By Tirrell Payton,
When a client engages an Agile coach, there are two common
reasons:
They want hands-on help through the transformation process,
from start to finish.
They tried to do it themselves and have hit a plateau in
adoption.
Sometimes there is a gap in understanding what Agile is
about: Companies think of Agile as "just another SDLC methodology" as
opposed to a new "thought framework" that will impact the whole
organization.
Creating major change in an organization is tough. The
change process in the context of an Agile transformation is even more tricky,
because it tends to radiate out from the development group, rather than down
from executive management. So you can run into a situation where marketing and
legal are asking, "Why do we have to know about this Agile stuff? We don't
do software." You have to be able to drive that change out, up, then down.
And for that, you will need to create a sense of urgency.
Creating a strong sense of urgency requires bold, if not
risky, actions that we normally associate with good leadership. We typically
don't see real leadership because companies are mostly "overmanaged and
underled," and having "everything under control (managed)" is
the central value. It's hard to get someone to take bold action if they have
been rewarded for 30 years for being cautious and prudent. Here are some ways
to establish a sense of urgency:
1. Create a crisis by making an organizational failure very,
very visible. Most companies try to hide, obfuscate, or downplay organizational
failures. An example would be missing a key product delivery deadline because
of gridlock in the legal department. Instead of chalking it up to "that's
just how it goes sometimes," focus on it, talk about it, force
conversations about it, and use it as leverage to shock people into talking
about change.
2. Share data about customer satisfaction and financial
performance across the organization. This is another area where I see
obfuscation. How on earth will people feel a sense of urgency if senior
management is always telling everyone, "Things are fine"? Share this
information across the company so that everyone is talking from the same point
of reference.
3. Insist that people talk regularly to dissatisfied
customers, unhappy suppliers, and disgruntled shareholders. "But that's
the job of customer service!" We are all customer service. Have developers
talk to dissatisfied customers and they will learn more in a five-minute
conversation than in a month of customer satisfaction surveys. Have the CEO
take a few customer service calls. Have everyone share the pain. Again, this
serves to put everyone on equal footing in understanding where the shortcomings
are, and it increases the urgency level.
4. Put more honest discussions of the firm's problems in
company newspapers and senior management speeches. American corporate culture
tends to do a lot of cheerleading when things are going well, and a lot of
cheerleading when things are going poorly. Your employees are not children. Be
honest, air out the issues, and ensure that they are talked about every day and
are at the top of everyone's agenda.
5. Bombard people with information on future opportunities,
on the wonderful rewards for capitalizing on those opportunities, and on the
organization's current inability to pursue those opportunities. Make the pain
and shortcomings visible. This will serve to incite people to ask why, and this
will activate their competitive streak to try to go after these market
opportunities. Urgency increased!
Creating a sense of urgency plants the seeds of successful
change.
Source: www.scrumalliance.com
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