Improve the chances of success of your organization with Resilience and Antifragility

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Improve the chances of success of your organization with Resilience and AntifragilityExplicitly measuring and designing culture is an enabler towards agility and can provide incredible advantages to an organization development. Understanding how to lead such change is the one thing that might save your company in the rough waters of todays market. Are you ready for the challenge?


Andrea TomasiniAgile Coach & Trainer [email protected]

@tumma72@agile42/coaches

mailto:[email protected]


The World around us is changing faster than we think…


Technology is often one of the main drivers in this change…


And most of the time it is considered a “commodity” which we are willing to compromise and outsource…


What is Fragility?We are trying to reduce the impact of volatility by controlling the knowns… forgetting that when the unknowns are hitting us, they will generate immensely more harm…


Fire…


Fighting…


Prevention…


Brush…


So what are Resilience and Anti-Fragility?Let’s try to understand what these two words mean and how can help us improving our organizations…


“Resilience is the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganise while undergoing change so as to still retain essentially the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks.” [Brian H. Walker, 2004]


“Antifragility is a property of systems that increases in capability, resilience, or robustness as a result of stressors, shocks, volatility, noise, mistakes, faults, attacks, or failures” [Nassim Nicholas Taleb]


Fragile

it is a system which reacts by breaking without significant signs of alteration of deformation. From an organizational standpoint this emphasize the incapability of the organization to react to changes, and simply failing in unrecoverable ways. A fragile organization is both not ready and not capable to react to changes. Any minimal disturbance in the flow, or volatility can cause a breakdown. Fragile organizations are incapable of reacting to failures.


Robust

It is a system which is capable to resist to stress and avoid failures, requires to be specifically suited to resist to specific types of failures or stressors. From an organizational stand point means that the design of the organization is such that allows the organization to oppose

to certain types of stressors, and resist failure. At the same time it means that an organization can only be designed to resist against some known types of changes or stressors, and won't be able to adapt to unknowns very quickly. So robust organizations might turn out to be fragile against unknown stressors.


Resilient

it is a system which react to changes, by reestablishing itself as closely as possible to its original state. Resilience is the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganise while undergoing change so as to still retain essentially the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks. Applied to organizational design, it means that the organization is capable of assimilating change, and evolve to a new state which substantially provides the same level of services as before the change. Resiliency allows to withstands unknown changes and volatility by co- evolving with the change into a new stable state.


Antifragile

Antifragility is a property of systems that increases in capability, resilience, or robustness as a result of stressors, shocks, volatility, noise, mistakes, faults, attacks, or failures. An antifragile system is a system which improves as a result of stressors and failures. Many biological systems have this property, and also some organizations can be design to be able to learn and improve based on the attacks they are subjected to and the failures they undergo. Instead of trying to go back to their previous state, they evolve to a new state which is betters suited for the current market conditions.

agile42 | the agile coaching company www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2016.agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

Individuals & interactions

Working software

Customer collaboration

Responding to change

Processes & tools

Comprehensive documentation

Contract negotiation

Following a plan

o v e r

We recognize the value here...We value

this more….


Client & Value focus

Self-Organization

& Autonomy

Iterative & Incremental

change to reduce the

risk

Continuous Im

provement


How to improve resilience and antifragilty of an organization?Can we really design an organization which is ready and prepared to recover from failure? Can failure make your organization stronger?


Hier

arch

y

Compliance

Rig

idity


1st Principle: validate changes in small incrementsChange is difficult and confronting. Validate changes with small safe-to-fail experiments, executed at regular intervals, to reduce resistance and minimize the waste of two coexisting systems, whilst gradually incorporating validated learnings.


The traditional approach to change management…

…focused on standardization, before stabilization…

t

Design

Documentation

Rollout

Fix Issues

> 3-4 months…


The agile approach to change management…

…focused on stabilization with emergent standardization…

Design

RolloutDoc

RolloutDoc

RolloutDoc

Coach

≤ 12 weeks t

Design Coach

RolloutDoc

RolloutDoc

Experimentations allows for better approaches to emerge


Goal PSF NC

Agile Strategy Map™

Define the Goal we want to achieve

Possible Success Factor (PSF) represents a hypothesis about a key factor that would enable us to achieve the Goal

Necessary Condition (NC): what is needed in order to fulfill the Success Factor


Strategy Map from March 2014

• The Goal for 2015 has been established

• The Transition Team identified at least 7 PSFs that would provide a powerful leverage to achieve the final Goal


Strategy Map June 2014

• Break out groups worked on detailing the various PSFs into actionable experiments to validate the hypothesis for organizational improvement

Safe-To-Fail�Experiments


2nd Principle: focus on value delivery and adjust accordinglyYour organization is a tool to deliver value to your customers. Identify what that value is and adjust the organization to focus on delivering it, whilst removing waste and making adjustments to streamline the simplest path to delivery.


The matrix organization…

Sub

Syst

em 1

Sub

Syst

em 2

Sub

Syst

em 3

Infra

stru

ctur

e

Ope

ratio

ns

PMO

Project 1

Project 2

Project 3

… optimized for utilization, not value delivery…

Handovers and coordination

Value

Client

Push in the lines


Stream 1

Stream 2

Stream 3

The agile organization…

Sub

Syst

em 1

Sub

Syst

em 2

Sub

Syst

em 3

Infra

stru

ctur

e

Ope

ratio

ns

… optimized for value delivery and time to market

Value

Client

Pull on the streams


Opportunity Canvases to create context and focus on Customer Value…

Lean Portfolio Canvas™ have been created by agile42 and are licensed using Creative Common 3.0 with attribution (BY), non commercial usage (NC) and share alike (SA) options. You can reuse and modify the template, but you will always have to leave the logo on it.

Opportunity Name (title)

1. Opportunity 2. Customer SegmentsWhat is the problem to be solved? What type of customers & users will

benefit from this solution?

How is the customer solving the problem right now?

3. Possible SolutionWhat are the key points of a possible solution to the presented problem?

4. BenefitsWhat are the benefits for the customers?

6. Measuring SuccessWhat metrics will be best measure the success of the feature?

5. Business ReadinessWhat steps are required from the business side to be able to use this capability?

7. Cost of DelayWhich profile better represent the cost of delay (CoD)?

8. Costs StructureHow does the cost structure look like for such a feature? One time, ongoing costs, contractors expenses, development costs?

9. Value to Customer and BusinessWhat are the expected incremental revenue for selling this feature, and what are the strategic and tactical benefit? What are the intangible values (usability, performance, customer knowledge obtained...)

Opportunity Owner (name)


Unified Portfolio and Program System to increase transparency, to visualize Customer Value and dependencies


3rd Principle: decentralize controlDecentralization of control and decision making shortens feedback loops and enables a more responsive organization. Define goals and constraints to allow for autonomous decision making and create Containers for Empowerment encouraging responsibility ownership and empowered action. Set boundaries with Enabling Constraints and encourage growth within these boundaries and challenges of them when they become limiting.


Control !

Worker 1

Sub 1

Worker 2

Sub 2 Sub 3

The hierarchical organization… Centralized Control, ends up overloaded, introducing delays

Reque

sts

Authorization

the design is based on mistrust…

Info

rmat

ion

& p

ower


Container for empowerment

Worker 3Worker 2

The agile organization… Decentralized Control reduces overhead, and encourage collaboration

the design is based on trust…

Worker 1

Collaboration

Info

rmat

ion

& p

ower


• Both on the “budget” level, as well as on the expected delivery and preparation levels

• This level of transparency allows to build trust between Portfolio Management and self-organizing teams

• Clear Policies describing the range of autonomy the teams have


• Every team has two “avatars” to volunteer on upcoming Opportunities

• The Opportunity Owner will get in touch with the team to get their input and enrich the backlog


4th Principle: remove unnecessary synchronization of flowInterdependencies are a symptom of an over synchronized system design. They carry the excessive burden of coordination, handovers and project plans which dramatically increase the transaction costs. Design a decoupled system which removes unnecessary synchronization and establishes effective working agreements which grant collective responsibility and ownership.


t

Project 2

Project 3

Project 1

The plan driven organization… Synchronization of all Projects for a release, decreases efficiency and increases coordination costs

Release

Pm 3

Pm 1

Pm 2

…fixed scope and fixed date…


t

The agile organization… De-synchronization of development teams to reduce cost of release

…variable scope and variable date…

Feature A

Release

Team 1

Team 2

Team 3

Team 4

Feature B

Release Release

Feature C

Release

Feature D

Release

Feature E


Release incrementally, with higher quality

Automated testing in short cycles

Delivered serviceable Product in just 2 months


Continuos Integration & Delivery…

Switch from big product releases to incremental change, every feature is released on all platforms

“Focusing on one Feature at a time allowed for faster feedback also involving stakeholders was easier… deliver fast to learn fast”


And don’t forget about culture and context…Ok, now you get which patterns can help your organization and your teams improve their resilience and antifragility so what do you need to make it happen?


5th Principle: make culture explicitOrganizational culture exists and manifests in the form of behaviors and activities. Make it explicit to allow for better alignment and context creation - its difficult to change what cannot be seen. Once explicit, set a new direction to a more appropriate culture which supports strategic goals whilst supporting the values and behaviors that are important to the people within the organization.


“This is how we do things around here…”

Culture is the set of behaviors that have been established and accepted within an organization


Culture Type: Hierarchy Orientation: Controlling Leader Type: Coordinator, Monitor, Organizer Value Drivers: Efficiency, Timeless, Consistency and Uniformity Theory of Effectiveness: Control and efficiency with capable processes produce effectiveness

Culture Type: Market Orientation: Competing Leader Type: Hard driver, Competitor, Producer Value Drivers: Market share, Goal achievement, Profitability Theory of Effectiveness: Aggressively competing, customer focus produce effectiveness

Culture Type: Adhocracy Orientation: Creative Leader Type: Innovator, Entrepreneur, Visionary Value Drivers: Innovative outputs, Transformation, Agility Theory of Effectiveness: Innovativeness, vision, and new resources produce effectiveness

Culture Type: Clan Orientation: Collaborative Leader Type: Facilitator, Mentor, Team Builder Value Drivers: Commitment, Communication, Development Theory of Effectiveness: Human development and participation produce effectiveness

Flexibility & Discretion

Stability & Control

Inte

rnal

focu

s &

Inte

grat

ion

Exte

rnal

focu

s &

Diff

eren

tiatio

n

Organizational Culture Profile (CVF)


Organization Cultural Profile (CVF)

10

20

30

40

50

60

10

20

20

20

10

10

30

40

50

60

30

40

50

60

30

40

50

60

Ad-hoc

racy

Hierarch

yMarket

Clan


Stability & Control

Inte

rnal

focu

s &

Inte

grat

ion

Exte

rnal

focu

s &

Diffe

rent

iatio

n

Most of mature organizations today have a strong Hierarchy oriented profile

They struggle to introduce a more agile and lean approach to work, because the hierarchical culture is not supportive of agile values and principles

Agile Values & Principles


Organization Cultural Profile (CVF)

10

20

30

40

50

60

10

20

20

20

10

10

30

40

50

60

30

40

50

60

30

40

50

60

Ad-hoc

racy

Hierarch

yMarket

Clan


Stability & Control

Inte

rnal

focu

s &

Inte

grat

ion

Exte

rnal

focu

s &

Diffe

rent

iatio

n

Most of the organization today have a strong Hierarchy oriented profile

They struggle to introduce a more agile and lean approach to work, because the hierarchical culture is not supportive of agile values and principles

To create the right context to move toward a more agile and lean culture, we need to transition toward Clan or Ad-Hocracy


“If you can make culture explicit, you can agree where you stand, and where you want to go…”

There are two ways of encouraging behaviours within an organization: 1. Story telling and role-modeling (e.g: empathy and tradition, walk

the talk) 2. Ritualization (e.g: Scrum events, Ritual Dissent, Open Space)


6th Principle: create the appropriate contextProcess, rules and even culture are often set without consideration to the context in which they are intended. Context matters and is a great lever for success. It needs to be created appropriately for the purpose it is intended so as to refrain from establishing a single context to fulfill multiple purposes.


OrderedUnordered

Disorder

Complicated

Good�Practice

Sense-Analyze-Respond

Governing�Constraints

Obvious

Best�Practice

Sense-Categorize-Respond

Rigid�Constraints

Complex

Emergent�Practice

Probe-Sense-Respond

Enabling�Constraints

Chaotic

Novel�Practice

Act-Sense-Respond

No�Constraints


t

Culture, Market/Product Maturity & Context

Early AdoptersEarly Majority

Late Majority Laggers

Chas

m

Cultur

eTo

ols

Comp

lex

(Eme

rgent)

Complicated

(Good Practices)Obvious

(Best Practices)

Rapid Prototyping/XP

Scrum/XP

Scrum/Kanban

Kanban

Chaotic

(Novelty)

Complex

(Emerge

nt)


Thank

You!


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Improve the chances of success of your organization with Resilience and Antifragility

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