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Part 2: Agile Transformation How is it done ?

 

How is it done ?

Agile transformation is best done in stages that are well thought out systematically and iteratively to optimise the returns of being agile. The stages are as per the diagram below

 

 

  

Creating and communicating a sense of urgency

For any transformation to take place, a sense of urgency for the need for transformation is required. In this regard, a suitable Call to Action that is concise and relevant has to be developed and communicated. By doing so in a manner that resonates with all stakeholders a sense of urgency will emerge. Being guided by this sense of urgency everyone remains committed to the purpose being pursued.

 

Developing an awareness of Agile

For agile practices to be undertaken correctly based on agile principles, the need to develop an awareness of what it entails and how it should be done based on best practices is needed. This could be done through a series of workshop or coaching and mentoring sessions that inculcate a desire to enable faster product delivery and boost efficiency through iterative feedback.

The awareness should focus on how being agile helps everyone work better so that a deep seated desire to embrace agile principles and practices emerges

 

 

Identifying relevant metrics based on a customised approach

The success of any agile initiative rests on its ability to deliver results in a manner that is customised to the existing way of working. The agile methodology needs to be customised to suit the most appropriate way of working (WoW) based on the organizations culture. The need for this is important when it is necessary to customise the approach to achieve specific goals such as promoting cost reduction or enhancing operational productivity

 

These results are based on the measures ( metrics ) of what constitutes success. For example, if the goal is to reduce cost, what cost elements have to be monitored ( e.g. labour hours, time to completion) and how will they be monitored ( e.g. remotely by a third party based on predetermined parameters) , will have to be determined.

 

Developing Quick Wins and Scaling Agile Practices

The setting up and operationalisation of a number of pilot projects will have to be undertaken based on the customised approach established. They will be undertaken in iterations aimed at achieving specific goals within specific timelines. The deliverables from these iterations will be the “quick wins” that are necessary to sustain the practices being undertaken.

 

Over time the agile practices adopted in a project team or department will have to be gradually introduced throughout the organization. Only then a collaborative culture is developed. In this regard, the agile practices will have to be scaled up.

 

Scalability of agile practices throughout the Organization will entail overcoming potential challenges. These challenges will have to be identified and migration plans to develop with the challenges identified and implemented. A framework for scaling the agile practices will be established to address these challenges.

 

 

Engaging  in Continual Improvement

 

Over time, the desire to continually improve becomes a norm. Everyone is seeking to do better what they have already done before. Challenging the status quo becomes a norm at all levels of the organization.

 

Continual improvements of the system will be undertaken on a regular basis to sustain agile practices in order to gradually develop a collaborative work culture within the organization. Such a work culture will manifest as the required ecosystem needed to facilitate further enhancements in being undertaken.

 

This process of reinventing itself continues unabated as the organization morphs into a learning organization that subscribes to the notion of agility as a way of life. This process of seeking perfection is a worthwhile journey all organizations should embark on.

 

Dr Rumesh Kumar

PMP, PMP Trainer,

Scrum Certified Trainer

PMI - Agile Certified Practitioner

Scrum Master Certified, Scrum Product Owner Certified, Scrum Developer Certified

Sharma Management International

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Is Your Organization Really Agile?

 

 

For plants to grow, they need fertile soil and good irrigation. If either one of this is lacking, the growth is impeded. Fertile soil provides nutrients to the plants and water enables the plant to photosynthesize sunlight. If water is completely cut off or if the soil becomes infertile, the plant dies. Hence a gardener’s primary focus is to ensure the soil is fertile and a continuous source of water is always provided.

 

Being agile means being able to quickly detect changes as they unfold and respond appropriately to take advantage of that change. Employees within an organization tend to be agile when they understand the importance of developing knowledge sharing capability and adaptability. Knowledge sharing is critical for an organization to quickly sense changes to an environment. Adaptability is critical to be able to respond to changes in the environment.

 

Just as the analogy above suggests, as long as there is water and the soil is maintained well, the plant will grow. Similarly, as long as knowledge sharing at an organizational level is actively instituted and the key nutrients for adaptability are nurtured, employees will be accountable for adapting and delivering results. Over time, with better ability to detect changes and adapting appropriately to change, the level of agility improves. Hence, management’s key focus should be to continually improve organizational knowledge sharing and adaptability in the face of changing business requirements.

 

The key nutrients for adaptability of an organization towards environmental changes is premised on its ability to

  • Create change as and when the need to do so arises
  • Focus on the needs of the customer, that is, being customer centric
  • Engage in practices that contribute to being able to learn, unlearn and relearn faster

 

All organizations are agile to some extent. Organizational agility is not something you either have or don’t have. It is something that varies on a sliding scale. The concern is whether your organization is sufficiently agile to deal with the business environment that it is in. If the need for agility and the rate at which your organization increases its agility capabilities do not match up, you will be severely impacted. To keep pace and ensure continual growth in agility requires an ability to assess how agile your organization is. For this, an assessment tool for agility is required.

 

The lack of a validated and reliable assessment tool for agility is a severe impediment. Such a tool should be able to assess the degree to which essential requirements for agility are met. They should be easily administered to respondents and contain questions that are both relevant to assessment of agility and validated by well-established models.

 

Unless accurate and reliable assessments of the extent which agile practices are being undertaken in practice, concrete attempts to improve the maturity of agile practices will be hampered. This in turn will frustrate attempts to develop an agile based workforce that embraces the culture of flexibility and self-organization. With such a tool in place, it becomes possible to assess how well your organization fares in terms of creating change, being customer centric and engages in knowledge sharing practices.

 

Sharma Management International, in associated with its international partners, has developed a validated and reliable assessment tool that measures the degree of agility in organizations. This assessment is based on validated models that are relevant to measuring agility.

 

For a trial assessment and a more detailed proposal regarding Agility Maturity Assessment Tool, on how Agile your organization is, please contact us here.

 

Dr Rumesh Kumar,

PMP, SMC, CST,

June 2020

Author Profile

Asst. Prof. Dr. Rumesh Kumar is a:-

  • Certified Professional Trainer;
  • Certified Knowledge Manager;
  • Certified Project Management Professional;
  • ScrumStudy Certified Trainer; and
  • Certified Tetramap facilitator.

He specializes in areas of agile project management, knowledge management and organizational diagnostics. He has trained hundreds of participants, from multiple organizations such as Tan Chong Motors, Shell and Maxis Communications to become Scrum Master Certified.

 

Scrum Master Certification (SMC)
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What is it?

The Employee Insurance System (EIS) is a financial scheme by PERKESO, to aid recently retrenched workers in finding new jobs and upskill new employees hired by an organization. The aim of these schemes is for promoting job creation and increasing employment prospects

If you are recently retrenched, PERKESO is able to cover all associated training fees in relation to certain approved courses that will assist in obtaining new employment.

Successful applicants may attend training & certification sessions at no cost! An allowance is also paid to the participants for each training day, at a rate of RM10 (minimum) - RM20 (maximum) per training day based on the applicant’s Monthly Assumed Wages.

Our Project Management Professsional (PMP) and Scrum Master Certification (SMC) course fees are fully covered under the EIS scheme.

 

How to apply?

In order to make the application you must follow the instructions below.

1. Registration steps for retrenched employees:-

  • Be a Malaysian citizen;
  • Contributed to PERKESO whilst employed;
  • Recently retrenched/unemployed; and
  • Registered within PERKESO’s EIS web portal within the past 60 days.

 

2. Registration steps for employers:-

  1. Please register your company and newly hired employee with ASSIST. If you have not kindly proceed to register here.
  2. Please ensure that your company has registered and posted your vacancy on MYFutureJobs through www.myfuturejobs.gov.my
  3. Training Program Application through https://penjanakerjaya.perkeso.gov.my/ , eg: List of Training Programs search “Technical” > Enter “Tajuk Kursus” or “Kod Kursus” > Click “View” > Send Employee to Join Training Program HIT2423 (Key in employee ID No.) to proceed. 

 

 

When are the course dates?

In order to view session dates, please click here for Scrum dates and click here for dates for PMP.

 

How do I apply?

Please visit PERKESO’s EIS online portal here in order to being the application process.

 

For more information, please contact us.

Scrum Master Certification (SMC)
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The underlying purpose of any project is to add value. Projects serve as vehicles that enable changes, which should bring upon benefits that exceed the cost of making these changes.

 

As long as this occurs, a project is deemed to have been effectively and efficiently undertaken. Project managers are entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that both the performing organization, as well as to the clients they serve, benefit from projects undertaken.

 

Given the very large number of interrelated considerations as well as the highly volatile environments in which projects operate, the prospect of adding value becomes increasingly difficult. Uncertainties that affect projects abound. Costs of undertaking projects continue to rise. Requirements from stakeholders become increasingly ambiguous. These factors detract value instead of adding value.

 

As project managers, we have to overcome any potential threats that impede the realization of this value. This include the need to protect the “Agile Ozone Layer”. This Agile Ozone Layer is usually attacked from multiple angles, from rigid and bureaucratic organizational structures, command and control style leaderships, to a functional silo mentality and resistant vendors and customers.

 

To ride the wave of such impediments that surface, a heightened sense of opportunistic awareness based on careful examination of business value undertaken throughout the project is required. Business Value refers to the net quantified benefits derived from the business endeavour being undertaken by the company.

 

This requires developing a sense of urgency for intelligent collection and analysis of relevant data to make decisions that enable realization of business value to the project as well as ensuring that the momentum of continual improvement is maintained. Doing the above correctly occurs only when project managers select project management methodologies that commensurate with the business environment the projects are undertaken.

 

Developing and maintaining a sense of urgency

When projects are to be executed based on evolving requirements in a highly turbulent business environment, the agile project management approach is most applicable. Such an approach requires a sense of urgency to be ingrained within the project team.

 

Changes have to be embraced and adapted to through collaborative efforts with customers. Only by developing a sense of urgency will the cost associated with delays in adapting to changing requirements can be curtailed.

 

Firstly, we shall have to establish a Product Roadmap that provides an initial visual timeline based on the Project Vision. Then releases are planned using a Release Planning that defines when deliveries may be made based on frequency of delivery as well as extent of adaptation required. A more incremental model approach, where deliverables are made at regular intervals, speeds up the delivery of value to the client.

 

For situations where there is no need for deliveries to be made incrementally, but there is a very urgent need for the features to be aligned perfectly to the changing requirements of the client, an iterative model is adopted.

 

Realization of Business Value

To realize business value, a deep understanding of not only what the customer requires but also the value associated with those requirements has to be established.

 

The project team needs to ascertain the “why” behind the “what”. This is required for both the performing organization as well as for the client. The value or specific benefits the project delivers via the end deliverable needs to be understood and internalized.

 

This requires gradually uncovering all uncertainties within specific release cycles and working time blocks, that impede the ability of the project team to deliver the value that is expected. The ability to do so is enhanced when delivery is made incrementally based on priorities set by the client. This way, feedback from each incremental deliverable, as well as uncertainties uncovered, become valuable inputs for future deliveries. In this way the project “delivers value incrementally”, and in the process of doing so, enables realization of business value throughout the project life cycle.

 

Rapid Data collection and analysis

Successfully delivering value requires constant data collection and assessment of progress. It requires developing insights on what works and what does not. This is done not based on assumption, but on actual data.

 

To ascertain whether this is indeed the case, developers aim to produce what is called a Minimum Viable Product as a prototype. Such a product contains the smallest collection of features that enable customers to consider the product as being functional. This provides developers with an opportunity to test features and ascertain important improvement points quickly and effectively.

 

From the company’s perspective, this exercise also helps to establish what the smallest amount of value that can be added to a product or service that benefits the business as well. Collecting data on minimal new value propositions and the corresponding positive business impact provides an impetus for the company to decide quickly and effectively on what value additions it should incorporate in order to maximize business growth prospect. This concept of Minimum Business Increment focusses on the realization of business value.

 

In summary, delivering value requires a combination of collaborative efforts of all stakeholders who are committed towards developing and preserving an Agile Ozone Layer that makes it conducive to undertake agile project management.

 

A sense of urgency to deliver value needs to permeate throughout the organization. This urgency extends to rapid data collection and analysis where Minimal Viable Product and Minimum Business Increment considerations are routine initiatives undertaken using a delivery model based on an incremental or iterative approach.

 

For more information on delivering business value, join our Online Scrum Master Certification course. Click here to find out more. 

 

Dr Rumesh Kumar,

PMP, SMC, CST,

November 2020

Author Profile

Dr. Rumesh Kumar is a:-

  • Certified Professional Trainer;
  • Certified Knowledge Manager;
  • Certified Project Management Professional;
  • ScrumStudy Certified Trainer; and
  • Certified Tetramap facilitator.

He specializes in areas of agile project management, knowledge management and organizational diagnostics. He has trained hundreds of participants, from multiple organizations such as Tan Chong Motors, Shell and Maxis Communications to become Scrum Master Certified.

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