First in a Fifteen Part Series
By
I
have often been asked about my lessons learned in delivering Agile
transformations. Below is the first in a
fifteen part series examining my lessons learned while instituting Agile
concepts & practices. I hope that
these lessons help you on your journey to Agile nirvana.
Lesson 1: Identify the Agile Sponsor & Champion
Before
you start your Agile journey, you must identify a Sponsor or a “champion” from
the ranks of the executive team. The
Sponsor will be similar to the captain of a ship. You will work with this person to define the
destination and ensure the “ship” (the Agile transformation effort) is on the
right course. The sponsor will keep the
larger executive team up-to-date on a regular basis.
In
order to identify a Sponsor, you’ll want to find someone that is involved in
several high-profile, important initiatives within the company. You’ll want someone who is approachable and
understands the importance of relationship building. You’ll also want someone who is familiar
with, and has influence over, gaining the funding you need to make the
transformation. Finally, you’ll want someone
who identifies the fact that the transformation you seek won’t happen without
training the folks involved in the transformation and is willing to throw his /
her support behind an Agile education initiative. Your Sponsor will be tasked with selling the
need for proper training for both the teams executing the Agile practice and
the executives consuming the Agile product.
Your
Sponsor will be the organization’s representative for the transformation
effort. You’ll want to work with this
person to establish tenets of the transformation vision and clearly articulate
why the organization is undertaking the initiative. The development of “talking points” and
“elevator speeches” will be critical to effectively allay concerns of folks
involved with, and affected by, the initiative.
The
Sponsor will be the person that removes the “roadblocks” encountered during
your journey. For this reason, it’s
important to select a person who is comfortable with people at all levels of
the organization. The Agile transformation
team must be comfortable with sharing honest and open feedback with the Sponsor
and requesting his or her assistance in accomplishing their objectives. Like any good leader, your Sponsor must
possess active listening and follow-through skills in order for team members to
feel heard. The Sponsor does not have to
be a “technical” person but they should have a firm grasp of the delivery
process. The Sponsor should be
universally regarded as a leader throughout the organization and someone who
has the influence, not necessarily the power, to get things done.
Lastly,
it’s critical that the Sponsor have a firm grasp of the “big picture” and
understand the cultural mindset shift that must occur. Prior organizational rewards mechanisms may
need to be changed in order to properly incentivize people to make the changes
necessary. It will be important to
measure the transformation effort against established success criteria and
publish successes, or setbacks, as required via development of necessary
publication materials. Open recognition
and publication of successes is critical to boosting team morale and enforcing
the change that you need in order of the transformation effort to be
successful.
