Enterprise Agile Transformations - "Essentials"

Alignment with purpose / pursuit for Agile movement across units in enterprise , top -> down , sponsor -> teams must be very clear. There is no one suggested way . It is based on enterprise's culture. The culture and mindset the first and then most essential to be shifted for transformation . The senior management must be the early proponents of this change and should not be fence sitters in this entire transformation.

Carrying an initial SWOT analysis across the enterprise and its sub units shall give a self assessment of the current situation . This would be a start point for enterprise to build up a custom approach to capitalize on quick wins with strengths , back up opportunities and build strategy to de-risk affect due to threats & enable the best outcomes with constraints ( weakness ). An example :

1. Self assessment and SWOT must carry across culture , people , tools , processes , governance dimensions .
2. Based on above we must be able to contextualize the journey / road-map on the TO BE state and timelines - build on quick wins ( low hanging fruits with enablers that are set in , create new enablers for mid term .. ) and go on with evolutionary feedback led iterative change on this journey.
3. Do a Pilot . Take up an initiative that cuts across various LOBs ( line of businesses ) and has cross over with various application sets . This initiative ( with clear business case and outcomes defined ) or strategic theme must be the stepping stone to understand the reality of execution ( pain points , pragmatic dependencies , what may slow , what may expedite this pursuit ...). Learning from this with FAIL FAST approach build on the knowledge for other initiatives that will bank upon .
4. Use this pilot team as the enabler team / change agent across the enterprise to swell out the movement while building other enablers ( tool set up , automation , PMO alignment , training , internal systems , infrastructure etc..etc..)

Transformation must be spearheaded with a Tran formation office working parallel across many themes ( Themes - Governance , Tools , Process/ Culture, Capability )

A. Governance

• Define Agile transformation Vision ( alignment with changes to roles ) and initiate Change Management within all units ( core - non core , business , IT , peripheral ..)
• Create transparency & visibility ( using visual radiators ) - Steady state Metrics & Dashboards
• Set up a Target Operating Model – Agile and Non-Agile Team collaboration
• Set up a Technology / Business Funding Model based on Value Stream
• Redefine the Partner Contracts to enable Agile Delivery

B. Tools

• Enterprise standardization of tool sets across all phases - plan , build and run
• Start with enterprise adoption of ALM , working with an ALM , any one ( Jira , Rally , RTC ..).
• Automate manual interventions and create a pipeline with tools across plan , build and run ( CI CD ). Build a future DevOps theme with automation.
• Integrate ALM with the pipeline .
• While all above would be a learning exercise ( component / framework creation / POC development etc..) we must constantly support via Tools adoption training and knowledge sharing 

C. Process, Capability and Culture

• Transformation team and internal change agents to drive Grooming Agile champions
• Training plan for Agile - Middle Management/ Leadership/ Business Teams
• Define & Baseline Ways of working with Integrated teams ( iterate with IT and business seeking feedback )

Uplift and baseline knowledge by

• Role based Training | Cross-functional training | Training on Tools
• Extensive training with Engineering practices ( XP , Pair programmig , TDD etc..