Agility or "simulated" Agility

In theory, agile transformations should go a certain way: the decision to become agile is made, and the process starts. Cost on research, trainings, building a roadmap, and defining a timeline are common steps in the early stages. As a SAFe??transformation is a huge step, it certainly takes time as the every penny involved is at huge stake !! . A lot of planning, effort, and dedication is needed to complete the transformation successfully.

?

New agile ways of working may be manifested within this state, but the overall mindset and processes are not - the overall mindset has not been changed. This is incredibly frustrating because in this state, a lot of effort has been invested in the agile transformation without seeing any improvements and you can’t put the finger on what’s missing.

This can also lead to frustration and a shared aversion against the agile methodologies in the organization/teams, so the transformation could really be unstructured and regarded as a fail attempt .

Indicators for simulated agility can be:

• Management that only pays lip service to agile values
• Teams that are not given the autonomy to actually experiment, discover new ways, and improve continuously
• Push instead of Pull principle
• Stagnant workflow . Increasing capacity after a chokepoint (multiple ARTs suffer from this chokepoint situation)
• Lack of transparency in decision-making
• Focus on projects, not products. In agile methodologies, the value is the most important part to focus on.
• Planned Business Value vs Delivered Business Value has a lot of gap - that too recurring in multiple increments
• Low focus on value and customers
• Strong hierarchies, no decentralized decision-making
• The roles defined in SAFe are often being used, at least in the terminology. But everyone is doing the same job or rather conflicting with each other's .
• Dependencies are slowing the whole process down, sprints can’t be closed successfully, PI commitments not met 100% or there is no continuous improvement as retrospectives are not prioritized.

?If you see any of these indicators in your company/ARTs, it is vital to take action.