. Open discussions and involving the team in the transition process can also address resistance.

Senior leaders and executives may have never had the chance to be part of an agile team, even if conceptually they buy in to the organizational and cultural changes required. When I have invited executives to participate in a guiding coalition that operates as an agile team, it has become one of the most impactful ways to initiate the necessary change in culture. Demonstrating servant leadership with senior leaders can be a powerful way to spark true understanding and generate vulnerable discussion that can change hearts and minds, having an organizational ripple effect.

To handle pushbacks in adopting agile practices, actively involve more stakeholders, especially decision-makers, in the process. Demonstrating real, tangible results from agile methodologies can be a powerful way to garner support. Share success stories, improvements in efficiency, and enhanced product quality directly linked to agile practices. Engaging key stakeholders in this way helps build trust in the methodology, addresses concerns through visible outcomes, and encourages a wider acceptance and support for agile transformation within the organization.

In the transformative arena of digital banking, involvement and empowerment are more than buzzwords; they are prerequisites for agile success. Actively solicit team and stakeholder input on agile processes, tools, and roles, allowing them to co-create a tailored agile environment. Encourage self-organization and decision-making within the agile framework, fostering an ecosystem of collaboration and agility. Acknowledge and reward progress, and continually offer avenues for professional growth and development. Empowering stakeholders not only enriches the agile journey but also engenders a culture of ownership and continuous improvement.

In digital banking, leadership is not an attribute but an ongoing action, especially when steering an agile transformation. Embody transparency, humility, and adaptability as the cornerstone values, thereby setting the standard for the entire organization. Champion a culture that prioritizes trust and psychological safety, creating a fertile ground for candid feedback and innovation. Maintain a laser focus on customer-centricity, ensuring that every agile endeavor translates to palpable value and impact. Leading by example makes you not just a figurehead but a catalyst, propelling the organization towards agile maturity and sustainable success.

Stop counting "steps"... All Agile industry is in such a rough shape right now, partially due to some practitioners set wrong expectations like "you do this 7 steps and you are Agile", or "you enforce this framework and all your problem will go aways"... No it's not. Start small, start change with yourself, solve one issue at a time, celebrate, acknowledge, move to the next one.

Widerst?nde gegen agile Methoden zeigen oft, dass Führungskr?fte ihre Rolle in der Transformation untersch?tzen. Eine integrale Herangehensweise verlangt, dass sie sich zuerst selbst reflektieren: Sind sie bereit, Unsicherheiten zuzugeben und aktiv zuzuh?ren? Anstatt Agilit?t nur zu predigen, sollten Führungskr?fte Transparenz, Flexibilit?t und Resilienz vorleben. Ein Beispiel: Ein CEO teilt offen die Herausforderungen des Wandels und l?dt Teams zur Mitgestaltung ein. So entsteht psychologische Sicherheit, die den Widerstand abbaut. Transformation beginnt mit Authentizit?t an der Spitze.

Probably not accurate to call this the final step, since, well there is no final step. There is only continued evolution towards a more adaptive organization.

There are no final steps in the Journey. World has changed. Period. Undertenancy is skyrocketing in any field and everywhere... Agile is adjective, it's an approach how to embrace and deal with the change. Don't overthink it.

Stop doing agile transformations! Agile is one tool for an organization to use as part of their implementation of a strategy. It is not a strategy or destination or goal for any entity. The market doesn't reward you for being more agile, they reward you for the results that may have resulted from some of the changes that were made. The public doesn't love the IRS because they became more agile, but the results of better service and catching more tax cheats are important to the public and the country. So don't make an agile transformation a thing and worst of all, don't make it a thing that is separated from the rest of the org. I have seen too many places create an agile transformation that tries to do it's own thing and fail.

I think the pushback comes from misuse of Agile. Agile is supposed to solve our software engineering problems and fix all the bad techniques associated with Waterfall. The issue is in many cases Agile has become the beast of waterfall it tried to replace. Agile becomes dictatorial and mandated versus applied. Best example is the Daily Stand Up (DSU). Agile defines the action of the DSU and its goal of only being 15min. But many orgs that “practice” Agile make the DSU into an engineering design review, a technical architecture discussion, or worse a bitch session lasting over an hour. The DSU suddenly becomes the burden to production versus the means to collaborate on actions. Agile works when applied, not specified.

Every change is hard & scary at first , so its natural that many times you encounter a pushback when introducing agile. In order to handle it as a leader we need to communicate the "WHY" behind the change and also convey that what will happen if we do not adapt to this change & How this change will be beneficial for organization, for team & for each individual. Allow people the time to adopt the change and provide them with coaching and training to make it simpler for them.

When introducing agile & facing pushback, I handle it by first listening to the concerns & understanding the root causes of the resistance. I ensure open & transparent communication, explaining the benefits of agile practices & how they align with the organization's goals. I share success stories & data from other teams to illustrate the positive impact of agile. Additionally, I start with small, manageable pilot projects to demonstrate quick wins and build confidence in the approach. I also offer training and support to help the team transition smoothly and address any skill gaps. By involving stakeholders in the process & being responsive to their feedback, I foster a collaborative environment that gradually embraces agile methodologies.

Treat your agile transformation like a strategic product of your company. Account for the foundational work in your roadmap. Implement the integrated tools. Create the baseline metrics to measure for improved efficiency and quality. Be intentional with the customer data experience captured. Most importantly, treat your co-workers as customers.