How to lead the scale Agile reform?

Why do we need to transition to scale Agile when Scrum is firmly at the C position in agile methodology? How do we transition to scale Agile after the team has achieved great results by practicing Scrum, applying Kanban, etc.? How do we transition to scale Agile? What to do?

Given the above questions, this article will answer them one by one.

Typically, large organizations consist of several to a dozen small teams. Most teams already have efficient internal processes during the agile methodology and can accomplish development tasks independently. But in large enterprises, facing thousands of employees and more than a dozen teams, it is challenging to organize and operate among units. A leadership challenge is to coordinate multiple Agile teams to reduce communication barriers and keep them on a release pace.

Then, for these teams to work closely together to deliver a product, the proposition of enterprise-scale agile transformation is particularly important.

To transform scale agile, leaders need to change agile first. Only lean Agile leaders can drive the organizational transformation to scale Agility and maximize resource utilization by exploiting and leveraging the strengths of their teams and individuals.

Agile leaders need to have the following characteristics:

First, you need to lead by example.

Leading by example first requires leaders to have the right moral outlook, values, and code of conduct. Lean and Agile transformation requires the leader to command the direction. Once the leader has poor value judgment ability or deviation of direction control, the whole will fall into the abyss of power. On the other hand, in response to corporate culture, Agile emphasizes decentralized responsibility, where everyone assumes accountability and responsibility is internalized by all. The responsibility internalization enables the relevant personnel to achieve the same goal, concentrate all the strength with the product as the core, and finally achieve the goal. In the enterprise, it is important to note that no amount of decentralized responsibility can obscure the structural relationships in the organization. The ultimate responsibility for the success of scale Agile lies with the leader.

Second, we need to have innovative development thinking.

"Innovation is the primary driving force for scientific and technological development." We are in a phase of rapid product renewal. If innovation is missing, we will be quickly eliminated. Leaders with innovative thinking can provide employees with time and space to innovate and extend the life cycle of products. To address this problem, Scale Agile provides innovation and planning iteration activities. Leaders can organize relevant members to participate in hackathons and other activities on topics pertinent to the company's goals.

Finally, excellent management skills are required.

Enterprise organization and development process needs to be optimized constantly, which requires leaders to have excellent management ability. Leaders need to identify problems in an organization or function and their root causes and proactively address them. Secondly, leaders must actively embrace change. When there is a problem in the organization's overall process, only the leader has the right to decide whether to change and how to change. Leaders need to implement lean thinking, remove obstacles with their Lean-Agile transformation, and promote the organization's agile transformation.

As leaders transition to Lean-Agile, the question changes from "how to build a leader in Lean Agile" to "how to lead in Scale Agile".

Enterprise reform should be guided by certain principles: "Customer satisfaction through consistent and early delivery of valuable software." The ultimate goal is to deliver a product that satisfies the customer. But slightly different from the principles of agile development, Scale Agile puts forward nine principles from a practical standpoint:

1. Take an economic perspective

On the basis of agile principles, Scale Agile puts forward an "economic" perspective. To achieve continuous delivery of maximum customer value and the best quality with the shortest lead time. Implementing an economic perspective involves many factors, including planning, cost, risk, lead time, and so on. In general, product delivery tends to have more unpredictable risks and cost increases later in the process, so early delivery and continuous delivery are necessary in the process.

2. Apply systems thinking

Value flows are not limited to the development pattern but throughout the entire process. We need to apply systems thinking to every aspect of the company's structure, from product delivery to the company as a system or the whole method of value flow as a system. Applying systems thinking is beneficial to our overall development and cultivation of long-term vision.

3. Accept variability and keep options open

Agile principles emphasize "embrace change". Similarly, during the transition to scale Agile, many unexpected "surprises" may cause the project flow to fail to go according to plan. If you can't master all the variables, design and keep multiple options open, and evaluate them later in the development process to choose the solution that best fits the situation.

4. Build incrementally through rapid integration cycles

Each small iteration consists of "plan - task - test - adjust". In continuous learning, we can get feedback faster and adjust direction timely by shortening iteration time and accelerating product increment, thus reducing cost risk.

5. Set milestones based on objective evaluations of working systems

To set up milestones in the workflow to achieve the delivery of small iterations. These milestones must follow a consistent rhythm, i.e., between landmarks, including requirements analysis, design, development, testing, etc. This ensures that each iteration takes place regularly and is periodically placed into the delivery environment for evaluation, improvement, and refinement.

6. Visualizing and limiting WIP, reducing the batch size, and managing team length

A large WIP can lead to a backlog of work items in an Agile team, reducing productivity. However, in an enterprise with many groups involved, WIP accumulation will cause a backlog of work items and hinder timely communication between teams, resulting in task status confusion.

Too long a queue slows down iterations and prevents early delivery, which violates lean principles. Therefore, limiting WIP and reducing queue length can expand economic benefits and minimize cost waste.

7. Apply to pace and synchronize it with cross-domain planning

Because of the large number of teams in an enterprise, it isn't easy to communicate information, so it is important to keep development-related teams at the same pace. This means following planning meetings with regular meetings around the relevant members to synchronize planning and work.

8. Unleash the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers

How to stimulate the internal motivation of knowledge workers is a problem that leaders must consider constantly. For example, the Amoeba model requires individual departments to form small teams and achieve "independent operation" with the leaders of each department as the core. The plans and work of each member are directly related to the operating status of their department and even their performance bonuses. This approach allows members to take the initiative to participate in the operation of Amoeba and achieve full participation in the process.

This kind of behavior stimulates members' internal motivation by performance, and the version that leaders give members the necessary trust and respect can release the internal cause of knowledge workers.

9. Decentralized decision-making

As mentioned above, responsibility needs to be internalized in organizations to enhance members' sense of responsibility to participate in the "operation" of the company. However, such decentralization of responsibility is not entirely decentralized, so the decision-making power is inconsistent. Some decisions with lower priority can be discussed and made by relevant departments or personnel, while others with higher priority or corporate strategy also need centralized discussion. The difference is that the leader makes the final decision. Granting decision-making power to members to a certain extent can enhance members' sense of participation and responsibility and prevent leaders from making decision-making mistakes and improve the cohesion of each team.

Scale reform requires the change of leaders themselves and requires leaders to lead all members to move forward in the right direction. The above content is just an outline of the nature of the content, the specific company how to implement the need to "adapt to local conditions", in practice, gradually explore the suitable for the company's large-scale agile road.