In this speech at ScrumDayUA 2019, Mehmet Yitmen was trying to give some insights about agile organization and some tips to succeed in transformation. How will be the future's, Agile organizations? Is it enough to learn only to transform from traditional organizations to future organization? Is it possible to really transform a culture via learning the new only? Or, should we first start with forgetting the old? I will try to explore future agile organization characteristics and importance of un-learning together with learning in order to be able to transform. Mehmet Yitmen is a management and technology consultant/trainer helping organizations to be more agile and productive. For the last 10 years he worked with more than 400 teams and 30 companies including Telecom, Finance, Banking, Insurance, E-Commerce, Logistics, Software Development, Tech Startups etc. In Vodafone, he was leading VF TR Agile Transformation, was an active Member of VF Agile COE, and supported OPCOs: Turkey, Qatar, UK, Egypt, Germany, Kenya.

1. ’UNLEARN’ to
TRANSFORM
All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
FAST FORWARD YOUR AGILITY
MEHMET YİTMEN

2. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission

3. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
• Co-founder of ACM, the leading agility services
company in its region.
• Co-founder of AgileTurkey.org (2008), the biggest
nonprofit Agile community in the region.
• Working on Lean & Agile for the last 12 years.
• Among one of world wide trainers of Scrum.org.
• Lead more than 20 Agile transformation journeys
within different companies like telco, banking,
.com, etc.
• Author of 2 books.
Mehmet YİTMEN

4. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
THE PIONEER & LEADER
IN ITS REGION FOR THE
LAST 12 YEARS

5. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
You must unlearn
what you have learned.
Master Yoda
Our operating mental models
have grown outdated!
You must embrace the new logic
of value creation.

6. Darth Vader
All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Your powers are weak,
old man.
Our operating mental models
have grown outdated!
You must embrace the new logic
of value creation.

7. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
+ %90- %86
(NYSE Oct 2013-2018) (OTC Pink Oct 2013-2018)
In the 1980s and 1990s, Kodak was the leading photography film producer. However, with the digital
photography revolution in the beginning of the 2000s, the photography film industry took a serious hit and in a
period of ten years almost completely disappeared.

8. TEXTILE MOBILE DEVICES COSMETICS
All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission

9. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Noticing that the human skin was similar to thin photography film, Fujifilm discovered that the
oxidation control mechanisms it had developed in order to protect photography film could also be
used as an aging preventative for human skin. In this way, by creating the cosmetic brand Astalift, it
stepped into a completely new area in 2007.

10. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Agility;
is the ability of an organization to
adapt to new conditions and
change its direction to create new
business opportunities.

11. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Company
Customer Company
Customer
Source: Steve Denning
• You buy what I deliver
• Unreachable
• I choose whom to work with
• Customers are free!
• Now, I am unreachable
• My way or high way

12. Functional hierarchy Agile network organization
Source: www.acmagile.com
Decisions
StrategyRules
ConstraintsTargets
Budget
DeadlinePower
Reporting
Vision
Support
Priority
• Long decision making
• Lack of prioritization
• High level of organizational tension
• End to end value creation
• Via Empowered teams
• Supported via servant leaders
All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
From Traditional to FUTURE OF ORGANIZATIONS

13. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Future..IT HAS BEEN ALREADY STARTED!

14. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Haier: Entrepreneurial Microenterprises
In the past, different departments like research and
development, production, and sales work in a linear relationship.
But we have broken that structure, and create many small,
nimble work units, which can better respond to consumers'
demand,”
Zhang Ruimin
Haier eliminated a middle management team of more than 10,000.
Broken into 4000+ microenterprises
(200+ customer-facing microenterprises and 3,800+ service and
support microenterprises).
Trying to boost an ecosystem of start-up like teams.
Only 3 roles: the ‘platform owner‘, the ‘microenterprise owner‘ and the
‘entrepreneur‘.

15. And…It is
HARD!
All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission

16. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Stop Old Habits/ Behaviors!
If you keep your same
habits/behaviors and start
to use new
processes/tools/practices,
you will only be a
painted elephant!

17. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Unlearning;
The movie: Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
Unlearning is not about forgetting. It’s about the
ability to choose an alternative mental model or
paradigm.
When we learn, we add new skills or knowledge to
what we already know.
When we unlearn, we step outside the mental
model in order to choose a different one.

18. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Define a new, target
situation/mental model
Insert new practices/habits
to kill the blocking
attributes of old model
Recognize your current
situation/mental model
3Steps to
Trigger
‘Unlearning’

19. 3 CRITICAL
UNLEARNING POINTS
TO BE SUCCESSFULL
All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission

20. Unlearn: ‘Management’
All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Does It Look
Like Agile?
Not really!

21. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Source: Servant Leadership in Action,
by Ken Blanchard & Renee Broadwell
Are You READY for This?

22. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Principles of Next Generation Leadership
Leads as a peer
Creates vision and involve people in it
Serves people more than demanding
from them
Acceptance and Empathy
Listening and coaching
Encourages and grows people
Receives and embraces feedback
Convince rather than coerce people
Patience and supportive

23. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Teams’AttributesLeaders’Attributes
Highly directive, control driven Autonomous structure,
inspirational leadership
Executing influence-based orders Consensus based working Doers (teams) make decisions, management as
advisory (managers shape the culture)
How to Unlearn?: Behavior Shift Map

24. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Teams’AttributesLeaders’Attributes
Highly directive, control driven Autonomous structure,
inspirational leadership
Executing influence-based orders Consensus based working Doers (teams) make decisions, management as
advisory (managers shape the culture)
Case 1: Great, You Are There!

25. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Teams’AttributesLeaders’Attributes
Highly directive, control driven Autonomous structure,
inspirational leadership
Executing influence-based orders Consensus based working Doers (teams) make decisions, management as
advisory (managers shape the culture)
Case 2: Invest More to Grow Your People

26. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Teams’AttributesLeaders’Attributes
Highly directive, control driven Autonomous structure,
inspirational leadership
Executing influence-based orders Consensus based working Doers (teams) make decisions, management as
advisory (managers shape the culture)
Case 3: You Are Blaming ‘Them’!

27. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Teams’AttributesLeaders’Attributes
Highly directive, control driven Autonomous structure,
inspirational leadership
Executing influence-based orders Consensus based working Doers (teams) make decisions, management as
advisory (managers shape the culture)
Case 4: Start to STOP Yourself!

28. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Teams’AttributesLeaders’Attributes
Highly directive, control driven Autonomous structure,
inspirational leadership
Executing influence-based orders Consensus based working Doers (teams) make decisions, management as
advisory (managers shape the culture)
Case 5: You Are Transforming & Confusing

29. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Example: You Are Transforming & Confusing

30. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Delegates all but
critical decisions
& responsibilities
Creates an
environment
where teams can
self organize and
create value
Defines and
assigns tasks
Creates and
controls plans
Highly directive, control driven Autonomous structure,
inspirational leadership
Executing influence-based orders Consensus based working Doers (teams) make decisions, management as
advisory (managers shape the culture)
?
Accountable for
creating high
quality
results/products
Deep knowledge
in buss. & tech.
domain
?
Example: You Are Transforming & Confusing

31. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Define a new, target
situation/mental model
Insert new practices/habits
to kill the blocking
attributes of old model
Recognize your current
situation/mental model
3Steps to
Trigger
‘Unlearning’

32. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Delegates all but
critical decisions
& responsibilities
Creates an
environment
where teams can
self organize and
create value
Defines and
assigns tasks
Creates and
controls plans
Highly directive, control driven Autonomous structure,
inspirational leadership
Executing influence-based orders Consensus based working Doers (teams) make decisions, management as
advisory (managers shape the culture)
Accountable for
creating high
quality
results/products
Deep knowledge
in buss. & tech.
domain
Recognize Your Current Situation/Mental Model

33. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Delegates all but
critical decisions
& responsibilities
Creates an
environment
where teams can
self organize and
create value
Highly directive, control driven Autonomous structure,
inspirational leadership
Executing influence-based orders Consensus based working Doers (teams) make decisions, management as
advisory (managers shape the culture)
Accountable for
creating high
quality
results/products
Deep knowledge
in buss. & tech.
domain
Define New, Target Situation/Mental Model

34. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Defines and
assigns tasks
Creates and
controls plans
Highly directive, control driven Autonomous structure,
inspirational leadership
Executing influence-based orders Consensus based working Doers (teams) make decisions, management as
advisory (managers shape the culture)
Insert New Practices/Habits to Kill Blocking Old Practices
Donot attend alone to management level,
escalated ‘project status discussion’ meetings
Bring the related team with you to such
meetings
First become shadow at such meetings
Than disappear

35. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Unlearn: ‘Efficiency’
Stefan Thomke & Donald Reinertsen, “Six Myths of Product Development”,
Harvard Business Reviews, May 2012

36. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Akbank Case: https://www.scrum.org/resources/akbank-it-agile-transformation-100-scrum-teams
Utilization Focus KILLS EVERYTHING!
Define a new, target
situation/mental model
Insert new practices/habits
to kill the blocking attributes
of old model
Recognize your current
situation/mental model
Track & increase your compliance rate
for starting a project
Increase delivery rate and shorten T2M
Stop tracking compliance rate for
starting a project & put a domain
based WIP Limit for active projects

37. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Unlearn: ‘Perfection’
You CANNOT Accelerate if you
focus to deliver EVERYTHING!
Unfortunately our current
organizations are build to
GROW BACKLOGs at hand!

38. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
Experiment the Idea Before Even Implementing MVP !
Define a new, target
situation/mental model
Insert new practices/habits
to kill the blocking
attributes of old model
Recognize your current
situation/mental model
Too much effort for ideation
and scoping to be sure to build
the right thing
Need to verify what not to
build before going to
execution, which is expensive
Feasibility != via assumptions
(forecasted income etc.)
Feasibility = prove it with an
experiment first (eg. go and ask
50 customers to see interest)

39. All rights reserved, It Is Forbidden to Share and/or Use Without Written Permission
…and, All These Take Time!
Practice MORE! Fail MORE!
Start SMALL & FOCUS
Lean on Agile Values for guidance
Momentum fuels motivation, get in the
habit of accomplishing small victories
To be successful in your
transformation;

40. THANK YOU
www.acmagile.com
@acmagile
@yitmen