“We need to get everyone on the same page” “We need to be able to talk the same language” “We need to do things the same way” These are the arguments frequently heard to justify the need for Lean-Agile centers of excellence and methodologies. While consistency is necessary, are we conflating conformity with consistency? The benefits of adopting Lean and Agile practices are based on creating an environment that facilitates learning and flexibility. Yet by enforcing one specific methodology or tool across teams, organizations hinder their ability to deliver customer value. In this webinar, Steve Adolph, addresses the challenges organizations face when adopting Lean and Agile methodologies and presents a three-element model that enables organizations to create a consistent and flexible culture that motivates practitioners to embrace change for faster delivery of business value.

1. Agile Consistency
vs Flexibility
Creating a Culture of Change
We need everyone to “speak
the same language” if they’re
going to work together.

2. Steve Adolph
2
www.steveadolph.com
www.developmentknowledge.com

3. What this is all about:
• One goal of many “agile transformations” is to create
consistency so teams can work together smoothly.
• Transformations often fall short of their objectives and
can have the unintended consequence of creating a
culture of conformance rather than a a culture of
change.
• We will compare a mechanistic model and organic
model of organization to explain why this can happen.
• We will provide a 2+1 model for systematically creating
consistency and a culture of change
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4. AN AGILE TRANSFORMATION SAGA
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5. The start of a typical consulting
engagement: Islands of Agility
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6. Problems with ”Islands of Agility”:
• Barrier to teams working together
– Inability to re-use and share knowledge
• Challenging to manage
– Lacks repeatable processes
– Difficult to collect meaningful metrics
• Difficult to improve
– Improvement is ad hoc rather than systematic
– Knowledge is associated with individuals rather
than corporate knowledge base
– Individuals become constraint to scale
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7. Management seeks a solution to the
“Islands of Agility”
We need everyone to
“speak the same language”
if they’re going to work
together
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8. An Agile Centre of Excellence (CoE) maybe
created to drive the change…
This in
addition to
my day job?
We’re doing an agile
transformation and you will lead
that change. One goal is creating
a consistent structure so our
teams are on the same page and
can work together.
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9. A methodology and maybe a coach are
adopted...
I think the Comprehensive
Agile Methodology will help
get all your teams on the
same page.
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10. The teams are trained in the methodology (and
possibly new tools)... Let me tell you how the
comprehensive agile
methodology defines all your new
roles, practices, and work
products…
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11. Now we finally
have a consistent
structure!
Finally…
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12. Yes and from what we were
hearing we all thought we
were on the same page.
Unfortunately we weren’t.
However can structure on its own create
alignment? “People trump process” – Alistair Cockburn
How could you miss those
dependencies? Our methodology has
all sorts of coordination meetings?
Aren’t you holding them?
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13. Yes but some of
these practices
aren’t working for
my team
Does structure facilitate flexibility and the ability to
adapt?
If we don’t have
consistency we will
have chaos
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You are just saying
that because you are
find the changes
inconvenient

14. What happens to the culture of change if
an over enthusiastic desire for consistency
suppresses change?
That’s not how
we do agile!
Where did that
character come
from?
But we just wanted
to try something!
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15. The result?
But we’re agile?!! I
thought things were
suppose to get better
with a consistent
structure
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16. “Corporate transformations have a miserable success
rate…studies consistently report that about ¾ of change efforts
flop” - HBR Nov-Dec 2017
Another great career lost to a “transformation”
We did everything
right, so how did it go
so wrong?
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17. Poll Here: Any of this familiar?
1. Yes: this is my life right now.
2. Sort of: we’re in the midst of a
transformation and while we’re seeing issues,
its moving in the right direction.
3. No: we’re in the midst of a transformation
and things are really going well.
4. Don’t know: we’re still exploring our options
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18. Thesis:
Seeking “consistency” by standardizing
practices and tools in knowledge based
work processes (like software
development) risks creating unhealthy
processes – an unhealthy “eco-system” –
because such processes cannot adapt.
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19. TWO MODELS OF CONSISTENCY
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20. We need consistency to work together.
?
? ?
? ?
? 20

21. But what do we mean by “consistency”?
Is consistency, conformity?
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22. How we define “consistency” depends on how
we see our organization.
• Organization as a
machine
• Organization as an
organism
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23. The organization as a machine –
Frederick Taylor
Emphasis on “efficient”
operation:
– Bureaucratic organization
– Well defined job
descriptions
– Management by objectives
– Responsibility for planning
lies with management
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24. Machine Model Consistency: The Software
Factory
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25. …but is the ”Software Factory” the solution?
Mechanistic models work well
where there is little need to
adapt:
•Straightforward tasks
•Stable environment
•No variation – produce the
same thing every time
•Precision is at a premium
•Compliant workers
But does this sound like
the traits of knowledge
work?
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26. We just want to try
something different to
see if it will work better
If we don’t have
consistency we will
have chaos
Some of these practices
aren’t working for my
team
Knowledge work requires
flexibility.
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27. The organization as an organism.
Emphasis is on adapting an
organization to the environment*
• Organizations are “open
systems”
• Different “species” of
organization need different
types of environments.
• The is no one “best way” of
organizing
• Management seeks to achieve
alignment and good fits
* - Images of Organization pg.42
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28. The organization from a biological point of
view: a diverse eco system of organisms
exchanging resources
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29. A biological model of consistency?
Consistency is the capability of the
organization to create a healthy
environment that facilitates the
interaction between all the different
organisms (Islands of Agility) in the
organizational eco-system
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30. The machine model approach to consistency:
Pave over the Eco-system! Create a “mono
culture”
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31. Consequences of a mono culture:
Lack of Resilience.
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32. The IT Mono Culture?
How well will a mono culture organization tolerate
disruption?
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33. Invasive Species – take over “empty spots” in the
eco-system”
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34. Invasive Species: Rogue Excel sheets and
web tools
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35. The Organizational Mono Culture: An
Unhealthy Organizational Eco-system:
• Lacks resilience, cannot change in face
of environmental change.
• Invasive species fill the gaps where
methodologies and tools fall short
impeding communications. Makes
systematic improvement challenging.
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36. Embrace a diverse multi methodological world
Teams and programs create their
methodologies and select their
tools depending on their
context, and even personal
preferences.
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37. “Every project deserves its
own methodology”
- Alistair Cockburn,
Doctoral dissertation
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38. But this sounds like a recipe for chaos!
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39. The “Liberating Form” - Neil Harrison
Creating balance between structure and flexibility.
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40. Methodology and tools as “guard rails”
Minimize mandated practices to what is necessary to
liberate the creativity of our people.
”...barely sufficient process”
– Jim Highsmith
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41. A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO
TRANSFORMING THE ECO-SYSTEM
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42. A 2+1 part solution in the form of a
software engineering fable as told by
Philippe Kruchten….
NSERC Chair in Design Engineering
Former Director of Process Engineering at Rational
….and the Newt!
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44. 44

45. 45

46. 46

47. The Frog says “all projects are the same”
Represents the common attributes of software
development
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48. The Octopus says “all projects are different”
Represents the contextual attributes of a project.
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49. And of course we cannot forget the people –
How people work together is the single largest determinant of success,
possibly swamping all other factors
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50. Introducing the “Newt” who says “people create
software”
Who can cultivate the social process we need to keep everyone
aligned?
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51. Two Models of Change
Machine Model:
Paves over the diversity of the
eco-system by installing
standard practices and expects
the context and social systems
to adapt.
Organic Model:
Embraces the diversity of the
eco-system. Practices, context,
and social system change
holistically.
COE as Enforcers of Change COE as Facilitators of Change
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52. Poll Here: What Model of Change Have
You Experienced in Your Organization?
1. Mechanistic: We adopted a specific
methodology and then we were all expected to
adapt to it.
2. Organic: While we did adopt a specific
methodology, we are working hard to integrate
it holistically into our context and social systems.
3. Chaos and Magic: Pretty much everyone does
what they want. Somehow magically it all comes
together.
4. Don’t know: I haven’t been through a
“transformation” yet or thought much about it.
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53. THE AGILE TRANSFORMATION
SAGA - REDUX
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54. A Cautionary Tale
• It is tremendously easy to delude ourselves
that we are building an organic organization
because we are adopting an ”agile”
methodology, when in fact we are creating a
mechanistic mono-culture.
• It is the difference between doing agile and
being agile.
But we’re
agile!!
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55. Management seeks a solution to the
“Islands of Agility”
We need everyone to
“speak the same language”
if they’re going to work
together
55

56. We still need an Agile COE AND…
We’re doing an agile
transformation and you will lead
that change. One goal is creating
an eco-system that enables our
teams to work together.
This in
addition to
my day job?
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57. And probably still adopt a methodology (or
two).
I think the Comprehensive
Agile Methodology will help
as a guiding framework.
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58. And the need for training does not go
away, AND… Let me tell you about the
comprehensive agile framework,
but first lets make sure we
understand the economics that
drive this.
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59. Facilitating the eco-system- but what about
tooling?
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60. Enable diversity by inter-connecting the
tool
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61. Tooling facilitates the exchange of resources
between teams rather than enforcing how the
team gets their job done.
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62. Some of these
practices aren’t
working for my
team
How does this conversation change?...
Is that because its hard to change, or
what is it about your context that we
have to adapt to?
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63. …and what about this conversation?
That’s not how
we do agile!
But we just wanted
to try something!
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64. Facilitate the opportunity to learn…
You guys seem to
be doing something
different!
we just wanted to
try to reduce our
story writing effort
Lets see what
we can learn
then. As long as
you stay aligned
with our
principles, and
run this as an
experiment.
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65. Yes and from what we were
hearing we all thought we
were on the same page.
Unfortunately we weren’t.
While some structure is necessary, its not
sufficient…
How could you miss those
dependencies? Our methodology has
all sorts of coordination meetings?
Aren’t you holding them?
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66. People really do trump process. Learn to
unleash people’s talents.
What if Lydia facilitated the
meetings?
Great idea, she knows how to
make sure everyone really is on
the same page and no one would
dare miss the meetings.!
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67. Wow, we really
are finally on
the same page
A better result?
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68. A Tale of Two Approaches
Mechanistic (Frog only)
• Methodology used as a tool
for conformance
• CoE mandate is to roll out
the methodology
• People are animators of the
system
• Experimenting is often seen
as non conformance
• Mandated tool suite is
imposed
Organic (Frog, Octopus, Newt)
• Methodology used as a tool
for encouraging change
• CoE mandate is to create a
healthy eco-system
• People are an intrinsic part
of the system
• Experimentation (and hence
learning from failure) is
encouraged
• Diverse tooling is integrated
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69. The downside of the organic model
Everyone participate in process improvement. This is
NOT solely the responsibility of the CoE
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70. Why is this important?
“….Personnel attributes and human relations
activities provide by far the largest source of
opportunity for improving software
productivity”
- Barry Boehm, 1981, Software Engineering Economics
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71. FINAL WORDS
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72. “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the
enemy of growth” – John F. Kennedy
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73. Organizations that fossilize mechanistic
processes – even agile processes - are destined
to become fossils themselves
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74. Summary: Our Biological Definition of
Consistency
Consistency is the capability of the organization to
create a healthy environment that facilitates the
interaction between all the different organisms (Islands
of Agility) in the organizational eco-system
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75. Summary
• Consistency is not conformity.
• Enforcement of standard practices and standard tools
may create a mono culture by paving over a vibrant
eco-system
• The Frog, Octopus, and Newt represent three
perspectives of knowledge work, practice, context, and
people.
• An effective consistency programs focuses on all the
creatures in the eco-system– the Frog, Octopus, and
the Newt and changes them holistically
• Inter-connect tools rather than using a single tool to
create conformity
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76. Bibliography
• Morgan, G. (2006), Images of Organization, Sage Publications
• Taylor, F.W, 1911, The Principles of Scientific Management,
Courier
• Burns, T., Stalker G. M., (1961), The Management of
Innovation, Tavistok
• Kruchten, P. (2012), The Frog and the Octopus: A Conceptual
Model of Software Development
• Adolph, S., Kruchten, P. Hall, W. (2012) Reconciling
Perspectives: How People Manage the Process of Software
Development – Journal of Systems and Software
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77. Thank You!
Feel free to reach out… We’d love to hear from
you.
• Steve@developmentknowledge.com
• info@tasktop.com
• marketing@cprime.com
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