What is the best Agile Adoption or Agile Transformation organization and team structure and the talent needed to successfully implement Agile across the company? Is there a best approach?

1. Let’s make this work better
AGILE ORGANIZATION DESIGN:
How to Optimize Your Organization for Agile

2. Our Agenda
2
MATRIX Overview
Organization Design and Agile
Agile Implementation Organization
Ambidextrous Organization
Examples and Discussion

3. Who is Jay?
3
Gervais (Jay) Johnson
Ø Leads, trains, consults and coaches: teams, organizations and enterprises in Agile Adoptions,
Optimizations, Transitions, and Transformations at MATRIX
Ø 31 years: Architect, XP Software Engineer, Database Engineer, and Agile Leader for cross
sector industries including Software, Financial Services, Food/Beverages, Manufacturing,
Retail, Pharm/Bio, State/Federal Govt. - NASA and DOD
Ø IBM - 20 Year Veteran and Thought Leader
Ø A Lean-Agile Early-Adopter, co-creator of Impavid Agile TM, Dark Agile TM, Agile EcoSystem
Framework TM, Gateway to Agile Framework TM
Ø Education and certifications
ü FMLI, CA Insurance Agent License, Design Thinking/Lean UX
ü Certified Scrum Master and Scrum Professional
ü LeSS Certified Practitioner
ü Scaled Agile Framework Program Consultant
ü Scrum Master, Product Owner, Scrum Developer, Agile Expert Certified
ü Agile Coach Certified, Agile Trainer Certified
ü PMI Project Management Professional
ü IBM Certified Consultant, Architect, DB2 Specialist, IAA, PPM, and SPSS
Sr Director of National Agile
Practice at MATRIX

4. MATRIX Overview
4
• Privately-held $250M IT Services Firm
• Top 25 in the U.S.
• 14 US offices, 2 offshore centers
• 30 Years IT Solutions Experience
• Flexible Delivery Models utilizing
Onsite, Offsite, Hybrid, Offshore
• Delivered over 900+ projects
for 140+ clients
• 11 active Agile Engagements, 22 Agile
Transformations
MATRIX Office
MATRIX Virtual Office
MATRIX Office & Delivery Center
Offshore Delivery Center
States with resources
Hyderabad
Bangalore
Offshore (India)
Development Centers
24+ Senior Agile Coaches
10+ Years Average
Key Certifications
Thought Leaders
Practical consultants

5. MATRIX Overview
5
Business Transformation: We help client develop a continuous learning and adapting
organization and culture to succeed in the market with the customer dynamics of today.
Some of our offerings include: Change Discovery, Business Agility, Design Thinking,
Service Design, Change Management, Organization Design, and Product Customer
Centric Enablement.
Agile Transformation: We help the organization and teams to adopt Agile practices and
behaviors to realize their specific business value goals and success measurements.
Some of our offerings include: Agile CoE/CoP Development, Agile Training and Boot
Camps, Agile Adoption and Transformation Consulting, Product Delivery Consulting,
Product Discovery Consulting and DevSecOps Consulting.
Digital Transformation: We help the organization and teams to flawlessly implement
and execute the new technologies needed to become a Digital Insurance company.
Some of our offerings include: Custom Application Development, Mobile App
Development, UI/UX - User Centered Experience Design, and DevSecOps
Implementation.
Talent Transformation: We help companies attain and retain the best-fit talent for their needs. Some of our offerings include:
Talent Recruitment, Agile Talent, Talent Contract to Hire, and Talent Onboarding.
24+ Senior Agile Coaches Application / Mobile Developer and UX Teams

6. MATRIX Overview
6

7. Why: Solve Top Strategic Imperatives
7
Increasing corporate agility has become a strategic
priority for organizations. The focus…..
ü Improve customer satisfaction
ü Increase market share
ü Decrease your operating expenses
ü Increase your revenue
ü Beat the competition or at least keep pace
ü Shorten your time to market
ü Improve employee performance
ü Reduce turn-over

8. Why: How to respond to VUCA
8

9. Why: Provide Sustainable Business Agility
9

10. Why: Provide A Way to Be Relevant
10
Harmony across the company
with a comprehensive and
coherent Business and
Human Agility approach
achieving and sustaining
high-performing teams
producing customer success
results continuously.

11. Why: Continuous Innovation & Delivery
11
Ambidextrous Organization Conundrum

12. Organization Design ?
12
Physical Layout
Enterprise
Organization
Team
Organization

13. Organization Design Taxonomy
13
Functional
Divisional
Matrix
Project Control
Product Oriented
Sociocracy
Holacracy

14. Organization Design Leading Contenders
14

15. Functional Design
15

16. Division Design
16
Division Design
14

17. Matrix Design – Project Control
17

18. Sociocracy
18

19. Holacracy
19

20. Sociocracy/Holacracy - Spotify
20

21. Sociocracy/Holacracy - Spotify
21

22. Product vs Function vs Project
22

23. Organization and DxD - Design Thinking / Innovation
23

24. Organization Maturity Impact – Start and Grow
24
A Way: Company Size
and Maturity
Startup to Growth
to Mature

25. Agile Organization Heuristics
25
Customer Centric – End to End Journey of Customer and Customer DNA
in ALL
Self Organization with common purpose
Continuous learning, improvement, excellence dedication
Empowerment to make decisions and experiment

26. Leadership and Organization Structure
26
A Way: Leadership
Driven
Organization

27. Agile Behavior/Culture Impact on Organization
27
A Way:
Financial/Capability
Investment Based

28. Agile Product Leadership Impact on Organization
28
A way: CMMI Model to
Product and Customer
Centric
Organization

29. New Organization Maturity?
29

30. 30
Agile Enterprise / Organization:
Highly engaged people relentlessly focused on customer value, continuously improve operations using
empiricism while swiftly embracing change within a sustainable business model.
Traits:
• Building the Right-Thing – Customer Value.
• Building the Thing-Right – Excellent Customer
and Business Outcome.
• Building at the Right-Speed – Exceeding
Customer Demand.

31. 31
Holistic Agile:
The approach of adopting a unique set of Enterprise-based Agile values and principles to an organization’s
holistic needs. (as opposed to those of only technology based solutions.)
Method Traits:
• Principles based to allow for case by case
flexibility.
• Applicable holistically without pre-determined
application.
• Focuses on mindset change first, as opposed to
detailed process adoption.

32. 32
The Value of Principles First
“There are three constants in
life…change, choice, and principles.” –
Stephen Covey
Change Choice Principles
Introduction of Forces a Based on

33. Agile Working Group
33
Dedicated team that is credible, knowledgeable, humble, champions, and experiences. Best use of external
consulting. Temporary and whole system / organization contextual view and application.
Works with senior leaders and executives, not part of PMO but an incubator and change catalyst.
Focus on:
• Physical workspace and facilities
• Tools and Governance
• HR adjust career paths, roles, and implement HR Agile
• Finance, beyond Budgeting, Finance HR
• Sales and Marketing, using Agile improve Marketing and Sales and to market Agile
• Organization structure using suitable framework or customized structure

34. Agile Working Group – Small or Large
34

35. Agile Working Group – Uses Agile to Implement Agile
35

36. Agile Working Group – Uses Customer Journey Roadmap
36

37. Agile Working Group – Leverages Lean-Agile Frameworks
37

38. LeSS Framework – More About Organization Change
38

39. 39
Henry Ford
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin
again, this time more intelligently.”
Peter Drucker
“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of
keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to
teach people how to learn.”
Agile Before IT – Continuous Improvement & Learning Culture

40. 40
Agile Beyond IT - Decentralization of control
L. David Marquet’s USS Santa Fe. Decentralization led to the highest
inspection grade in the history of the USN.
“If you want people to think, give intent
not instructions.”
“Don’t take control and attract
followers.
Give control and create leaders.”
“Imagine a workplace where everyone engages
and contributes their full intellectual
capacity…a place where everyone is a leader.”

41. 41
Agile Beyond IT – Collaboration & small, cross-functional teams
Mayo Clinic - Clinic physician team of different
specialties for diagnosis. This isn’t by chance –
all organs share some level of interconnectivity.
Siloed approach is flawed (non-holistic). Just like
Business, Marketing, Sales & IT can’t work siloed.
Military - Seal Teams consisting of 8 man squads or
4-man fire teams must be empowered to make
critical decisions on the fly without communication
to higher chains of command.

42. 42
Agile Beyond IT – Employee-centric approach
“Take care of your associates, they will take care of your
customers, and the rest will take care of itself.”
“There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything
you need to know about your organization’s overall performance:
employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow.”
An average of 3M people quit their jobs each month – how
long will it take you to effectively replace them?

43. MATRIX – Our Continuous Agile Journey
43

44. Do not Forget Conway’s Law
44
Conway's law is an adage named after computer programmer Melvin Conway, who introduced the
idea in 1967.[1] It states that
organizations which design systems ... are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the
communication structures of these organizations.
— M. Conway[2]
The law is based on the reasoning that in order for a software module to function, multiple authors must
communicate frequently with each other. Therefore, the software interface structure of a system will
reflect the social boundaries of the organization(s) that produced it, across which communication is
more difficult. Conway's law was intended as a valid sociological observation, although sometimes it's
used in a humorous context. It was dubbed Conway's law by participants at the 1968 National
Symposium on Modular Programming.[3]

45. Ambidextrous Organization is the Goal
45

46. Ambidextrous Organization is Stable and Disruptive
46

47. Innovation/Invention Depends on Problem
47
I found that every innovation strategy
fails eventually, because innovation is,
at its core, about solving problems —
and there are as many ways to innovate
as there are types of problems to solve.
• Facebook Hacker Week
• Google Innovation Think Day
• Intuit Innovation Day
• Multiple Company Innovation Centers
©2018 MATRIX Resources, Inc.
Reference
https://hbr.org/2017/06/the-4-types-
of-innovation-and-the-problems-they-
solve

48. Cynefin Framework & Sense and Respond
48
©2018 MATRIX Resources, Inc.

49. Innovation from Customer Collaboration and Validation
49
Customer Development is a four-
-step framework developed by
Steve Blank to discover and
validate that you have identified
the market for your product,
built the right product features
that solve customers’ needs,
tested the correct methods for
acquiring and covering
customers, and deployed the
right resources to scale the
business.
©2018 MATRIX Resources, Inc.
Reference
https://kickbox.adobe.com/

50. Agile Bank Journey
50
Work streams
2017
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
FRB Agile Framework
FRB Agile
Adoption Team
FRB Agile Projects
Support
Vendor Alignment to
FRB Agile Framework
DevOps Implementation
NPE / Cloud /
Infrastructure
Agile Adoption Roadmap
A
B
C
D
F
Enterprise Business ISOwnership
E
Training, Coaching, Supporting Implementation, Catalyst for Change
NPE upgrades to enable Agile delivery
Improve current Agile Teams (Based on identified challenges and recommendations)
Support New projects (provide support during start-up and execution)
Ongoing updates/ refinements to Framework based on Retrospectives and CoP
Team
Created
Framework Rollout. Includes Training, Coaching, CoP ExecutionFramework build-out
Gap Analysis and Plan
Development
Software Vendor Alignment (SOW enhancement, delivery improvements)
Staffing Vendor Alignment (SOW enhancement, skilled people improvements)
Strategy
and Pan
Wave 1- CI- Current Platforms Wave 2- Test- Current Platforms Wave 3 Release - Current Platforms
Wave 1- CI- Cloud Platform Wave 3- Test- Cloud Platform
Wave 3 Release -
Cloud Platform

51. Agile Delta Journey
51
3-Month MVP Roadmap
10/17/2016
October November December
Organizational
Team 1
(AGR Rewrite)
Team 2
(VIPR/API)
Team 3
(CrewCTI)
Team 4
(Mercury)
Team 5
(Booking and
Payment)
Team 6
(TBD)
Holidays
Agile Assessment
Deliver Executive
Awareness Training
Team Kick-off and
“Sprint 0”
Team Kick-off and
“Sprint 0”
Team Kick-off and
“Sprint 0”
Deliver Practical Agile
Training
Deliver Product Owner
Training
Deliver Product Owner
Training
Contractual/SoW Coaching Training
Space Planning
Recommendations
Setup Communities of Practice
Develop COE
Vision
Org
Communication
Develop 2017 Roadmap for Scaling Agile to IT
Product vs.
Project
Identify right team
members
Identify right team
members
Identify right team
members
Just-in-time training
Just-in-time training
Just-in-time training
MVP
MVP
MVP
Vision Writing
User Story
Writing
Vision Writing
User Story
Writing
Vision Writing
User Story
Writing
Agile Shared Services Teams
User Story
Writing
User Story
Writing
Environments
and Dev Ops
Environments
and Dev Ops
ALM Tools Coaching
ALM Tools Coaching
Additional Tools
PO and SM
Training Setup
Org-wide Eng.
Practices
Create
Innovation Time
Team
Agreements
Team
Agreements
Team
Agreements
Just-in-time training
Just-in-time training
Just-in-time training
Sprint 1
Sprint 1
Sprint 1
Sprint 2 Sprint 3
Sprint 2 Sprint 3
Sprint 2 Sprint 3
Coaching (planning, daily planning, impediment removal, communication, failing fast, etc.)
Coaching (planning, daily planning, impediment removal, communication, failing fast, etc.)
Coaching (planning, daily planning, impediment removal, communication, failing fast, etc.)
Coaching (planning, daily planning, impediment removal,
communication, failing fast, etc.)
Coaching (planning, daily planning, impediment
removal, communication, failing fast, etc.)
AgileResource
Planning
Just enough
documentation
ReduceTestingCycleTime
ScrumofScrums
Timeboxes/Schedules
Agile Manager
Organizational Change/Roadmap
At the organiza-onal level, the whole focus is on making incremental changes to
the way Delta supports its new agile teams. These Agile Prac-ce “features”
encapsulate space planning and environmental condi-ons to making
improvements to the way the organiza-on communicates and funds/launches
new teams. These features as are follows:
Contractual Features
Perform and Deliver Agile Assessment - As we wrap up the assessment, there is an
expecta-on to both deliver the assessment and socialize the roadmap.
Deliver Execu9ve Awareness Training - Execu-ve Awareness Training is already on the
calendar for the middle of October and is focused on helping managers and leaders
understand both key concepts of Agility as well as their role in an agile organiza-on.
Setup Communi9es of Prac9ce - This is also stated as assist with CoE in the Statement of
Work, but holis-cally includes geKng people in the organiza-on aligned around best prac-ces
for both Agile prac-ces as a whole and their individual competencies. This month-long ini-al
setup will include items such as defining the content for the ini-al mee-ngs, working to create
a focus on innova-on and improvement and more.
Develop 2017 Roadmap for Scaling Agile to IT - As the MVP comes to comple-on, the plan is
to take what we have learned over the past three months and develop a plan for not only
rolling out more teams, but what needs to be done within Delta to support greater Agility.
Coaching
Space Planning Recommenda9ons - while ini-al space planning recommenda-ons have been
provided, there is s-ll followup that should be completed mid-October. This work is around
configuring new loca-ons not only for teams working on “agile work” but also crea-ng
atmospheres of collabora-on, transparency, and involvement regardless of method.
Organiza9onal Communica9on - as the assessment stated, Delta is mee-ng heavy but not
communica-on heavy. We will work to increase transparency using both organiza-on
methods as well as tools, in the process reducing context switching on the teams and
improving efficiency.
Product vs. Project Focused - right now, Delta is project focused. We will work to determine if
it is applicable and -mely to have the “product-based” value stream conversa-ons.
Addi9onal Tools - Agile Lifecycle Management tools are of great benefit to organiza-ons, but
that isn’t where we should stop. There are addi-onal tools that can be leveraged to help
break down communica-on barriers and increase collabora-on across distributed teams (MSP
to ATL and ATL to Offshore). We will begin looking into these tools and making
recommenda-ons.
PO and SM Training Setup - Beyond doing introductory training, having a method, plan, and
culture that grows the right people in the organiza-on to be Product Owners and Agile
Prac--oners/Scrum Masters. We will create materials and a “enablement” program that
facilitates this growth.
Organiza9onal-Wide Engineering Prac9ces - One of the callouts in the Assessment was the
limited implementa-on of good engineering prac-ces. At the team level these are prac-ces
that facilitate increased code quality and ability to test and release quickly. At the
organiza-onal level, we need to have the conversa-ons and focus on where we can move the
needle to improve speed to market.
Just Enough Documenta9on - This feature is more than just about reducing documenta-on. It
is about focusing documenta-on to be more ‘agile’ and happening at the right -me to reduce
waste. Too much up front documenta-on and there is waste; to lile too late and there is
limited ability to be successful.
Develop CoE Vision - When MATRIX started working with Delta, there was a thought that the
CoE was an organiza-onal agency. As we move forward and start to shi_ that mindset, we
need to develop a good vision statement and direc-on for what the CoE will become and how
it will work with Communi-es of Prac-ces.
Shared Services Agile Teams - Having agile teams in the organiza-on is a posi-ve step,
however, there is a need to look at how we use shared services (RM, DBA, UI/UX, etc.)
Innova9on Time - Agile isn’t just about doing more work, it is about improving the work we
do. In agile organiza-ons there is a need to protect and promote innova-on -me and there
are methods and prac-ces that we can implement to support this innova-on.
Agile Resource Planning - Looking at how we transi-on to Agile Release Planning will be a
topic of discussion and change as we move to bring on even more agile teams.
Reduce Tes-ng Cycle Time - We do not want to decrease quality but want to look to innova-ve
ways to increase quality while reducing Tes-ng Cycle Times. Automa-on, decoupled code,
smaller features, etc. are all ways to accomplish this.
Scrum of Scrums - As the organiza-on scales, it will become necessary to look at ways to
increase communica-on between teams. SoS is one method.
Training
How to be an Agile Manager - It is recommended that we have a few more training sessions
at the organiza-onal level. One of those is “How to be an Agile Manager.” This 1-hour training
focuses on prac-ces that should be supported in an agile organiza-on but more importantly
what we let the team take on so that leaders can focus in on suppor-ng agile teams.
Agile Teams Startup
At the team level, the whole focus is on crea-ng success for the new and
exis-ng agile teams. These Agile Team “features” encapsulate setup of
new teams to improving effec-veness and team understanding of agile.
These features are as follows:
Contractual Features
MVP - As we move into coaching three new teams, we will focus on helping the teams
iden-fy, plan for, execute on, and have deliverable/releasable code by mid-December.
This will mean shi_ing the ini-al thoughts of “Release 1” for many to a -me boxed
approach of releasing valuable features by a certain -me.
Coaching
Iden9fy the right team members - As we start coaching new teams, it has become
evident that the right team members s-ll need to be iden-fied for each team. This
means having a business-facing or inside business “Product Owner” as well as
dedicated team members necessary to release product features. Addi-onally, while
there is a coach assigned to these teams, we will start looking to whom can become a
dedicated “Scrum Master/Agile Prac--oner.”
Vision Wri9ng - One aspect of developing the right backlog of work revolves around
seKng the vision for the product. Whether this is just a segment of a product or a
whole value stream, developing a vision allows the team to remain focused on value.
This prac-ce also leads into iden-fying personas, building the ini-al roadmap and is an
integral part to delivering a valuable MVP.
User Story Wri9ng - at this -me, Delta mainly uses requirements instead of user
stories. While requirements have their place, there is limited value in delivering on
requirement at a -me. With User Stories, we have the opportunity to deliver one story
and get value from it. This, along with epics/features wri-ng, story mapping, story
poin-ng, and more are covered in this coaching feature.
Team Agreements - team agreements are the explicit agreements of a team on how
they will work and how they interact with each other. Defini-on of Done and
Defini-on of Ready along with team makeup and “rules of engagement” are involved
with more itera-ve teams, while explicit contracts for Kanban boards, and more are
included with con-nuous method teams. Either way, this is a the basis for how teams
work and communicate within Delta.
Team Kick-off and Sprint 0 - Sprint 0 is a -me when all of the above items are planned
for and completed in order to start “sprin-ng.” It will include all the setup necessary to
do work (ini-ally), as well as enough planning to learn in the first 3 sprints.
Con9nual Coaching - The above are just a few topics that will be covered when
coaching teams. It is impera-ve that the team has hands-on coaching as issues or
challenges arise; as they will.
Training
Just-in-9me Training - As we move forward with the teams, we will take the approach
of training on items as they come up. Before we do a first “stand up” we will train on
what they mean and why we have them. As we get to our first release, we do the
same with what releasing looks like in an agile organiza-on. All of these trainings will
be there to support the agile teams.
Existing Teams
While the above focuses on new teams, MATRIX believes that other
exis-ng teams could use some coaching and assistance in improvement.
Deliver Prac9cal Agile Training - Prac-cal Agile is MATRIX’s two-day boot camp
intensive for understanding how we work on Agile Teams. This Prac-cal training
includes ac-vi-es and training on what it takes to deliver in an agile work. It covers
both theore-cal and cultural training that not only can startup new teams but can also
help “level set” exis-ng teams.
Deliver Product Owner Training - Like Prac-cal Agile, MATRIX recommends our one-
day Product Owner training to help set the pace for what it really means to be a
product owner. From day-to-day work with the team to developing a product vision,
seKng value, and more, this class will help new and exis-ng Product Owners
understand their role.
ALM Tools Coaching - a_er looking over the tools and their usage, we believe there is
improvement that can be gained in how the tools are being used. Working with the
other teams and the organiza-on, we will iden-fy changes that need to be made to
bring that improvement while maintaining team autonomy and self-management.
User Story Wri9ng - at this -me, Delta mainly uses requirements instead of user
stories. While requirements have their place, there is limited value in delivering on
requirement at a -me. With User Stories, we have the opportunity to deliver one story
and get value from it. This, along with epics/features wri-ng, story mapping, story
poin-ng, and more are covered in this coaching feature.
Environments and Dev Ops - one constant theme was around the challenges of the
environments and dev ops processes at Delta. We will work with the exis-ng teams to
help solve these cri-cal areas.
Con9nual Coaching - The above are just a few topics that will be covered when
coaching teams. It is impera-ve that the teams have that addi-onal knowledge from
coaches to help them “inspect and adapt.”
New Team
Startup
Deliver Practical Agile
Training
Deliver Product Owner
Training
User Story
Writing
Environments
and Dev Ops
ALM Tools Coaching
Coaching (planning, daily planning, impediment removal,
communication, failing fast, etc.)
Just-in-time training
Deliver Agile Developer
Training
Deliver Agile Developer
Training
Optional
Handling UAT in
Agile

52. IBM Journey
52

53. IBM Journey
53

54. PepsiCo Journey (Design Thinking is Key)
54
2015
2016+
2013
Roadmap &
Alignment
2013
Roadmap &
Alignment
Optimization
& Agility
Leverage
& Elevation
2014
Integration &
Standardization
ValueCapability&EnablementValueCapability&Enablement
Customer Driven Focus & Value SustainabilityCustomer Driven Focus & Value Sustainability
Become More Agile
Leverage our Scale
Extend The Global Network
The journey begins with the PECs
alignment on an Integrated PepsiCo
Operating Model (POM)
Holding / Hybrid
(Loosely Related)
Divisional
(Closely Related)
Organizational Structure
2012
Foundation &
Commitment
2012
Foundation &
Commitment
Design Ideas

55. Nationwide Insurance Journey (DevOps/Agile is Key)
55

56. State Farm Insurance Journey (Agile Architecture is Key)
56

57. Amex Journey (Scaling is Key)
57
Agile Prep
3 Weeks**
Agile Project Selection
Business Case,ROI
Define
•Reference
Architecture
•Tech Story
Cards
•UI/UX
Design
•Test Strategy
•Test/Prod
Specification
•PGB
•Sprint 1
Planning
Sprint 0 Sprint 1…N
Sprint Planning
Product Backlog
Story Cards
Design, Develop,
Test
Show and Tell
Business
Approval
Retrospective
Details on Next Page
Release
Testing
•PT
•SIT
•UAT
•Admin
Setup
•Data
•Migration
•Deploy
Deployment Warranty
•Defect
Fixes
3 Weeks**
2 Weeks**
Sprints at 2 Weeks
Each**
4 Weeks** 2 Weeks** Period:
TBD by SDLC
Elaborate, Design, Build, Test
ProjectManagement: Metrics, Tracking, Status, Financial Management, Risk/Issue Management
Infrastructure Management: Dev, Test,Production Environment, Deployment
Business Operations: End-User Training, Administrator Prep, Org Readiness
** Can vary based on
project complexity
•Agile
Training
•PMF
Training
•Infrastructu
re Planning
•Resource
Model
• Resource
Mobilization
•Strategy
•Vision
•Road Map
•Scope
•Project
Setup
•Release
Plan
•Product
Backlog

58. Amex Journey – Journey Never Ends
58

59. Holistic Agile Principles
Embrace the modern pace of change
Change isn’t constant, it’s accelerating – and we must design our organization to respond
appropriately. We must be enabled to continually inspect what we do, modify our plans,
and execute effectively in order to retain our innovation, responsiveness, talent and
customers.
Cross-functional organization - teams maximize communication, capability and effectiveness
We value right-sized, cross-functional teams as a mechanism to provide value with
effectiveness, efficiency and diversity of thought. Cross-functional teams not only reduce
risk more quickly and deliver better results – they also strengthen our knowledge and core
relationships across the organization.
Innovation isn’t a risk, it’s a survival tool
We promote a culture of innovation at every level of the organization in order to
continuously adapt our approach to delivering value to our stakeholders, delighting our
customers, and making our environment a great place to work.

60. Holistic Agile Principles
Empathy of customer needs – customer centric is at the core of our intended value
Our success comes from satisfying the real needs our customers and stakeholders. To do that
effectively, we must always keep our finger on the pulse of our customers. Delivering the right
value comes through experiencing the world through their perspective.
Encouraging all levels of our organization to make small, quick pivots
From minor tactical changes to larger enterprise solutions, we encourage small, quick pivots
which enable us to make responsive improvements, minimize overall risk, and gather valuable
feedback from our customers.
Both Learning & Delivering are crucial, one without the other will impede our success
A symbiotic relationship exists between Learning and Delivering value. An organization learns
best when delivering value and delivers best when learning. We should strive to maximize
both simultaneously.

61. Holistic Agile Principles
Collaboration ensures we effectively strategize, deliver and evolve
We value internal collaboration within our organization as crucial to planning and delivery
success. Similarly, external collaboration with our clients and stakeholders is vital to each
strategic pivot we make. Finally, all aspects of collaboration support individual mastery,
domain understanding and strong team relationships – which are critical to our success.
Take a Pragmatic approach to processes, practices, and tools
Processes, practices and tools are things we utilize to be more efficient and more effective
at our work and gain competitive advantages. However, the processes, practices & tools
themselves must maintain the same nimbleness and responsiveness that we strive for
across our organization. So while we are continuously incorporating and improving these
items, we strive to remain loosely tied to them and open to incorporating better practices,
better processes and better tools when we find or create them.

62. ©2017 MATRIX Resources, Inc. www.matrixres.com
Holistic Agile Principles
1. A culture of decentralized decision-making
We strive to decentralize decision-making as much as possible to increase ownership, empowerment,
accountability and responsiveness, while still retaining strategic decisions for a higher level of leadership where
necessary.
2. Learning is not what we do but who we are
At our core, we understand and embrace that continual learning surrounding our customers, our solutions and our
ways of working makes up who we are and isn’t just something we would like to get to some day.
3. Transparency is what will keep us honest with both ourselves and our customers
We value transparency - both internal (amongst our organization) and external (with our vendors and customers)
as its supports the detailed information flow required to make the best management decisions.
4. Innovation isn’t a risk, it’s a survival tool
We promote a culture of innovation at every level of the organization in order to continuously adapt our approach
to delivering value to our stakeholders and delighting our customers.

63. ©2017 MATRIX Resources, Inc. www.matrixres.com
Holistic Agile Principles
5. Commitment to continuous improvement techniques
A foundation of continuous improvement across all areas as the only way to remain responsive in a continually
changing world with accelerated social and technology changes.
6. Our people are our greatest assets
The current and future success of our organization is driven largely by our people, so we value retaining our quality
employees by providing a safe, healthy work environment for them to grow and benefit themselves alongside the
organization goals.
7. Embrace a dynamic body of work
We continually inspect what we do, modify our dynamic body of work, and plan fluidly throughout the organization
as the planning process is invaluable. But, rigid long-term plans impede our innovation, continuous improvement,
and responsiveness and reduce the happiness of our employees.
8. Small, cross-functional teams maximize communication and capability
We value small, cross-functional teams as a mechanism to provide value with effectiveness, efficiency, speed,
accuracy and diversity of thought.

64. ©2017 MATRIX Resources, Inc. www.matrixres.com
Holistic Agile Principles
9. Focus on value delivered as opposed to task or time progression
Value to our stakeholders, customers and leadership comes primarily through completed deliverables, tasks are merely a
self-management tool for getting there.
10. Pragmatic approach to processes, practices, and tools
Processes, practices and tools are things we utilize to be more efficient and more effective at our work, so we strive to
remain loosely tied to them and open to incorporating better practices, better processes and better tools when we find or
create them.
11. A continual Inspection Cadence keeps us on our toes
We value regular, predictive inspection cadence within our organization and teams so that transparency of our value
streams remain high - which creates opportunities to ensure we are relentlessly pursuing the right value for our customers.
12. High-fidelity, bi-directional communication
We encourage high-fidelity, bi-directional communication throughout the organization to ensure the most effective
exchange of knowledge and ideas on how to improve our value proposition to our stakeholders and customers.

65. Multi-Billion Dollar Transportation Company
• Cross-Functional Tax Department Team and Lean-Based New Location Build-outs
Numerous Marketing Firms
• Small, cross functional teams more tightly coupled with customers.
Top National Staffing and Professional Services Org
• Finance team using transparency, swarming concepts and feedback loops on non-IT issues.
• Staffing group using transparency concepts, culture and swarming to address client needs.
Multi-Billion Dollar Retail Firm
• Internal Audit department asked to move faster and provide more transparency. Small teams were created providing
regular feedback loops, innovating on compliance review concepts and making the overall audit process more
streamlined and collaborative.
65
Where is Holistic Agile Being Applied?

66. 66
How do you convince an organization to engage more holistically?
1. Don’t fake it.
2. Get the right people in the conversation from the
beginning.
3. Work to understand common business pain points so you
can speak the same language.
4. Stop selling yourself as an IT change agent and start
promoting holistically.
5. Start now working with the groups outside of IT to promote
the Holistic Agile Principles and gain your own experiences
in application.
6. Dive deeper into each Holistic Principle and uncover the
business benefits realized (value) specific to the
organization you are working with.

67. 67
Use Agile Holistic Principles
• Holistic Agility is rooted in Business fundamentals
with lessons learned from technology successes and
failures – it is applied cross-industry and cross-
department. Get Finance, Marketing, Support &
Management involved today.
• Get your “Business” involved in your Agile
transformation - Give them a different perspective
of “that Agile thing” and show that it’s not IT-
centric.

68. 68
Use Agile Holistic Principles
• Come in through the front door – Agile is business driven IT.
Help the organization from the beginning to apply Agile
concepts in Business practice and alignment with IT will
follow.
• Stop trying to push the boulder uphill with a singular
approach to larger organizational issues.
• Don’t be tied down to a set of values and principles that
immediately segregates your efforts from the rest of the
organization.

69. 69
• DON’T – Think that detailed knowledge of the way software development works will
translate seamlessly into day to day business practices.
• DON’T – Try to get business teams to be “Scrummy”, “Kanbanish” or “SAFe-like” just
because that’s what you are familiar with putting in place.
• DON’T – Try to force an organization as a whole to be completely uniform in their
approach; strive instead for holistically unified.
• DON’T – Limit yourself as a change agent to only one aspect of what is a much
broader problem (nose specialist, foot specialist, brain surgeon, etc.)
Holistic Agile DOs and DON’Ts

70. 70
• DO - Have a strong understanding of day to day business concepts and solution
delivery outside of IT.
• DO - Learn the culture of the entire organization, not just the parts that affect the
technology groups, and help them understand and apply the Holistic Agile principles.
• DO - Be prepared to discuss business challenges with the ones who are the internal
experts while facilitating the application of Holistic principles.
• DO – Focus on education company wide and cross functionally as opposed to small,
unsupported silo’s of agility.
Holistic Agile DOs and DON’Ts

71. Helpful References
71
One of the most current and insightful research studies was with Google and Project Aristotle that indicated
effective leaders create a psychological safe environment for high-performing teams to evolve. The “Team” was
everything. The common characteristics of high-performing teams were: “equality in distribution of conversational
turn-taking”, “high average social sensitivity”, clear goals, and creating a culture of individual dependability.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-
team.html?smid=pl-share
Research by Hay/McBer found six distinct leadership styles within the executive ranks: 1) Coercive Leaders, 2)
Authoritative Leaders, 3) Affiliative Leaders, 4) Democratic Leaders, 5) Pacesetting Leaders, 6) Coaching Leaders.
https://www.nationalcollege.org.uk/transfer/open/adsbm-phase-4-module-4-understanding-the-leadership-of-
organisations/adsbm-p4m4s2/adsbm-p4m4s2t3.html.

72. Join Us Next Gateway to Agile, May 30 at Wells Fargo
72
https://www.meetup.com/Gateway-to-Agile-Bay-Area/
Go to Gateway to Agile Meetup and Register
Gervais Johnson
Gervais.johnson@matrixres.com
Office: 415-678-1350
Shannon Witters
Shannon.witters@matrixres.com
Mobile: 925-577-4663
Agile Enterprise: How Business and Customers Drive Change