Trying to make a company become more agile and be able to respond faster to the market seems to be the biggest desire of all CEO and top managers. Agile transformations are everywhere and have several successful (or not) cases. I will show a little of my 2 years’ experience as an Agile Coach inside a huge company, bringing some challenges faced and how we dealt with them.

1. The challenges of an
Agile Transformation

2. The Goal:
To show important challenges
of a real Agile Transformation
experience

3. How?
First: Exposing the context
And then: Showing one challenge at a time
At last: Explaining some theories that supports the actions

4. Fabio Perrotta de Andrade
➔ Computer Science graduation
➔ It Management specialized
➔ + 12 years IT experience
➔ Delivery Manager at Fabamaq

5. Eu faço crossfit!

6. Context
Executive director say: “We already have Scrum teams and need to run SAFe to
be entirely Agile”
Consulting company: “Ok, we are going to hire the best Agile Coaches!”

7. Context - Big picture
Huge insurance company (+30k employees)
Digital department had 170 employees (~70% third-party consultants)
“Scrum” teams all over the company
Middle management struggling to adapt “traditional” processes
Top management making pressure and complaining about significant delays
Annual budgeting

8. Context: Strong business silos
Many “IT departments”
One PMO for each Business area

9. Context: Project driven structure
Pre-defined scope, time and budget of each project
Success criterias of a project VS product impact

10. Vicious Cycle
Lack of information,
poor scope,
unrealistic outcomes
Planning all projects
for next year in 2
months
Projects run always
late and over budget
More pressure to
finish the project
ASAP
Control departments
focused on scope
delivered
Quality and outcomes
go to project’s phase 2

11. Context overview
Author: Henrik Knilberg

12. 1º Challenge:
To understand what Efficiency
means to each role and
department

13. What are their idea of success?
PMO
GP
Governance
Methodology
Digital Director
Functional Directors
Projects
report (red,
yellow, green)
To fill the
report as
asked
Methodology
standardization
To ensure
consistency in
process exec.
To achieve
their dept.
goals
To improve
digital
products by
SAFe process

14. 2º Challenge:
To Find a way out of the
Vicious cycle, immediately

15. Vicious Cycle
Lack of information,
poor scope,
unrealistic outcomes
Planning all projects
for next year in 2
months
Projects run always
late and over budget
More pressure to
finish the project
ASAP
Control departments
focused on scope
delivered
Quality and outcomes
go to project’s phase 2

16. How is that possible?

17. Going back to basics
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Responding to change over following a plan

18. 3º Challenge:
To design the process

19. Design a process, challenge the silos

20. Design a process, challenge the silos

21. Design a process, challenge the silos
Portfolio
Program
Team
Fonte:https://www.mjvinnovation.com/pt-br/blog/design-thinking-e-scrum-uniao-aume
nta-produtividade-nas-empresas/

22. Organize a structure to support the process
Roles and
responsibilities
Artifacts
Digital Product
oriented teams

24. At last:
Interesting theories to be
aware of...

25. Facing a change
People’s reactions depends on:
- How we prepare the change
- How we communicate the change
- How we sustain the change

26. Kaikaku X Kaizen

27. Organizational Theory: Systems thinking
Russel L. Ackoff (1919-2009)
Efficiency
Value-Free
Efficacy
Value-Full

28. Organizational Theory: Systems thinking
Release management Deploy process
Quality Assurance Test process
Do the right thing.
Define when and what
will be released.
Do in the right way
Automated deploys
process
Do the right thing.
What is to be tested,
when and how
Do in the right way
Automated and manual
tests’ execution
Alisson Vale:https://www.slideshare.net/alissonvale/as-duas-dimenses-de-performance-do-seu-sistema-de-trabalho

29. Sociology: Trained Incapacity
Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929)
- Trained incapacity is “that state of affairs in which one's abilities function as
inadequacies or blind spots.”
- Past trainings, experiences and abilities can lead to
inappropriate decisions and reactions to new
circumstances

30. Complex Systems
Jan Smuts (1926)
- Holism: the behavior of a system cannot be fully determined by its
component parts (the opposite of reductionism)
- Change a complex system lead to intentional and unintentional effetcs

31. “
“People are already
doing theirs best; the
problems are with the
system.
Only management can
change the system.
- W. Edwards Deming

32. Thank you!
Let’s talk about it 😉
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabio-perrotta-de-andrade
Email: perrottafabio@gmail.com