This document discusses building a self-sustaining agile organization through transformational leadership. It emphasizes developing leaders at all levels to coach agility. Leaders should bring leadership into agile conversations and underwrite risks to develop people. Building a self-sustaining culture requires deliberate effort to sustain organizational values and principles, rather than specific practices, with culture being driven by leadership that leads by example.

1. `
B U I L D I N G A S E L F - S U S T A I N I N G
A G I L E O R G A N I Z A T I O N
A L E A D E R S H I P - D R I V E N
A P P R O A C H
SEAN DUNN, CD, PEng, CSP, PMP
sean.dunn@ihs.co m
@SeanDunn10

2. @SeanDunn10

3. At least we’re not Okotoks

4. @SeanDunn10

5. @SeanDunn10

6. TRANSFORMATIONAL
LEADERSHIP
• “EMPHASIZING INTRINSIC MOTIVATION”
• “HIGHLIGHTING IMPORTANT PRIORITIES”
• “ENCOURAGING OTHERS TO LOOK BEYOND SELF-
INTERESTS”
• “PROMOTING COOPERATION AND HARMONY”
• “PROVIDING INDIVIDUAL COACHING AND MENTORING”
• “ALLOWING FREEDOM OF CHOICE”
• “USING PERSUASIVE APPEALS BASED ON REASON”
Bass, B.M. (1998), The Ethics Of
Transformational Leadership
@SeanDunn10

7. @SeanDunn10

8. Mission Command is the conduct of military operations
through decentralized execution, using mission orders
to enable disciplined initiative within the commander's
intent. Done well, it empowers agile and adaptive
leaders to successfully operate under conditions of
uncertainty, exploit fleeting opportunities, and most
importantly achieve unity of effort. Importantly, it helps
establish mutual trust and shared understanding
throughout the force. Mission Command is
fundamental to ensuring that our Army stays ahead of
and adapts to the rapidly changing environments we
expect to face in the future."
- GEN Raymond T. Odierno, United States Army
Chief of Staff,
5 May 14
@SeanDunn10

9. @SeanDunn10

10. Full Metal Jacket, 1987, Warner Bros
@SeanDunn10

11. About me
• Internal Enterprise Agile Coach
with IHS Inc.
– Provides data and analytics
to a variety of industries
– 8000+ people internationally
• I’m based in Calgary, AB
• Developer, product owner, accidental
Agile coach
@SeanDunn10

12. “Agile” makes me cringe
My mental model != Your mental model
@SeanDunn10

13. TECHNICAL
EXCELLENCE
TRANSFORMATIONAL
LEADERSHIP
LEAN PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT
• CODING SKILLS
• DESIGNING SOFTWARE
TO ACCOMMODATE CHANGE
• DEVELOPMENT ECOSYSTEM
• INCREMENTAL VALUE
DELIVERY
• SHORT-FEEDBACK CYCLES
• WHOLE-SYSTEM
OPTIMIZATION
• INSPIRING OTHERS
• DEVELOPING
LEADERS
• BUILDING TEAMS
• LEAD BY EXAMPLE
@SeanDunn10

14. Alex Krivitsky
@SeanDunn10

15. Build projects around motivated
individuals. Give them the
environment and support they
need, and trust them to get the
job done.
but, how?
@SeanDunn10

16. TECHNICAL
EXCELLENCE
TRANSFORMATIONAL
LEADERSHIP
LEAN PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT
• CODING SKILLS
• DESIGNING SOFTWARE
TO ACCOMMODATE CHANGE
• DEVELOPMENT ECOSYSTEM
• INCREMENTAL VALUE
DELIVERY
• SHORT-FEEDBACK CYCLES
• WHOLE-SYSTEM
OPTIMIZATION
• INSPIRING OTHERS
• DEVELOPING
LEADERS
• BUILDING TEAMS
• LEAD BY EXAMPLE
@SeanDunn10

17. HOW DO WE
ENSURE OUR
VALUES AND
PRINCIPLES
PERSIST
FOR GENERATIONS?
@SeanDunn10

18. C O N S I D E R
10 YEARS FROM NOW,
YOU RETURN TO YOUR
ORGANIZATION
WHAT WILL YOU FIND?
@SeanDunn10

19. Q: Where do Generals come from?
A: They are made.
@SeanDunn10

20. Now consider:
Where do come from?leaders
CEOs
product owners
managers
directors
vice-presidents
A: They are made.
@SeanDunn10

21. Hack (noun): A solution that solves
the immediate problem, at the cost of
long-term maintainability.
Scrum – A collection of
“organizational hacks”?
@SeanDunn10

22. SCRUMMASTERS SHOULD
NOT BE MANAGERS
conventional scrum wisdom:
ORGANIZATIONAL HACK?
WHAT IF:
MANAGERS == LEADERS == SCRUMMASTERS
@SeanDunn10

23. If your leaders can’t teach it,
How well do you really know it?

24. C O N S I D E R
1 0 Y E A R S F R O M N O W,
YO U R E T U R N TO YO U R
O R G A N I Z AT I O N A N D
D I S CO V E R A P R AC T I C E
T H AT R E S E M B L E S
N E I T H E R
S C R U M N O R K A N BA N
HOW DO YOU REACT?

25. L E A D E R S H I P ?
T H E V A L U E S ?
T H E P R I N C I P L E S ?
THE PRACTICES?
W H AT W I L L S E L F - S U S TA I N ?
maturity

26. To confidently walk away from
an organization, knowing that
they will continue to discover
new and better ways of
developing software
my success criteria:
@SeanDunn10

27. SOME PATTERNS
• Develop leaders – at all levels – to
be Agile coaches.
• Bring leadership into the
conversation.
• Underwrite risk.
• Take ownership of developing
your people.
@SeanDunn10

28. IN CONCLUSION
• Building a self-sustaining organization
requires deliberate thought, effort, and
investment
• Agile values are organizational values
• Sustain the values and the principles –
not the practices
• Culture is leadership driven
• Lead by example – model the desired
behaviour

29. More Resources
• Turn the Ship Around,
Capt (US Navy) David
Marquet
• Team of Teams, General
Stanley McChrystal
• Leaders Eat Last, Simon
Sinek
• Leadership, General
Rick Hillier
• The Generals, Tom Ricks
@SeanDunn10