Understanding and Working with Agile Culture - PMI-SOC

@MichaelSahota

Understanding and Working with

Agile Culture

About Michael

17 years IT11 years Agile

STRATEGIC PLAY®

Agile Is Mainstream

Source: VersionOne 2012 Annual State of Agile Development Surveyhttp://www.versionone.com/state-of-agile-survey-results/

Many Benefits from Agile

Source: VersionOne 2012 Annual State of Agile Development Surveyhttp://www.versionone.com/state-of-agile-survey-results/

Manage Changing Priorities

⬆Productivity

⬆Visibility

⬆Team Morale

⬆Quality

⬇Risk

Agile is not a Silver Bullet

CC Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/eschipul/

Agile Fails Due to Culture

Sources: Multiple Workshops with 100’s of participants; Version One Surveyhttp://agilitrix.com/2012/08/agile-2012-workshop-results/

Company Culture

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lokner/4164251472

Why is Culture Important?

Edgar ScheinProfessor MIT Sloan School of Management

“The only thing of real importance

that leaders do is to create and manage

culture.”

“If you do not manage culture, it manages you, and you may not even be aware of the extent to which this is happening.”

Photo courtesy: http://leadership-tdoerffer.blogspot.com/2010/11/enjoy-interview-with-prof-edgar-schein.html

Your Turn to Play

Agile Tour Toronto 2011

Agile 2012

@MichaelSahota

What is Agile Culture?

Graphic © Jurgen Appelo

Agile Mindset

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tza/3214197147

Doing Agile

Being Agile

Agile Practices

Concept-Bob Hartman

Most Value Comes from Mindset/Culture, not Practices

~20% Benefit

~3X Benefit

•Ability to manage changing priorities

•Improved Visibility•Increased Productivity•Improved Quality•Reduced Risk

•Customer Delight•Joy at work•Engagement•Innovation, Creativity•Continuous Learning

Culture Mismatch will Slow and Ultimately Fail Your Agile Initiative

Avoid seductive fantasy that Agile practices will change your Culture. They won’t.

Option 1: Work with Existing Culture

Option 1a: Incrementally Adopt Agile Practices that fit Culture

Example: Introducing automated testing to reduce regression test costs and time.

Find the practice (puzzle piece) that fits your problem.

Option 1b: Use Kanban Toolkit to Start Evolving Your Process & Practices

1.Visualize Work2.Add Metrics3.Make Improvements

Option 2: Change Organizational Culture

“75% of a company’s management is honestly convinced that business as usual is totally unacceptable.” - John Kotter

Scrum

• Throw out your existing process• Start with Scrum Framework• Add in elements needed to fit your

environment (e.g. UX, Regulatory)

Creating A Culture Bubble

Incubate Transformational Leadership

• Live the values• Lead by example• Seek to truly understand their culture• Be as transparent as the teams they leadSee presentation: Agile From the Top Down:

Executives & Leadership Living Agile by Jon Stahlhttp://www.slideshare.net/LeanDog/agile-from-the-top-down

Leaders go first!

Temenos: Safety, Trust & Connection

Create deep alignment between leadership team’s personal visions to create compelling shared vision for the organization

Requires first building:• Safety• Trust• Authentic

Connection

Next Toronto Workshop: Jan 25 & 26, 2014. Register

PMI-ACP is about Process, not Culture

PMI – ACP (Agile Certified Professional)• “Demonstrate to employers your level of

professionalism in Agile practices of project management.”

• Covers: Principles, practices and tools and techniques across agile methodologies (Scrum, kanban, XP, lean, etc.)

• Understanding of Agile as culture is currently outside of PMI-ACP scope.

Get Help with Agile Practices to Avoid Wasting Time & Effort

One of about 50 coaches worldwide that know how to help organization

succeed with Agile*.

* About half of my work is with Kanban

Get Help with Culture to Develop a 21st Century Workforce

Phone me: 416.999.3297

Email me: michael.sahota@agilitrix.com Sign up for my newsletter at:http://agilitrix.com

I wrote “the book” on Agile & Culture.