Impediments to agile

December 10, 2013 3 Comments

Just reading an article on things that impede agile… I share two points here (extracted from the original article):

  • Technical Practices

” …you cannot scale agile on crappy code, without collective code ownership and continuous integration – period, no debate!”

  • PMO

“The mother-ship of all agile impediments – actually not my quote!

A bit harsh? Well it depends.

A PMO that is steeped in governance that adds no value then absolutely! Gated controls are great provided they add value – have the requirements been signed by the Business, has the design been signed by the CTO, have you produced your weekly report, have you correctly RAG your Risks and issues. Mother-ship!

But a PMO that has made both the cultural and mindset shift to agile can be a huge enabler.”

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Transformation to Agile is not easy

August 20, 2013 1 Comment

I had the opportunity to meet Peter Measey as trainer of my Certified Scrum Product Owner course and since then I started to read his blog. Some time ago I read an article about how the transformation to agile can be difficult and he made me think about it. I know that the transformation to agile is not easy for large organizations that worked many years with a waterfall methodology. It requires time and it requires a change in all the level of the organization and after all these changes it can happen that the organization is still far to be really agile.  One important aspect of the transition is overcoming the individual resistance and it’s not easy because human being are involved. From Peter Measey’s blog:

“If you think that transforming an IT system from one technical platform to another is challenging, try doing a technical transformation where the platforms have a mind of their own and may not want to change, or even have the ability to change!”

Working in a large organization that wants to go towards agile and knowing that the transformation is complex I always had one question in my mind:

Can a large organization, alone, be successful in the transformation to agile?

When I say “alone” I mean without asking for help from external agile transformation experts.
Maybe the transformation is possible but more painful and longer because you cannot rely on lessons learned or common patterns among different organizations or maybe it will end, as Peter says, to what is known as “FRAgile” or “WAgile” where organizations are not really agile even if they think to be. I don’t have my personal answer to this question right now… In the meanwhile I’m still thinking on Peter’s questions:

“Would you try to write a software system without employing expert software developers ? So why would you think that something much harder (such as transforming an organisation of human beings) can be done by people who don’t understand transformation? ”

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Change your Organization: it’s about trust.

May 2, 2013 Leave a comment

Some days ago a colleague suggested me an interesting blog of James Shore about changing the organization. How an organization can become more agile? How an organization can improve their processes?
Successful organizational changes cannot be fully top-down or bottom-up, but is there really a difference between the two? James Shore thinks they are essentially the same thing: “Both are extremely difficult. Both require that people want to change.” So how can you introduce new ideas and help the change to happen? The central point is trust. James says “It’s as simple as that. When people trust me, I’ve been successful. It hasn’t even been hard. And when people don’t trust me, no amount of cajoling, persuading, beating with sticks, etc., will make a difference.” The way to change something in the organization is no-change. The approach is more to show people ideas, seeing what they think, talking about alternatives, listening to experiences, etc.

“#1: the Way to Change is No-Change. I’ve seen how hard organizational change can be, and so I no longer attempt it. I just share ideas, lead by example, and have fun doing it. If things change, great! It’s a much easier approach to life… and you know what? I think it’s made me more effective as a consultant, and as a change agent, too.”

I like this thought and I think James is right: at the end change is about trust and respect to earn this trust.

“We must be the change we wish to see.” – Ghandi.

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