The Agile Transformation Hell

By Vitor Queiroz

Who am I?

● Software Architect● Agile Coach ● Have been through some Agile Transformations

It's not about changing one team.

It's about changing the whole system.

What about you? Which stage are you in?

Agile Transformation Stages

Imagine Highway to Hell

Stairway to Heaven

John Lennon

AC/DC

Led Zeppelin

Let's talk about the "Highway to Hell" stage today.

Have fun !

What we will not talk about today...

Agile: How it used to be

vs. How it is today

Back then...

● Obscure

● Dangerous

● Mythical

● Just the crazy ones

tried it

… Now

● Cool

● Necessary

● Efficient

● The market

demands it

Suddenly, everyone wants an AGILE COACH

Not a Scrum Master, an AGILE

COACH

Even though they do not exactly know why...● Is it a Project Manager?● Is it a Product Manager?● Is it a Scrum Master?

Agile Transformation or Agile Adoption?

What??? Hey!! I just want to be Agile OK?

Agile adoption

Is about "Agile doing."

Is about knowing tools, applying techniques.

Is the beginning.

Agile transformation

Is about "Agile being."

Is about environments, culture, mindset.

Is the result.

Agile adoption

Creates cultural conflicts.

Poor conflict management creates problems.

Conflicts will happen anyway, so learn how to deal with it.

"Ready to go" models won't work the first time

To change something at its core...

You need to understand how it works first

System thinking

Schneider Culture Model

Agile Culture

Understand where you are:● How is the culture?● How are the problems related to the

culture?● Prioritize the problems to attack.

Stop pushing Agile

● In fact, nobody wants to be Agile● They just want to improve their value

delivering● Use Agile as a mean, not as an end goal

Measure the current state● How many bugs do you have?● How hard is it to deploy something?● How hard is it to validate a hypothesis?● How hard is it to measure progress?

Everybody has some kind of pain

● C-Level, Directors● Middle Managers● Developers, Business Analysts, Testers

Everybody has some kind of pain

● Strategic Level pain● Management Process pain● Development pain

Understand how the pains are connected

Understand the current flow

Choose tools that leverage results

Keep measuring the results

● Share the successes● Share the failures● Create rapport

Conflicts and Problems

Big "ready-to-go" frameworks● You can't install Agile● Big complex diagrams, when pushed, will

fail● You can't run an Agile Transformation in 2

months● The consultant ALWAYS goes away

The Spotify model (squadification)

● "We watched the Spotify video" - first warning

● "We created the squads already" - second warning

● "But we had to adapt" - third warning

But… it works on Spotify

● It took YEARS for Spotify to reach this result

● It took a lot of "try-fail-change"● It's not a "copy-and-paste" model● If you don't care about the values, don't

even try

Higher management support

● The C-Level, President, and Directors must understand what changes will be caused

● You can't work on an Agile Transformation and deal with hierarchy issues at the same time

Middle management interference

● They can say it's OK, but may change their mind in the near future

● They can be afraid about become meaningless● You need to provide coaching and training to

change them into facilitators● Don't fight them, invite them to work together

Team issues

● Nobody becomes Agile just because the boss told them to

● Empower them by showing that they can suggest changes

● Give them tools to check their own progress● Celebrate their victories● Expose them to new approaches (conferences,

events, etc)

Understand, teach, change

● Understand the way they work● Teach new patterns to solve problems● Give them the freedom to break patterns to

improve even more● Always measure the results--it gives a sense of

evolution and progress

Start small and let it grow

● Put "trojans" in the system● Collect feedback● Measure the results, change more● Wait untill the system absorbs the changes● Do it again

That's it - Thank you!

Twitter: @vitor_qEmail: vitorv@gmail.comLinkedin: vitor-hugo-de-queiroz