1. Agility through simplicity is becoming an important trend as companies seek to adapt to constant changes through more flexible processes. Adopting an Agile approach requires transforming company culture, processes, and mindsets. 2. Large companies are increasingly adopting Agile methods to speed up strategic decision making and improve efficiency through closer collaboration. However, implementing Agile across complex organizations remains challenging. 3. A successful Agile transformation requires buy-in from all levels of an organization and specialized Agile coaching to guide teams through changes to processes and culture. Introducing changes gradually and measuring results is key to a step-by-step transformation.

1. Agility is the simple way towards efficiency
Introduction
I don’t stop to think that we lose a lot of money, energy and time to be complex, complex in our
styles,inourdesires,inourworkand eveninourpassions,whilelifeshouldbe appreciatedwhenitis
takenas simple.Yes but why I am speaking about this in the context of agility? Which relation with
this subject? Simply, because agility is for me a story of simplicity. Handling life’s situations by
simplicity is the best way to be flexible and agile to lead any change quickly and safely.
We all knowthat we live inaworldof mutationsandchanges,where complexity is still the common
practice within companies worldwide. And of course, limits are reached while challenges are
permanent. In this context, agility becomes more and more the favorite subject that any change or
transformationhastoconsider.The difficulty is to deal at the same time with people, technologies
and processes withinacompany. Unfortunately,we can’t be sure that any Agile transformation will
succeed, certainly if it is not accompanied by relevant Agile coaching. Let us elaborate deeply this
matter.
Agility trends
Recenttrendsconfirmthatagility isbecominga reality inthe big companies. This is proven by more
and more companies that are adopting this project management method. Many of them don’t
hesitate to invest a lot of money to ensure a successful Agile transformation.
Companies quicken up their strategic decision making with Agile. This results in more accurate
business decisions via close cooperation between IT and other involved services and via swift test
resultsdue toautomatedtools. ByusingAgile, organizational barriers are broken, allowing delivery
mechanismstobecome anorm across organizationsof all sizesvia aligned cross functional teams to
expandnew customerexperiencesandtoimprove businesses’ efficiency. No doubt at all that these

2. companies are looking for candidates with Agile experience. They will more and more look for
candidateswith agile projectexperience.Youcanopenalmostany job description to verify this fact.
Initially, Agile was the preferred
management mode of IT start-
ups. Their way of work allowed
them to completely embrace
Agile. For different reasons, big
companies have only recently
started to adopt Agile. Most of
the wealthy companies have
been averse to adopt the Agile IT
transformation. But they are
expected to come around and
take advantage of software creation on Agile basis. More and more non-IT sectors like Military,
production, real estate construction, architecture, finance and education start to adopt Agile
frameworks too.
The success of the Agile in the IT projects and other problem solving situations, creates an
enthusiastic atmosphere. As a result of this, another issue raises when big companies try to
generalize the Agile way of work to all departments. Agile application on complex projects is hard
due to adopter’s doubts and the complexity of these companies' structure. To respond to this
situation, a new concept for Large Scale Agile is on the move. Scaled Agile Frameworks like SAFe,
leader in his market, Nexus, LESS, DAD and Kanban expand their market. Additional new ones are
expected to arrive soon and to enter the market. Perhaps their success will be limited, many will
disappear as quickly as they appear. Running Agile at an enterprise wide level and application of
Agile on complex projects is hard due to adoption’s doubts about the best large scale framework.
Anyagile expansioncannotbe reachedwithoutthe integration,coordination and agreement among
the different Agile teams within a company. Even with these difficulties, Agile has successfully
reachedthe portfoliolevel,andisexpectedtotake up cross portfolio planning, portfolio balancing,
accounting and adhering to corporate governance. Another fact is that Product Portfolio
management(PPM) will shift towards Application Development Lifecycle Management (ADLM). In
the bestcases andfor more cost effectivity, bothof themwill at last converge. Project management
offices (PMO), on the other hand, will become obsolete for the same reason. These trends make a
certainty that companies, to remain more competitive, have to jump towards an Agile
transformation.
Agile transformation
First of all, to ensure a successful Agile transformation, it is necessary to diagnose the current
situation.Itisimportanttobe alignedwith the AS IS situation and center the inventory on IT and all
related actors including top management in a transversal and shared way.

3. Once Agility transformation has
been decided, sharing the
motivation and urgency of
change is of great importance.
The Agile transformation will
have an impact on the entire
organization,itsprocessesandits
people. Alignment of all the
company's actors on the urgency
of the transformation is
important to prepare and to
resist to any strong turbulence
generatedbythistransformation.
The third step now is to create a
team to put the changes in
practice. The transformation
must be carried out by a team supported by the top management, and involving the different
departments of the company. The IT department of course, but also HR and the business
departments are involved.Thiswill impactthe wholecompany,itsculture anditshabits.Itrequires a
mandate fromthe managementwhichisthe sponsor.Thissupportiscritical to resist the temptation
to withdraw whenteamsare facedwithfirsttemporaryproductivitylosses when changes are made.
At this stage, it is necessary to adopt the change from the bottom up, and carry it from the top.
Change has to be initiated within the project teams as well as in the management to come to a
companywide understanding of the benefits, the stakes and the constraints.
- At the decision-making level, the introduction of new methods and tools to manage the
project portfolio (prioritization, KPI, etc.) will impact project teams.
- At the level of the projectteams,the permanentadaptationof the practices and agile rituals
that are put in place.
Change initiated onlyfromthe bottom up or from the top down will be at the expense of the other
party.
During the Agile’s transformation implementation, do not forget the agile fundamentals when
successfully implement the first pilot projects, note the practices and tools as well as the lessons
learned.Start then the generalization of the experience with considering the human at each level.
Multi-skilltrainedprofilesensuredbyspecializedAgile’scoaches,are the guarantorsof the successful
of this operation.
At thisstep,don’t miss to control continuously the cost and ensure that the necessary trainings are
given towards the implied people, this is why the implication of HR is primordial at all levels.
Now, as things evolve, it is necessary to proceed step by step and to measure. Introduction of
change is conditioned by the ability to measure the results of that change in a step by step
methodological and organizational way:
- Align with the expected results of a change
- Measure the impact (and the success) of the change

4. The all prerequisites are now in place to accelerate the transformation, shared observation,
alignment on emergency and sponsoring. But it remains to choose the first changes to operate. A
good way to highlight this is to increase the rhythm of deliveries, for example, from a monthly
deliverytoa15 days delivery.The stressimposedonthe processinplace naturallyrevealsthe points
of friction to be addressed as a priority to insufflate the first changes towards more agility.
But how companies can perform their Agile transformation without coaching?
Agile Coaching
For sure,we can’t ensure anysuccessful agiletransformationwithout efficientAgilecoaching. Teams
and organizationsthatadoptagilityintheirwork, undertakeanagile transformationwiththe support
of one or more agile coaches. The agile coaches guide teams through the transformation.
Motivation and passion are
two important elements
driving the role of the Agile
coach. He or she engages
people to collaborate with
each other, values them,
seesand follows them when
growing. He or she also has
to find solutions to the
different problems,
bottlenecks and wastes.
He or she has to focus on the
company, its products,
technologies it uses, its
individuals, its departments
(or tribesinthe Agile jargon)
and of course its processes.
Amonghisor her activities,he orshe will ensurespersonal growth,interactions,teaching,mentoring,
coaching and facilitations and bring people together around the same objectives.
His or her tools will be all the engineering practices, retrospectives, Agile process tools, feedback,
data collection and visualization.
Conclusion
We see thattrendsconfirm that agile transformation is on the move. This cannot be a success story
without the contribution and input of an Agile coaching accompanying it. At the end, if we are not
prepared to the agility, it won’t work efficiently. It is all about our mindset. For sure, agility is the
simple way to the simplicity and to flexibility!
Why complicate thingswhentheycanbe simple?Orbyirony, whymake it simple whenwe canmake
it complicated?