Author: Kseniya Kobryn

Agile is about small iterative rounds of change. Yet integral approach is as important as ever

Agile transformation is the change process. The process, not a one-time event. If you wish to achieve profound progress in Agile adoption in your teams, don’t do training first. Develop a broader roadmap. 

Though Agile is about short iterative series of changes, these have to happen within a defined streamline.  

For us in LACE transformation team, the approach that we use with our clients and that has proven to work the best – is the Agile Transformation roadmap, described below. 

This roadmap has served us and our numerous partners well in our journeys to Agile transformation. This said, below you will see that application of this roadmap may vary depending on the client’s needs, business operating reality, internal practices and compliance requirements, and last but hugely important – on our clients’ organizational culture. 

Clear problem definition saves tons of money, and sets up a vision of success

We always recommend our clients to start with assessment of their organizational readiness for Agile transformation. Beginning with the end on mind, that is what a good assessment helps us achieve. 

On the stage of assessment, we define what are the key impediments of Agile transformation in a given organization, both known to company leadership and the hidden ones. We also map the low-hanging fruit that may be utilized as first wins in the transformation journey. 

What exactly do we research on assessment stage?

Our typical list of questions that we ask cover the areas below.  

When we conduct discovery phase with the client, together we define how deep the investigation should go in each of the chapters below. Our usual assessment tools are interviews, questionnaires and focus groups.  

Depending on the client and on their particular change agenda, we may choose to go as deep as ‘anthropological studies’ with the teams, where we participate to team meetings across the business that is about to undergo Agile transformation.  

We collect the insights below not from the words of executives and team leads, but rather from our real-life observations on how teams create added value and achieve on goals.  

We know we have done a good job in assessment, when we understand how Agile practices may be applied to the work of the concrete business that we are now helping transform. 

Surprisingly enough, or maybe not so surprisingly any longer, leaders only cannot provide the most crucial insight that LACE team needs during Assessment stage. So our deep and sincere call to all professionals developing the Agile transformation roadmap – don’t stop on executives’ level! Leaders know a lot, they decide on success of Transformation efforts.  

Yet the success itself is defined by Agile transformation adopters that live outside the board rooms. Knowing their pain points, motivations, hopes and struggles – this is the insight that will define your Agile transformation success. 

Setting the common ground by proper education of involved stakeholders

Agile is such a buzzword in the modern world. It is being used so frequently that everyone is already having their own interpretation of Agile. The very common risk that we in LACE transformation team have faced regularly, is different stakeholders having different common grounds and meanings when talking about principles of Agile transformation. That is why we recommend to train all the stakeholders and to set the common grounds for the change that we want to do. 

LACE works by SAFe, an Agile methodology that has been the first to adopt a well-rounded approach to stakeholders’ education.  

We not only provide classic Agile training to Scrum masters and Product owners. In our training portfolio, we have trainings for teams that are shifting to Agile, as well as to Agile leaders.  

The latter education of leaders proves to be immensely important. More often than not Agile Leadership is the bottleneck in an organization wishing to undergo Agile Transformation. As usually the urge and energy to go Agile, comes from a particular business unit, some area of organization that is usually on frontiers of the VUCA world. In almost every organization we see business divisions that do not follow or interpret differently the Agile philosophy. When not addressed timely, misalignment in leadership team results in a bunch of roadblocks later in Agile Transformation journey.  

In LACE, our standard Agile training portfolio consists of the following trainings below. Depending on our clients’ needs, we either deliver training ‘from the shelf’ (yet less frequently these days) or tailor our programs to the clients’ needs. We do practice collabs with the third-party training providers, as well as with internal L&D departments on the client’s side, in order to set up training programs that address exact needs for Agile transformation. 

As to the format, we offer both online and on-premise training. Below you may find more detailed information on learning options available.

ON-LINE

1. Agile Basics, duration 4 hours.
2. Scrum Basics, duration 1 day.
3. Organization Agility training for Business), duration 6 hours.
4. Agile Product Management, duration 5 hours.
5.  Organizational Agility Course, duration 2 days.

OFF-LINE

1. Scrum Basics.
2. Agile Fundamentals (with certification). 
3. Leading SAFe (with certification).
4. SAFe for Teams (with certification).
5. SAFe PO/PM (with certification).
6. SAFe SM (with certification).
7. Management 3.0 (with certification).

Remember, the training is important, as it sets the common ground for further change. If there is one most valuable step to consider in training Agile – consider this. Always make sure that all of your key stakeholders are properly trained and equipped with knowledge for the Agile Transformation journey. 

Knowledge provides the mental capacity to do change, tools empower the actual change

The essential part of Agile transformation is for LACE team to audit and adjust tools that are available in the organization, to serve the needs of the new Agile teams. The very first thing that we do, is we explore the tools that are already adopted and being successfully used by our client’s organization. 

Agile can be practiced even with the whiteboards, or so the prophets say. In our experience, it is frequently possible to utilize the client’s existing toolset, in order to get Agile transformation going. In case it is not possible, we do help the client to properly select and set up the tooling that will serve their Agile transformation needs. 

Tooling is the driver of successful Agile transformation. There is a ‘yet’ here, though. Transformation results are to serve the common business goals, which are usually being planned, tracked and achieved with the set tools. Whenever possible, try to utilize the existing tools for Agile Transformation goals. Don’t run for funky new tools just for the sake of novelty, this is our advice here. 

When the elements are set, it is time to get the process going

We think that the entire meaning of Agile transformation boils down to how effectively the Agile processes are being adopted by the teams that are in the transformation process. The results of previous steps – assessment, training, tooling, can be seen on this stage very vividly. 

On the process setting stage, LACE team takes care of setting up the Agile rituals, Agile meetings like PI Planning even for distributed team, on making sure that teams practice what they have learned and the tools are being used in the way they have been intended to.  

In our experience, for organizations that undergo fundamental Agile transformation, Retrospective is the hardest process innovation that they go through. The teams that have never practiced Agile before, need the most careful nurture from LACE team, on the way they learn from own experiences.  

Though not always the case, yet with majority of our clients it has been necessary to set up team space and time to reflect on past performance; it took most daring efforts to help the team start using the time and space to reflect on their performance; and most of the struggles and proud achievements we have had with the empowered teams that grasped the meaning of iterative improvement and the true ‘by the book’ value that Agile brings. 

In essence, process setting provides sense to all previous steps in Agile transformation, making sure that the individual puzzles of the Agile journey are put together and start functioning. 

Culture eats everything for breakfast

The topic of organizational culture deserves a whole separate post by itself. In the experiences with our clients, LACE team has always paid very deliberate attention to the way in which things are being done in organization. As the strongest wind that propels the success of Agile Transformation efforts, as well as most difficult impediments – they all come from the hidden and unwritten norms that exist in the company. 

To tell the truth, there has yet never been a client for which we did not do change initiative. Yet for some of our clients we did have to change the scope, or amount of educational and communicational activities, in order to get change going.  

The culture thing is the most difficult to understand for an external consultant. So it has always been one of the most deeply researched questions on the assessment stage of Agile transformation. 

Remember, culture eats the strategy for breakfast. Or frankly, it eats everything for breakfast. Make sure that you navigate well in organizational culture of your client, as this may be the question of life or death for your Agile transformation initiatives. 

Blossom comes from a good seed, properly planted, and deliberately cared for

We have started this article with one fundamental truth that has proven so many times for us – transformation is the process, not a one-time event. In order for Agile transformation to work, it needs to be deliberately, attentively and resourcefully nurtured.  

Having set up all the processes well brings a great level of enthusiasm to the teams. This in return brings early wins and fuels more adopters of Agile transformation. Yet we have noticed that with time the energy level drops, and there is a risk (at least for some categories of Agile adopters) to come back to the old ways of doing things. 

That is why the crucial step for Agile transformation happens actually after the Agile transformation. We in LACE call it Agile coaching. This is a very individualized process of our consultants supporting the concrete use cases and challenges that concrete teams face when gaining their first experience with Agile.  

We know, no systematization on this stage. Our coaches come back to every team individually, empathize with their particular struggles and support their unique successes, with the aim to obtain a side-view on how the teams may sustain the Agile transformation for achieving results on their level.  

As LACE team has experienced this multiple times with our clients: when Agile becomes the way we do things over here, when Agile is not the way we do things, when it is a philosophy of ours – the change has been achieved. And the organization of yours is equipped with Agile ways of creating the value, which is the competitive advantage in the VUCA world we live. 

To conclude, big changes are difficult, costly and very consuming exercise. In the modern world, changes are inevitable. Agile Transformation provides a toolkit to your business that may help you to have change not as a grand costly project, rather to have change as an on-going iterative evolutionary process. This, in essence, may help your firm to stay in line with the market changes and to deliver the best possible product or service to your clients in every given point of time. 

There are these tipping points in our lives that push us to the edge, roller coast us to dare things we couldn’t have dreamt of, and drive us to leave our comfort zone. These are very uncomfortable moments. These are incredible moments. They open the door for deep self-exploration, for setting the new limits to our possibilities.   

About 8 months ago, such a tipping point moment happened in my career. I am an Agile coach with a long history of transformational projects for clients all over Europe. Being the Vice President of Agile Transformation in Symphony Solutions, I have always been brave to try things out and known to work dedicatedly for the goals of company’s clients, driving the value of an Agile mindset to address their business challenges. My career was bumpy at times, yet always steadily progressing, logical, and highly fulfilling.    

As I look back at that moment, I see myself sitting on a leather sofa of the meeting room, discussing forthcoming changes in Symphony structure of the leadership team. And then this moment happens. I am offered the role of Chief Operating Officer at Symphony Solutions, the company I’ve been working for many years, the company I have helped grow, alongside other people who are my friends not simply work colleagues. My first thought: “If I take it, my family is going to see me even less, with all the travels and personal time sacrifices that it takes to be a COO”. But what I actually say is: “But I am a woman…” It seems this reply has been anticipated, as Theo Schnitfink, the founder and visionary of Symphony Solutions, replies that having a woman that leads the organization – is a great asset of an organization. The respect of gender differences, and appreciation of diverse viewpoints that Symphony Solutions practices, have always been our competitive advantage. And something I couldn’t agree more with. As the thing that I value so deeply about Symphony – is the opportunity to be myself, which I have experienced throughout all my career with the company. Gender stereotypes should never impede growth.    

My second thought is how much I need to learn, as I want to do the role right. I suggest that I first enroll in an MBA program. Again, this answer seems to have been expected. Instead, I am offered a mentorship with the CEO of a major Tech Company in the USA. And so I decide to give it a try.   

From that moment, my entirely new journey starts. I spend hours and hours with my mentor. I bring up lists of questions to discuss. Even more questions arise during our sessions. The time spent with my mentor: a pragmatic, straightforward, seasoned leader that has experienced growth and shrinking, mergers & acquisitions, and transformations – is my personal MBA that is an invaluably important life experience. Being a C-Suite member himself, he has always found time for me, he has been fully present and dedicated to my questions and dilemmas. He was fully invested in the mentorship we have had. And I am deeply grateful to him for the time, energy, and wisdom that he has shared while helping me develop for the responsibility I was about to take.    

Interestingly enough, my prior experience as an Agile Transformation consultant helps a lot in the preparation for a new role. A major chunk of questions that we discuss with my mentor, is how to respond quickly to the needs of clients, customers, and the markets, by listening to the voices of employees, partners, and external stakeholders. With time, my long list of questions that I bring to the mentoring sessions dries out. I have a plan. I feel ready to step into this new stage of my career journey…   

I took over the COO role at Symphony Solutions on February 25th, 2020.    

And then, only after 2 weeks of me stepping into the new role, the Covid-19 crisis burst out. Suddenly, all plans, preparations, and expectations turned upside down. An entirely new reality emerged, for which no one has been quite prepared. When I glance back at it now, this looks ironical enough, as I have actually found myself in the shoes of a leader that has to walk the talk in living an Agile approach for driving the organization forward. For years I have consulted companies to apply Agile methods in times of change. 8 months ago I became the one to do this, for Symphony Solutions.  

We had the tough times and went through the challenges that stretch the most mature leadership teams. With our biggest clients cancelling and delaying the projects, with the need for optimization of support teams, with rounds of brainstorming for cost management measures, solidarity cut discussions, and whatnot. That period has probably been the most challenging time in the life of the company and my personal career journey.   

I remember one evening before a major painful decision that we had to take, and how it made me feel that night. The decision was going to impact negatively lives of many people. I was the one to make the decision, and bear responsibility for it. I was the one to listen to the stories of broken careers caused by that decision. Even now, the wave of empathy rises when I think of my colleagues impacted. It was the time of enormous stretch. And I still remember the words of my mentor, “Doesn’t matter what option you will choose, be ready to be hated right now. As a leader, you do impact the destiny of many people. In the situation that we are in now, your impact is breaking people’s well-being and disrupts their stable life. Accept it.  

While doing so, I may say that we took care of every story we have heard. We brought on the table not simply Symphony operational struggles, but the struggles of the people who were impacted by our decisions. At that time, I had to consider the personal backgrounds, life stories, family situations of those colleagues that dedicatedly worked with us for years. Many of these stories impacted the way we made decisions about optimization measures. And this is yet another leadership lesson that I have learned from this period. These struggles that we have had, they stay invisible. Most of the painful fights for balancing the interests of people and business are known only to a very narrow group of the leadership team. 

Now when we through with the crisis, and when things have returned to the growth track, I can look back and reflect on how we did it. We have definitely proof-tested on ourselves the Agile Transformation approaches, for which Symphony Solutions is known on the market. We practice what we preach, as Agile has been the strategic choice for Symphony Solutions for years already. The consistent application of Agile has paid us off. It helped us make mistakes, learn, and adapt fast. It helped us see the opportunities in limitations. Among few examples to mention, we transformed our experience of geographically dispersed teamwork into a new remote business model; we used the opportunity of work from home to re-evaluate employee journey and to structure our processes. We go forward with new hopes, aspirations, and plans. We go forward with formidable baggage of experience.    

I personally go forward with huge gratitude to those many people who have constructively challenged, helped listen to the crucial voices from the field, from employees, clients, and most important for leadership team; as well as to people who have joined collaboratively to drive the changes in Symphony Solutions that we have lived through.    

And one last insight that I have encountered on the way. Interestingly enough, I now spend more time with my family than ever, with all the flight bans and work from home modes.