The reasons for going through an Agile transition can be numerous, and we’ll be discussing a number of them today at 2 PM EST during the Introduction to Agile for Managers webinar. What it all boils down to though is that the company is looking to gain some value. Without gaining business value as a goal, an Agile transition is doomed to failure.
I was happy that Michael Norton called me out on an earlier post on whether business value should be the ultimate goal of Agile adoption. He said that he’s a runner and that his goal is a certain time for a 5k run. Cardiovascular health he points out, is a worthy goal or objective, but not the only reason to run. That is sound logic, however it missed the point I was trying to make. Let me try to do a better job here using an example from my experience.
The CEO is Too Involved
The CEO doesn’t know what is going to be delivered when, and gets more involved than necessary in the project(s).
Per my MBA education, the job of the CEO is that of setting the vision for the company, aligning everyone for that journey, and then taking everyone down the path. A CEO does not, and should not have to get involved in the day-to-day activities of the Team. He or she should be out building relationships with clients, not managing projects. However, I’ve when they do not know what is going to be delivered and when they will see it, they dive in, regardless of whether or not they understand software development. I’ll leave it to your imagination to determine where this takes everyone.
What he or she needs is visibility. They need a chart or something that shows where the Team is in the development cycle, if they will hit their target, how they are doing on the project as a whole, and help predict when a bigger release can take place. Agile has these tools. They are the sprint burndown chart and release burndown chart respectively. These two charts can provide all of that information. Two charts! And then the CEO can go back to the business of being a CEO.
How much value is there in that? More than I can explain. Some things that come to mind are:
- Better relationships with clients
- Better relationships between business and the Team
- Greater predictability on projects
- A happier production team possibly leading to increased productivity
- Greater trust throughout
All of the items in that list provide business value. The goal is greater visibility, but the business value gained is that list.
If You Want Management Support, Talk Business Value
I loved getting my MBA. I spent 19 months with an excellent group of people who, for business people, I feel are quite progressive. Make no mistake though, an MBA does not produce touchy feely managers. There’s a reason why more than half the classes are finance. Personally I think it’s backwards, however that’s a topic for another post.
I want to be sure that you understand that as much as I can talk about happy teams and iterative development and daily standups until I’m blue in the face, if I cannot clearly articulate the business value of implementing Agile, then I will not be able to make the case for Agile to management. It’s the most important piece of the puzzle.
Other Posts That Might Interest You
