agile pushback: change is hard. changing to agile is harder
DESCRIPTION
Katy Saulpaugh's presentation at AgileDC on October 21, 2014TRANSCRIPT
Learn what
resistance to Agile
looks like
Understand how
people and
organizations adapt
to change
Apply the “4C”s to
encourage Agile in
your organization
Overview
Welcome changing requirements,
even late in development. Agile
processes harness change for the
customer's competitive advantage
–Agile Manifesto
Symptoms of Agile pushback
What does resistance to Agile look like in
your organization?
Why is change so hard?
How do we adopt change?A
do
pti
on
Time
How do we adopt Agile?A
do
pti
on
Time
“I know Agile is coming to our organization”
“It makes sense why we are going Agile”
“I embrace Agile and will promote it”
“Agile is part of everything I do”
Is organizational change harder?
There’s no magic pill for organizational change
What is change management?
Adoption
Transparency
Communication
Acceptance
Productivity
Engagement
Resistance
Misinformation
Confusion
Errors/Ramp up time
Frustration
Incre
ased...
De
cre
ased
...
Excella’s model for Agile change
Change.
Coaching
Commitment
Culture
Communications
Culture
Culture
• Measuring culture
• Red flags for Agile
• Toolbox:
stakeholder
analysis or
environmental
scan
Commitment
Commitment
• Considerations
with sponsorship
• Champion network
• Toolbox: change
readiness
assessment or
resistance
management plan
Coaching
Coaching
• Instruction design
• Agile
ambassadorship
• Toolbox: train the
trainer, brown
bags, mentorship
Communications
Communications
• Messaging on
business value
• WIIFM
• Design: who, what
and how
• Toolbox: online, in
person, feedback
loops
Agile change case studies
Case study #1
Problem: Customers of an Agile web
development team at a Federal client
were confused about who to talk to
about getting new features built on
the organization’s website.
Developers were directly contacted
by the customer and agreed upon
work without telling other members
of the team, including Product Owner
and leadership. Occasionally, this
interfered with committed work.
Result: consensus on priority created transparency between client
and development team
Change.
Coaching
Commitment
Culture
Communications
Case study #2
Problem: Commercial client’s
development team was putting out
“buggy” code that wasn’t passing
QA tests. The client introduced an
automated testing tool, but the
developers were employing
workarounds and not really using
the tool. The developers reported
that the tool was difficult to use and
the sponsor wasn’t directly involved
with the implementation.
Result: improved skills and increased sponsor understanding to
improve code quality
Change.
Coaching
Commitment
Culture
Communications
Change is hard… but it is essential for Agile
Understand resistors and how people adapt
to change
Encourage Agile in your organization by
using the “4C”s – Culture, Commitment,
Coaching and Communications
Key Takeaways