Agile: Instagram vs Reality
First article in a series of posts about Agile
I n the 21st century, many companies claim to be implementing Agile in their teams but: what do companies mean by “agile” and what mistakes may they be making when implementing it?
We could define Agile as a methodology created to develop projects that require velocity, flexibility and adaptability to changing conditions in the sector, in order to provide a competitive advantage.
Nowadays, we can agree that Agile is fashionable. Not working in agile or that your teams do not know about these kinds of methodologies is even strange, so when asked “do you work in agile?” the answer is obvious “of course!”
While it is true that a large part of companies claim to be doing Agile working, when we start a project it is usual to find in some cases a common denominator among all of them: they breach what I named “the 5 C’s rule”.
Coherence
The Coherence of the Agile model will define the relationship between the company’s strategy, the departments and the people that make it up, as well as the interaction between them, and the execution of the activities though the whole customer journey, which will have an impact on our customer satisfaction in relation to the product or service delivered. The Coherence is the logic of the Agile model to be implemented.
For example, applying the agile model in an organization without understanding what the real struggles of the employees are and what are the real business challenges and needs, it will not work. In order to succeed, managers must apply the agile model not by following the instructions, but by adapting the processes, tools, rituals and artifacts to the people that are going to work with it and to the real needs that they have.
Consistency
The Consistency is the stability of the Agile model to be implemented. It is intrinsically related to consistency, as consistency will not be given without coherence. The consistency of the model will ensure the durability of the model. Variations in the Agile model, as long as they reflect a necessary change for the model to be consistent, will be positive and contribute to the durability and Consistence of the Agile model.
For example, a model will be consistent when any type of changes in the company’s objectives, the human resources or the business in the organization is reflected in their way of working. The agile model needs to be flexible and adapt to the needs not only during the kick off phase, but always during its evolution.
Constancy
Constancy is the firmness of the organization, departments and people to adapt and adopt the Agile model. It is linked to people and perseverance in the attitude of change and adaptation of the Agile model into their daily routines.
For example, when performing an Agile deployment, sentences like “we will work on Agile for the next project “ or “now I can’t do it like this because it takes me longer” are common. Consistency and willingness to change and not to take a step back, should be the number one goals for all the teams.
Confidence
Confidence in the model will be key success factor the Agile implementation and for the teams to be constant. If our teams are not sure that implementing Agile will have a benefit for their daily activities, they will never trust this methodology, and therefore the model’s constancy will show cracks.
For example, confidence in the Agile model and methodology will be more tangible if the company’s CEO/CIO trusts it, which will cascade down the Confidence to all employees.
Communication
Communication is the foundation of an Agile implementation. Strategic decisions, such as the adoption of a new methodology, must be well communicated and accessible to the entire company.
For example, trying to lead such a big change in a company without involving and sharing with all our employees the reason / benefits / objectives will generate confusion and insecurity among them.
Bear in mind that during an Agile implementation process people should be informed of what, how and why this change occurs. In the next article, we will see why communication is a key to success when implementing Agile.
Failure to comply with the 5C’s rule has a direct impact on our Agile model to be implemented, and as a result there are some pain points — more common than you think — that you can find below.
Pain Point 1 when implementing Agile: Teams/departments continue to work on silos
Each company requires different interaction and process models, as well as tools to make the Agile model Consistent and for the Communication to flow.
On many occasions, we find that alignment between different teams/departments does not occur, and the model must be refined and improved until communication and cooperation is part of its day-to-day activity until isolated work is eliminated.
It is common to find situations in which teams run tasks, and even if they have dependencies on another team that is waiting for something to deliver to them, do not have a regular channel or tool to communicate about how they are in the process, or if they found some kind of blocker or risk/issue that prevents them from moving forward on the task.
That is why one of the most important tasks when implementing Agile is to establish the right channels of communication and above all to promote and grow a natural reporting model between teams.
Pain Point 2 when implementing Agile: Believing that “being Agile” means not documenting anything
Although it hurts to recognize it, in large companies where a transition to an Agile model begins, it must be documented. There are many reasons to do so: teams do not have advanced knowledge of agile and we are introducing many changes, we use new tools, we change communication flows, we vary the model of the usual procedures to simpler paths, we give new responsibilities… and, for any human, it is impossible to adopt overnight a change from 0 to 100 in something that has been working in a totally different way for years. This will be what gives Coherence to our model thought the years, and whether or not the people of our teams vary, we can guarantee that the information can be used by new team members to execute their tasks based on the Agile methodology.
Pain Point 3 when implementing Agile: Launching thousands of initiatives “with a small scope”
To ensure the Consistence of the model, the prioritization and rank if the initiatives by sizing, strategy, duration should be one of the key points. That is how we would realize that there is a relationship between many small initiatives: our Epic.
An epic is an initiative that can span different value streams, have a size (usually, not always) greater than six months of development and are usually strategic or very important in the company.
It is important to work on the Coherence of the model to ensure that the initiatives are aligned with our business strategy and the value creation requirements we look after.
Pain Point 4 when implementing Agile: Believing that focusing only in the short term is more “agile”
Agile envisages both short and medium/long initiatives. We will always have a backlog to develop in the long term, but the prioritization of initiatives will be constant, that is what it will mean to work in Agile, the fact that we can vary our pipeline and adapt to the needs of the market or our customers in a more agile way. This Constancy in the prioritization and the Coherence of our projects according to our strategy will be what determine our success.
Pain Point 5 when implementing Agile: Finding solutions to conflicting points in a timely manner
In many cases, because of pressure and urgency to do certain tasks, we solve the “hot spots” quickly and without thinking about the implications it can has in the model. This is what we have always defined as “fixing” something. And this is what generates a lot of technical debt in the team’s work, in a particular level, and overall we lose the vision of our model. It is important to define an architectural reference and a technological strategy that allows us to deal with all possible deviations that arise during the Agile implementation, because if you drag these “bad decisions” it will be more difficult to solve them both economically and temporarily.
Pain Point 6 when implementing Agile: Selecting a “usual” provider to accompany you in the implementation
It is common to leave the selection of a supplier to accompany in the implementation process adrift of two factors: the economical one and to have a previous experience and know the supplier in another project.
It is very important to map the needs of the company and aligned them with the capabilities of the suppliers that offer this type of services during the selection.
In order to select a supplier to accompany your company on Agile’s journey, my recommendation is to make a true strategic alliance with a company that has capacity for innovation, adaptability and scalability of the model. This, and only this, will be the first piece of the puzzle of the Coherence of your Agile model.
Pain Point 7 when implementing Agile: Not doing a knowledge transfer to your employees
Whenever I participate in projects to implement Agile methodologies — and any other — I focus on the continuity of the model and the transfer of knowledge to the people of the company.
The Consistency of the Agile model to be implemented will be defined by your strategic Partner and its understanding and knowledge of your company (or similar companies) and its experience, but also of the knowledge and experience of your company’s employees.
At the end of the initial implementation, once the teams gain more maturity, independence and autonomy, the model can suffer some variations. But for this to happen, it is important that strategic capabilities have been developed within your employees, through skillmapping models, training sessions, knowledge sharing… So that they have the ability to decide the changes and variations of the model with a real knowledge of Agile.
Pain Point 8 when implementing Agile: Creating new role names… and no more.
It would not be the first time I have found companies that have changed the name of certain roles, processes or procedures, but the approach is still based on the traditional methodology (or Cascade). Implementing an Agile model does not mean renaming what we have been doing for years. It means changing our work model to introduce new state-of-the-art approaches, such as Design Thinking, DevOps, new tools that favor the model that we decide to implement, such as virtual Kanban boards, dynamics and tools to speed up ceremonies, etc…
The Confidence or trust in the model will depend on the real results and changes that are made and involve benefits for people, no one will believe in a model that claims to be “new” when nothing changes except a cool name.
Pain Point 9 when implementing Agile: Creating many roles without accompanying them with real responsibility
To ensure Coherence and Confidence in the model, it is not only necessary to introduce new words and roles such as Scrum Master, Product Owner, Product Manager but for people to feel that they have responsibility as such. Defining roles and responsibilities is key to ensure that the agile approach is sustainable, coherent and consistent. In addition, assigning responsibilities and empowering teams will increase the confidence in the Agile model, will establish limits of responsibilities and all employees will know what is expected of each of them, defeating fears and barriers for the Agile implementation.
Pain Point 10 when implementing Agile: Believing that implementing Agile, and everything around it, is easy
This is one of the most common mistakes when talking about Agile. We tend to think agile is, in itself, simple. And we’re not just talking about practicing it, but on many occasions adopting it. It is true that Agile has many benefits — which we will talk about in upcoming posts– and will make the the daily work of our teams flow harmoniously and easily.
But before we get to that point, we have to get it implanted in the company, and the question is:
What factors determine the success of an Agile adoption?
We will analyze it in the next post.
Thank you for reading this article, all you have read is based on my experience and learning, I will be pleased to receive any comments and read your thoughts.
Please reach out to me here or on LinkedIn.
