What is Agile Transformation, and is it applied in your organization?
Let’s first define “agility.” There is a false assumption that it means “to do something faster;” however, according to Scrum.org “agility is a cultural change.” (Keys to an Agile Transformation, n.d.). This means that it opens a world to new paradigms and ways of doing things, with the aim of generating value for the organization, regardless of the market.
Agile transformation, then, is to correctly apply the values and principles of the agile manifesto in an organization, regardless of its size. Sounds simple, right? The reality is that in practice it is much more complex, because there will be as many ways of doing things as there are people and we need to converge at some point to start.
Having said the above, then we can start by knowing and understanding the agile values and principles to find ideas of how they can be applied to the different areas of an organization. Through communication strategies and clear objectives, organizations can begin to experience these changes with their teams and/or in their processes.
Many companies want to enter the world of agile transformation, but do they know where to start? The answer is not simple, however there are key elements go guide the process.
Recommendations for initiating agile transformation in your organization:
- Start with few small and stable teams
This will allow us to better focus the efforts around the assistance, coaching and follow-up of the team. Some stability in the team is suggested to level out the learning curve as much as possible.
- Have clear objectives
It is vital to establish an objective of why we want to implement agility in an area/team, what we want to improve, and for what. Ideally, a SMART objective should be the guiding axis of the team.
- Always maintain openness to experiment, learn and iterate.
Openness is in the DNA of agility and invites us to accept and learn from our mistakes and/or successes. It allows us to propose possible solutions, implement them and verify if it works for us or not.
- Iterating is the action of repeating the development life cycle in a determined period; in agility it is known as sprints.
- Involve the managers of your organization.
It’s important that managers understand and embrace agile values and principles so that they promote the cultural change that is sought at all levels of the organization.
Agile transformation will help us to manage projects more intentionally and responsibly, allowing us to focus our efforts on what really generates value for the organization and improve team productivity.
I hope these recommendations help give you an idea of where to start if you're looking to implement agility in your organization and invite you to share any other tips in the comments section.
Anahí L.
