- Organisational agility is developed through adopting agile operating principles across three domains: technology architecture, operating model, and mindset. - An agility assessment identifies existing principles and determines which create or inhibit agility. It provides insight into changes needed. - Leaders influence agility through their understanding and application of operating principles across these domains. Adopting agile principles confers agility.

1. Creating the Agile IT Organisation
A Formicio Point of View

2. Agility is an organisational capability that can be developed
or destroyed by the actions of leaders
 Organisational capabilities underpin an
organisation’s ability to succeed.
 Agility is a relative term: organisations can
become more agile or less agile.
 IT organisations are perceived to be agile –
by their businesses colleagues – if they are
The Oxford dictionary able to sense and respond to changing
defines agility as the business conditions.
ability to move quickly  The lack of agility is most noticeable when
and easily; and the
the context changes, eg an acquisition, new
ability to think and
understand quickly. regulations or new product launch.
Many CIOs who have failed did so not because they did not know what to
do, but because of their inability to make the changes happen quickly
enough.
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3. IT organisations are more likely to be agile if they adopt
agile operating principles
 Organisations that are more agile operate
to a set of (implicit or explicit) agile
operating principles.
 Operating principles are conscious choices
– made by leaders – that define how they
would like their organisation to operate.
 For each principle there is an equally valid
alternative choice.
 Operating principles are transferable across organisations, and the
application of the principles in a specific context (ie within a specific
organisation) establishes practices that are ‘fit for purpose’.
 Operating practices are very difficult to transfer between
organisations as they are context-specific and the context is different
between organisations.
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4. The three domains of operating principles that create
organisational agility....
The platforms,
systems and
infrastructure that
collectively
The values, Technology comprise the
beliefs and Architecture installed base.
competencies
held by
individuals or The processes,
groups of organisation,
people – the Operating governance and
Mindset
principal driver Model sourcing – how
of behaviour. work gets done.
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5. Example of how operating principles shape the extent to
which the technology architecture is agile
Example:
 “Whenever possible all future solutions
will be based upon industry standard
platforms and open source components”,
as opposed to
 “we will continue to develop our legacy
applications”.
 Both operating principles are equally valid choices, the former is
based upon contemporary thinking on service-orientated
architectures.
 The latter principle results in systems that are highly tailored to
the particular needs of the business and not dependent upon
vendor upgrade development plans.
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6. Example of how an operating principle shapes the extent to
which the IT Operating Model is agile
Example:
 “Wherever possible agile approaches
? ? ? to software development, including
? ? extreme programming, scrums and
daily stand-ups, should be used”,
as opposed to
“Ladies and gentlemen –  “all software development projects
this is one of the core IS
processes. Any questions?”
must comply with the System
Development Life Cycle (SDLC)”.
 Both operating principles are valid. The former confers greater
agility as developers work very closely with business colleagues
and functionality is delivered at frequent intervals.
 The latter principle is more focused on following a defined series
of steps in the belief that it will deliver a quality result.
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7. There are operating principles for all facets of an IT
organisation’s Operating Model
A key process is Processes – the Organisational
software Manage Customer Relationships
Manage Business-IT Portfolio
processes (both Design – the
development where Disco
ver
Busin
Manage Enterprise Architecture
Deliv
er
Oper
ate
Busin
operational and roles, structure,
management) that competencies
ess- Busin
ess ess
IT Syste
Pote Solut
ms
a lot of advances
ions
ntial
Operate IT Infrastructure
deliver services and resources.
Manage IT Supply
Manage IT Organisation
have been made to and solutions to
move away from the business.
the rigid linear Governance – Measurement –
lifecycle approach. Companie
s/
BUs
SVP
Exec
utive
Coun
who has what the way
decision rights individuals and
Managem
cil
ent Team
Core
Process
Council
and the resultant organisational
Organization
Whilst agile accountabilities. performance is
approaches to measured and
managed.
software
development are Partners – how Premiere
Service
Service
Options Services Portfolio
vendors and – how the
• Basic product set
• 24 x 7 hours • Product
• Premium coverage set
- Fastest response time extension
necessary, they are
- Fastest repair time s
• Mobile
User
• Advance
d
Service Level Quality
Technolo
gy
Introducti
on
Standard
• Other
suppliers (outside product and
Service
• Basic product set
• Prime hours
• Guaranteed coverage, e.g.,
- Response time
- Repair time
not sufficient to the organisational Service Content Richness
service offerings
create the agile IT boundaries) are that meet
sourced and business demand
organisation. managed. are prioritised.
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8. Example of how operating principles shape peoples’
mindset and thereby the extent to which they are agile
Example:
 “It is always better to try and fail quickly
than to do nothing”,
as opposed to
 “It is always safer around here to do
nothing. If you try something and it fails
there are negative consequences. If you do
something quickly and there are small
mistakes there are negative consequences”.
 Mindsets are formed from a set of values, beliefs and
competencies. They can be held by individuals, or groups of people,
and become so established that they create a powerful incentive to
continue to adopt or accept prior behaviours, choices, methods or
tools.
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9. The first step to developing agility as an organisational
capability is to understand existing operating principles
 An Agility Assessment gives insight into the
extent to which existing operating principles,
within and across the three domains (implied
or explicit), create or inhibit agility.
 It also identifies the extent to which people –
particularly the leadership:
– Understand the impact that operating
principles have on their organisation’s
The assessment is ability to be agile;
done through a
combination of: – Value those principles that confer agility;
• Interviews – Apply agile operating principles.
• Self assessments  An assessment provides insight as to what
• Forum discussions changes need be made to the Technology
Architecture, Operating Model and Mindset.
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10. Our point of view on IT organisational agility revisited
1. Agility is an organisational capability.
2. Agility can be developed or destroyed by the actions
of leaders.
3. IT organisations are perceived to be agile – by their
businesses colleagues – if they are able to sense and
respond rapidly to changing business conditions.
4. IT organisations are more likely to be agile if they
adopt agile operating principles.
5. The three domains of operating principles are:
If agility creates
success, then – Technology Architecture
adoption of the – Operating Model
agile operating – Mindset
principles confers
agility. 6. The first step is to understand existing operating
principles.
© 2011 Copyrig.ht Formicio Limited 9

11. We hope you found our point of view helpful
We encourage you and your leadership
colleagues to develop a shared point of
view on making their IT organisation
agile.
It will take time and you won’t all agree
at the outset, but it will be of great value
in the longer term.
The Formicio Team
© 2011 Copyright Formicio Limited 10

12. This is an Insight presentation by Formicio
We are thought partners and advisers to business and technology leaders
around the world. We help our clients make informed choices, build
capability and deliver sustained business change.
Through a combination of learning and consulting we help our clients:
 Build innovation and organisational capability.
 Succeed with the most complex transformation programmes.
 Equip IT organisations to meet the challenges ahead.
© 2011 Copyright Formicio Limited 11

13. For further information contact...
David Trafford
david.trafford@formicio.com
+44 (0)20 7917 2993
www.formicio.com
© 2011 Copyright Formicio Limited 12