The mostly asked question in context of Agile is how – “How can our organization become more agile?” The impatience of managers about finding prompt answers was rapidly satisfied by providing a simple recommendation implying a simple action: “Apply agile methods”, or even simpler, “use Scrum”. Yet, executives have to be aware that this is not the appropriate answer for transforming a whole organization towards Agile, as it usually does not meet the demands of the increasing dynamics and complexity in business, and in the end, to survive in the economic shark pool and to succeed in a disruptive environment.
Despite of this insight, just(!) applying agile methods has become a convenient de facto standard in management practice. This practical but dangerous simplification can be explained by taking the perspective of the executives concerned. Organizational development is already a complex task and it’s even more challenging when long-term experience and specific know-how is lacking, like in the case of (true) agile management. However, a serious endeavor for enhancing corporate agility is not a mission impossible. Just before approaching the ‘how’, considering a small set of questions that seem to be forgotten can raise the success of becoming agile tremendously. Moreover, it can reduce the scope of management by focusing the actions on essential areas what in turn yields better outcomes and higher efficiency.
The roadmap of a such a holonic agile transformation and its chief questions is outlined as follows.
In context of change management, Simon Sinek recommended to “start with why”. This is a good starting point for Agile, as well. The motivation, or rather the needs to foster adaptability skills (agility) can have diverse sources. The drivers can be summarized in the headlines speed, cost-economy, complexity, innovation and society (see Agile and the Chicken-Egg-Problem). Even a non-professional is able to anticipate that measures should be different, depending on the specific driver that is addressed. Accordingly, my suggestion is first, to ask the why question considering the whole organization (alternatively the division or business unit). So, the final purpose why a company wants to launch an agile program should be clear and communicated to the entire staff in order to serve this goal.
The answer of the why question leads us to the where question to be posed still on an overarching organizational level. To admit, this question is considered in many cases, yet without conscious reflection. However, explicitly asking where agile is required can pay off, since it is widely recognized among researchers that the poor agile performance of a single entity can limit overall agility. Or to use a common metaphor from theory of constraints, the weakest link in the chain defines its strength. Hence, the crucial ‘players’ in the supply chain within the own organization must be identified and included in the agile strategy.
Once, the critical units have been identified, it’s necessary to start again with the why question, this time for each organizational unit, as the drivers distinguish from unit to unit. E.g., the key driver of a R&D department might be innovation; however, to provide an innovative product that can be placed successfully on the market also requires a performant purchasing department where the key issue is likely to be focused on costs. Moreover, even one and the same functional entity can have different drivers due to its purpose, its diverse jobs and its environmental conditions. For that reason, once again the where question has to be asked, now scoping the organizational fractal. In this case, the ‘where’ relates to processes, but also to the sub-teams of the unit.
Before finally facing the ‘how’, another important question becomes relevant for each unit, namely the question of how much agility is required. Agile is always a relative term and thus, before starting mindless activities, the awareness of the agility gap is crucial, as the following example demonstrates: If a department already shows a sufficient level of adaptability, any measure would be waste (muda) from an economical point of view. On the other side, if the agility gap of a department is huge, small improvements fall too short and a rather revolutionary approach is required.
Now, finally, we have reached the ‘how’. In this stage, agile methods and tools can constitute a powerful approach when applying them in a purposeful way. However, this should be one element of a whole set of measures. In this context, managers can become creative by using the comprehensive toolset of agile principles to be applied on structures and processes. But also established management approaches can be helpful, notably named lean, as long as they address the answers on the above-named questions.
Based on my research on the evaluation and management of the agility of organizational units, I have developed a couple of analysis tools and approaches that help to answer the why, where, how much, and how question. If you are interested in further information, I would be happy to discuss this with you.