Agile2013

Scrum, Kanban and other agile methods provide a means to transform IT to a high maturity state. Yet anyone who has been part of a large scale agile transformation can tell you that outcomes are anything but predictable. Sometimes these transformations succeed, sometimes they provide mixed results, sometimes the transformation outright fails. The change tactics used, and the specific methods chosen for adoption vary wildly depending on context. In a nutshell, the only certainty about large-scale agile transformation it is to expect uncertainty.

Eric Ries definition of a startup is as follows:

A startup is a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.

By this definition, an enterprise Agile change initiative could be deemed a startup, one that could take advantage of Lean Startup techniques.

During this session I will present a case study on how a team of Agile change agents leveraged Lean Startup principles to create the Lean Change method, enabling what our team calls Negotiated Change on a large scale organizational transformation.

I'll discuss how we defined a change plan using a Change Canvas, and tested the assumptions behind the plan by introducing incremental waves of change we have dubbed Minimal Viable Changes.

I will showcase how we cycled through a continuous learn, build, and measure loop to steer the course of our transformation. I'll discuss how we leveraged a negotiated, customer centric approach to change.

Finally, I'll give an overview of our key pivot/pursue decisions, and describe how the lean startup approach provided us with the feedback required to make several significant changes in direction during the course of the transformation.

For more on the Lean Change method, please visit: http://agileconsulting.blogspot.ca/2012/08/lean-change-part-2-lean-change-stack.html