Which Steps Are Required for an Agile Transformation in an Organization?

For most small businesses and development teams, Agile transformation begins and ends with software development. However, this is not really what it means. It involves bringing innovation, creativity, and lean principles into every aspect of the business.

The Agile transformation has the potential to bring about a change in the way organizations function and behave. The traditional operating models are replaced with novel approaches that make an organization highly responsive to changes. This contributes towards their sustainability and growth.

What does Agile transformation actually mean?

Agile transformation refers to adopting change in the structure of an organization by implementing the principles and values of the Agile Manifesto. From improved collaboration and communication to high speed and flexibility, everything can be achieved seamlessly with Agile transformation. It can be said that Agile transformation is complete and successful when individual team members naturally follow the Agile practices, for completing the tasks in-hand consciously, rather than being told or forced to do.

There are several benefits offered by Agile transformation for an organization.

• Improved cross-team collaboration
• Higher return on investment
• Enhanced operational performance
• Complete transparency between multiple Agile teams
• Faster communication and quick decision making

Here are the steps required for achieving Agile transformation:

Step 1: Understand the existing position of the organization

The first step towards starting an Agile journey would be to understand the existing work culture. It involves identifying any non value add activities in the existing structure of an organization. Before proceeding with the actual Agile transformation, information about the existing culture of an organization, current leadership and management role, sharing knowledge between internal teams, etc. should be obtained. Communication and collaboration are the two pillars of Agile that should be given first priority to begin with.

Step 2: Developing a leadership team

Agile transformation would mean changes in the organization in every aspect. It won’t be possible without support from the top leadership. The stakeholders and top-level executives need to be aligned in their actions. In order to move the Agile transformation ahead in an organization, an effective internal leadership team needs to be established.

Agile Coaches who have done a professional Agile certification course need to be an integral part of the leadership team. AgilityPAD is a leading organization offering an Agile transformation certification course to cover all aspects of transformation.

Also, the leadership team should include CEOs, executives, managers, senior project managers, and Scrum Masters.

Step 3: Creating an Agile Transformation roadmap

For successful Agile transformation, it is indispensable to create an Agile transformation roadmap. This blueprint will help you establish all the goals, objectives, and milestones in the process of Agile transformation.

Step 4: Switching to the product mindset

For perfect Agile transformation within an organization, it is essential to switch from the project mindset to the product mindset.

Traditionally, every organization has a project mindset, which means that they deliver a project, forget about it, and move on to the next one. However, this is not what Agile facilitates. Having a product mindset means that the Agile team will maintain and continue to deliver value throughout the software’s/product’s lifetime.

Key elements of the Agile Transformation roadmap should include:

• Defining the end goals (vision)
• Defining the timelines for Agile transformation completion
• Defining the objectives and key results
• Replacing the existing silos with cross-functional setups.

Step 5: Testing and Learning

In a cross-functional team, every individual knows his/her responsibilities. The teams have a fair knowledge and idea about the Agile ways and tools and follow the Agile roadmap. This is followed by implementing test sprints. The test sprints ensure that everything is running seamlessly, identify any impediments, and find possible solutions for them.

Step 6: Agile status validation

Many organizations claim that they have transformed completely using Agile. However, this claim needs to be validated to check whether the organization is proceeding in the right direction or not.

Agile transformation requires time. However, the results are worth it. In order to survive in today’s highly competitive market, Agile transformation is vital to changing the approach and mindset in an organization.

Following the mentioned 6 steps will get you closer to your dream of achieving Agile transformation. An Agile training and certification course from AgilityPAD can help you learn the basics of Agile transformation and implement the same in any organization.