Many large IT projects continue to struggle with user adoption, leadership support, and overall stakeholder buy-in. Effective use of Agile best practices is a proven means of addressing these buy-in issues within the IT organization, but what about other departments? In this session, we will discuss how Agile principles can drive an enterprise-wide change management approach in order to better reinforce the transformations taking place in your organization. The goal? Maximize collaboration between IT and the business and break down silos through iterative, incremental progress.

1. Breaking Through with Agile Change
Management
Katy Saulpaugh, Agile Practice Lead

2. 1
Overheard on Agile
You go ahead and do
Agile, I’ll keep using
my process that works
for me
Agile doesn’t
work for the
kind of creative
work I do, which
takes time
I need to know what
we’re delivering
because I have to
plan next year’s
budget
Can you show me
how to matrix
someone across 20
Agile projects?

3. • Limited collaboration
• Out of sync with
product cycles
• Expectation setting
becomes onerous
2
What’s the problem with keeping Agile in IT?

4. Managers
• Don’t want to make
decisions quickly.
• Afraid of teams losing
accountability.
• Don’t want ownership
without control.
Team Members
• Don’t want ownership of
process improvement.
• No longer rewarded for
hero syndrome.
• Afraid of being punished if
an experiment fails.
Cultural factors that make Agile adoption hard
3

5. Solutions to business barriers
4
1. Translate Agile
to business terms
2. Show Agile can
thrive outside IT
3. Show results of
cultural
transformation

6. #1: TRANSLATE AGILE TO BUSINESS
TERMS

7. Definitions of Agile
6
An approach emphasizing learning and adapting with your customers
A process or methodology to run IT projects

8. • Individuals and
interactions over
processes and tools.
• Working software over
comprehensive
documentation.
• Customer
collaboration over
contract negotiation.
• Responding to
change over following
a plan.
• Agile is more about
interactions than
technology.
• Quality products and
knowledge over
quantity.
• Don’t create in a silo.
• Leave room in your plan
for emergent solutions.
7
EK’s Take On the Agile Values – beyond software!

9. How Scrum and Agile are usually explained

10. 9
A more business-focused alternative

11. #2: SHOW AGILE CAN THRIVE
OUTSIDE IT

12. Where is Agile appropriate?
• When your project is
long-term or complex.
• When you expect the
problem you are trying to
solve will change during
the course of the project.
• When you need constant
feedback from your
clients, customers or
users.
11

13. 12
Agile in other disciplines
MANUFACTURING LEGAL
MARKETING
CUSTOMER
SUPPORT

14. 13
Agile in other disciplines

15. #3: SHOW RESULTS OF CULTURAL
TRANSFORMATION

16. How can you measure an Agile organization?
15
ControllingFlexible
DestinyChoice
DeliberationUrgency
RewardRisk
InformalFormal
Individual focusedTeam focused

17. How can you measure an Agile organization?
16
ControllingFlexible
DestinyChoice
DeliberationUrgency
RewardRisk
InformalFormal
Individual focusedTeam focused

18. • Spread awareness of
why the change is
taking place.
• Helping people
understand benefits to
them of going Agile.
• Create feedback loops,
fostering trust and
transparency.
17
How conversations around storytelling can help
What’s in it for
me?

19. Recap: Our three techniques
18
1. Translate Agile
to business terms
2. Show Agile can
thrive outside IT
3. Show results of
transformation

20. Katy Saulpaugh
ksaulpaugh@enterprise-knowledge.com
@katysouthpaw
www.enterprise-knowledge.com
info@enterprise-knowledge.com
@ekconsulting