Agile methodologies and that Rocket Ship you can board.

I was talking to a friend today about the growing role that agile methodologies are playing in critical enterprise transformations. He and I have worked in various PMOs and seen the IT and business organizations transform. More like a slow boiling process I think than an overnight transformation.

So what is going on in the industry today? What are the trends we see in our PMOs?

As we talked more I was reminded of this quote. Eric Schmidt in 2001 said:

When companies grow quickly, there are more things to do than there are people to do them. When companies grow more slowly or stop growing, there is less to do and too many people to be doing them. Politics and stagnation set in, and everyone falters. He told me, "If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, you don't ask what seat. You just get on.

That said, we need to be cautious in our practice and adoption.

Sometimes we tend to go overboard in our zeal to adopt a methodology. Agile practitioners including scrum masters, agile coaches and product owners know the silver bullet syndrome very well.

This Dilbert cartoon describes our tendency to jump into agile practices without knowing much. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Even though Agile has moved out of the elite not yet understood brand of methodologies into the mainstream, we still have to be careful about our adoption process.

My perspective is simple. Use scrum when you are attempting a complex problem that requires more than one mind to do some creative problem solving. Don't use scrum as a way to solve your personnel problems. 

 The point is you can’t thrust agile methodologies like scrum on people who

(a) aren’t ready for it or

(b) are finding ways to work around established practices.

 #1 You can’t expect miracles if the team is full of bad apples. You have to prepare the scrum team for the work ahead. 

Basically people matter. The backlog matters too, but really it is about your scrum team. Give them the chance and ability to succeed with a great environment and a great way of working together.

#2 Before you try a transformational change like scrum be sure to engage all your impacted teams.

With a large organization moving to agile is not simple. A roadmap of the agile program is needed. Paint the picture of the feature set with the collective team. Show it so there can be no confusion.

But then step back and plan the introduction gradually.

#3 To transform a team to move to scrum start with clear expectations on where they will be needed.

Without participation and a positive response from the team the scrum effort will not succeed. Stop. Confirm they are with you. Before you move into the next phase of transformation.

#4 Introduce Changes Gradually

When you set the roadmap identify key candidates for your pilot project. You want to pick a winner, one that the business definitely wants to see. Introduce changes very slowly. Moving from one pilot to another too rapidly is a bad idea.

If your key teams aren’t vocal about this project you probably don’t want to use this as your poster child.

#5 Train Before You Jump In

I have seen organizations attempt scrum without an agile coach. It is not just a stand-up that you launch. The process is deceptively simple, yet there is more behind it as I learn from each agile transformation.

There are advantages to having an agile coach guide you. Obviously I have a biased opinion but I would highly recommend interacting with the agile community and picking a good coach before you make the leap.

#6 Continue to Enforce Technical Discipline

We need to continue to require documentation.

When it comes to distributed teams continue the practice of document hand offs, reviews and walkthroughs.

Bringing it all together - Let the agile process evolve through your transformation. Be cautious about setting deadlines or using this as a silver bullet to solve your organization's problems. When used well you will see teams working well and delivering the results you were looking for.

If you knew you had a seat in a rocket ship wouldn't you get on?

Do reach out with your comments!

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I am continuing my Lean agile coaching journey and learning a lot through each organization. The opinions expressed here are my own. I have worked with heavy waterfall PMOs and the more lean agile transformations. Follow me so we can continue our conversations.