Was Your Organization Ready For Agile? -

HAND-OUT

DESCRIPTION

Was your organization really READY for what actually happened after you started with Agile across the enterprise?

Is the word "READY" in the Agile context familiar to you? We use this word for User Stories that are prepared for processing in Scrum.

But what about Enterprise transformation? Do we have a "READY" description for that? If not why not?

Here are some symptoms of "not READY" :

Everyone knows that most of the improvement from Agile comes from self-organizing and self-managed teams, but in your company, the Scrum Master tells the Team how to do the work, and often, each Team member reports directly to the Scrum Master.
Frontline Managers often double as Scrum Masters or Product Owners, and have not participated in Agile training classes, internal un-conferences or outside Agile meet-ups.
The Scrum Guide says "for the Product Owner to be successful, everyone must respect his or her decisions." And in your org, the PO has little actual authority to make any decisions at all.
The Scrum Guide says "no one can make the Team work from another set of requirements, not even the Scrum Master," but the reality in your company is that the Team is constantly asked to do work outside of the Product Backlog.
In the Kanban Method, no item may be placed on the board until it is characterized by Work Item Type, which implies a Cycle (or delivery) time. But at your company, anyone can put anything on the Kanban boards, and then the Team has to do it, even when it is not well defined.
Your leaders claim support for Agile, and often make statements about how it is "great for the engineers." But the wider effects of Agile on the organization are not really happening, in part because the executive team is not very good at removing impediments that are holding the Teams back.

What did not happen at your company was this: you were not really prepared for Agile. Your executives were not briefed on what to expect and how to support the change. There was no basic level setting about Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Lean, and how these mindsets and practices disrupt the status quo. A whole set of things that needed to happen first simply did not happen. And now you are left to pick up the pieces as a Product Owner, Scrum Master, Front Line Manager, Stakeholder or Team member.

This session is lifted directly from the forthcoming book READY FOR AGILE LEADERSHIP from the presenters, Daniel Mezick and Joseph DeAngelis. You'll exit this session with resources from this book that you can use the very next day to help your organization reach the READY state.

In this session:

You will receive a detailed checklist that covers all the things that need to be true, for you to achieve the READY state for enterprise Agile transformation
You will learn how to spread this knowledge across your organization, and begin using it so you can actually be READY
You'll do exercises in small groups, exercises that help you prepare to READY your Team, your department and your organization
You'll exit the session with checklists and resources you can use the very next day in your own situation.

AGENDA

6:30pm - Agile Introduction
7:00pm - Food and Fun
7:25pm - Keynote Presentation
8:30pm - *** Done

SPEAKERS

DANIEL MEZICK is an expert on extending adaptive Agile culture beyond software. His books and workshops teach you how. Daniel’s first work, THE CULTURE GAME, was published in 2012 and describes 16 specific patterns that extend Agile ideas across the organization. In 2014 Daniel formulated the OpenSpace Agility method; a flexible template for enabling lasting organizational change. Daniel is also the primary author of the OPEN SPACE AGILITY HANDBOOK and his enterprise consulting practice and workshops are built upon the core concepts found in these books.