This document provides guidance on change management and transitioning to an Agile transformation. It discusses various approaches for triggering change including asking questions rather than telling people what to do, visualizing the current situation, and removing impediments. Leading by example, choosing reversible experiments, and focusing on people rather than processes are emphasized. The presentation also covers techniques like using metrics to track progress, making a business case, and embracing failure as an opportunity to learn rather than see it as a problem.

1. Change Management
Training

2. Purpose of this presentation
• Help you understand what YOU can do to trigger organizational change
• Ask questions to trigger ideas
• Ideas that lead to change
• Discuss it in the context of Agile Transformation
How can you get a 6-year old to clean his room?
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3. A model for change
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4. Change…
• …takes courage
• …generates resistance
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5. Finding the path of least resistance
• Choose the length and width of your path
• Be careful of the illusion of change
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6. Wildfire Metaphor
• Find combustible material in your local work area
• Set it on fire
• Once you see flame, pour gasoline on them
• Encourage multiple small fires to merge.
• The large fire will begin to spread itself
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7. Avoiding the ”Us & Them” problem
• Strategy: Talk to
everyone at once:
– Developers
– + Managers
– + Customers
– All at once!
• Strategy: Capture
the Intent from
each group
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8. Ask the right question
• ”Why can’t you” => ”Do you want to? How can you?”
The art of the Possible
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9. Visualize the current situation
• This is what Kanban is good for: visualize the
workflow.
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10. Be realistic
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11. Death March detection
• Using gut feel: Do you believe the current goal is
achievable?
• Vote by hand / fingers:
– 5 = certainly
– 4 = probably
– 3 = barely
– 2 = probably not
– 1 = forget it
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12. Remove impediments and be happy
• Top 3 impediments to be handled in priority
• ”How did it feel to come to work this week?
– Developer Happiness Index (rated 1 to 5, average
on the team)
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13. Compare options (including status quo)
• Evaluating all options simultaneously
– 5 = Great!
– 4 = Pretty good
– 3 = Acceptable, but barely
– 2 = Don’t think I can accept this
– 1 = Forget it!
• Choosing a course of actions
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14. Reversible experiments
• Try things out, but with the
possibility of reverting
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15. Make a business case for your change
• Use figures to motivate change
– Team estimates that our velocity would increase by 50% if
we sit together.
– This means we can release 2 months early. What is the
business value of that?
– What is the cost of tearing down this wall so that the team
can sit together?
• …in practice not so easy to evaluate the benefits, but
try anyway
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16. Use metrics to visualize progress
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17. Ask for forgiveness rather than permission
• The right to fail:
« The only real failure is the failure to learn from
failure! »
• Or another way to put it:
1. Fail fast
2. Learn from it
3. Don’t do it again
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18. Agile transformation
• Agile requires a transformation, not only
adoption.
– You adopt a tool or a process. Agile is a
mindset so you can’t really adopt it. But
you can adopt Agile practices.
– Agile requires transformation, which
implies change.
• Culture is the #1 challenge with Agile.
Agile defines a target culture for successful
delivery of software.
• Think about Agile as a culture and not only
as a product or family of processes.
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19. Schneider Culture Model
• Where are we? As a company, as a team.
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20. Agile in Schneider Culture Model
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22. Kanban Culture
• Is Kanban agile?
• Agile is first about people. Kanban is first about the system.
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23. Kanban is a good tool
• Use Kanban as a Trojan horse, containing Agile inside.
• Practice an agile mindset with Kanban as a starting
place for evolving the process.
• Its primary purpose is to provide a feedback loop that
can be used to drive change in organizations.
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24. Software Craftsmanship
• Focus on competence
and technical
excellence.
• We will talk again
about code as craft.
Promoted by XP.
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25. Pick the right tool
• Work with
the existing
culture.
• Do not fight
against it.
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26. Disruption
• Change in one place will create disruption in
the rest of the organization.
• Care and attention is required to accomodate
disruption.
• Design culture « adapters » to satisfy the
organization while driving change.
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27. Leaders go first!
• Live the values
• Lead by example
• Seek to truly understand their culture
• Be as transparent as the teams they lead
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28. Another perspective
Agile is an evolutionary approach to
innovation and growth, respecting the
people who create value.
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29. Summary
• Don’t change other people, motivate them to
change themselves
– Give them a reason to change (visualization)
– Show them a way to change. (Small, clear steps)
– Give them support, encouragement, and feedback
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30. Reference: Change Management
• http://blog.crisp.se/2012/08/31/henrikkniberg/everybody-wants-
change-but-nobody-likes-to-be-changed
• http://www.infoq.com/resource/minibooks/agile-adoption-
transformation/en/pdf/Agile%20Survival%20Guide%20-
%20Michael%20Sahota%20-%202012.pdf
• http://agilitrix.com/2011/04/agile-culture-series-reading-guide/
• http://fr.slideshare.net/lazygolfer/doing-agile-isnt-the-same-as-
being-agile
• http://blog.intercom.io/asking-questions-versus-giving-advice
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