Mike Cottmeyer @ Agile & Beyond 2019
In order to achieve business Agility, Agile has to be applied in a certain context. You have to be able to form the right kinds of teams, build the right kinds of backlogs, and produce working, tested increments of product. The problem is that this context doesn’t exist in larger, more complex enterprises. Most companies are falling short when they try to scale Agile because they lack the proper buy-in from leadership, they lack the ecosystem in which Agile can be successful, and they don’t know how to orchestrate the type of change that’s required of organizations that are attempting to adopt Agile. Just because you have the roles, ceremonies, and artifacts of Scrum in place doesn’t mean you’ll automatically begin reaping the benefits of Agile. So, what’s needed isn’t more Scrum, more XP, more SAFe.
What’s needed is a plan. A plan to do more than simply teach people Agile. If you want your Transformation to be sustainable, you’re going to need to find a way to systematically overcome the structural, procedural, and cultural barriers that stand in the way of Transformation. You’ll need a structured, disciplined Agile Transformation.In this talk, Mike breaks down what a structured, and disciplined Agile Transformation actually look like. He’ll discuss why organizations want to Transform, what actually needs to be Transformed, how the change will be orchestrated, and who’s responsible for the orchestration of change.
Mike used an abbreviated version of his normal deck for the talk at Agile & Beyond, but we’ve provided the deck in its entirety for added context.