When embarking on an agile journey, it is essential to stay on course. Many organizations fall into the trap of embedding ‘fake agile’, adopting the superficial trappings of agile without implementing its mindset and principles. To this degree, they practice agile in name only. ‘Fake agile’ can leave teams fatigued, disjointed, and uninspired. It can also result in a failure to deliver value, as teams aren’t truly focused on the needs of the customer.
Whilst agile transformations are a journey, teams must make genuine shifts to embrace agility from the beginning. It is fundamental that the benefits of agile are understood, clear roles introduced, outlines of the agile journey defined, and suitable frameworks adapted. Organizations must also consider whether their journey will lead them to pure or hybrid agility as well as having the right risk mitigation plans in place. Taking the following factors into consideration will help you avoid embedding ‘fake agile’.
1. Start by promoting the benefits of agility
Teams cannot embed agility if they do not believe that it is effective or relevant to their work. If there is an intrinsic belief in the power of agile, there is a greater chance of embedding effective agile practices into an organization’s culture.
For teams to embrace this mindset, it is crucial that they are provided with a holistic picture of all the benefits agility can bring. As people, we tend to believe more in systems or practices that benefit us. In an agile transformation, it is therefore crucial for coaches to highlight the ways agility can increase morale1, create a healthier work-life balance, improve the efficiency of delivery, and boost creativity.
Similarly, people need to see how their specific roles will be enhanced. This way, the impact of agility is tangible and can be fostered amongst teams. The more open teams are to an idea, the more successful it is likely to be.
2. Change the fabric of roles, not just their names
A common misconception is that calling project managers ‘scrum masters’ and delivery leads ‘product owners’, makes your team agile. This can be detrimental to the success of teams. If everyone has new names but doesn’t know what they mean, or moreover, continues with the same roles and responsibilities as in their previous positions, it can create confusion and misalignment.
This can be avoided by ensuring effective training and coaching on agile roles is scaled out across a program or organization. Hands-on support and upskilling is essential to building truly agile teams. Key concerns that may arise are likely to include how performance will be reviewed, what ‘servant leadership’ means, and the progression channels for new roles. Ease people’s insecurities by taking them along the journey with you.
3. Provide a clear date for ending existing practices (without any exceptions!)
A phrase you might hear a lot in an agile transformation is ‘we need more time’. If thorough coaching, training, and planning is done, there should be no reason for progress to be delayed.
Extending change is a way of avoiding it. Although it is important for key team members to be onboard, it is unlikely that you will get everyone’s buy-in. If you are waiting on everyone to be happy with the move to program increment (PI) planning, or the introduction of Jira as the sole platform for tracking delivery, you are going to be waiting a long time.
A way to avoid this perpetual limbo is to decide on a date for the transition to complete and stick to it! To support teams in this journey, coach them on principles of continual improvement2, including streamlining processes and harnessing problem solving. This will set the wheels in motion.
4. Adapt your agile model where needed – it’s not ‘one size fits all’
All too often, we see program try to adopt a scaled agile framework (SAFe) model, or a scaled scrum framework, without considering what needs to be adapted to suit their existing culture and organizational structure.
Many companies misunderstand the premise of agility - it is not about following a new rule book3, but rather adapting suggested frameworks and practices to the organization’s needs.
It is important that in the early stages of an agile transformation, organizations consider the ways in which they may need to adapt operating models, leadership training, metrics and reporting, as well as the general mechanics of how teams function. In adapting your approach within the parameters of a tried and tested framework, you make increase the likelihood of a successful and genuine transformation.
5. Commit to a hybrid agile framework
If you are operating within an environment that makes the above steps almost impossible, you may want to consider a hybrid agile framework. This could be due to a lack of support from leadership for everything to change at once, or because waterfall-structured approaches may be more suited to some projects, such as regulatory.
Some of the benefits of agility may be lost, but it will be more effective to adapt your target and have more realistic goals than set your teams up for failure. In this set up, teams should consider the elements of agile that they think are beneficial to embed as a first step, as well as the waterfall structures they believe are paramount to continue (at least in the early stages). If the goal is in sight, and teams understand the boundaries of their new ways of working, they are more likely to see success.
We often see ‘fake agile’ being embedded in organizations. There are key strategies you can follow to stop this from happening. As with most things, the key to true agility is a belief in its benefits and a commitment to trying something empirically. In addition, a successful transformation must include thorough upskilling on agile roles and practices, whilst also adapting agile frameworks to suit the unique needs of an organization.
Lastly, realism is key to embedding genuine agility. It is fundamental that you consider a hybrid agile framework if your organization does not have the right environment for a complete transformation. By embarking on a more realistic journey, you will avoid embedding ‘fake agile’. Implementing these techniques will increase morale as well as openness and transparency in teams and ensure greater adoption of agility.
1 https://www.capco.com/intelligence/capco-intelligence/agile-transformation-and-people-support
2 https://www.protera.com/resource-center/principles-of-continuous-improvement-the-agile-handbook
3 https://www.capco.com/intelligence/capco-intelligence/lessons-learnt-from-launching-an-agile-release-train