I was recently asked to help a consulting firm work with a client on a very large enterprise-level Agile implementation. The company had gone totally into Agile across the whole company and the Senior Executives were unhappy with the way it was going:
- Many projects were going off track and senior management didn’t feel like they had much visibility and predictability
- They wanted to see if all the development efforts were really well-aligned with the company’s business strategy
- I think this is a typical problem that many companies face for large-scale, enterprise-level Agile implementations.
The Challenge
The problem is that large companies typically have some kind of management infrastructure such as a PMO for managing projects. They also typically have some kind of project portfolio management approach to align projects with the company’s business strategy. And, in many cases, their existing management infrastructure probably isn’t totally compatible with an Agile development approach. The choices are:
- Dismantle the existing management infrastructure and simply implement Agile at a development team level with no guiding management infrastructure. That typically results in problems such as projects going out of control and not being well-aligned with the company’s business strategy
- Implement a new top-to-bottom Agile management approach such as the Scaled Agile Framework. This is a good solution but requires a major redefinition of the company’s management infrastructure. And, some companies are just not ready to make that kind of gut-wrenching change.
- Implement a “bridge” between the existing management infrastructure and the Agile development approach. This might involve using a hybrid management approach overlaid on top of the Agile development process.
Higher Levels of Management
The most important point is that you can’t ignore the need for these higher levels of management. Implementing Agile as a development process only without defining some way that it integrates with the company’s overall business strategy may not be effective. The choices look something like this:
This can be a difficult thing to do because standard Agile methodologies such as Scrum do not provide much guidance above the development team level. And, there are a number of choices at each of these levels. At each level, there is a choice of implementing a more Agile or a more traditional, plan-driven management approach. It is somewhat like a chess game as shown in the diagram below:
Potential Enterprise-level Agile Frameworks
Here’s how I would position some of the frameworks for filling this need:
The three frameworks shown above are:
- My own Managed Agile Development model
- Scott Ambler’s Disciplined Agile Delivery model
- Dean Leffingwell’s Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
Related Articles
Check out the following related articles on “Agile Transformation”:
- Agile Change Management – Why Is It important?
- How Do You Go About Selling Agile?
- Business Process Reengineering and Agile Transformation
- Enterprise-level Agile Implementation
- Developing an Agile Company Culture
- Agile and Corporate Culture – How Do You Make it Work?
Additional Resources
Resources for Agile Project Management Online Training.