The Number 1 Reason Agile Transformations Fail. And What We Can Do To Change Future Outcomes?

I’m coming up on 20 years leading change within the tech industry, and almost 15 of those years spent transforming teams and their wider organisation to agile ways of working. That looming (and scary) milestone got me reflecting on my experiences during that time, From the highs of seeing the faces of delighted leaders and teams experiencing significantly improved customer satisfaction and speed of delivery of high quality and desirable products to customers. To frustrated leaders, burned out teams and disgruntled business partners, wondering what was the point of this agile transformation in the first place? Thankfully my experience to date has been more with the former than the later. However I don’t think anyone would argue there is currently a level of disillusionment within our industry with the implementation of agile. This is backed up by the most recent findings from the 17th State of Agile Report which states that “In 2022, 71% of our respondents were either very or somewhat satisfied with Agile in their organizations, but this year that percentage dropped to 59%.” While the survey cites many reasons for this decrease in satisfaction, such as lack of leadership engagement, resource constraints and business and IT cooperation, it ofcourse does not tell us why this is happening and what we can do about it. Based on my experience over the years, I present why this level of dissatisfaction may exist and more importantly, what we can do to achieve more desirable outcomes from our agile transformations. ???????

When we strip away all the noise, terms, methodologies and BS around agile, what we are left with is CHANGE. The transformation of an organisation to new and improved ways of working requires the transition of its peoples’ skills, habits, knowledge and mindset to support the adoption of this new approach. And if we agree that an organisation only exists because of its people, then change cannot happen within an organisation unless its people change also. Change is a natural, positive and necessary part of all our lives (both personal and professional). Yet change (even good change) can be scary for many of us. The one vital ingredient for all change is MOTIVATION. Would you change your job, your home, even your partner if you were not sufficiently motivated to do so? An organisation is no different. If it is not clear why change is needed or what positive outcomes can be achieved from the change, an organisation (and its people) will struggle to generate the motivation necessary to make that change happen.

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Working with many clients over the years, I am always struck by the lack of understanding about the origins of agile. What was the original motivation for the 12 Principles and 4 Values of agility? Way back in 2001 the agile manifesto was crafted by 17 out of shape IT professionals at a ski resort called Snowbird in Utah. It was in response to a growing crisis within the software industry. Software projects were becoming more complex, with demands for shorter lead times and ever changing customer requirements. The traditional delivery approach was known as Waterfall. Here all requirements were gathered upfront. Initial analysis was performed and a detailed plan (with resources and costs) was produced. Development kicked off and a Project Manager was put in place to ensure no one deviated from the plan. This was a fine idea unless your customer wanted to change requirements either during delivery and as a result of changing needs, or at the end of the delivery cycle when they finally got to see working software during UAT. Waterfall does not cater for those scenarios, because it works on the assumption that requirements are facts and not open to interpretation. It assumes that when the customer sees the requirements as working software, little or no changes will be required to functionality other than bug fixing. This is clearly not the case. It led to expensive re-writes, missed go-lives dates and low quality rushed software going live with multiple patches to follow.

The Springbird 17 recognised this problem and so were motivated to come up a new and more agile delivery approach. Build working software early and often. Engage with customers throughout the delivery process and adapt the solution based on regular feedback. Agile moved the software industry away from measuring success by output of software on time and in budget, and towards measuring success through outcomes. Did the product solve the problem it was built for.

When I work with a new client the first question I ask is “Why do you want to adopt agile and what problem do you want it to solve for you and your organisation?”. Its only then can we decide if agile can actually assist in solving those problems, if at all. The above description of the origins of agile is the core motivator for using an agile approach. Engage with your customer/stakeholder early and often and use the continuous feedback loop to adapt the solution until it meets the needs of the customer. Time and resources may be constrained but the scope is whatever solves the problem within those constraints.

However Agile has many other additional unintended benefits that organisations and its people can use as motivators for its adoption, such as:

1.??? Increased speed of product to market. Agile promotes the concept of Minimum Viable Product (MVP), allowing for faster market testing and gauging customer sentiment.

2.??? Higher quality product due to automated testing and more regular test cycles.

3.??? Create visibility of work in progress and quality of flow. Better for identifying resource constraints and blockers.

4.??? Causes teams and the organisation to be more lean and efficient. Because it is not possible to be agile if you are not lean. ??

5.??? Promotes early and continuous engagement with business stakeholders. This encourages stronger and more trusted ties between business and IT.

6.??? Methodologies like Scum are very effective with hybrid teams and/or multi-locations.

7.??? Continuous opportunities for teams and the organisation to inspect and learn and thus continuously improve.

8.??? A clear and coordinated pathway to scaling agile across multiple teams and the wider organisation through scaling frameworks such as SAFe

So now we know the WHY and the WHAT of agile (those motivators that are vital for change), lets take a brief look at the all important HOW. John Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model is a popular change management model that empowers organizations to tackle organizational change and digital innovation by mobilizing their employees to rapidly adopt and implement new processes, technology, and other organizational changes. And it is an ideal approach to implementing agility at any level across the organisation:

• Step 1: Create Urgency: This is our motivation to change. My motto is ‘Agile is a doorway, not a destination”. Look at your organisation and decide what could be improved by adopting agile? What’s your burning platform that is not being tackled by your current working methods?
• Step 2: Form a Powerful Coalition: Change needs buy in from all levels. Form a coalition of the willing. A powerful group made up of key stakeholders representing Technology, Business, Operation and overall Leadership. They will champion the change and ensure momentum is maintained.
• Step 3: Create a Vision for Change: Craft the story behind the change. Create the pitch for the change and warn of the consequences of inaction. You are looking to explain the ‘why’ for the organisation so its people understand why it is needed and the benefits of the change.
• Step 4: Communicate the Vision: Sell your pitch to your people. Get them excited about the new world. Open up a continuous line of communication to ensure everyone is listening and understands their role in the change.
• Step 5: Remove Obstacles: Through the continuous feedback loop of the communications channel, create immediate actions to course correct.
• Step 6: Create Short-Term Wins: Motivation feeds on success. Within the goals of the wider vision, create short term achievable goals. Start small, set teams up to win. Success is a virus. Good news stories are infectious and encourages more teams to get on board.
• Step 7: Build on the Change: Don’t start to scale up until individual teams are successful adopting agile ways of working. Build communities of practice across the organisation. Reward achievement and publicly support the change effort. Invest in new technologies such as DevOps and AI.
• Step 8: Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture: People minic the culture and standards set by their leaders. Implement the values of agility at all levels. Make adaptability and continuous improvement more that just buzz words in a powerpoint document. Live agile ways of working. Change must is owned, lead and driven!

In summary, change even necessary and positive change wont take hold by itself. It requires direction and guidance to flourish. Change starts with, as Kotter puts it “by identifying the burning platform”. This is the motivation to move away from our current position (and its bad habits and work practices) to new and more productive ways of working. And remember, much of what an organisation and its people are doing is great and valuable work. Successful Agile Transformations are also about recognising what already works well and then adopting and building upon that to find improved way of working. Your way of working is unique, just as the culture within your organisation is unique. An excellent Agile Coach will help you unearth the great work you already do and blend it with a more adaptable approach, suitable to the dynamic markets we all work in today. ???