Agile teams are small, compact teams who stay close to the customer and adapt to quickly changing conditions. They result in improved productivity, faster time to market, better quality and lower risk.
In today's dynamic markets, where companies are facing competition from startups, the prospect of a fast-moving team is highly appealing. But this is easier done than done. Companies struggle to decide which part of the organisation should be reorganised into agile teams.
Companies can become more agile but they need to be realistic. Some functions are not suitable for agile functioning. Once the agile movement is launched one cannot be selective, it has to be a company-wide implementation. If the teams constantly get stuck with procedural issues constantly then this would lead to failures and poor results. One must ensure that functions that do not act as agile learn to support the team that does.
Leading agile by being agile
A summary of Agile - Agile teams creatively improve products, processes. They are small teams and multidisciplinary, break up problems into modules, develop a solution through prototyping and tight feedback. The focus is on adapting to change rather than the original plan and they hold themselves accountable for the result.
It is ideal in situations where the problems are complex, solution unknown, requirements likely to change. They are largely self-governing and teams work closely with the customers. It reduces the layers of approval, thereby speeding up the work.
Getting Agile rolling
Leadership teams do not plan everything. They understand that they may not know how many agile teams would be required, how quickly they have to be formed, how they can overcome the bureaucracy without upsetting the traditional hierarchy. So the best thing would be to launch an initial set of agile teams, gather information on the value they create and constraints faced and then decide on the next step. This also allows them to compare the cost of agile with the value add. If the benefits outweigh the costs leaders scale up agile or else they pause, monitor the market, find ways to add value to agile and decrease the cost of change.
To get started leaders typically employ two essential tools.
Create a taxonomy of terms: Agile teams usually create a backlog of work to be done. They create a full taxonomy of opportunities in three areas - customer experience, business process, technology systems and then integrate them.
- Customer experience identifies all the experiences that could affect the customer decisions which can be divided into a few major experiences which in turn can be divided into more specific experiences.
- The business process in turn examines relationships among these experiences and business processes aiming to reduce overlap and increase collaboration between the two.
- The Technology system focuses on developing technology systems to improve processes that will support the other two areas.
Sequence the transition: With the taxonomy in place leadership teams can set priorities and sequence initiatives. The most important are the pain points felt by the customers and employees on one hand and the constraints of the organisation on the other. These will decide how fast the rollout should proceed and how many teams can be managed simultaneously.
Division leaders can decide the sequence of what task to be taken up. Start with initiatives that offer potentially the greatest value and most learning. Too many companies o for easy wins. They put teams in off-site incubators, create easy workarounds to obstacles, and fails to produce the learning environment necessary to scale hundreds of teams.
No agile team should launch unless it is ready to begin. It means that
- the team is focussed on a major opportunity.
- responsible for specific outcomes.
- trusted to work autonomously.
- committed to applying agile values.
- empowered to collaborate with customers.
- able to create prototypes rapidly.
- supported by senior executives.
Master large scale agile initiatives. Many executives find it difficult to believe that small agile teams can tackle large long term projects. In principle, there is no limit to the number of agile teams and how large an initiative can be.
Build agility across businesses.
Expanding the number of agile teams is important to increase the agility of a company. But thee teams have to interact with other parts of the organisation. All companies operate with a mix of agile and traditional teams. To ensure that the traditional processes do not hamper the work of agile teams, companies should modify their processes in four areas
- Values and principles: A traditional company can accept a few agile teams but when a large number of agile teams are launched there will be clashes and hinder the work of agile teams. So the leadership teams must instil values and principles throughout the enterprise. Convey very clearly that agile would be at the centre of the company's culture.
- Operating architecture: Implementing agile requires modularising and seamlessly integrating workstreams. Some members of corporate functions may be incorporated into agile teams. In companies that have scaled up agile, organisation charts of support functions have ewer layers and a broader span of control as managers learn to trust and empower people. Build buffer capacities in HR, legal, Finance functions to deal with urgent requests with high priority agile teams.
- Talent acquisition and motivation: Companies scaling up agile need systems to acquire star players and motivating them. They also have to unleash the potential of team members and build trust, commitment and responsibility for results. This requires changes in the HR process. It needs expertise combined with enthusiasm for work on an agile team. Companies also need to revamp compensation systems to emphasize group performances. Public recognition is more important than personal bonuses.
- Annual planning and budgeting: In Agile companies consider annual reviews and budgeting as constraining innovation and adaptation. It should be understood that the original concept will change during the development process, the original concept will change during the development process. The objective is not to set up a large scale business but to find a critical component of the ultimate solution.
Companies that successfully scale up Agile see significant changes in their business. The business can read changing conditions better, develop solutions, avoid the constant crisis. It leads to greater efficiency and productivity in cost centres. It delivers measurable improvements in financial results and also greater customer loyalty.
Agile shows the way to proceed even when the future is murky.
by Darrell K. Rigby, Jeff Sutherland and Andy Noble
From the May–June 2018 Issue
Comments
Post a Comment