Agile Transformation
We understand that "one size fits all" is not true, and that each implementation needs to be skillfully shaped to benefit from the agile principles, and that sometimes a combination of "old" and "new" is required in order to assure success
Agile: Take the Plunge!
Faster delivery, happier people, satisfied business...
It has been shown many times now in many different companies how the use of agile methodologies can make a big difference to the ability of IT departments to deliver to their business. On the face of it, agile methodologies appear simple, straightforward and appealing. That is indeed why they are so attractive and why so many IT departments try them out. However, behind the simplicity lies a much bigger challenge, that of change.
Many IT departments underestimate the degree to which implementing agile strategies can conflict with the established processes, people skills, approaches and infrastructure of the existing IT set-up. It is often a great leap into the unknown. This can therefore be why, despite the effort and focus put into them, many of the agile programmes fail.
"Easy" can be Difficult
To get to the rich rewards, much hard work needs to happen first...
In SmartaTech we understand the issues, and are highly experienced in managing such change programmes. We help you:
- Bring the business with you
- Bring IT senior management with you
- Coach and support members of the IT organization, as they experience new territory
- Push the agile principles without being dictatorial and constrained about it, allowing gradual adoption rather than running the risk of losing good people
It is important to gain strong alliances across the IT department, particularly with IT infrastructure, so that the environment in which agile operates contributes to its success rather than becoming the Achilles heel
Keep It Simple
There is still a heavy buzz about agile and its benefits. This is because it works! However, it can also fail badly. Agile may be easy to learn, but it is hard to master. It is hard to keep things simple.
It may seem surprising, but most people tend to think about things long enough to make them complicated. Humans seem to like packaging things up, rather than laying them bare. Simple always seems to be, well, too easy. However, the "difficult" bit is actually keeping things simple.
We have many years of experience practically installing and nurturing agile teams in large and small companies. We understand the pitfalls and how to address them to allow success to shine through. Let Smartatech help your company to make the right simple changes at the right time, to ensure your agile rollout does not turn into a train wreck, and result in "agile" (rather than lack of mastery) being the accepted reason for all your recent woes...
Don't Hide Anything
One of the most infuriating aspects of "traditional" or "waterfall" approaches to delivering software, is the rigid adherence to some plan invented at the beginning (or before) of the project (complete with marketing driven deadline).
Since, as everyone knows, it will not be possible to follow that plan once more is discovered and executed, the approach is typically to fudge and hide what is really happening, and present the reliable progress through this plan to management, with the odd escalation. It is deceit and reluctance to confront the reality of what is and is not possible in the allotted time.
With agile, there is no hiding what is going on. Equally, there is no desire to cover up reality to protect the decision makers. Everything is made visible, so that those with the power to decide on the course of the project can do so, and it is not up to the team building the software to figure out how to do the impossible.
Agile Coaching
Engage us for a couple of days initially, allow us to take a look at how things are running, maybe carry out a formal assessment of where you are as an organization, or where a particular team is, in adopting agile practice. Subsequently you can engage us on an ad-hoc basis to coach your team(s) and gradually improve the agile capability. This includes helping your business customers to carry out their roles on an agile team
All about Teamwork
A team is only as good as it thinks it can be, and unless it knows how good it could be it cannot get better.
Coaching is all about observing and noticing, then suggesting ways to improve in a very subtle manner, so that a new behaviour may stick. Take the guys in the boat: none of them can see how all the other teammates are rowing (apart from the bow, and even he can't see the mistakes he is making). Only the cox sees all, and thankfully also knows where to go...
Coaching Makes a Difference
For agile teams coaching makes a big difference. It enables a team to change direction and correct bad behaviour. Good coaching results in the team itself noticing what is wrong, and the team putting mechanisms in place to correct itself. The effect of good coaching is that you do not know you are being coached, and you think you have improved all by yourself.
You should not attempt to provide solutions when coaching, but help the team to find the answers.
How We Help
We offer coaching for agile teams, addressing typical issues like:
- The business is not engaged: how do we get more collaboration?
- The planning/review meetings are not working well: too much time is spent discussing detail that is not interesting to the team, or the Product Owner is telling development which solutions to use
- The Scrum Master is acting like a project manager, telling team members what to do and using the scrum stand-ups like status update meetings
- The team is not self-organizing, instead team members are doing what they think is needed according to what they are hearing from "on high"
- Estimation feels like a black art, there is no sense of "done", testing is a separate activity, and so on