Toolkit exercise: Transformation Canvas

This is the fourth post in a series of ten blog posts about the exercises in the Toolkit for Agile Coaches and Scrum Masters. All exercises the blog posts in this series are about, are available in our free promo version of the book .

The Transformation Canvas is basically your "Scrum board" for your Agile transformation effort. If you are doing things right, you should always have this board within your organization. Because being Agile includes constantly improving and pivoting based on what we learn. That doesn't just limit itself to products, services, or projects, but applies to the organization (or department or group) as well. The goal of the board is to create a shared and unambiguous picture of a transformation and where it's heading.

The transformation canvas is pretty simple to get started with. Set your goal, identify how to measure, define what's in and out of scope, identify risks and conditions, followed by stakeholders and the transformation team. You could really do this within 30 minutes if you wanted to, just to get a draft on paper. Be sure to use a big piece of paper, ideally brown paper on a big wall, or a tool like Miro or Mural. There should be plenty of room to move things around, because filling in the boxes is just step one.

While the exercise suggests to iterate over the topics, the alternative is to quickly dump all your thoughts on the canvas and then iterate over that. Meaning: fill out all the boxes in one go within 30 minutes. Afterward, you do 5-minute iterations reviewing each and one of them. Group size is a big factor in determining your approach. The approach from the book, using 10-15 minute iterations, works well for larger groups with lots of stakeholders. The time boxes really serve their purpose there because with large groups come many opinions. With smaller groups, you might get into a more natural flow and just go through it all at once. You can zoom in on specific boxes later.

The transformation canvas was designed to be explicitly transparent. Meaning, it's physically on a wall somewhere, or in a digital location where everyone within the organization can easily access it (taking into account confidentiality and security measures). You want people to know what's on there, to know what's going on, and to see where the transformation is heading next. More importantly, you want people to give feedback and ask questions. Without transparency, you will never get an organization to fully buy in to the transformation.

As with any board, it only works if you keep updating it. This board shouldn't need updates on a daily basis, but reflect on it every other week or every month to make sure it's still up to date. Every 3 to 6 months you'll notice you need a bigger overhaul of the goals, metrics, etc. That's when you set up another transformation canvas workshop and go through the exercise again.

The biggest pitfall when it comes to the transformation canvas is that people forget about it. And a forgotten board or canvas is a useful as a piece of paper in the trash. So, find natural moments to bring people's attention to it. Just highlight the fact that it exists at Sprint Reviews, for example, and ask people for feedback and suggestions. A simple get effective way to keep this on top of people's minds.

Next week, I’ll write about the Five Dysfunctions of a Team, a very powerful exercise that truly makes a team - if done right. This is based on the excellent book my Patrick Lencioni. Want more exercises to choose from? Buy the toolkit in paperback or on Kindle!