Agile Pushback

Change is hard. Changing to Agile is harder

Katy SaulpaughKaty.Saulpaugh@Excella.com

Learn what

resistance to Agile

looks like

Understand how

people and

organizations adapt

to change

Apply the “4C”s to

encourage Agile in

your organization

Overview

Welcome changing requirements,

even late in development. Agile

processes harness change for the

customer's competitive advantage

–Agile Manifesto

Symptoms of Agile pushback

What does resistance to Agile look like in

your organization?

Why is change so hard?

How do we adopt change?A

do

pti

on

Time

How do we adopt Agile?A

do

pti

on

Time

“I know Agile is coming to our organization”

“It makes sense why we are going Agile”

“I embrace Agile and will promote it”

“Agile is part of everything I do”

Is organizational change harder?

There’s no magic pill for organizational change

What is change management?

Adoption

Transparency

Communication

Acceptance

Productivity

Engagement

Resistance

Misinformation

Confusion

Errors/Ramp up time

Frustration

Incre

ased...

De

cre

ased

...

Excella’s model for Agile change

Change.

Coaching

Commitment

Culture

Communications

Culture

Culture

• Measuring culture

• Red flags for Agile

• Toolbox:

stakeholder

analysis or

environmental

scan

Commitment

Commitment

• Considerations

with sponsorship

• Champion network

• Toolbox: change

readiness

assessment or

resistance

management plan

Coaching

Coaching

• Instruction design

• Agile

ambassadorship

• Toolbox: train the

trainer, brown

bags, mentorship

Communications

Communications

• Messaging on

business value

• WIIFM

• Design: who, what

and how

• Toolbox: online, in

person, feedback

loops

Agile change case studies

Case study #1

Problem: Customers of an Agile web

development team at a Federal client

were confused about who to talk to

about getting new features built on

the organization’s website.

Developers were directly contacted

by the customer and agreed upon

work without telling other members

of the team, including Product Owner

and leadership. Occasionally, this

interfered with committed work.

Result: consensus on priority created transparency between client

and development team

Change.

Coaching

Commitment

Culture

Communications

Case study #2

Problem: Commercial client’s

development team was putting out

“buggy” code that wasn’t passing

QA tests. The client introduced an

automated testing tool, but the

developers were employing

workarounds and not really using

the tool. The developers reported

that the tool was difficult to use and

the sponsor wasn’t directly involved

with the implementation.

Result: improved skills and increased sponsor understanding to

improve code quality

Change.

Coaching

Commitment

Culture

Communications

Change is hard… but it is essential for Agile

Understand resistors and how people adapt

to change

Encourage Agile in your organization by

using the “4C”s – Culture, Commitment,

Coaching and Communications

Key Takeaways

Final Thought

Drop me a line: katy.saulpaugh@excella.com or @katysouthpaw