Turning your business into an #Agilebusiness is not an easy feat. According to the 2020 State of Agile report only 16% of the respondents reached the satisfactory level of Agile Maturity, while a whopping 54% of the enterprises are still perfecting their practices, despite following Agile from 1-5 years. This should not scare you, but illustrates very well, that this is a long journey and can not be achieved overnight. Most of the road blocks you meet along the way are rooted in the organizational culture and the human factor.
The #Agiletransformation is first and foremost a major shift in how people see an organization. To develop the #agilemindset means to do away with all traditional hierarchical thinking, while building trust and keeping respect alive. Structural and technological changes are only part of the transformation. This mega transformation starts with you and me. All of us will need to unlearn old thought processes and old habits. That is not easy and it takes time.
The road blocks most often faced are these:
Resistance to change - this is often based on employee's apprehensions and these need to be addressed. Don't sweep them under the table. Invest in coaching
Lack of Leadership buy-in - you need to help your leadership to adjust their mindset and narrow down the vision. Here it helps to seek competent guidance. You can not do it with articles and management self-help books.
Inconsistent processes across teams - you will need to look at all processes in all departments and teams, Form a cross departmental team that looks at gaps, inconsistencies and overlaps. Then set up a goal-oriented structure. You will have to empower team self-governance. Here it will be the hardest for leaders to take the step backwards that is needed to empower the teams. Trust has to be build.
Internal culture that is at odds with Agile values - this happens more often than we want to admit. Have a very critical look at your culture. Start by shifting responsibility from the manager to the team. You can start with small things, like letting them chair the meetings in turns. The adopt a product-centric approach for delivery. And keep highlighting the importance of effective communication.
If you go through these steps successfully you may reap the sweet payoff of successful and complete Agile transformation.
Read more about it in the following article.
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