Zero to Agile in 3-5+ Years

Understanding Holistic Enterprise Transition

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Sean BuckSenior Manager, The Capital Group Companies

George Schlitz CSC, PMP

Principal/Co-founder, BigVisible

It’s a marathon, not a sprint

Purpose

•Case study of large Agile Transformation Program at the Capital Group Companies. Their journey to date and where they are going.....

•Understanding a holistic approach to transformation. Strategies and tips that you can apply in your organization.

Expectations

•Not a step by step approach to Agile adoption

•Not exhaustive or in depth, only a 1 hour session

•Not as interactive a session as we would like

•Assumption of basic Agile understanding (i.e. familiarity with frameworks like Scrum, XP, Kanban, etc..)

Sean Buck:swb@capgroup.comTwitter: @buckswGeorge Schlitz:gschlitz@bigvisible.comTwitter: @gschlitz

1. The Capital Group Companies, Inc• Evolution of Agile at CG

• Successes and Challenges• Evolving Adoption Approach

• Enterprise Focus• Evolution of Workspaces• Leadership Development

2. Holistic Transformation• Change Management Strategy• Learning Journey• Coaching Spectrum• Traps to avoid

Agenda

© 2011 The Capital Group Companies, Inc.

Who we are

Global investment management organization Founded in 1931 Privately held Our mission is to provide long-term superior investment

results and services to investors and clients

© 2011 The Capital Group Companies, Inc.

Our clients Individual mutual fund shareholders Companies that offer 401(k) retirement plans Insurance Companies—Variable Annuity Products Institutional clients

– Corporate Retirement Plans

– Public Funds

– Sovereign Wealth Funds

– Endowments

– Foundations High-net-worth individuals

© 2011 The Capital Group Companies, Inc.

7,000 Associates in 22 Offices Worldwide

San Francisco (1975)

Toronto* (2000)

Los Angeles (1931)Orange County (1983)

Phoenix

(2004)

San Antonio (1990)

Washington, D.C. (1974)New York (1943)

Hampton Roads (1992)

Indianapolis (1994)

London (1979)Geneva (1962)

Mumbai

(2008)

Singapore

(1989)

Hong Kong (1983)

Tokyo (1982)

Beijing (2009)

• Large IT Organization across Irvine, San Antonio, L.A., India

• Many different technologies from Mainframe to Web 2.0 apps• Co-located and distributed teams• Custom development, packages, and both

• Large modernization programs and transformation underway

• Started with One team grassroots effort• Spread to other teams, led to Enterprise Transformation

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Evolution of Adoption at CG

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A Transition Model

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• Increased Business Involvement and Transparency• Innovating to deliver business value• Changing the negative perceptions of IT• Switching priorities and even technologies midstream• Increasing Morale

• "You know, I wouldn't mind it a bit if you guys slow down a little."

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Adoption Challenges

• Open Workspaces• Leadership, including Management’s role in Agile• Getting the right product owners• Adapting the organizational system to support Agile• Agile Technical practices adoption• Large program mindset, shifting towards Agile

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Evolution of Adoption Approach

• Initial Central Control of Adoption• Readiness Assessment of potential team• Go to governance group for Approval per team• Coaches Assigned centrally• Organizational Challenges Opportunistic

• Shift Focus of Accountability of Agile adoption to Sr. Managers / Directors• Give Directors / Sr. Managers more

local decisions on adoption • Enterprise team to focus on

organizational challenges and leadership program

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ATP Story map for CY11 Federated Model(empower locally)

Agile Workspaces

Agile Delivery Program

Federated model kicked-off

Q1

2011

Agile LeadershipProgram

Pilot ‘Agile Leadership’

Workshops

Kick-off Agile Leadership Program

Agile Associate Development

Define ITGUAgile Curriculum

Schedule ‘Agile Principles’

Workshops

Create OrganizationalAssessment

Develop AgileTools Eval. Criteria

Perform 1stOrganizationalAssessment

Agile Role Clarity.Define S.M. Role

Pilot out Agile Sourcing

Approve Agile Sourcing Plan at ITSC

Agile Sourcing Models Approved

by SDC

Distributed Agile& Sourcing

Complete Agile Workspace

Design Reqs

Kick-off ADP

Publish AgileStart-up Kit

Agile Team Rooms Build out in IRV.

Implement Shared Coaching

Model

Assign Agile Coach to all

Directors

Create LOBAgile Roadmaps

Approve LOBAgile Roadmaps

By SDC

Perform Agile Tools Eval. / Pilot

Kick-off Internal Agile

Coach ProgramSDM value stream

Leadership Ed.

Expand AgileTransformationBeyond SD org.

Raise Visibility of Agile Success

Internal AgileConference

Develop ProgramMetrics to

Encourage Agile

Q2

2011

Q3

Q4

Approve ADPBy ITSC

TechnicalExcellence

Promote Agile Engineering

Practices

Hold AgileCoding Dojos

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Evolution of Workspace

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Evolution of Workspace

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Evolution of Workspace

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Investing in Open Workspaces

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Investing in Open Workspaces

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Leadership Focus

• Leadership Workshops– Key to helping leaders understand their role in

designing an environment where Agile can thrive– Most organizations don’t focus on developing

leadership

• Focusing coaches on leaders vs. teams– Coaches initially worked with teams but need to shift

to working more with leaders to avoid team regression

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.

George Patton

“Believe me fellows, everyone from the Pharaoh on down is an equally valued member of the team.”

“Partial Implementation of a Holistic Solution is an Oxymoron”

- Eliyahu Goldratt, from “Beyond the Goal”

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Changing the Rules

Change Tool: ToC Change Process

Given: An improvement diminishes a limitation(s)

1) What is the strength of the improvement?

2) What limitations does the improvement diminish?

3) What rules (e.g. structures, processes, roles, rules) existed in the organization to deal with the limitation in the past?

4) Change or eliminate these rules

5) Determine what limitations we have now, and create new rules for these

Source: “Beyond the Goal” - Eliyahu Goldratt

Change Tool: ToC Change Process

Given: An improvement diminishes a limitation(s)

1) What is the strength of the improvement?

2) What limitations does the improvement diminish?

3) What rules (e.g. structures, processes, roles, rules) existed in the organization to deal with the limitation in the past?

4) Change or eliminate these rules

5) Determine what limitations we have now, and create new rules for these

Source: “Beyond the Goal” - Eliyahu Goldratt

Change Tool: The Single Ray of Light

Source: “Beyond the Goal” - Eliyahu Goldratt

Make every move count – there is limited time… impossible to work with everyone irresponsible to just be opportunistic

Where and when to exert influence?

Develop a Change Strategy

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The Learning Journey

LearningPrinciples

ValuesExperience

Failures

LearningPrinciples

ValuesExperience

Failures

LearningPrinciples

ValuesExperience

Failures

These are what result in success. The learning journey as we try different things.

Unfortunately, we standardize on these.The practices and outputs of the learning journey for a particular team.

Team

One

Perfo

rman

ce

Time

-4 week sprint-Retro

-Task Board-Stand Ups

-2 week sprint-automated tests

-ATDD-Backlog

-Continuous Flow-TDD

-Release Planning-Small Stories

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• “A good coach knows the subject material and can assess where we stand and what will help us improve.”

• “The coach can help us stay motivated when we reach the inevitable plateaus in progress.” - Ron Jeffries. From “Agile Coaching” by Rachel Davies, Liz Sedley.

GrowingPeople

IncorporatingFeedback

IntroducingQuality

Team Practices

And Process

BuildingTeams

LeadingChange

Working withPeople

Starting the Journey

Coaching

What is a coach?

Delivery

Agile Coaching Spectrum

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Execution

Product/BusinessStrategy

Delivery

Agile Coaching Spectrum

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Execution

Leading

Levels of Leadership Agility

• Expert

• Achiever

• Catalyst

Organizing

Product/BusinessStrategy

Delivery

Agile Coaching Spectrum

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Execution

Leadership AgilityComplexityManagement/Executive CoachingLeadership mentoring

ToCSystemsOrganizational structures“Changing the Rules” (Process, etc.)Org Change

Product Management/StrategyPPMProduct Development/DeliveryMultiple Team/ProgramsKanbanScrumXPTechnical mentoringTeam Dynamics/CollaborationTeam coaching

Leading

Organizing

Product/BusinessStrategy

Delivery

Agile Coaching Spectrum

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Execution

Agile Coach Focus: Local (project)

improvement

Transition Coach Focus:EnterpriseChange and

Improvement

Leadership AgilityComplexityManagement/Executive CoachingLeadership mentoring

ToCSystemsOrganizational structures“Changing the Rules” (Process, etc.)Org Change

Product Management/StrategyPPMProduct Development/DeliveryMultiple Team/ProgramsKanbanScrumXPTechnical mentoringTeam Dynamics/CollaborationTeam coaching

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Complexity

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Cynefin Framework

Text

Structure-Behavior Model of Systems

Source: “Management 3.0: Leading Agile Developers, Developing Agile Leaders” - Jurgen Appelo. Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc,

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Dealing with Elephants

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“Being right too soon is socially unacceptable”- Robert Heinlein

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Traps

• Not being purposeful of change management and culture change

• Standardizing on Practices and Tools to drive adoption

• Neglecting Leadership• Neglecting anyone not on a development team

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Adoption Traps

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Coaching Challenges

• To be an “Agile” organization you need to have a holistic focus to change

• Changing mindset and culture takes time• Your adoption and change strategy will evolve over time• Consider the coaching spectrum and your coaching

needs

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Takeaways

References & Recommended ReadingSome Coaching Reading to Start With“Agile Coaching” – Rachel Davies, Liz Sedley “Coaching Agile Teams” – Lyssa Adkins“Coaching and Mentoring” – Harvard Business Press“The Heart of Coaching” – Thomas Crane“Adaptive Coaching” – Terry Bacon, Karen Spear

Some Leadership and Complexity Reading to Start With“Leadership Agility” – Bill Joiner, Stephen Josephs“Leadership and the New Science” – Margaret Wheatley“Surfing the Edge of Chaos” - Pascale, Richard“The Origins of Cynefin” - Snowden“The Servant Leadership Training Course” - James Hunter

Some Change & Thinking Tools to Start With“Beyond the Goal” – Eli Goldratt“Switch” – Chip & Dan Heath“Fearless Change” - Linda Rising, Mary Lynn Manns“ The Fifth Discipline” - Peter Senge

A Few Elephants to Start With“Beyond Budgeting: How managers can break free from the annual performance trap” - Hope, Fraser“Drive” - Pinck“Get Rid of the Performance Review!” - Culbert“Inspired” - Marty Cagan

Some Friends to Start Learning Withhttp://www.bigvisible.com/blog 33