Creating lasting change is frequently the most challenging part of an agile change agent. Here are some tips and points to consider when working within an organization as a change agent to influence and nuture change and having it last. This was presented at Agile Tour Singapore 2016 and is a reflection on my journey as a change agent and agile coach in working a challenging environment.

1. Making Change Stick
Tze ChinTang

2. “The hard stuff is easy, the
soft stuff is hard.”

3. About me
Developer
Agile Manager
People-first Software Engineering
Community Organizer
manufacturing
broadcasting
e-Commerce
hospitality
business automation
BSe, MBA, CSPO, CSM
2001-2005:Waterfall / No formal process
2005-2007: RUP / No formal process
2007-2010: Scrum / XP
2010-2013:WaterScrumFall /Theory of
Constraints
2013-2014: Scrum / Scrumban / Agile Leadership
/ Continuous Delivery

4. My story at
Company X
• Company X was bought under duress from a SF-basedVC.
• It had five engineering centers, all in a high cost country
except for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• I joined as an Agile Guy to work on the flagship product,
Atlas, and mature the KL engineering center.
• Atlas had 3 sites working on it.
• Release cycles were between 8 to 14 months,
unpredictable. Highly rigid roadmaps and customer
commitments.
• A big part of engineering was in KL but product
management was in the US.
• KL had 20 developers and testers on site.
• KL was hiring, everywhere else firing.
• KL/German code to build took anywhere from 1 day to 1
week.

5. Caveat:
No two journeys are the
same.
This was my journey, yours
will be different.

6. Have a
shared
vision
• Executive support is important, if not explicit
then minimally tacit support.
• Use this opportunity to find an internal
mentor.
• Get an executive sponsor if you don’t have
one already, you’re just the hands the get it
done / change agent.
• Err on the side of over communication, much
gets lost.
• Ask your subordinates / peers / superiors
what that vision means to them, help them
understand and shape it to be personally
meaningful.John Kotter

7. Make
Progress
Meaningful
and Visible
How to make it visible:
• Go physical when possible. Physical task
boards, co-location.
• Celebrate progress! Release parties, demo
ice cream, team lunches.
How to make it meaningful:
• Celebrate progress. Have release parties,
demo ice cream, team lunches, drinks.
• Have execs praise the team (if deserved).
• Address team failures within the group
but personal failures in private.

8. Don’t act
first, study
the
landscape
Be patient:
• Maximize learning and understanding in the
beginning.
• Minimize appearance of threat or disruption.
• Identify the promoters and detractors.
How to study the landscape:
• Have regular one-to-ones with subordinates,
superiors and peers.
• Lunches work too.
• Try lean coffee sessions.
Superiors
Subordinates
Peers

9. Warning:
Don't use the word "change"
or "Agile", unless they bring
it up first.

10. Identify the
promoters
and the
detractors
What to do with promoters:
– Nurture and educate.
– Strengthen buy in. Listen to them, include their ideas.
– Let them spread promote change on your behalf.
– Delegate.
What to do with detractors:
- Have open dialogs, hear them out.
- Find common ground. Get buy-in.
- Compromise, don’t have have to win every battle.
- When, all else fails: neutralize, reduce or remove but
never ignore!

11. Source: https://www.hellocustomer.com/en-US/Community/News/2015-05/NPS-or-Net-Promotor-Score-unraveled!

13. Warning:
Beware of and identify passive
aggressive behavior.

14. Warning:
Avoid ideological differences, focus
on common ground and objectives.

15. Be
consistent
and be
prepared to
repeat
yourself
(often!)
How to be consistent:
– Use single set of vocabulary.
– Create shared meaning.
– Have a set of slide decks ready on various topics ready to be
presented to whomever.
– Find quiet time to think and reflect.

16. Go as short
as possible,
maximize
learning
Iteration length:
• Start with what feels comfortable for the team with
buy in from management.
• Work to reduce iteration lengths.
• Example: Start with 4 week iterations, then reduce to
three OR have mini sprints within the sprint.
How to maximize learning:
• Don’t skip retrospectives.
• When they go stale, try different methods.
• Do something with retrospective findings.

17. Lots of
small wins
> one big
victory
• Sense of progress is a strong motivator, for the team
and yourself.
• Find what’s preventing you from moving forward –
bottlenecks.
• How to address bottlenecks:
– Identify constraint
– Exploit constraint
– Subordinate constraint
– Elevate constraint
– Prevent inertia
– Read The Goal

18. Tip for change agents:
Be flexible & open.

19. Tip for leaders:
Address problems as soon as they
appear.

20. Tip to managers:
Step out of the room
(once in a while).

21. My story at
Company X:
18 months
later
• KL grew from 20 to 50 devs + testers.
• US lost 1/3 of its engineers.
• Became a development manager of 14 devs + testers /
2 teams.
• Release cycle reduced to 4 months +- 2 weeks.
• Code to build reduced to 45 minutes.
• Flexible roadmaps.
• Transitioned from Scrum to Scrumban.
• Release candidate process.

22. What’s Next?
Developer
Agile Manager
People-first Software Engineering
Community Organizer
manufacturing
broadcasting
e-Commerce
hospitality
business automation
BSe, MBA, CSPO, CSM
ICF, LKU
2001-2005:Waterfall / No formal process
2005-2007: RUP / No formal process
2007-2010: Scrum / XP
2010-2013:WaterScrumFall /Theory of
Constraints
2013-2014: Scrum / Scrum-ban / Agile
Leadership / Continuous Delivery
2014-2015+: Kanban / Flow / Lean / Lean
Startup / DevOps