In an era of the diversity of project management methodologies, Agile remains one of the most popular, so it's no wonder that every year, more companies and teams are undergoing Agile Transformation.
But how do we know that our transformation is going well and according to plan or objectives? How can we determine success?
When I conduct an Agile Transformation, I keep track of 4 fundamental indicators that will translate into the organization's success, let's review them all.
Understanding the goal
The first indicator is to measure whether individuals understand the goal of the transformation, what they are supposed to achieve, and what work to accomplish. Implementing an effective and successful transformation without understanding the company's direction toward the planned changes is impossible. It is worth starting with effective change management that will support the following steps and increase the success of the transformation.
Cultural change
Every transformation goes in two paths - cultural change and organizational change. Let's review the first one. The most challenging part of the transformation is changing the mindset and attitude of individuals who have worked in a certain way for years. Cultural change should be done by encouraging and engaging employees to change and supporting them in adapting and manifesting the change. This requires effective work from the Agile Coach (or the person carrying out the transformation) and the entire company (including C-level and VP level).
Organizational change
Why does cultural change come to the forefront? Well, to expect that creating Scrum Master, and Product Owner roles and setting up teams of 5 people will suddenly result in working in Scrum is wrong. It even sounds like a recipe for failure.
If cultural changes have already started, the next step will be discussions between management and product/development teams on organizing and splitting the work. It is also worthwhile to conduct periodic retrospectives on the structure of teams and their division, as in a dynamic environment, changes should be caught in time.
Delivering value to the business
Another step to measure the success of the transformation is the value delivered to customers. Providing many functionalities will only do a little if it's not the functionality that the user or the market expects. That's why, along with cultural and organizational changes, we need to ensure that teams' focus is on the product, value maximization, and collaboration. Enabling more customer-focused development is key.
Meanwhile, technical debt, lack of continuous development and integration can be further obstacles to agility.
And finally, it is not worth starting an Agile Transformation without clear and meaningful goals or the support of managers in the organization. Even the most detailed transformation plan can end up in the trash if you don't approach the process responsibly and with purpose.
Contact me if you need to quickly assess the health of your Agile transformation or implement Agile from scratch.
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