Changing the Organization Mindset For Agile

“Agile is not a “plug and play?”! tweak the methodologies and philosophy to achieve your vision rather than being paralyzed by processes” ― Abdallah Abboud

94% of all organizations out there have already undergone an Agile transformation, are about to undergo one or at least practice the Agile methodology in some aspects of their business. Does that motivate you? Are you keen to know how to change your organization to be more Agile? It can be interesting to try to survive in a world where everyone is moving forward and so should you. A shift from traditional thinking to a more Agile approach always takes a lot of time and patience. To help you along the way, I’ve compiled a few tips and strategies that will surely help you. So read on to find out more!

What is the Agile Methodology?

The Agile method is a kind of initiative management approach which is most commonly used in software development initiatives. The methodology is an iterative and incremental approach to deliver your products faster to market and hence Faster to cash?. The approach is widely used in software development because it helps the team respond more quickly to unpredictable changes in the market during the construction and hence easier to adopt and cope to market and technologies volatility.

The entire initiative which can be captures in a product backlog is normally broken down into smaller chunks, which are known as sprints. Each sprint is a limited period which is allotted to a phase of the initiative (time-boxed usually two to four weeks). When the time-boxed is over, the sprint is expected to be complete and is mostly understood to be ready to be released (shippable).

The method has become increasingly popular over the years, with big players companies like Facebook, Google, Amazon, Uber etc. Had to tackle major challenges of massive growth, scalability, customer intimacy, speed to market, user centricity, big data, API first approaches and they succeeded. Now they are the benchmark for the Agile approach to software development. During the approach, the software undergoes continuous changes which are adapted according to changing customer requirements or unpredictability. Reaching the final solution or full fledged product is a collaborative effort between the cross-functional teams and the end user.

The focus of this approach is to survive in the ever-evolving landscape of today’s rapidly changing world, technology and array of devices the end user is attached to. All that while trying to provide quick delivery and create the most value for the customer as well as the business. Even within the Agile approach, there are different flavors/frameworks that are being applied, such as Scrum and Kanban. You can even customize the framework to your organization and apply best practices for your business and customer needs. This approach also highlights aspects of adaptive planning, rapid and flexible response and faster response time. Don’t misunderstand or confuse this with no planning.

What is the Need for Agile?

The Agile methodology has slowly but surely become popular in the sphere of software development. While it is also a famous approach applied to product management, but mostly even within initiative management, it is solely restricted to the software world, where the needs and goals of the initiative continue changing throughout the product life cycle. But this is a very broad reason for introducing Agile into your organization. There are many other reasons too, all of which are described below:

More Flexible

This means that customer needs can be incorporated and catered too more readily and easily, thereby always giving the customer the best that they deserve.

Aims to Increase Customer Satisfaction

The aim of this method is customer satisfaction. Customers are thought to be the greatest resource a company has. With Agile, the entire focus is shifted to satisfying and maintaining this precious resource. The products are also delivered much faster through this eco system of organization. You should have this as a measurable KPI. Customer Satisfaction index and follow up on it.

Greater Product Quality

Issues are addressed as they come up because testing is incorporated into the production cycle, so team members are aware of the issues, and regular checkups are in place. Along with this, there is greater use of automated testing equipment in Agile to speed up the process, which also ensures the greatest quality.

Reduction in Risk

The cost of changes in Agile approach is limited as compared to the traditional approach. The product is improved by determining any risk and failure quickly so there is minimal chance of failure if any.

Benefits Offered by applying Agile Approach

To help sell the Agile approach to the people within the organization, here is a list of all the myriads of benefits offered by using this approach.

• Already widely accepted by the industry as a much better approach as compared to the traditional initiative development.
• Provides a light framework for empowering the teams.
• Focuses on quick and rapid releases to market.
• Ensures value optimization throughout the initiative cycle.
• Allows the teams and stakeholders to see accurate and visible progress throughout the initiative.
• Helps the team in building the right product.
• Is a win-win solution for the team and the end user.
• The process is more people-centric.
• Instead of the leader having absolute command and control, leadership is more collaborative.
• Encouraging towards role interchangeability.
• Informal methods of communication, meaning quicker communication with fewer hierarchies.
• A customer plays a more important role in the whole process.

As can be seen, there are more than enough benefits to apply Agile methodologies. And these are only a few that I’ve mentioned here, there are far more in actuality. But if this still isn’t enough to convince you about shifting to changing your organizational mindset, then don’t worry because there’s a lot more left still.

How to Reshape your Organization to be Agile?

Coming down to the process of how you can change your organizational mindset to make it more Agile. To bring about this change, there are 3 key areas for you to focus on:

Invest in a Flexible Team

According to the Harvard Business Review, when bringing about organizational change to be more focused towards the Agile approach, the best starting point is a human resource. Over here, you will need to invest in your teams and step completely away from the traditional methods of recruitment and job requisitions, because things work completely differently in an Agile organization. But why is it this way, you may wonder. In Agile hiring, hiring is very specific, for a very narrowed down skill set, and is not as broad as compared to the traditional method.

One way of forming the teams within your organization that helps in increasing agility is to ignore the traditions checklist of skills required, and instead look for more creative, innovative and collaborative prospects. Such employees are usually multifaceted developers who like tinkering in all aspects of the product life cycle. They come with an entrepreneurial spirit which is essential to survive in such a fast-paced development cycle. If you take this approach to build your teams, then surely you will be able to have a team that is flexible, dynamic and willing to change to meet the work priorities.

Create a Framework for Informed Decisions

The second step to change the organizational mindset towards Agile is to improve the communicational hierarchy. This means that you will need to work towards eliminating management layers and tedious process and formalities which only work to slow down the organizations. This will also empower all employees because they will have more information to make well-informed decisions. Traditionally, all organizations had rigid hierarchies and worked more like machines. But Agile calls for a change in all of that. You will need to entirely rethink the role of manager because roles of a manager in traditional vs. Agile approach are drastically different. Traditionally, the manager was supposed to assign duties and circulate instructions. But managers in an Agile organization are expected to eliminate this hierarchy and instead provide employees with all the support required about the product and business objectives, and then allow the employees to make well-informed decisions to achieve said objectives.

This way, communication and distribution of information is much faster. However, keep in mind that some system of checks and balances does need to be set up in place of the elimination of hierarchy. This can be done through the creation of a channel as a way of communicating progress to the manager. Regular progress checks along the initiative also need to be set up. When working to bring about Agile into your business, it is important to change the leadership style from “command-and-control” to a more “top-down” and “bottom-up” approach.

Develop Scalable Systems

A scalable system is essential in any Agile organization because it can drive visibility and information sharing. If you’re a startup, then without a scalable system, your company will fall victim to lack of accountability and chaotic progress during the initiative. On the other hand, if your company is a well-established larger organization, then the lack of a scalable system will leave you rigid, inflexible, incapable of adapting to changing market demands and decreased customer satisfaction. But to introduce agility into your organization, so none of the above problems take place, you will need to set up core processes and systems.

Keep in mind of course that all the systems and processes that are being set up should support the above-mentioned point of free-flowing information. Along with this, these scalable systems should be adaptive to a collaborative work environment, have measures for accountability, and allow for rapid decision making. Eventually, as the organization evolves so should the scalable systems too of course. And while agility is a top priority, but the leadership needs to figure out a balance between incorporating agility and maintaining stability.

To Conclude

All the three key areas discussed above are essential and need to be incorporated to change your organizational mindset. However, all organizations do have the freedom to experiment within these three areas and build up on these basics. The organizational culture for every company is different of course, which is why this experimentation is important so and highly recommended.

Lastly, don't forget that introducing the Agile approach is a slow-paced changed, one that requires immense patience from the leadership. But at the end of it all, the benefits outweigh the con of having to wait so long and focus so hard. So, don’t be afraid to start the change towards Agile today!

Strategy execution sample:

Trial Agile Squad model

• Start project to trial true agile model
•  Two small teams at launch
•  Coached by experienced Scrum / agile experts (PRODUCT OWNER if budget doesn’t permit)
• Run Digital/mobile UX improvement project

Optimize tool portfolio

• Optimize existing tool utilization and existing legacy systems
•  Extend tool portfolio by new tools to boost productivity & efficiency
• Update & leverage Jira AGILE
•  Implement project management / workflow tool
•  Homogenize test tool support & automation

Fix the basics(foundation)

• Apply a set of minor but important fixes across various areas
• Describe > discuss > align and > implement fixes
• Central business requirements document
• Establish rapid prototyping
• Create process chart infographics
• Setup councils to improve alignment between teams

Evaluate API-first strategy initiative

• Identify options to establish API-first architecture paradigms
• Alignment with Enterprise Architecture (Integration Reference Architecture)

If you reached so far may God bless you and good luck.

Further read:

• Setting your Agile course with Sail Boat
• How you transform your business.
• Digital Transformation: What Does It Mean in 2018
• Digitization, Digitalization, Digital transformation
• Digital transformation and the legacy barriers
• Leading Digital transformation