State of Agile using Maps
- 1. @HenkoPhil 1 Whitepaper: The state of Agile (using maps) Philippe Guenet | October 2018
- 2. @HenkoPhil 2 Executive Summary § Agile is in a state of transition § From doing Agile to being agile § Being agile calls for a new set of emerging practices and skills § A chasm is opening between traditional Agile and the emerging practices § Is Agile about to hit crisis point? § Agile is a means, not a goal § It is about transforming enterprises into Digital businesses § A systemic approach to the agility of strategy, organisation, operations and leadership is needed § New approaches will also require new ways of deploying them § Existing leadership has to be at the centre of driving the change This whitepaper makes use of Wardley Maps from Simon Wardley under Creative Commons Share Alike.
- 3. VisibleInvisibleValueChain Genesis Custom Built Product (+Rental) Commodity (+Utility) @HenkoPhil 3 About Wardley maps Uncharted Uncertain Unpredictable Changing Different Exciting Future value Unusual Rare Experimentation Differential Competitive advantage Known Ordered Measured Stable Standard Low margin Essential Ubiquitous Volume operations Operational efficiencies Cost of doing business User needs Value chain mapped according to maturity Higher order items/innovation Movement and climatic patterns Using Wardley maps Wardley maps offer a visual way of elaborating strategy. Maps start from a user and their needs. The value chain is then mapped according to the market maturity of its components. Strategy observes movement resulting from the competitive environment, driving “climatic patterns” of commoditisation. Companies have the choice of capturing the market from a first-mover advantage into Commodity or consuming available Utilities to unleash resources towards new order items/innovation. The rest of this document is capturing the state of Agile using Wardley maps. User
- 4. VisibleInvisibleValueChain Genesis Custom Built Product (+Rental) Commodity (+Utility) @HenkoPhil 4 Commodification of Agile Delivery Manager Uncovering better way of delivering software Agile Manifesto (2001) XP Lean Productisation Codification Scrum Standard certifications (CSM, CSPO, etc) Advanced certifications Agile transformations The Agile manifesto was novel in 2001. Agile quickly attracted the attention of Delivery Managers in support of Digital efforts. Codification resulted, and Scrum emerged. The training & certification business has commoditised the skills. Scrum aims to refresh with new advanced certifications (and training options). The XP and Lean roots are often snubbed by Agile transformation efforts leading to reinventing the wheel. Scrum and cycles of codified products & commoditisation Roots enabling the emergence of Agile
- 5. VisibleInvisibleValueChain Genesis Custom Built Product (+Rental) Commodity (+Utility) @HenkoPhil 5 The quest of “being agile” Agile Manifesto (2001) Agile has gone through multiple loops of commoditisation. As the business benefits are hard to materialise the quest continues. Traditional scaling methods have struggled for success due to their IT- centric view and juniority of the operators for tackling systemic constraints. Commodification is a misfit for the needs for change, which is unique to each situation. It is indicative of an emerging chasm that calls for new content and new approaches. Scrum Scaling Agile SAFe LeSS Scrum at Scale etc Enterprise Agile ICAgile Etc. Specialist courses Culture change Will the new approaches be codified or emerge as a new Custom / tailored model? Emerging approaches
- 6. VisibleInvisibleValueChain Genesis Custom Built Product (+Rental) Commodity (+Utility) @HenkoPhil 6 The Agile bubble Practitioners Emergent frameworks XP Lean Scrum Standard certifications (CSM, CSPO, etc) Advanced certifications Agile core skills The certification industry is primarily focusing on the Practitioners rather than the end-users/businesses. The approach is building peer pressure to consume new courses, commoditising the standard ones in the process. It is taking the Agile world into a commodity which is a misfit for the Custom needs of enterprise agility. Emerging frameworks and foundational ones (XP, Lean) do not get the attention as mainstream providers dominate marketing. LeSS Scaling Agile SAFe Scrum at ScaleSpotify Enterprise Agile ICAgile Little interest for foundational frameworks Low demand for novel frameworks and experimentation Growing Agile Bubble Practitioners buying the illusion of higher order items DAD Specialist courses
- 7. @HenkoPhil 7 The Agile certification industry Agile has become a bubble. The certification industry is creating a whirlpool of commoditisation, primarily aimed at driving revenues from practitioners, rather than realising business impact for the clients. § The certification industry has taken over the Agile brand. § It is supported by traditional procurement in Corporates clients looking for codified solutions. § Leading signatories of the manifesto have publicly detached themselves from what Agile has become*. § Agile is a growing bubble. Business benefits are hard to materialise, but everybody has to be seen doing it. § Those are the characteristics of a Ponzi scheme. * Ref: Martin Fowler and the State of Agile Software in 2018. Arie van Benekum and Agile Agnostic.
- 8. VisibleInvisibleValueChain Genesis Custom Built Product (+Rental) Commodity (+Utility) @HenkoPhil 8 Doing Agile vs being agile Operational Excellence Doing Agile Digital Business Digital Excellence Innovation & Complexity Enables Training Agile Commodity Skills Scale models Set Operating Model Drive adoption Ceremonies Roles “Spotify!” Agile Coaches Sense Making Digital Strategy Tech Modernisation Continuous improvements & Org alignment Developing People & Leaders Emerging Chasm 1 23 4 56 8 7 Commoditisation whirlpool Unlikely evolution path Systemic Management Emergence of a new model Business agility
- 9. @HenkoPhil 9 Doing Agile vs being agile 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 7 The traditional Agile support system has fixated on driving wholesale process adoption, resulting in commoditisation and imposed roll-outs. Doing Agile has not resulted in agility at an enterprise level. A new approach is needed delivering real business agility. Together with business agility, the real purpose is to be competitive in a digital world requiring alignment of business and technology. Operational excellence builds a stable foundation enabling flow from continuous improvements and an adaptive organisation. The strategy is elaborated from an accurate situational awareness (using mapping) and is central to deploying and prioritising the efforts. Sense-Making & feedback loops inform an experimental approach to innovation in an increasingly Complex business environment. A new way of managing systemically the organisation and the teams is underpinning a successful digital business. Developing people & leadership, and with them, producing a learning organisation, are at the core of progressing and sustaining the change.
- 10. VisibleInvisibleValueChain Genesis Custom Built Product (+Rental) Commodity (+Utility) @HenkoPhil 10 Leadership of “being agile” Business/IT Leadership Agile transformations Digital Business “Normalised” Teams & operations Consultants Coaches Business digital agility Intelligent autonomous teams Digital Leadership Systemic Coaches “outsource” the change to appointed consultants and coaches “Lead” the change Facilitate the change using novel ways Agile transformation programmes have traditionally outsourced the effort to a dedicated structure. This approach normalises the operating model, which will not create digital differentiation. The supporting structure of such transformations resists new solutions to preserve their construct. Being agile operates at the Custom end of maturity and works together with the leadership & teams (as opposed to standing in-between them). Enterprises should think about rebooting their approach, focusing on leadership and enrolling a different type of assistance. Transformation leadership “Upgrade” leadership Reboot the approach
- 11. @HenkoPhil 11 Moving on from Shu-Ha-Ri S h u – H a – R i Follow the process Improve the process Develop a novel approach § The industry has long justified a codified approach from the Shu-Ha-Ri principle. At the beginning (Shu) trainee should learn new processes before being able to improve them. It has resulted in the religious enforcement of methods and strong inertia for progressing to the next stage. § Lean Thinking and Kaizen culture would recommend starting from where we are and improve thereon. Jumping therefore straight to the Ha. It is not about doing Agile but about enhancing Digital abilities. § Such an approach naturally connects Leadership and teams while stimulating the collective intelligence and creativity. Inertia
- 12. @HenkoPhil 12 Emerging new practices beyond the chasm § Agile is in crisis. The Agile certification industry has developed a commodification machine, which cannot recover to deliver differentiated approaches for businesses. Many corporations have started Agile transformation programmes, which have become self-sustaining although not evidencing business value. § A chasm is growing between ”doing Agile” and ”being agile”. A novel approach needs to emerge, built with the leadership at the centre in the Custom end of maturity. It will enable digital differentiation from strategy, innovation, technology, organisation and operations, all supported by new ways of leading. § The supporting ecosystem needs a new way too, facilitating the connection of the leadership and the teams rather than standing in-between them.
- 13. @HenkoPhil 13 About Henko § Henko offers a new type of professional services; we call it Coachulting™. § We aim to help our clients in defining the shape of their organisation to the left of the chasm, using emerging techniques suited to this space. § Our engagements are designed to enable emergences of solutions and to develop the skills of the leadership and the teams. § We work from specific interventions with clients who want to experiment. We can address broader programmes of change with clients that need a more hands- on approach. § Please get in touch if your digital/agile transformation needs to go into the next gear.
- 14. 14 Philippe Guenet Digital Change Leadership pguenet@henko.co.uk +44 (0) 7798 623 007 Twitter: @HenkoPhil Medium: www.medium.com/@henkophil Web: www.henko.co.uk Please join our industry knowledge development sessions at: Digital Leadership http://www.meetup.com/DigitalLeadership https://digital-lead.slack.com/