Barclays Internal Audit “Better, quicker, faster” – Our Agile Journey

February 2018

Chris Spedding

Contents

1. Why has BIA adopted Agile?

2. The Agile Vision for BIA

3. What have we done?

4. Walkthrough of an Agile Audit

5. The 5 key attributes of an Agile Audit

6. Benefits and challenges

Why has BIA adopted Agile?

Technical: What is the level of uncertainty of HOW you do the

audit?

Requirements: What

is the level of

uncertainty of WHAT

you have to do?

The Agile Vision for BIA

Trust and motivation

through self organising

teams

Continuous

attention to

quality

Welcome

change to

ensure

coverage of

what matters

Increase

communication

within the audit

team and with

stakeholders

Maximise the

amount of

work not done

Early and

continuous

delivery of

assurance

What have we done?

Championed

• Consistent sponsorship from all layers of leadership

Invested in dedicated expertise

• 7 full time coaches – both Agile coaches and IA professionals

Targeted learning and development

• Both “technical” Agile training, and applied Agile IA training

Adapted our working space

• Scrum boards, collaborative spaces

Experimented

• Process, behaviour, mindset – not methodology yet

Audit Structure

Planning

Fieldwork

Reporting

Plan

Deliver

Review

Retro

Plan

Deliver

Review

Retro

Plan

Deliver

Review

Retro

Plan

Deliver

Review

Retro

Traditional (“waterfall”) audits

Agile audits

Agile in practice - Planning

• Engage the Auditee as soon as possible

• Objective is to “get to fieldwork as soon as possible”

• Whole team involvement and focus

• Prioritise tasks – value vs effort

• Quality and challenge throughout

Plan

Deliver

Review

Retro

Agile in practice - Fieldwork

• Time boxed objectives

• Early and frequent delivery of assurance

• Team work

• Engaging the business

• Constant planning - value vs effort

Plan

Deliver

Review

Retro

Agile in practice - Reporting

Plan

Deliver

Review

Retro

• Continual reporting and stakeholder engagement

• Discuss cumulative findings, overall themes and ratings

• “War-room” reporting

• End to end involvement and ownership

• Overall review and retrospect / lessons learned

BIA has committed to being a “100% Agile” function in 2018.

In H1 2018, we expect our audits to have the following attributes:

1. Maintain full team involvement for the duration of the audit. Clarity on roles

and responsibilities.

2. Audit work is ordered, visualised and updated on Scrum Boards.

3. Audit work is delivered in ‘Sprints’. These are consistent time boxes that

break down the duration of an audit.

4. During the audit, each sprint is structured with the key Scrum events (Sprint

Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective).

5. Internal and External stakeholders with a vested interest in the audit are

invited to the Sprint Review events.

The 5 key attributes of an Agile Audit

Value we’ve already seen

10%

Lead Time

Positive auditee feedback

Transparency

Mutual understanding

Early and regular engagement

Positive auditor feedback

Engaged in the end to end story of the audit

Greater communication and team work

Emphasis on coaching and development

Efficiency

Already seeing gains in efficiency and productivity

Changing the mentality of “working to the budget”

Only going to improve as teams become more Agile

Challenges

Mindset

Auditors and change…

Agile coaches and audit…

Team dynamics

Value of stable teams vs hybrid of skills (“integrated auditing”)

Global audits / co-locations

Technology

Dependency on technology - unlearning these behaviours

Doesn’t always work - needs sponsorship and patience. Quality is non-negotiable.