White paper: Exploring the delta in AgileSHIFT

Happy to see that my white paper Exploring the delta in AgileSHIFT is now live on the AXELOS content hub.

Enterprise agility is key. It is not just about implementing an agile way of working in your IT department but a transformation for your whole organization. You have to understand where the market is going, where your competitors are moving, where your customers want to be, and, as a result, where your organization needs to be. One technique to understand this is the concept of the delta. The difference between where the organization wants to be, expressed as ‘what great looks like’, and where it currently is.

This paper explores the concept of the delta, explaining how this is addressed in AgileSHIFT®, and providing practical recommendations and examples on the subject. It is aimed at senior managers, portfolio officers and transition directors who are overseeing fast-moving environments and are running the risk of competitors or disruptors taking over their organization’s market share.

AgileSHIFT helps prepare individuals and organizations for transformational shift by creating a culture of enterprise agility. This cultural change is not driven by simply adopting an agile framework, method or tool, but by understanding and distilling the ethos behind agile ways of working and leveraging them across the entire organization.

A key theme within AgileSHIFT is the delta and the importance to narrow your company’s delta. The delta is the difference between where an organization wants to be and where it currently is. This could be measured in terms of capability, performance, or value delivered. The larger the delta, the greater the vulnerability of the organization to competitors and disruptors. Unfortunately, the delta is not static, so it will grow again. Narrowing the delta will be an ongoing process and you must keep changing to manage the delta, otherwise competitors will be ahead of you and take it all.

In the article I explore what it means where you want to be. This is what you could call ‘great’ and this could relate to your products, services, technology, processes et cetera. I explain that this could be related to the technology. Can you expect a (digital) tech-shift in your company’s work (tech-supported, tech-enabled or tech-centric)? If the delta is large your company is at risk and vulnerable to other competitors who could destroy your own business. What would be the impact of disruptors or exponential organizations on your own business? Will you survive?

I make use of some scenario’s like a dentist practice and a Cyclecity bike shop to explain the concept of the delta and how you could narrow the delta by closing the existing gap. For the Cyclecity bike shop I use a business model canvas to explain the as-is and the to-be situations. I use the GDS/IPS’s 7 lenses of transformation (vision, design, plan, transformational leadership, collaboration, accountability and people) to give a first, but incomplete, impression of how the transformation programme to bridge the gap between the as-is and the to-be could be outlined.

I hope this white paper will be useful and feel free to give me your comments.

To download: AgileSHIFT_wp_Exploring-the-delta-in-AgileSHIFT

AgileSHIFT an overarching agile framework

Many organizations are struggling to implement agile delivery frameworks to increase their level of agility, and many organizations fail. One of the reasons is the culture clash between a traditional organization and the agile culture. Only implementing agile delivery frameworks in e.g. your IT department is not enough.

AXELOS has developed a framework (see attached Quick Reference Card/QRC AgileSHIFT) that prepares people for transformational change by creating a culture of enterprise agility. The AgileSHIFT framework helps organizations to undergo a transformational change, to adopt a ‘survive, compete and thrive’ mindset. It will help to bridge the gap between the current and the target state (the Delta in AgileSHIFT) by embracing a range of agile, structured and hybrid approaches across the organization. The existing severe split between ‘run the business’ and ‘change the business’ will vanish. Now called, in this framework, Run the Organization and Change the Organization. Everyone is a change-enabler, encouraged and empowered to make change happen.

To download: AgileSHIFT (QRC, 181012) v1.0

The AgileSHIFT framework explains why we need enterprise agility. There is an increasing pace of change (VUCA: volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity), the role of technology (from technology supported, via technology enabled towards technology centric), the delta between the current and target state of your organization and disruptive influences by enablers (as the gig economy, remote working, cloud storage and online presence), inefficient markets and black swan events.

To accommodate what we have to do the AgileSHIFT framework defines enterprise agility, principles and practices. Enterprise agility is the ability of an organization to move and adapt quickly in response to shifting customer and market needs. The five principles are: Change will happen so embrace the status quo, challenge the status quo, develop an environment where everybody adds value, focus on the co-creation of customer value and tailor your approach. The five practices are: Plan to be flexible and adaptable, engage stakeholders, build collaborative teams, focus on the co-creation of customer value and measure value.

The how (corresponds with the AgileSHIFT delivery approach) is expressed in the AgileSHIFT framework by the roles, the AgileSHIFT workflow and an iteration and by tools and techniques. There are three roles: the AgileSHIFT team, sponsor and coach. A simple iteration approach is explained but depending on the situation you have to choose the right approach. Tools and techniques include: customer stories and epics, relative estimating and story points, AgileSHIFT task list and roadmap, swarm, kanban, canvasses and agendas. For the last two there will downloads available.

To show your understanding of AgileSHIFT, foundation and practitioner certification will be possible.

In the next picture, I have positioned AgileSHIFT.