Creating Agile Organizations: A Systemic Approach

Design Your Organization for Maximum Agile Success at Scale "[A] unique view of organizational agility. Cesario and Ilia first describe the [foundational] tools and vocabulary to think about agile enterprise-level change. The second section is a practical approach to adoption. It marries the foundational elements into a people and customer centric approach to change. The book is epic in scope ... but it manages to present a cookbook for agile adoption and change." --From the Foreword by Dave West, CEO, Scrum.org "Cesario and Ilia ... understand that a key element of successful change to being adaptive at scale is Organizational Design (OD)--and that OD is something senior managers need to own, master, create, and lead, not delegate. ... [F]ast delivery and learning isn't enough at scale. Without other adaptive OD elements in place, there might not be any concrete change. ... [A] wonderful book from two passionate people with years in the trenches involved in large-scale adaptive development." --From the Foreword by Craig Larman, co-creator, Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS) For Agile to succeed at scale, strategy, structures, processes, reward systems, and people practices must align with and reinforce each other across the entire organization. Creating Agile Organizations is about making that happen. Whether you're a leader, Scrum Master, or trainer, this book will help you use effective Organizational Design (OD) to achieve successful Agile transformation at the enterprise level.  Drawing on years of experience scaling Scrum, renowned Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS) experts Cesario Ramos and Ilia Pavlichenko present proven techniques for use with any technology, in any large environment. In the context of a true systems-thinking approach, they provide specific solutions for challenges such as preparing and facilitating large-scale Scrum meetings, honing newly relevant leadership skills, and addressing challenges that cut across the entire organization.  This book includes a library of tested tools for effective Agile leadership, including Product Definition Guides for describing any new product and a Feature Heat Map for designing teams and entire organizations. Organizing for adaptability, making strategic optimization choices, and choosing informed tradeoffs Exploring and applying proven OD principles at the leadership level Taking a birds-eye view of the activities most crucial to large-scale adoption Coaching to make Agile transformation successful across your organization Planning, designing, and facilitating Agile workshops that work Preparing and launching highly effective, well-aligned Product Groups  Coaching teams and guiding product ownership in large groups

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Craig Larman  xix Foreword by Dave West  xxi Preface  xxiii Introduction  xxvii Acknowledgments  xxxv About the Authors  xxxvii Part I: Foundational Concepts  1 Chapter 1: Organizing for Adaptability  3 Hello, VUCA World!  3 What Is an Agile Organization Design?  4 Typical Problems When Adopting Agility  6 Avoid Copy–Paste Scaling: A Typical Scaling Approach  10 Overview of an Agile Organization Design  11 Summary  16 References  17 Chapter 2: Systems Thinking  19 Basics of Systems Thinking  19 Applying Systems Thinking  31 Summary  48 References  49 Chapter 3: Optimize for Adaptiveness  51 What It Means to Be Adaptable  53 Flow Efficiency  54 Behavior of Queues  54 Queueing System Structures  61 Algorithm for Dealing with Queues  62 Choose an Operational Strategy  63 Summary  67 References  68 Chapter 4: Agile Organizational Design  69 Why Organizational Redesign?  70 Business Strategy Drives Organizational Design  71 Overview of a Design Process  72 Agile Organization Design Guidelines  73 Agile vs. Traditional Human Resources Management  101 Summary  104 References  105 Chapter 5: An Agile Adoption Approach  107 Principles of an Agile Adoption  107 Overview of an Adoption Approach  109 Overarching Adoption Guidelines  111 Applying Systems Thinking in Organizational Coaching  120 Summary  130 References  131 Chapter 6: Coaching for Change  133 Guideline 1: Influence People  134 Guideline 2: Co-Create the Change  136 Guideline 3: Voluntary Participation  139 Guideline 4: Acknowledge the Loss  144 Guideline 5: Deliver the Message Continually  147 Guideline 6: Help People to Cross the Edge  149 Guideline 7: Axes of Change  153 Guideline 8: Find the Right Balance of Radical/Incremental Change  159 Summary  161 References  162 Part II: Applying the Concepts  165 Chapter 7: Group Facilitation  167 Principles of Facilitation  167 Workshop Design  172 Facilitating Scrum Events  178 Summary  195 References  196 Chapter 8: Preparing the Product Group  197 Areas of Concern for Successful Preparation  197 Area 1: Involve the Managers  198 Area 2: Understand the Current Reality  204 Area 3: Create a Vision of the Future  221 Area 4: Identify the Product Group  233 Organizational Design to Eliminate Dependencies  242 Summary  249 References  250 Chapter 9: Launching the Product Group  251 Menu of Available Choices  252 Initial Product Backlog Refinement  253 Define the Definition of Done  257 Feature Team Adoption Map  260 Self-Designing Team Workshop  265 Team Lift-Off  270 Identify and Launch Communities  282 Identify Coordination Mechanisms  284 Create Useful Checklists  286 Summary  288 References  289 Chapter 10: Coaching Teams  291 The Building Blocks of the Agile Organization  291 Observations of an Agile Team  292 Building on the Team Lift-Off: Coaching Multifunctional Learning  296 Dealing with Recurrent Complex Problems in Teams: Systems Team Coaching  315 Improving Team Dynamics: Trust  329 Facilitate Feedback Loops for Learning: Learning New Practices  332 Summary  335 References  335 Chapter 11: Guiding the Product Ownership  337 What Makes a Team Product Owner?  337 The Product Owner in a Senior Position   341 Product Ownership Measures  345 Customer Understanding   347 The Product Owner Process  349 Stakeholder Alignment   351 Product Owner Leadership   354 Summary  356 References   357 Appendix Case Studies and Workshop Examples  359 Index  413