Session Title : Understanding the ask for Agility from a Digital Lens

1. Understanding the
ask for Agility
(from a Digital lens)
Avinash Rao
Consulting Leader
DevOn

2. How the session is structured
• Establish the problem statement
• Digital Transformation (in a long tradition of such ‘unique’ transformations) and its
discontents
• Our Agile Wars (and its discontents)
• Solutioning (or more correctly, sensemaking)

3. But first …
•Lets talk about the environment.
•No, seriously.

4. The fundamental attribution error
(and being married to an MBA)

5. The point of the story
• Utility of a framework
• The same conversation in the absence of a framework can easily take scenic turns
• … and this in what you hope is a high trust relationship!
• What hope do we have in a Business-IT or a vendor relationship?

6. Now, on to Transformations
•What I hope to convince you …
• Digital is one in a series of transformations
• There are lessons to be learnt from the past
•Now there are many stories of transformation …

7. We’ll pick the IC
engine
• (mainly because it has nice pictures of
horses)
• Just in case you were wondering, the
other finalist was Computing v/s the
office secretary.

8. The Horse-buggy business
• So, Mr. Horse Buggy owner, your business is being disrupted.
(said the consultant)
• Would you like a faster horse? Our “FASTER HORSE” Training program is guaranteed to improve horse
speeds by 30%! We have best practices and models from training 2000 horses!
• Then you can show those cars!

9. Now, car businesses other than Ford Model T
• So, Mr. Car Maker, your business is being disrupted.
(said the consultant)
• Would you like a faster production line?
• Can we do market research to tap car buyer who want colours other than black?
• Then you can show Ford!
• And to a greater degree, they did.

10. What our clients are facing
There are two dimensions
to a Transformation*
1. Digital (actually, any
transformation) appear to
speed up Business cycles –
Calendar to Economic time
**
2. Transformations change
the very Business Models of
organizations ** and ask
that they develop new
abilities (either product or
delivery)
* No, there is no such angst in business steady states – very rarely do Enterprises transform unless forced.
** Much as I know you trust me, this a HBR model. Just thought I’d mention for any cynical sceptics out there.

11. OK, but how does this help us?

12. From what we have said so far –
-The value of frameworks
- The nature of Transformations

13. Religious wars
underway in
our community
• More structure, or Free the Teams
• Iterative development is not Agile
• Degrees of self-determination
• Fixed Price Agile
• Business will do what must be done
• SAFe or Unsafe *
• And at what cost and speed
• More or LeSS? *
• Requirement and Architectural
Runways needed in complex
environments
• Word to the wise - Never take sides in
religious wars – the other side will kill
you eventually.
** Any resemblance to Rorschach blots
intentional!

14. Cautionary Tales -1
• Large company – bleeding edge transformation using (a) Scaled Agile
• “We are a large company – we need to plan ahead!”
• ”We have recognized a fundamental shift in the market, and we will capitalize on it!”

15. Cautionary Tales - 2
• Small company – scaling to take advantage of a market ‘hockey stick’ product takeoff
• Pure Scrum and SoS to scale
• Failure to Scale, product failed due to [many, many] issues

16. More Cautionary Tales - 3
• Large company – “Let a thousand flowers bloom” approach
• Market moving product development in a regulated industry
• Failed to scale

17. More Cautionary Tales - 4
• Medium sized company – CXO asked for Agility, and only got Scrum instead.
• Intensive coaching, Fantastic Scrum practices
• Did revenue go up, or cost go down?
• How much should I cut your budget for next year?
• Heads rolled.

18. Disclaimer:
Yes, some of my projects have actually succeeded *
Thank you very much.

19. If this looks like a dog’s breakfast, it
is because it really is.
To sense-make, we need a higher
order lens.
To quote our favorite philosopher:
(If you are thinking JK Rowling,
smart choice – if Einstein hadn’t
said this, she would have got there
anyway!)

20. If this looks like a dog’s breakfast, it
is because it really is.
To sense-make, we need a higher
order lens.
"No problem can be solved from the same
level of consciousness that created it.“

21. Wait!
• Humare paas Agile Manifesto hai
• Humare paas Frameworks hai
• Humare paas <insert name of your fave Agile
thought leader here>

22. Wait!
• Humare paas Agile Manifesto hai
• Humare paas Frameworks hai
• Humare paas <insert name of your fave Agile
thought leader here>
• Tumhare paas kya hai?

23. Part 2

24. So, what does that mean for us?
We know what to do, but we need to
do it faster and more reliably.
This in turn has two dimensions - a
Speed dimension, and a Quality in a CtoS
dimension (higher competition = lower
tolerance for both failure modes)
We are being Disrupted (or are
Disrupting the market)
Two dimensions again – Market
responsiveness, New Capabilities (both
are Discovery driven – often but not
always external and internal)
HOW? WHAT?

26. A re-look at all
the examples
• What Habitat is it?
• What bleeding edge really means
• What or a How problem?
• Victory conditions?
• Discovery needs?
• Fitment of a process approach to this ask
• Data is the new Oil
• Predictive analytics will rule the world (have you all heard
the Target pregnancy story? All managers want one of
those)

27. Cautionary Tales -1
• Large company – bleeding edge transformation using (a) Scaled Agile
• “We are a large company – we need to plan ahead!”
• ”We have recognized a fundamental shift in the market, and we will capitalize on it!”

28. Cautionary Tales - 2
• Small company – scaling to take advantage of a market ‘hockey stick’ product takeoff
• Pure Scrum and SoS to scale
• Failure to Scale, product failed due to [many, many] issues

29. More Cautionary Tales - 3
• Large company – “Let a thousand flowers bloom” approach
• Market moving product development in a regulated industry
• Failed to scale

30. More Cautionary Tales - 4
• Medium sized company – CXO asked for Agility, and only got Scrum instead.
• Intensive coaching, Fantastic Scrum practices
• Did revenue go up, or cost go down?
• How much should I cut your budget for next year?
• Heads rolled.

31. Thank You !