What You Should Know About Agile Transformation

Agile transformation was initially developed to fast-track software development. However, it is often used by organizational teams that desire to swiftly execute projects. Sometimes, these efforts often don’t work out. Research shows that different large agile transformation initiatives do not just miss their goals, but they also cause company disruption—including tension among teams, employee burnout, and loss of vital talent.

Agile Transformation: The Dos and Don’ts to Remember

1) Do Not Staff Your Teams with Just Star Performers

Staffing your team with just star performers can undermine other vital efforts in the organization whenever it’s involved with agile transformation projects. Stars are deeply joined in networks of relationships that essential to ensuring that existing work is done, and they can’t disconnect well from their prior roles. Star performers are usually sought out by their colleagues about their previous roles, often informally, when they’re actually assigned solely to an agile project. These requests for assistance then grow from informal assistance to constant, time consuming tasks.

2) Do Not Keep Agile Teams Apart from The Major Business

Some people set agile transformation teams aside from the rest of the business to avoid status quo thinking or them being killed off. However, isolation can develop shortcomings for projects. True, an agile team requires autonomy to spare them too much scrutiny and interference, still, total isolation doesn’t work. These teams do not have all the needed capabilities for the execution of a novel initiative. They typically have to pull from expertise in other sections of the company so as to have a big picture of issues, comprehend nuances in various geographies or clients, then anticipate changing, competitive landscapes.

3) Expectations of Total Commitment Is Unrealistic

Usually, people expect that total commitment is vital for agile transformation teams to be able to handle the demanding daily tasks while maintaining total focus on important goals. However, expecting this from every member is simply not realistic at all. Some initiatives would actually benefit from involving valuable specialists that simply don’t need to or just can’t be taken their day jobs. You should think of the experts whose opinions can really shape a project, like the cyber expert alerting the team to any data-privacy threat. This input is vital, but they really don’t need to be brought in full-time to your agile team.

4) Identify Potential Resources

Different agile projects need occasional input from various contacts that are outside the core agile transformation team that possess complementary expertise. Knowing the ideal individuals to consult and when to consult them can be challenging. For instance, Brokers are positioned at the juncture right between silos in an organization and dramatically influence the various diffusion of ideas. They don’t really hold formal cross-silo posts but can assist the team get ideas, expertise, equipment, or even funding that members may not have direct access to.

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