Road to Agile Transformation Greatness

During the last 20 years, agile methodology has revolutionized the IT industry. Speed and business benefits were achieved by aligning digital development to the agile manifesto and its principles – and primarily eliminating waste in way of working. The new methodology was well aligned to the new business conditions with higher level of uncertainty and changed customer behavior. In 2011, Scaled Agile was launched to take the agile methodology to the next level with a broader scope including portfolio level. Since then, there has officially been a unified view of success to drive agile transformation of businesses and organizations. It is now seen as a “best practice” methodology for agile transformation and adopted by consultants and managers world-wide. 

Recent research shows another story. The Institute for Digital Transformation concluded in their snapshot research (2021) that digital professional view agile methodology in “abandon” phase in the mature life cycle. It means that digital professionals are unable to realize the business benefits of agile methodology, get disillusioned and finally start to abandon the methodology. This conclusion is something that we see in many companies and organizations – through informal channels. The situation is confirmed by research from Flow Leadership (in collaboration with The Goodwind Company) where 84% of digital professionals stated having severe problems with Scaled Agile implementation. A relevant conclusion is that Scaled Agile (SAFe), in theory, is a success and best practice method for agile transformation – but very few have successfully implemented it in practice and harvested the business benefits. This is due to the fact that agile transformation is a combination of structure (main focus of SAFe implementations), leadership and governance development. The fact is that most organizations experience high level of friction, confusion and frustration limited the business effects by up to 60%. 

There are examples that where Scaled Agile (SAFe) have been successful. What is interesting is that these examples all have modified the strict theory of SAFe and added components for eliminating friction, confusion and frustration in the organization. A good example is Andrew Kallman’s implementation of Flow components into Scaled Agile implementation in AI project “digital co-worker” (IT company, 2017) to address the current challenges and hence improving productivity by over 75%. But what was different? How were these business benefits achieved? 

Scaled Agile without Flow // Scale Agile with Flow

Flow Maturity = 36% // Flow Maturity = 81%

Lead time (AI pilot) = 7-8 months // Lead time (AI project) = 4 months

FTE Usage = 7-8 consultants // FTE Usage = 2-3 consultants

It is important to understand that the Flow Leadership Framework is based extensive research (50+ years) on how to improve performance of organizations and teams. The Flow Leadership Framework have defined 24 levers that define performance. In other words, the maturity of Flow in the organization has a direct impact on the performance of the organization and team using Scaled Agile methodology. Companies with a Flow maturity above 80% show astonishing business benefits. Unfortunately, most organizations are stuck around 30% Flow maturity with minimum business benefits – and hence jeopardizing the agile transformation movement. 

Let us now study the AI project “digital co-worker” and how the performance of teams were improved. At the beginning of the project, it was concluded that team members had different interpretations of Scaled Agile from a structural perspective (processes, roles and routines) that resulted in confusion and frustration. For example, the team did not have a common semantics when discussing important concepts of Scaled Agile. Also, the team members did not have a common vision, objectives and purpose of the AI project adding to the friction in the organization. It is possible to conclude that the project (very common Scaled Agile implementation) lacked the key components for business performance and success. The starting point was therefore aligning the team to a common methodology including structural, leadership and governance perspectives – aligned with a common vision and purpose. The teams now started uniformly towards a common, and understood, vision and goal. Those struggling to perform were coached to get up the “aha-curve” and into high performance domain. It was in essence a combination analysis, aligning, and coaching to press the right levers for success. 

Diagram 1: Flow Maturity Analysis

A conclusion from the research is that all agile transformations are unique due to unique conditions of the organization. Different levels of organizational complexity, employee engagement and market conditions. We therefore need to adjust our approach to improve the agile transformation journey (using Scaled Agile methodology) to achieve the best effects. It is therefore recommended that the 24 levers of Flow are assessed and analyzed to understand the situation of the organization and the sources (root causes) of friction and confusion. Why do we have this situation? What have we done or not done? Many companies tend to implement more structure, SAFe experts and routines in the agile transformation to accelerate the value delivery but often with little success – since they are not truly addressing the sources of friction, confusion and frustration. 

My point of view is that running an agile transformation is a complex journey that triggers many internal structural, leadership and governance challenges. It is opening Pandora’s box and hoping we have the tools to control it. Many organizations that I have worked with underestimate these challenges and see Scaled Agile as the “silver bullet” to solve all problems initiating the agile transformation. What we need to understand is that most leaders and employees do not want change and are unprepared for the stress and moving outside their comfort zone. According to Gallup research (2020), employees in traditional companies have an engagement rate of 14% and thereby unable to support the agile transformation. The problem is that around 80% engagement (digital companies like Spotify) in empowered organizations are required to get the agile transformation with Scaled Agile to work. Very few organizations are in that position, carry a completely different magnitude of complexity, and are doomed to fail. 

Recommendations:

1.     Carry out a Flow Maturity Assessment (24 levers) for a customized plan to raise performance and value delivery in the organization and teams – removing friction, confusion and frustration. 

2.     Turn to successful implementation and learn from them. What were their starting point and what did they concretely do to achieve business performance?

3.     Complement Scales Agile certifications and competence with areas such as business transformation, leadership and governance development (included in Flow). A certification in Scaled Agile will not solve your problems. 

4.     Engage the Goodwind Company/Flow to coach your organization in the right direction for the right results. 

For the last 10 years, Scaled Agile (including SAFe) has been the de facto methodology for agile transformation. During this time, we have seen many transformation projects started and get stuck. Agile transformation work is not about implementing new structures but rather building the right mindset and leadership for change. It starts with each leader and challenges their comfort zone, and hence willingness to change. It is therefore important for you to lead by example and walk the talk – and show that it is possible. Because it is possible to move a mountain with the right mindset and imagination. That is the starting point. The questions are whether you are willing to take that first step.

Hans Gillior. // Agile Transformation Expert - Senior Advisor

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