the agility philosophy: understanding winning ways clayton long isp it management consultant...
TRANSCRIPT
The Agility Philosophy: Understanding Winning Ways
Clayton Long ISP
IT Management Consultant
Corvelle Management Consultants
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Learning Objectives
Articulate the components of an agile organization and IT Dept
Identify the traits of an agile organization and IT Dept
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Clay’s Background
Been in Business for 26 years 18 years in Information Technology
From field to the boardroom originally Power Systems Electrician began IT in 1984 Management Systems Analyst
Consulted with DMR - Senior Project Manager Director of IT at ENMAX Senior Management Consultant - Corvelle
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Pace of Change
Pace of change continues to move faster, less time to react to change
Organizations able to react and adapt to change quickly will be the most successful
Being agile helps organizations respond to changes more quickly
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Changes Impacting Business
Market fragmentation Competition pressures Corporate reorganization frenzy Industry/regulatory environment churn Technology evolution Shrinking product lifetimes Information capacity to treat masses of
customers as individuals
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Problem - Solution
If turbulence and turmoil define the problem, then agility is key to the solution.
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Definition of Agile
Marked by ready ability to move with quick easy grace
Mentally quick and resourceful
Source - Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
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Agility in Business
The ability to both create and respond to change in order to profit in a turbulent
business environment.
The ability to rapidly change direction and to shift focus and resources from areas of
low return to areas of high return.
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Agile Company
For a company, to be agile is to be capable of operating profitably in a competitive
environment of continually, and unpredictably, changing business
opportunities.
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Agile Individual
For an individual, to be agile is to be capable of contributing to the bottom line
of a company that is constantly reorganizing its human and technological resources in response to unpredictably
changing business opportunities.
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Is Agility More Than Just Architecture?
Perception is that agility comes from technology architecture
Corporate culture & attitude has an enormous impact on a company’s agility
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CIO’s On Agile IT Depts
Constant whitewater requires just-in-time program development & rapid application of resources to emerging problems & opportunities
Greater centralization vs. greater decentralization & delegation
Ever-exquisite responsiveness to business needs
Inspire & enable greater business-unit agility
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Observations of CIO’s Opinions Seems to mean something different to
everyone No “Six Sigma Agility” black belts yet Same word means different things to
different people confusion invariably dominates the
discussion. One CIO’s “agility” is another CIO’s
“workaround”
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First & Final Analysis
Agility is about timely & cost-effective implementation
Agility means action implies both the capacity & capability to act doesn’t mean it has to instantaneously act or
react — only that it has the power to do so
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Characteristics of Agility
Creating & responding to change Nimbleness & improvisation Conformance to actual Balancing structure & flexibility
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Creating & Responding To Change
Change that causes intense pressure on competitors
Respond quickly & effectively to both anticipated & unanticipated changes in the business environment having resources, skills, knowledge,
architecture & culture in place to respond to changing business needs
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Nimbleness & Improvisation
Quickness, lightness, & nimbleness act rapidly do the minimum necessary to get a job done adapt to changing conditions
Innovation & creativity envision new products new ways of doing business
Agility requires discipline & skill
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Conformance To Actual
Control focuses on boundaries & principals rather than prescriptive, detailed procedures & processes rigid methodology vs. agile methodology
Not controlled so much by conformance to plan but by conformance to business value plans are useful as guides, but not as control
mechanisms
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Balancing Structure & Flexibility
To anticipate or to depend on resilience and responsiveness if the anticipation & planning is too
prescriptive, it leaves no room for agility without some anticipation & planning, agility
can become rudderless reaction Being agile generally means trusting in
one’s ability to respond more than trusting in one’s ability to plan
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Risks & Benefits
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1st Trait of Agile Organization
Focus on problems which require an exploratory approach due to uncertainty as uncertainty increases, the probability an
agile approach will succeed increases dramatically
agile organizations improve the odds, but they don’t guarantee success
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2nd Trait of Agile Organization
Are intensely customer driven for an IT Dept, the business typically is the
customer Advocate putting the customer in control
business driven IT
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3rd Trait of Agile Organization
Focus on people individual skills collaboration, conversations, &
communications that enhance flexibility & innovation
physical environment & culture of IT Dept impacts opens, i.e., hallway conversations
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4th Trait of Agile Organization
Are not about a laundry list of things that organizations should do are about the practical things an IT Dept
actually needs to do IT methodology can enhance or hamper an
IT Dept’s agility ERP’s are typically are about strong
structure, process & rigidity – not very agile
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5th Trait of Agile Organization
Agile organizations may be inefficient part of the cost of agility is mistakes, which
are caused by having to make decisions in an environment of uncertainty
business and IT Dept must be accepting of a certain amount of mistakes
may take several attempts to get it right
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Exercise
What would an agile IT Department look like in terms of: culture organizational structure architecture & Technology methodology resources
Rationalize each of your options/solutionsPresent findings to class
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Support for Agile IT
IT working closely with business Training of IT staff to gain knowledge &
skills Methodologies to instil discipline but not
bureaucracy Budgeting for agility Agile technology architecture IT Vendor providing agile support
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Some Thoughts to Remember
Agile organizations are not just about architecture, it’s about people
Agile does not mean ad-hoc, it’s about working within a defined set of boundaries and rules
Agile is being an ‘explorer’ who seeks out innovative ways to achieve an end knowing their strengths, weaknesses and limits
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Agile IT for Agile Business
Everyone in IT has to understand the business inside and out
Agility has to be the mantra of the company at large
IT department must foster flexibility and responsiveness across all disciplines
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Does Agility Work in All Situations?
Works best in a fast changing environment and/or an environment of uncertainty
Culture of an organization must be accepting of an agile approach accepting of risk accepting of mistakes focused on business value, not the process
of control
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In Summary
Agile IT and organizations are focused on people and their ability to respond.
Is being agile a ‘flash in the pan’ or is it something here to stay?
In the Right Situations!!!
Right environment, right people, right resources, it is a viable approach.
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Bibliography
“Agile Software Development Ecosystems”By Jim Highsmith
CIO Magazine (Aug 15, 2004)
http://www.cio.com/archive/081504/ “Response Ability: The Language, Structure,
and Culture of the Agile Enterprise”By Rick Dove
Manifesto for Agile Software Development - http://agilemanifesto.org/