8 Steps For Creating An Agile Enterprise
Companies are moving to become agile organizations, but it's easy to stumble. Here are eight steps your enterprise can take to move from waterfall to agile.
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According to the Business Dictionary, an agile enterprise is a, "Fast moving, flexible and robust firm capable of rapid response to unexpected challenges, events, and opportunities. Built on policies and processes that facilitate speed and change, it aims to achieve continuous competitive advantage in serving its customers."
Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? The question, of course, is how to create an agile enterprise from the primordial ooze of an existing organization.
Ryan Eaton, Universal Mind's EVP of Delivery, and David Tucker, its VP of Experience Technology, will be talking about agile development in the enterprise at Interop Las Vegas 2016, May 2-6 at the Mandalay Bay.
In a telephone interview with InformationWeek, they discussed the process of moving from a traditional organization to an agile enterprise. The steps can look a bit different between one organization and the next, but there are important common strategies and tactics to heed for success.
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No matter how a company approaches the move to agile, Tucker said, "The important things for organizations to understand is that this isn't theoretical. There are companies making huge strides." As examples, he listed, "HMH, John Deere Financial, Microsoft -- there are a lot of great stories about companies that have created a track record of success."
Here, then, are eight steps you and your organization can take in order to become an agile enterprise. Which have you embraced? Which are you ready to embrace? Let us know how your company is moving toward agile and how the experience is playing out across the organization. Let's meet in the comments section below -- and at Interop in Las Vegas.
The move to agile can start in many different ways, but the enterprise can't become agile if the executive leadership isn't fully committed. "There has to be a sense of urgency. You have to have a vision. The management team has to be changed," said Eaton.
There are a lot of reasons why executive involvement is so important, but two rise to the top of the list.
First, the "vision thing." There are a lot of enterprise qualities that can come up from the field, but articulating a vision for the organization is an executive job. Second, the "culture thing." The organization's culture has to align with the vision, and creating a culture is something that the executives must lead. Without executive involvement and leadership, an organization can become only so agile.
In many ways, budgets define organizations because budgets reflect the priorities and structure of the enterprise itself. "Organizations are still budgeting for projects, rather than around teams that do many things," Tucker said when discussing some of the stumbling blocks companies face in a move to agile. "Funding an agile release chain, all the people who come together to do things, and all the things they do is important," he explained.
If the stated structure of the organization is agile but the budgeting process is still built around projects, a basic project waterfall will continue to be the structure of the company, no matter how many scrum meetings managers mandate.
We love our projects. Successful projects are where careers are made and superstars are recognized. Everybody gets that, and it's one of the reasons why an organization can face so much resistance when moving to agile. Tucker explained, "Many companies are still project based, and viewing things as a project, rather than [on] a long-term product basis, is a problem."
Every part of the organization, from HR and accounting to line management, has to understand the nature of agile development and be fully committed to leaving old processes behind. Understanding that the emphasis is now on the team and long-term results, rather than the hard close of a discrete project, is one of the keys to a successful move.
Agile scrums don't simply happen. They require communication about specific things at specific times. Tucker and Eaton each talked about the issues that can arise when agile teams never communicate outside their members -- issues that are much worse when the enterprise has said that it's moving to an entirely agile methodology.
"There are going to be predetermined places where we have more communications within an established framework," Tucker said, and that framework has to extend beyond the limits of any single team. Communication can't only be about solving the problems of a single day. It has to also carry the purpose of breaking down silos and bringing the enterprise together if it's going to help make agile happen for the entire organization.
In any organization, there's going to be structural and human resistance to any change. That's why a process for managing the change is critical. "You have to have the change management process for a business unit or a project team to help the company grow," Eaton said.
Some companies will leave the change management process to an outside consulting firm, but Eaton said that total reliance on the outsider won't get the job done. "Agile coaches aren't enough, you have to have a process and change of leadership to make the changes stick."
The biggest difference between now and five years ago is the many examples of companies that have made the change to agile and seen dramatic benefit from the process. "There are a lot of great stories about companies that have created a track record of success," Tucker said. "There are large organizations that have had the problems [you] have but are creating success."
Eaton said the examples of success also carry instructions on how to emulate success. "It's not like five years ago. There's a lot of training and help out there," he said. Ultimately, it's up to executive management to look at the examples and make the decision to proceed with agile. "Leadership has to get involved, has to empower, and has to embrace the change," Eaton said.
Eight steps, eight keys to success, eight statements about how an enterprise can succeed with a move to agile. Let us know if you've found eight (or even one) more. We'll look forward to hearing from you, and to sharing ideas about how an enterprise can dive all the way into agile, in the comments section below.
The biggest difference between now and five years ago is the many examples of companies that have made the change to agile and seen dramatic benefit from the process. "There are a lot of great stories about companies that have created a track record of success," Tucker said. "There are large organizations that have had the problems [you] have but are creating success."
Eaton said the examples of success also carry instructions on how to emulate success. "It's not like five years ago. There's a lot of training and help out there," he said. Ultimately, it's up to executive management to look at the examples and make the decision to proceed with agile. "Leadership has to get involved, has to empower, and has to embrace the change," Eaton said.
Eight steps, eight keys to success, eight statements about how an enterprise can succeed with a move to agile. Let us know if you've found eight (or even one) more. We'll look forward to hearing from you, and to sharing ideas about how an enterprise can dive all the way into agile, in the comments section below.
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