Agile organization transformation in big enterprise. A quick overview of an Agile transformation programme

1. Bip - Business Integration Partners
businessintegrationpartners.com
AGILE ORGANIZATION TRANSFORMATION IN A BIG ENTERPRISE
Nicola Sfondrini
February 2018

2. 2
businessintegrationpartners.com
What I’m doing
Research area coordinator
Nicola Sfondrini
Manager and
team leader
Research area
coordinator
Executive Ph.D.
candidate
Mentor and
ambassador
Something about myself
AGILE ORGANIZATION TRANSFORMATION
IN A BIG ENTERPRISE

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businessintegrationpartners.com
To Agile or not to Agile?
…a new threat was
underestimated
They weren’t able to be agile and quickly
adapt to the new scenario
Strong, powerful,
a real dominator but…
T-Rex Big media enterprise
Meteorite Disruptive companies

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Big enterprises vs disruptive companies
Business
Tech. generation
Processes
Employees
Tech. skills
Culture
One product focused Multiple products focused
Digital native Complex IT department
Agile oriented processes Tailored and waterfall processes
Small reality Several recourses
Business needs focused Based on growth and acquisitions
Fail-fast approach Resistance to change
Introducing Agile
methodologies in big
enterprises is challenging

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Agile
pilot(s)
Events
(e.g. tech days)
Agile fails in case of…
Agile transformation enablers mitigate the probability of failure
42%
…immature company
culture
37%
…external
pressure
38%
…lack of mgmt.
sponsorship
44%
…lack of skills
and experience
33%
…resistance to
change
*Source: State of agile - Survey, 2017
Agile enablers in a big enterprise
Agile transformation projects succeed mainly when company culture embraces core agile values and there is a spread
knowledge and experience of agile methodologies*

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businessintegrationpartners.com
Media operator | Original CIO organization
Chief Information
Officer
DC facility
management
Security
Compliance
Service
Delivery
Demand
management
Service
Design
Infrastrutture
Operations
Application
Operations
Waterfall
processes
• Organization based on ITIL
and waterfall approach
Process
• Waterfall based only
processes
• No Agile oriented tools
• Strong information
fragmentation among tools
• Consolidated use of Skype
for business
• CIO main sponsor for Agile
adoption
• No Agile expertise available
in the company
• Low knowledge transfer
attitude
Legend: Waterfall based Scrum based Kanban based

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• cross-functional and full-dedicated virtual teams
• business units as “support teams” to share on demand vertical skills
Agile main success factors
Agile transformation areas
A successful agile adoption relies on four main areas to enable the overall corporate transformation
• customised selection criteria to properly assess IT projects
• re-engineered E2E design and transition phases
Process
• common set of agile tools to facilitate collaboration
• centralized IT services broker for internal and external services (APIs based)
• dedicated trainings at different levels supported by agile coaches & consultants
• team members interchangeability adopting mutual training on-the-job

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businessintegrationpartners.com
The adoption of agile methodologies requires a continuous fine tuning across the four main transformation areas to
ensure an effective agile maturity
Agile transformation | Bip approach
Process
The agile transformation
relies on 4 main sprints
Pilot
Scale
Refine
Adopt

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Agile transformation | Pilot
• Define of a short-list the projects suitable for agile pilot
• Define the communication strategy
• Set up the agile virtual team and engage key stakeholders
• Define of projects selection criteria
• Identify the proper agile methodology
• Define a basic agile operating model and accountabilities
• Identify the key change management activities
Process
• Assess Agile tools readiness
• Analyse the features to support selected pilot project
• Adopt “basic” agile tools
• Organize events to present the agile pilot initiatives
• Schedule agile training sessions for virtual team members and
key stakeholders (IT and business)

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businessintegrationpartners.com
Media operator | Pilot phase organization
Chief Information
Officer
DC facility
management
Security
Compliance
Service
Delivery
Demand
management
Service
Design
Infrastrutture
Operations
Application
Operations
• Implementation of an Agile
virtual team to deploy a
critical project
• Agile expert consultants
engaged as Scrum Master
and Agile Coach
Process
• Scrum selected as suitable
Agile methodology
• Definition of clear roles and
accountabilities
• Lifecycle management
• Team collaboration
• Organization of the “Agile
day”
• Agile training plan definition
and execution
Cloud broker
Legend: Waterfall based Scrum based Kanban based

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Agile transformation | Refine
• Consolidate the Agile team structure
• Implement the Agile support teams
• Define agile projects roadmap based on business priorities
• Consolidate the agile selection criteria
• Define agile oriented KPIs and critical success factors
• Implement base operating and support models
Process
• Select and implement agile tools
• Integrate agile tools with existing enterprise systems (e.g.
ticketing, monitoring, etc.)
• Share agile team knowledge and key lessons learned
• Extend training sessions to all the stakeholders

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businessintegrationpartners.com
Media operator | Refine phase organization
Chief Information
Officer
DC facility
management
Security
Compliance
Service
Delivery
Demand
management
Service
Design
Infrastrutture
Operations
Application
Operations
• Cloud broker Agile team
consolidated as product line
• Agile expert consultants
engaged as Scrum Master,
Agile Coach and Kanban
Lead
Process
• Scrum selected for software
development
• Kanban adopted for
infrastructure and application
operations
• Continuous Agile sponsorship
• Vertical training on Scrum
and Kanban
Cloud broker
• Lifecycle management
• Team collaboration
• Source code management
Legend: Waterfall based Scrum based Kanban based

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Agile transformation | Adopt
• Create an agile Center of Excellence to drive agile teams
• Transform agile teams into responsible groups for specific
service lines
• Identify new projects to be managed in agile
• Customize agile methodology
• Refine and implement KPIs monitoring
• Consolidate operating and support models implementation
Process
• Adopt a common set of agile tools configured to satisfy
technical and business requirements
• Track lessons learned within agile team management tool
• Empower agile Center of Excellence resources skills (e.g.
certifications, workshops, etc.)
• Organize trainings to upskill agile teams competences (e.g.
DevOps, hybrid agile methodologies, etc.)

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businessintegrationpartners.com
Media operator | Adopt phase organization
Chief Information
Officer
DC facility
management
Security
Compliance
Service
Delivery
Demand
management
Service
Design
Infrastrutture
Operations
Application
Operations
• Creation of an Agile Center of
Excellence
• Key experts insourced
• Creation of different product
lines managed in Agile
Process
• Scrum selected for software
development
• Kanban customised to
facilitate a wide adoption
• Training managed by internal
employees (Agile certified)
• Vertical training hybrid Agile
methodology and DevOps
Agile CoE
• Lifecycle management
• Team collaboration
• Source code management
• Continuous integration
Legend: Waterfall based Scrum based Kanban based
Cloud Broker
Big Data
Digital services

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Agile transformation | Scale
• Implement governance layer to oversee different agile teams
• Replicate agile team structure for each agile initiative
• Adopt common agile processes to foster synergies across the
organization
• Refine a consolidate customized agile methodology (e.g.
scrum of scrum)
Process
• Adopt cross departments agile tools to involve both business
and technology departments
• Create agile best practices
• Share agile project experiences thanks to structured job
rotation initiative
• Sponsor agile across the entire organization and support
“continuous delivery”

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businessintegrationpartners.com
Media operator | Scale phase organization
Chief Information
Officer
DC facility
management
Security
Compliance
Demand
management
• Creation of mode 1 and
mode 2 organization
• Creation of different and
independent products lines
Process
• Scrum selected for software
development
• Kanban customised to
facilitate a wide adoption
• Definition of tailored Agile
best practices
• Training managed by internal
employees (Agile certified)
• Vertical training hybrid Agile
methodology and DevOps
Agile CoE
• Lifecycle management
• Team collaboration
• Source code management
• Continuous integration
Legend: Waterfall based Scrum based Kanban based
Standard IT
Mode 1
Cloud
Broker
Infrastructure
services
Platform
services
Digital services
Agile IT
Mode 2

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• Agile projects should not follow
the standard approval process
(waterfall based)
• A common agile operating
model enables synergies across
the agile teams
• Agile teams must be fully
dedicated since the early phases
• Virtual teams should be used
only during the pilot phase
• An agile Center of Excellence
simplifies a scaled the agile
adoption
Lessons learned
Processes
• Agile tools guide the activities
through the agile flow
• Agile team management tools
facilitate the collaboration among
teams
• Continuous integration tools
are key in short release cycles
Tools
Organization
Approach
• Top management sponsorship
is crucial to facilitate the agile
adoption
• Open access agile events and
dedicated training sessions
reduce the resistance to change

18. Bip - Business Integration Partners
businessintegrationpartners.com
Thank you!
Nicola Sfondrini
e-mail nicola.sfondrini@mail-bip.com
mobile IT +39 348 123 4528