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Agile Pushback
This document discusses pushing back against adopting Agile practices. It outlines symptoms of resistance to Agile and how change is difficult for organizations and individuals. The document proposes applying the "4Cs" - Culture, Commitment, Coaching and Communications - to encourage adopting Agile. It provides examples of how these factors helped two organizations overcome resistance to change and improve their Agile practices.
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Agile Pushback
- 1. Agile Pushback Changeis hard. Changing to Agile is harder Katy Saulpaugh Katy.Saulpaugh@Excella.com
- 2. Overview Learnwhat resistance to Agile looks like Understand how people and organizations adapt to change Apply the “4C”s to encourage Agile in your organization
- 3. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage –Agile Manifesto
- 4. Symptoms of Agilepushback What does resistance to Agile look like in your organization?
- 5. Why is changeso hard?
- 6. How do weadopt change? Adoption Time
- 7. How do weadopt Agile? Adoption “Agile is part of everything I do” “It makes sense why we are going Agile” “I know Agile is coming to our organization” Time “I embrace Agile and will promote it”
- 8. Is organizational changeharder? There’s no magic pill for organizational change
- 9. What is changemanagement? Adoption Transparency Communication Acceptance Productivity Engagement Resistance Misinformation Confusion Errors/Ramp up time Frustration Increased... Decreased...
- 10. Excella’s model forAgile change Change. Coaching Commitment Culture Communications
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- 12. Culture • Measuringculture • Red flags for Agile • Toolbox: stakeholder analysis or environmental scan
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- 14. Commitment • Considerations with sponsorship • Champion network • Toolbox: change readiness assessment or resistance management plan
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- 16. Coaching • Instructiondesign • Agile ambassadorship • Toolbox: train the trainer, brown bags, mentorship
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- 18. Communications • Messagingon business value • WIIFM • Design: who, what and how • Toolbox: online, in person, feedback loops
- 19. Agile change casestudies
- 20. Case study #1 Problem: Customers of an Agile web development team at a Federal client were confused about who to talk to about getting new features built on the organization’s website. Developers were directly contacted by the customer and agreed upon work without telling other members of the team, including Product Owner and leadership. Occasionally, this interfered with committed work. Change. Culture Commitment Coaching Communications Result: consensus on priority created transparency between client and development team
- 21. Case study #2 Problem: Commercial client’s development team was putting out “buggy” code that wasn’t passing QA tests. The client introduced an automated testing tool, but the developers were employing workarounds and not really using the tool. The developers reported that the tool was difficult to use and the sponsor wasn’t directly involved with the implementation. Change. Culture Commitment Coaching Communications Result: improved skills and increased sponsor understanding to improve code quality
- 22. Key Takeaways Change is hard… but it is essential for Agile Understand resistors and how people adapt to change Encourage Agile in your organization by using the “4C”s – Culture, Commitment, Coaching and Communications
- 23. Final Thought Dropme a line: katy.saulpaugh@excella.com or @katysouthpaw
Editor's Notes
- #2 Hi everyone, thank you for joining. My name is Katy Saulpaugh and I’m a senior consultant at Excella Consulting. I’m very interested in the intersection of Agile and change management.
- #3 We’re here today to talk about how to deal with resistance to Agile. To do that, we’ll look at the common symptoms, understand how people and organizations deal with change, and apply the 4C model of Agile Change Management.
- #4 Dealing with change is so essential to Agile, it’s in the manifesto. In Agile, change isn’t something to be feared, it’s something to be embraced. These two sentences say something about the evolution of Agile – change goes from something that’s just tolerated to something that’s used as a tool for success. I think we all would agree that’s the end goal. But how do you get there? But as many of you may have experienced, this is easier said than done.
- #5 Many of you may be here because you’re having trouble with an Agile implementation, either on a team or organization. I’d like to hear from you: what signs of resistance to Agile have you seen in your day to day work? [get input from audience] Some common signs of resistance include: Team members not showing up to daily Scrums or showing up late Stakeholders employing workarounds to assign work to individuals, or drive bys Attempts to reschedule ceremonies like Sprint Reviews Rigid adherence to policies and procedures that are not in support of working software Think about how you might classify the resistance you’re seeing at your organization: is the resistance you’re seeing passive – or even passive aggressive (showing up late, workarounds)? Or is it active (people who clearly don’t care, undermining, open disagreements about Agile?) These are the symptoms, and we would like to treat the cause – more on that later. Now, let’s talk about why people find change so hard.
- #6 What are some reasons people have a hard time with change? Skepticism: Some people are very risk averse and skeptical from the onset about new ideas – it’s the devil you know Fear: Others may fear a change may result in them losing their position on the team – and sometimes that powerful project manager is not be the right person to become the ScrumMaster. Inertia: Habits are very powerful! Some people are simply comfortable with the current way of doing things – it takes energy to learn and change Each individual is different and it’s important to understand unique incentives that go along with an Agile implementation.
- #7 Before we get to resistance, let’s look at the happy path. Here’s what an individual goes through when adopting a new change. These stages are roughly the same for personal changes like getting married, or adapting to a new technology like finally getting that new iPhone. Let’s try it out ourselves – I am in the process of shopping for a new car, so I have cars on the mind. Let’s try this out with a quick exercise about hybrid cars! Everyone stand up: If you are aware hybrids or electric cars exist, but don’t fully understand the benefits, sit down. You’re at the Awareness stage. If you understand why hybrids are made, such as finite amounts of fossil fuels or rising gas prices, but don’t have any intention of ditching the Hummer to get one yourself, sit down. You’re at the Understanding stage. If you aspire to own a hybrid, maybe in your next car, sit down. You’re in the acceptance stage and generally agree that getting this kind of car is a good thing. I’d like to note that your reasons here don’t matter: it could be because the Tesla is super cool, there’s a tax incentive or all your friends are doing it. So everyone still standing must own a hybrid car, correct? If you own a hybrid or electric car and it fits into your own personal values of preserving the environment, you’re at the Ownership stage! Everyone else can sit down.
- #8 Now what about an individual adopting Agile? In the Awareness stage, there have been some limited communications that Agile is coming. Most people at this stage will know very little about what Agile actually is. In the Understanding stage, relevant people will have received training or exposure to Agile at some level and understand the benefits on a general level. In the Acceptance stage, people understand the benefit to themselves and their own careers by adopting this new way of doing business. They can explain Agile to others clearly and concisely. In the Ownership stage, people have internalized the values of Agile and it has become a part of everything they do, almost unconsciously. People in this stage may start to see Agile (or a need for Agile) everywhere, even outside of work. Mileage may vary: new behaviors and adoption take time and differ on an individual level. And it’s also not usually a straight line for most people – it’s normal to go through doubt, fears and confusion, sometimes at multiple points during the process.
- #9 Organizational change tends to be more difficult to manage than an individual’s change. This is why changing to Agile is often harder than your average change. For example, remote or cross-cultural teams add an additional layer of complexity that may require a longer adjustment period, or maybe even a completely different approach. It isn’t uncommon for team members to leave the organization when Agile is introduced. While this is not always a bad thing if the team dynamics are unhealthy, there is also a real cost to turnover – knowledge loss. While there’s no magic pill to force change on people, by using change management principles to look at resistance the aim is to understand, and use a methodology to prevent this from happening.
- #10 Change management is the set of tools and practices that deals with the people side of change – maximizing adoption and minimizing resistance. The end goal is to shepherd people to the ownership stage in the adoption chart we saw earlier. Virtuous vs vicious cycle – series of events that reinforce themselves in a kind of feedback loop. Confusion tends to beget rumors which cause more confusion. Projects with excellent change management effectiveness are 6 times more likely to meet or exceed project objectives (source: Prosci). The very nature of Agile is change - our business is constantly upgrading to better devices, faster automation and better technology.
- #11 Let’s talk about methodology. How did we come up with the 4 C’s? The CM core team sat down with the Agile experts from our company and found common ground, by discussing common issues with user adoption of Agile. While this model was created for Agile adoption, we also feel that it’s general enough to apply to other organization-level changes. How do the 4 C’s interrelate? The first two certainly inform the second two because they will give hints about the right tools to choose, but this is not a waterfall model! Culture and commitment are not static so they should be looked at more than just one. Coaching and Communications will come afterward, based on the assessment done earlier. And for all of these, the sooner the better. We often see CM brought in after a project is already in its death throes. Who can invoke the 4 C’s – do you have to be a change management expert, or an Agile coach? No! The beauty of self-organized teams is that anyone can affect change. In fact, successful adoption requires everyone’s involvement.
- #12 Culture: is the environment ready for adoption and does it promote the Agile mindset? Why culture is important: if the values of your organization are in conflict with the Agile values, it will be much harder for Agile to take hold in a sustained way.
- #13 Culture: is the environment ready for adoption and does it promote the Agile mindset? Culture sounds like a squishy term, but there are specific factors to look at when considering it: is your culture hierarchical or entrepreneurial? Casual or formal? What motivates people – fear, career advancement, success of teammates? For change managers, these types of observations go into outputs like a stakeholder analysis or environmental scan. These documents would ideally be part of an Agile assessment, and are not just about understanding the key power players, they are about understanding the unspoken rules of the organization. As Agilists, some of these discoveries might end up as red flags: a very hierarchical, top down organization will likely find its own values in conflict with Agile values. This is something that needs to be raised to the sponsor as a risk before any training or implementation begins. It will also drive how executives and teams are coached and communicated with later on in the project.
- #14 Commitment: Is your sponsor truly invested in Agile, or did he/she tell you to implement it and report back with results? Define sponsor Why commitment is important: it gives credibility and authority to the Agile implementation or transformation. If it’s clear to employees that Agile isn’t a priority of the business leaders, they won’t take it seriously.
- #15 Commitment: Is your sponsor truly invested in Agile, or did he/she tell you to implement it and report back with results? Change management techniques will ask questions that might result in a reality check. Is your sponsor willing to be the voice of the change? Will they true responsibility for its success or failure? Are they truly influential in the organization? Are they at the right level to match the scope of change? If it’s an organizational change, the head of the organization needs to be invested in it beyond just a stamp of approval. Once you have identified an appropriate sponsor, it’s time to expand to a network of change champions. It’s important this group is diverse – for Agile, this would mean having proponents from both the business and IT side. I mentioned Agile assessments previously – in order to provide the whole picture, I would recommend including information about Agile readiness and a plan to mitigate resistance. In CM we call these a change readiness assessment and resistance management plan. Both documents take into account information about the culture as well as the level of involvement of the stakeholders.
- #16 Coaching: Who will train, mentor and support the adoption of Agile? Who here is an Agile coach? What qualities make a good Agile coach? Many of us know firsthand the value an effective Agile coach brings to the table. They understand what makes people tick and inspire them to try new roles or practices.
- #17 Coaching: Who will train, mentor and support the adoption of Agile? Many of us know firsthand the value an effective Agile coach brings to the table. They understand what makes people tick and inspire them to try new roles or practices. They are also the primary ambassadors for Agile, and someone outside of the team’s chain of command to come to with questions, concerns and advice. Many Agile coaches may use change management tools without realizing it. Coaches applying change management means engaging in thoughtful instruction design to impart learning to teams, deliberately tailored to what was learned about the commitment and culture of the organization. Agile coaching is not one size fits all; a typical toolbox could include anything from brown bag sessions, to formal training, to train the trainer sessions, to direct mentorship. It could also simply be developing strong working relationships with team members and gaining their trust. It is through these relationships that help you, the Agile teams and business leaders work better together. The bottom line is that you can’t implement Agile by yourself, but with effective coaching you can help formulate Agile champions.
- #18 Communications: how do we create clarity and consistency around Agile? Why it’s important: if employees are confused, they are more likely to resist Agile.
- #19 When we talk about communications for change management, there are two essential pieces to minimizing resistance. The first is making sure the executives or business leaders are clear on why the organization or team is going Agile. What are the benefits to the business? The second, which is arguably more important, is the WIIFM – what’s in it for me? For the individual employee. Agile may involve changing the way people are mapped to teams, as well as roles within teams. So it’s really important that people understand the benefits to themselves before they’re moved around. It’s also important that communication isn’t just one way. Employees should have a way to voice their concerns, ask questions or ask for help – this is a key mechanism to involving them in the change. It’s also a good way to raise potential points of resistance to the surface so they can be dealt with sooner. Just like with coaching, communications should be tailored based on what you learned about the culture and commitment of your organization. When I say tailored I mean the who – who is sending the message; the what – the content of the message; and the how – the channel or method of communication.
- #20 Next, let’s go through a few demonstrations of the 4Cs. The purpose of these exercises is to look at common Agile adoption problems through a change management lens to give you a maximum chance for success in your project. I’d like to caveat these by saying that the C’s usually travel in packs in the wild – I’m looking for the main issue, so there is not a right or wrong answer.
- #21 [ask the audience] Who resisted Agile in this case study? Stakeholders and developers. Who’s the key player to fix the problem? The PO. Approach: Product Owner lead met with customer to discuss all outstanding work and agree on priority. Invited customers to a regular Agile meeting that would include a demo of the first iteration of work deemed the highest priority. RESULTS: Increased clarity of expectations Ongoing communications and clear division of tasks Early feedback
- #22 [ask the audience] Who resisted in this case study? Developers. Who’s the key player to fix the problem? Agile coach or anyone with a good relationship with the team’s manager. Approach: Automated testing creates increased repeatability and allows an Agile team to focus on priority issues Created understanding with sponsor regarding skills gap Recommended developing standard criteria for quality code But, the tool was not easy to use and had to overcome low skillset across developers…with no visible commitment from the client sponsor. RESULT: Too little, too late. Some lessons learned: - Timing: If CM had been involved earlier, we could have provided a change readiness assessment that would have illustrated risks for client. - Sponsorship: Client sponsor approved tool and stepped into the background – lack of visible commitment lowered the team’s motivation to adopt it. - Team involvement: Development team saw this as potentially punitive and a drag on their time; they hadn’t been consulted about whether the tool was usable before implementing, and it was difficult to use. - Champion network: Missed opportunity to employ senior development team members to be champions of change – instead, they became key resistors.
- #23 We’re here today to talk about how to deal with resistance to Agile. To do that, we’ll look at the common symptoms, understand how people and organizations deal with change, and apply the 4C model of Agile Change Management.
- #24 Use the “4C”s to encourage Agile in your organization, and together we can make a change for the better! Thank you! I’m happy to take a couple questions, or feel free to drop me a line via email or Twitter. I’ll also be hanging out at the Excella booth later this afternoon.