erasing the artificial boundaries between “it” and “the business” by bob fischer - agile...

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Agile Consulting Services

ErasingtheArtificialBoundariesbetween“IT”and“TheBusiness”

May2016,AgileMaine



Agile Experts• Agilepracticeestablishedin2008• Coreteamcomprisedofindustryexperts• ServingentireUSwithinternationalcoverageasneeded• ScalableAgiletransformationapproach• EnterprisewideAgilecurriculum• Vastcoachingnetworkwithlocalcoverageinmostplaces• 150currentlyonengagement

Agile Offerings• Coaching– Executive, Program,Team, Technical• Training– Leadership,Technical, CSM,CSPO,CST,SAFe• Advisory– Industrybenchmarking&Consulting

Vital Statistics• 25yearoldprivatelyheldcompany• $200MillioninRevenue• 14offices• 1,200consultants

Suggestion:Writethingsdownfortheexercises.It

justworksbetter.


Agile Consulting ServicesOverview

• Whyisitimportanttoalignonthemeasurementsofsuccess?• ShouldITberunlikeanindependentprovideroftechnologyservices?

• Howdowordsshapehowyouthinkandbehave?Whois“thebusiness”?

• Whyisthemostimportantthing– yourvaluestream– oftenunmanaged?

• Nowwhat?


Agile Consulting ServicesTryitNow

• Take3minutesandwritedownhowyourgroupmeasuressuccess

• We’llcomebacktothisinafewminutes

OverallGoalsoftheOrganization

Operations

InformationTechnology Sales

Marketing Admin

Intheorythegoalsarestillthegoals,butinpractice….

Mission Deliverworldclass ITservicessupportingthesuccess ofourbusiness

Goals Deliverprojectson-time, onbudget,meeting allrequirements

Providehighlyavailable,high-performingsystems thatmeetourusers’needs

Providerapidandeffectiveresponse toissues andquestionsPreventsecurity incidentsfromoccurring



• Writedown:– Whatdoyouthinkofthismissionandgoals?– What,ifanything,doyouthinkismissing?

SalesCustomerSatisfactionNewProductIntroductionsGrossMargin

AverageSpeedofAnswerCostPerCallAccountConversionsTimetoFillOpenPositions

SystemAvailabilityOnTimeOnBudgetSecurityIncidents

?



SUPPLYCO

HomeMedicalInc.

AntrimUniversity

BigTravel

Customers

SUPPLYCO



SUPPLYCOGoals

BigTravelGoals

SUPPLYCOandBigTravelHaveDifferentGoals

IT MART

BusinessLineA

BusinessLineB

BusinessLineC

Customers

IToftencomplainsaboutnot”havingaseatatthetable”forproductvisioningandroad-mapping.Lackofsharedgoalsis

onereasonwhytheywouldn’t.

Youdon’thavethesamegoals Ihave!

Butthings likeourtechnologyroadmap

areimportant!

Output,Outcome, Impact– awaytothinkaboutsuccessmeasures

FromJeffPatton,AgileProductDesign

StartingContext

GreatIdea• Features• Capabilities

Output

Impact

OpportunityIssue

Outcome

IterativeDevelopment


Agile Consulting ServicesShowingtheConnection

HigherProfitability

GreaterCustomerSatisfaction

EasierfortheCustomer

FewercallstotheCallCenter

LowerCallCenterCosts

Output Outcome Impact

NewCustomerSelf-ServiceFeatures


Agile Consulting ServicesMovingtoMoreSharedGoals

ITGoals

EnterpriseGoals

TypicallyOutcome,ImpactMeasures

EnterpriseKPI1EnterpriseKPI2EnterpriseKPI3EnterpriseKPI4

EnterpriseKPI1EnterpriseKPI2EnterpriseKPI3

DepartmentKPI1DepartmentKPI2

EnterpriseKPI1EnterpriseKPI2EnterpriseKPI4

DepartmentKPI1DepartmentKPI2

CascadesomeOutcome,ImpactKPIsacrosstheorganization

KPI=KeyPerformanceIndicator



• Lookatthewaysyourorganizationmeasuressuccessyouwrotedownearlier– AretheseOutput,OutcomeorImpact-based?– Aretheydepartment-focusedorenterprise-focused

• Writedownthreeexamplesofgoalsthatcouldbesharedacrossyourorganization



CompletedUserStories

Value

AttheTeamLevel

Valueisrealizedwhen:• Thecodehasshipped• Thecodeisused• Theuserrealizestheintendedoutcome• Theorganizationrealizestheintendedimpact

Output-OnlyMeasures• Velocity• Quality• Technical Debt

ContinueOutputMeasures• Velocity• Quality• Technical Debt

AddOutcomeMeasures(examples)• Migrationofissue

resolution fromcallcentertoweb

• Increasedconversionfromshopperstobuyers


Agile Consulting ServicesCoreIdeas

• Alignonimpactandoutcome-basedKPIsacrosstheorganization– ThesameKPIs,notsimilarones– ITshouldhaveaccountability forbusinessoutcomes

• Tieteamperformancegoalstooutcomes,impact,notonlyoutput

Startingsimpleisfine.Haveonesingleteamaligntoimpactand/oroutcomemeasures

WhatarethedownsidestothemodelofCustomer/SupplierforIT?



SUPPLYCO

HomeMedicalInc.

AntrimUniversity

BigTravel

Customers

SUPPLYCO

BANKRUPT(orsignificant business issues)

Afeeforservice

provider?

Anintegralpartof

organizationalsuccess??

WhatistheroleofIT?

Anintegralpartoforganizational

success.(Sowhydoesthedivisionbetween“IT”

and“TheBusiness”persist?)

Ifyou’vebeeninanagileorganization,thisistheonlyoptionthatmakessense

Language SocialRoles Practices

Affect

HowOrganizationsWorkTogether

Assertion:Wordsshapeour“reality”



• Doyouusethephrase“TheBusiness”1 inyourorganization?• Ifyes,whatdrawbacksdoyouseeinusingthatterm?

1 ThisquestionwasoriginallyposedtomebyMauriceHeffernan. Asimple questionwithalottoit.

Whenyouwalkintoastoretobuysomething,whenyougotoarestaurant,thebank,thepostoffice,youmayfindyourselfslippingintopre-establishedsocialroles.Youbecomeacustomerandspeakandactassuch.Andyoumaybetreatedbythesalespersonorwaiter,whoisalsoplayingarole,asacustomer.Arangeofconditionedpatternsofbehaviorcomeintoeffectbetweentwohumanbeingsthatdeterminethenatureoftheinteraction.Insteadofhumanbeings,conceptualmentalimagesareinteractingwitheachother.Themoreidentifiedpeoplearewiththeirrespectiveroles,themoreinauthentictherelationshipsbecome.

Tolle,Eckhart(2006-08-29).ANewEarth(Oprah#61):AwakeningtoYourLife'sPurpose(p.93).PenguinPublishingGroup.KindleEdition.

““



Whenabusinessgetsyourorderwrong,howdoyouinteractwiththecustomer

serviceagent?Doyouinteractthesamewaywithyourmanager?

Yourbestfriend?

IT “Customer”



• IfITisa“supplier”andthebusinesslinestaffare“customers”,whatbehaviorsmightyousee?Doyousee?


Agile Consulting ServicesProblematicPractices

• Sortingout“problems”withinITbehindcloseddoors• Developingstrategiesandplansinisolation• Conductingannual”CustomerSatisfaction”surveys• Having“internalfunding”withinITwithouttransparencyordiscussionforhowitistobeused



• Haveadialogue(attheteamlevel,organizationlevel)aboutanyissuesyou’veseenfromtheseparationbetweenITandthebusinesslinestheysupport

• Consciouslyadoptlanguageofpartnership(e.g. “team”)insteadofthelanguageofdivision(”supplier”,“theBusiness”,“Customer”)

• Adoptcollaborative,jointportfolioplanning• Eliminateunidirectional“CustomerSatisfaction

Surveys”,insteaduseretrospectivesatmultiplelevelsoftheorganization

• Watchyourownbehavior– seewhereyoudefaulttopre-establishedroles



• Whoinyourorganizationisresponsibleforend-to-endproductdevelopment:ConcepttoCash1

1 Poppendieck,MaryandTom,ImplementingLeanSoftwareDevelopment:FromConcepttoCash,AddisonWesley,2007

“… the work that creates results for customers is broken into pieces and scattered across numerous departments and units. In these companies, workers, managers and departments focus on each of the steps that would lead to creating results for customers, yet no one focuses on all the steps together as a unit... These companies suffer from a crisis of process.”

Michael Hammer, The Agenda


Agile Consulting ServicesCaseStudy:SoftwareDeliverytoDesktops

• Softwaredistributionforabout35,000desktops• End-to-endprocesssplitacrossmultiplegroups• Badqualitycouldleadtodisasters(e.g.allcallcenteremployeesunabletohandlecalls)

• Whenproblemsarosewelookedto– Assignblametoothers– Demonstrateourownlackofblame



TheFunctionalSiloshadGoals,Managers,StaffbutnooneOwnedtheWhole,End-to-End

Marketing

Product

Development

Testing

Manufacturing

Sales

Support


Agile Consulting ServicesTheTransformation

• Consultantworkedwithustoputtogethera”processteam”witha“processowner”tomanageend-to-enddelivery

• Theindividualsontheteamwereresponsibleforthesuccessofthewhole,notjusttheirparts– Weweresurprisedtofindouthowmuchtroublewecauseeachotherunintentionally

• Themeasurementsofsuccessnowfocusedonthewholedeliveryofvalue

• Ifdepartment-level“improvements”mightaffectapartnerintheprocess,wedidn’timplementthemwithouttalking

• Thingsgotdramaticallybetter



Marketing

Product

Development

Testing

Manufacturing

Sales

Support

Teamalignedongoals,improvementapproach


Agile Consulting ServicesAgileTransformationareOftenLimited

• IT-Driven• Notfullyend-to-end(e.g.portfoliomanagement,valuedeliverymeasurement,KPIs)

• Overallprocessesnotowned,ormanaged– Optimizedwithinsilos

WeareintheprocessofmovingtoAgile

Wearecontinuallyinspectingandimprovinghowwedelivervalue.Gettingbetteratagile

practicesisacriticalpartofthatongoingimprovement



• Considerhavingend-to-endprocessownershipteamsforkeyprocesses(e.g.“ConcepttoCash”)

• Measureandimprovethewhole,notjusttheparts.



• Writedownalistofspecificactionsyouplantotakeduringthenextweekanmonth

• Ifyoudon’tplananyactions,that’sfine


Agile Consulting ServicesContactMeWithanyComments,Questions

[email protected]



• Thegoalsoftheorganizationshouldn’tbelostwhenyoubreak theorganizationintoparts,butitoftenis• Agileisaboutdeliveringvalue,butthevaluestreamcangetlostintheorganizationalsplit• Exercise:Nameyourvaluestreams• Whatisvalue?Output,Outcome,Impact• Itispossibletomanagetothewholeinsteadoftheparts,commonobjectivesareawaytostart.• Fragmentationleadstoun-ownedvaluestreams

– QuotefromMichaelHammer– Whatisavaluestream?

• Itispossibletoworktowardsthewholewithprocessteams– Whatarethey?– Howdotheywork?– Whyaretheychallenging

• TheinventionofITasaserviceprovider,andwhythatisaproblem.– Customer/Provider– automaticroles– Exercise:Customer/provider– Upstairs/downstairsrole

• Maymakesensefortransactionalwork tohaveservicesatisfactionsurveys,butproduct developmentisacombined teameffort• Whatarealternativestoannualcustomersatisfactionsurveys?• Wordsmatter“IT”and“TheBusiness”a• Concretesteps:

– Alignonoutcomeandimpactfocusedgoals,andhavethosetranscendorganizationalboundaries– Activelymanageyourvaluestreams– Movefrom“customersatisfactionsurveys”to“servicesatisfactionsurveys”fortransactionalservices(e.g.fixaPC,provision aphone,provideVPNaccess)– Eliminatesurveysforcollaborative,cross-organizationalwork– Makeuseofretrospectivesatthevalue-streamlevel