{"id":20943,"date":"2017-11-17T11:54:52","date_gmt":"2017-11-17T11:54:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/digileaders.com\/?p=20943"},"modified":"2018-04-26T16:28:10","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T15:28:10","slug":"reap-much-hyped-benefits-agile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/reap-much-hyped-benefits-agile\/","title":{"rendered":"How to reap the much-hyped benefits of Agile"},"content":{"rendered":"

Listening to Ciar\u00e1n Hanway and Ian Johnson\u2019s webinar \u201cBecoming Agile \u2013 Building better, delivering sooner<\/a>\u201d\u00a0made me reflect on a number of my experiences working in both agile, waterfall and hybrid environments, and the common challenges that organisations from all sectors and sizes run into.<\/p>\n

We work with clients in both public and private sector organisations to either identify and enable improvements in how digital transformation is delivered, or by accelerating that transformation through the provision of highly experienced teams that embed themselves within these organisations to tackle difficult digital challenges.<\/p>\n

The true success of our work, however, is measured through our clients\u2019 ability to drive continuous improvement long after we\u2019ve left the building. This can only happen if everyone understands what the aim of agile practices are, and if they\u00a0are<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0agile, rather than simply doing it. Ciar\u00e1n and Ian referenced the brilliant cargo-cult tale from the South Pacific Island of Melanesia in demonstrating this point, and I\u2019ve seen this pattern of thinking on many occasions in organisations struggling to reap the much-hyped benefits of Agile.<\/p>\n

The most recurring example I\u2019ve come across is in the application of ceremonies, a key part of the SCRUM methodology and usually the first thing that an organisation does when it wants to \u201cgo agile\u201d.<\/p>\n

Starting with the daily stand-up; does the team report to themselves? Do the teams truly self-organise, help to alleviate others\u2019 blockers and balance workload across the team? Or do they list the meetings they\u2019ve attended in the previous day and hope their scrum master won\u2019t ask too many questions about the state of their JIRA tickets?<\/p>\n

At the end of a sprint show and tell; something considered sacrosanct to delivery managers and seniors within the organisation, and a ceremony that be an extremely powerful tool to learn, engage and motivate the team. However, without buy-in and understanding of its true purpose, this ceremony become an overheard in the team\u2019s diary, something that they dread coming up at the end of every sprint. An ill-attentive audience, one way communication and too much focus on story-point output are habits that many programmes can fall into.<\/p>\n

The end of sprint retrospective exemplifies one of the core tenants of the Agile Framework[1]<\/sup>\u00a0when done well. But how often are actions from the retrospective actually carried forward? Are new things trialed? Measured? Assessed and adapted? See[2]<\/sup>\u00a0for more information on how to run a good retrospective.<\/p>\n

If ceremonies aren\u2019t done right they can actually cause more inefficiency, demotivation and prevent the organisation from moving forward, both from a process and tangible output perspective. Enabling all individuals within your organisation to understand the \u2018why\u2019 over the \u2018what\u2019 is paramount in creating and maintaining this agile culture.<\/p>\n

It can be quite easy to go into an organisation and identify things that it could do better; it\u2019s much harder to self-inspect, adapt and constantly drive positive change. \u00a0As Ciar\u00e1n and Ian reflected, the most organic form of continuous improvement, and true empowerment cannot be taken away- it is inherent in the team and comes from an understanding and buy-in to what the organisation is trying to achieve through its chosen delivery method and work culture.<\/p>\n

Agile is a destination-less journey, and we ourselves are always learning, adapting and trying new things. Do reach out though if any of these examples strike a familiar note, or if you\u2019d like to further explore how to accelerate digital transformation within your business. And a final gentle nudge in the direction of the webinar- it covers a huge range of topics in just over half an hour and has hopefully generated some interesting debate and conversation.<\/p>\n

Watch the Webinar recording here:<\/h4>\n