- The document describes challenges faced by an organization in achieving enterprise agility, including a lack of alignment on objectives and approach between stakeholders like the product owner, delivery manager, and client. - Meetings are held to align stakeholders on clear objectives like delivering a demo-able product incrementally each sprint, rather than 30 features. The delivery manager proposes focused investments to improve automation and quality. - For the next sprint, the product owner and delivery manager agree to run it based on delivering a portion of the demo-able product incrementally while automating all accepted items to prevent regressions. Lessons highlight the importance of alignment on objectives and investments over lectures on mindset.

1. Avinash Rao
Results, not Mindset:
Achieving Enterprise Agility

2. Stories from the Front Line

3. Stories from the Front Line
Unfortunately, all this actually
happened.

4. Sponsor Hiring brief:
“No Agile Mindset”
“Everyone is incompetent”
“Nothing gets done”
“Poor quality, infrequent releases”

5. Ask from the IT Delivery Manager (Champion)
• What is your vision?
• “Do starving people need bread and water, or visions of a 7 course meal?”
• OK, What is your bread and water?

6. Ask from the IT Delivery Manager
• What is your vision?
• “Do starving people need bread and water, or visions of a 7 course meal?”
• OK, What is your bread and water?
On time, in full, every time

7. Ask from the IT Delivery Manager
• What is your vision?
• “Do starving people need bread and water, or visions of a 7 course meal?”
• OK, What is your bread and water?
On time, in full, every time
• Process intervention? “Agile vajile jaye tel lene, this is all I need”

8. Meeting the Agile Coach (Partner)
• “See, true Agile is impossible”
– I only work on mechanics, but my management doesn’t have an Agile
Mindset
– Right cost resources from different locations form a team
– Do whatever, but don’t make mistakes
• “On time, in full? I’m just an Agile Coach … I can do rituals and training, work
on the team Agile Mindset, suddenly you want outcomes?”

9. Meeting the Delivery Manager (Partner)
• “See, true Agile is impossible”
– Pay us only for manual testing
– Holding payments for unsuccessful releases
– Client doesn’t have an Agile Mindset, what can we do?

10. Meeting the Scrum Master (Partner)
• “I’m really busy, team has not filled timesheets, I still need to update the
dashboard, there are three people on leave next week so we are working
overtime, client is putting a lot of pressure, two team members are
threatening to quit, oh god – skip level boss wants a meeting to understand
what’s going wrong’
• I presume you were a PM who has moved to the SM role?
• “Yes. I’m a certified SM. But wait. What’s this ontimeinfull? New org initiative?
Should I align? Should I get certified in ontimeinfull?”

11. Reflecting
• True incompetence is rare
• Almost always, Structures Determine Outcomes

12. Which Car goes faster …

13. … Depends on where you are driving

14. Agile Coach
• “I’m just an Agile Coach, can I go to a normal project where I can do process? I
didn’t sign up for outcomes and all that … ”
• So we replaced him

15. Client Delivery Manager
• “I told you we had to replace the whole team!”
• “They have poor quality people delivering poor quality code!”
• “I’ve escalated to the account manager, and he’s promised 2 additional
managers and 2 manual QA at no cost!”

16. Client Delivery Manager
• “I told you we had to replace the whole team!”
• “They have poor quality people delivering poor quality code!”
• “I’ve escalated to the account manager, and he’s promised 2 additional
managers and 2 manual QA at no cost!”
• Are these managers going to help achieve right first time?

17. Client Delivery Manager
• “I told you we had to replace the whole team!”
• “They have poor quality people delivering poor quality code!”
• “I’ve escalated to the account manager, and he’s promised 2 additional
managers and 2 manual QA at no cost!”
• Are these managers going to help achieve right first time?
• “Huh”?

18. Whose problem is it? Not the client’s …
• Are you also going to help the team with a clear PBI, tools to achieve one click
to prod, integrated with static and dynamic code scans and testing built into
the IDEs and CI/CD pipelines?
• “Not my problem why don’t you ask the partner?”

19. Whose problem is it? Or the partner’s …
• Are you also going to help the team with a clear PBI, tools to achieve one click
to prod, integrated with static and dynamic scans and code testing built into
the IDEs and CI/CD pipelines?
• “Dude:
– 1. I’m a PM managing people and budgets.
– 2. We are DYING here. We don’t have time to improve.
– 3. I spend 6 hours a day on meeting with team and on escalation calls.
– 4. Everyone tells me to JFDI. Then I get lectured on Agile Mindset.
BTW, Is your company hiring?”

20. Partner Account Manager
• Are you also going to help the team with a clear PBI, tools to achieve one click
to prod, integrated with static and dynamic scans and code testing built into
the IDEs and CI/CD pipelines?
• “Dude:
– 1. Don’t talk French to me. I’m just the excel sheet guy.
– 2. Did you talk to the PO? He’s the cause of all the trouble on the program
(no Agile Mindset, wants everything done)
– 3. I tell everyone but they say I’m just the sales guy and ignore me.
– 4. I know things are bad – can I give you 2-3 freshers as investment?”

21. An aside
• Did you notice how literally everyone solves problems by throwing people in
a non-specific manner?
• Anyway, since the real problem was the PO …

22. The PO (true, business) abroad
• On a scale of 5, how happy are you with the delivery?
• “One”
• OK, we are making progress. What is the one thing you think they are doing
right?
• “Wait, was the score from Zero? Then zero!”
• “My incompetent IT could not deliver in waterfall, now they can’t deliver in
Agile. Nothing ever changes!”

23. The PO (true, business) abroad
• On a scale of 5, how happy are you with the delivery?
• “One”
• OK, we are making progress. What is the one thing you think they are doing
right?
• “Wait, was the score from Zero? Then zero!”
• “My incompetent IT could not deliver in waterfall, now they can’t deliver in
Agile. Nothing ever changes!
• I’m going to call their director and give her hell!”

24. The PO (true, business) abroad
• How will giving them hell help?
• “We need to move back to waterfall! My end users don’t accept anything less
than a full product. Will you like it of I gave you a tyre and a seatbelt,
promising the rest of the car later?
• My users say I’m talking IT $hit when I say incremental delivery
• So I give 30 requirements every sprint, and hope to get 3!”

25. The PO (true, business) abroad
• “So I give 30 requirements every sprint, and hope to get 3!”
• How many do you get?
• “I get 3-4, all poor quality! Next time they tell me I need an Agile Mindset, I
must give them 40 for next sprint!
• Soon I’ll have enough data to get them all fired!”

26. Scrum Master
• Why do you accept it if the PO gives you more than your capacity?
• “Guess you are not very smart (shakal se hi lag raha tha, but I gave you the
benefit of doubt).
• I have 4 levels of management on my case everyday – do you think I’m
Amitabh they understand quotes from Pink? (that No means NO)

27. Ab discuss karte rahoge, or will you DO something for the
money we are paying you?

28. Changing the wheels of a running car
First, we need to create space
• Buy time for a month, and get the team including PO together for 3 days
• Daily updates but no ad-hoc reports
Alignment on objectives
Alignment on approach

29. What is your objective?
• “Demo-able product”
• “On time, in full”
• “Survive this project without health or marriage issues”
• “Stop losing hair, I need to get married” (I kid you not)
• “Make money on the program without losing the client”
• “Somehow turn this around even if I have to kill the team, and get
promoted!” (paraphrased)

30. What is your objective?
• PO : “Demo-able product”
• “Wait. If that’s what you want and not 30 features a sprint, we can create a
mockup, and make a portion go live every sprint”
• “We can use the extra resource commitment to automate all accepted items
so that there are no regression issues!”

31. Approach - How much feedback is needed (really)?

32. What is your objective?
• PO : “Demo-able product”
• “Wait. If that’s what you want and not 30 features a sprint, we can create a
mockup, and make a portion go live every sprint”
• “We can use the extra resource commitment to automate all accepted items
so that there are no regression issues!”

33. What is your objective?
• Great! Can we run the next sprint on this basis then?
• Not to underestimate the work left – but they were in control, and speaking
to each other in a specific timebox, on a cadence
• Results as defined by acceptance and feedback from end users
• Credit and payments from the IT organization

34. Lessons
• Avinash, why didn’t you tell us it was about alignment and the right focused
investments, instead of lecturing us about Agile Mindset?
• Coach as change agent and sense-maker
• Results are all that matter. To everyone.

35. Questions?