Overcoming organisational challenges to implementing Agile at Scale

Agile was originally a software development method for managing the creation of applications based on iterative and incremental processes. It advocates adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, and continuous improvements. The Agile Manifesto was created in 2001 by 17 people who were involved in creating software systems at the time. They set out to define what they believed were the best practices for developing software products successfully over time using an iterative approach. The result was eight principles relating to how work should be done within organisations and how teams should work together.

Scaling agile is an evolving concept,

It’s not a one size fits all approach, and it’s important to understand that the process of implementing agile at scale will change depending on the context in which you are working.

Agile is a mindset, a way of working and thinking across teams. The principles behind agile are universal: they still apply whether your organisation is small or large – but how you implement them will vary according to your context.

Agile thinking means taking small steps towards creating value, learning along the way and adapting to change. It can be applied to any kind of work: software development, product management or marketing strategy — in fact, it's increasingly being used by companies across all industries as they strive for innovation and growth by following the principles of Agile Manifesto.

Managing change is a challenge in itself and Agile transformation adds to the challenges

Change management is a continuous process of managing change in an organisation, which includes communicating change and creating acceptance for it. It is about people, culture and leadership, as well as about communication techniques that can help you manage the transition.

Agile adoption adds to the challenges that change management entails by requiring you to implement changes at scale across multiple teams, the organisation as a whole and across different cultures within your organisation.

To manage this, start by recognising that:

• Agile is not a process. It’s a mindset, culture and way of working.
• Agile is not a rigid methodology and it doesn't prescribe specific processes or steps to follow.
• Agile is not only about managing work but about thinking in complexity and uncertainty.

Start with senior management, change starts from the Top!

Senior management has traditionally single-mindedly focussed on productivity and immediate results, and are to some extend impatient with any changes. Agile transformation takes time and may not immediately show the desired results as there are no predictable outcomes based on past experience.

Many organisations are finding it difficult to adopt Agile, despite their best efforts and intentions. This is partly because they have not fully understood the challenges associated with adopting Agile. They also do not realise that there is a difference between training people to be agile practitioners versus actually having an organisation that is truly ‘Agile’ in its execution. The traditional hierarchical approach towards managing change does not work well with agility as it does not allow for quick decision making or adaptation when things go wrong - which inevitably happens when working on complex projects involving multiple stakeholders with different opinions, backgrounds and perspectives on achieving success.

This is why educating Leaders should be the starting point to ensure a deep understanding and commitment to the Agile transformation agenda.

Investing time and resources in people throughout the organization is key to a successful Agile transformation

Organisations need to become agile if they want to meet their customers' needs and compete effectively in today's digital economy. Agile is a way of working (and living) that is designed to meet customer needs. As such, agile organisations should be able to respond faster than non-agile ones. They should be better at helping customers identify their real needs and make sure that those needs are met with value-for-money products or services.

However, most organisations lack the culture for continuous improvement and learning to transition to Agile. There is a lot of work to do in order to scale Agile beyond your core team. There are two important things to consider when scaling Agile: investing time and resources in people and creating a support ecosystem.

Investing time and resources in people takes the form of training them on the principles of Agile, giving them opportunities for coaching, giving them opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and creating a collaborative space where they can discuss issues related to scaling Agile or just share their thoughts about product management. You need this kind of investment because it helps not only with implementing agile at scale but also with changing how your organization does project management from waterfall style (sequentially delivered projects) into product management (smaller incremental releases every 2 weeks).

Is training employees in agile methods and creating a support ecosystem, such as collaborative spaces only sufficient to change an organisation?

Short answer: No! Even though you have trained your employees in agile methods and put in place support ecosystems such as collaborative spaces, it is not sufficient to change an organisation from waterfall project management focus to agile product management. Training does not address the cultural and organisational aspects of agile adoption. Training is not enough to change the way people work, think and feel, and therefore it is not sufficient for an organisation to become fully Agile.

Agile is a mindset, not a rigid methodology. It is about people and collaboration, flexibility and adaptability. It’s about working in small teams that deliver frequently, whether it is software development or any other product development project. it’s about how you think about and approach your work.

However, many companies still struggle with fully embedding agile methodologies into their culture because of organisational challenges which prevent them from fully adopting continuous delivery practices such as automated testing, code reviews and deployment pipelines.

Another challenge arises when trying to encourage “agile values” in an organisation: how do you measure progress?

Measuring progress is not straightforward, as it cannot be measured by traditional performance measures or metrics

Agile is a mindset, process, culture and team. It is not a performance measure or metric. What matters the most is customer's satisfaction and product's adoption which is underpinned by build quality, delivery speed, and alignment to customers’ needs.

The challenge with measuring Agile is that it cannot be measured by traditional performance measures or metrics. By its very nature, Agile teams are self-organizing and goal-directed. This means that they have the freedom to decide what should be done to meet their goals - which may change on a regular basis. In addition to this, each team member has their own definition of what ‘done’ looks like for them – i.e., their definition of success might be different from yours or mine, as far as they are aligned to the organisation's vision and customers’ needs!

Agile is an evolving concept which requires the organisation to constantly question its customers focussed solution delivery practices, learn and adapt continuously

Agile at Scale or Enterprise Agility has come into existence to solve problems related to project management complexity using Lean management principles, methodologies such as Scrum or Kanban and DevOps principles to establish a continuous delivery pipeline to deliver products faster than what was possible earlier using traditional waterfall methodologies. Its adoption requires time (5 to 7 years is a common timeframe) and this is often met with senior management's short term plans and impatience. However, if organisations embrace this new way of working they will able to meet customer needs faster while improving quality and productivity by becoming 'Agile'.

How does this resonate with your own experience? Share your thoughts on how you what challenges you faced in your Agile transformation journey and you managed them?

?Dr. Walid Ghannouchi

Disclaimer: The thought leadership views and opinions expressed in this article do not represent my current, or previous employers and clients and are the produce of an independent thought process which I share in my quality of independent professional and researcher. The views and opinions expressed in this article do not represent an investment advice and should not be used to influence investment decisions. The information contained herein is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although I endeavour to provide accurate and timely information in my quality of independent professional, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future. No one should act on such information without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the particular situation.