Agile at Scale Beyond Basics: Deep Dives into Advanced Agile Scaling Techniques

Overview

First, we will examine the idea of a sufficiently strong steering coalition—a coalition of individuals who will ensure that agile is a game-changer within your organization—which often exists at the outset of your implementation endeavor. Next, we will delve deeper into the process of defining value streams and agile release trains.

We will examine other business divisions, such as the finance, HR, and acquisition departments, and see how we can integrate them into our agile release trains and the agile delivery organization we are building. Next, we will focus on how to measure business agility inside your company and what the most practical approach is to take. Subsequently, we will examine the framework's built-in checks and balances for continuous improvement, which will ensure that we maintain the high standards of process and concept development within our business.

We will take a close look at the requirements model and examine the flow of work through the various backlog systems before arriving at the pull-based work distribution system. We will consider designing a roadmap especially for your company. Finally, we will go into great length on the lean and agile principles, which are not directly related to this framework but are highly helpful for anyone wishing to work as an agile coach at a large scale within an agile business.

This chapter specifically addresses the coalition that provides sufficient guidance and strength. Your core team is the sufficiently strong guiding coalition that will support agile within your company. And in order to fully understand the significance of sponsorship for the adequately strong directing coalition, let's start this chapter by discussing it. We'll examine advisors and trainers. Lastly, we will examine the most effective ways to train the members of your sufficiently strong steering coalition. Alright, then, let us begin this chapter.

Adequately Potent Leading Alliance

Why is a strong enough directed coalition necessary in our framework? It goes without saying that our goal is to change from a traditional organization to an agile one. But as was covered in the introduction chapter, firms typically consider converting to an agile organization due to a variety of triggers. This is the so-called tipping moment, which could result in a smoldering platform or a significant loss to competitors with greater agility.

Typically, there's a clear turning point when management decides it's time to transition to an agile company. But then the issue comes up: when it comes to integrating agile within your firm, where do you even begin? Some fundamentalists of agile believe that agile needs to be developed from the ground up. Thus, we should collaborate in autonomous, small, agile teams and allow them to follow their own procedures for ongoing local input. Agile will then permeate the rest of the business via these teams. Thus, by taking a few small, agile teams and guiding them through the process of examining and modifying each chapter as well as every retrospective chapter they have at each iteration, agile will be able to spread throughout the company.

This is referred to as a grassroots strategy. Nevertheless, it turns out that a sandwich method works better, as covered in the introduction chapter. As a team, there are tasks that must be completed. But, in order to ensure that agile is implemented in the company as easily as possible, there are also some essential management actions that must be taken. Budgeting is one of the few things that should be changed at the management level and should not be left to the teams. Other items to think about include the corporate vision and the roadmap that involves several teams working on different program increments. Organizations must use the sandwich approach and ensure that both teams have the freedom to experiment and develop the optimal team process in order to have a successful agile implementation. Additionally, management must establish the necessary frameworks to enable these teams to function effectively.

When implementing agile within an organization, the management aspect is typically handled by a sufficiently strong governing coalition. Accordingly, when we examine the sufficiently strong directing coalition, we typically find leaders and executives within the organization in addition to coaches and change agents. Typically, the Lean Agile Center of Excellence—which we discussed in the last book—is the final section. This adequately strong steering coalition is made up of individuals that not only have extensive knowledge of agile but also have significant influence inside the business, enabling some of the more senior members to support the implementation.

As we now turn our attention to the duties, they often involve determining the tipping point and reaching it so that the organization may begin implementing an agile model. Subsequently, a sufficiently strong guiding coalition can also be employed at this point to train the organization's leaders and other coaches using some of the agile coaches. Finding the value streams and the agile release trains that will launch first in our new agile delivery organization, however, is a crucial first step. Naturally, the suitably strong directing coalition will then be involved in developing and revising the strategy due to their understanding of both the organization and agile. They have a crucial role to play in training the agile release train teams in addition to starting the process of getting the agile release trail ready for launch. Most significantly, though, is that they support, enhance, and coach the agile release train execution.

Thus, a team of excellence that serves as the organization's go-to resource for agile and assistance at the management and team levels is the adequately strong guiding coalition. Naturally, they're also involved in finding and implementing more agile value streams and release trains. They will also assist in converting the agile company into an agile portfolio when the time comes. In other words, you may think of the sufficiently strong guiding coalition as a group of individuals who will support agile within the company and who have the managerial expertise and connections necessary to ensure that this team takes responsibility for the execution of agile. Alright, so let's start by examining the executives and leaders who are a part of the suitably strong steering coalition.

Heads and Providers

The leaders and executive are the first set of individuals who should unquestionably be included in a sufficiently strong governing coalition. The people who are now sponsoring the agile implementation inside your company are executives and leaders. As far as we presently know, any or all of the following traits should be present in every agile leader operating at scale within an agile business. They must, first and foremost, be able to drive change. Put otherwise, they must possess sufficient expertise about agile in order to spearhead the shift. Furthermore, it is up to them to ensure that the agile implementation really succeeds. Then they ought to be aware of the route. This pertains to our understanding of agile as well.

Thus, it is crucial for agile leaders to understand not only how to use agile, but also the company itself. They ought to place a strong emphasis on lifelong learning for both themselves and the individuals in the business. However, fostering employee development within the company should always be the main priority. They ought to motivate and support the goal, reduce obstacles in the way of the teams' ability to carry out their task in an agile manner. Decentralizing decision-making is one of the most difficult things an agile leader can do, in my opinion, because most of them want to take the agile implementation and put a lot of effort into putting it into practice themselves. Rather, they should decentralize decision-making and return some of the decision-making authority to the teams within the organization.

Lastly, they ought to enable knowledge markers' inherent motivation within their company. Stated differently, they ought to guarantee that the organization's employees have the necessary framework to function effectively and are inspired to spearhead the agile transformation. But, the executives and leaders who make up the adequately strong directing coalition are crucial because it will be up to them to see the actual execution through to completion. If we examine these individuals' current positions inside an organization that is not yet agile, we typically find that they have the necessary internal connections and reputation to move things along. Since an agile organization is obviously not created overnight, it is crucial that the executives and leaders who make up the sufficiently strong guiding coalition have the standing and connections inside the company to effect change and inspire employees at both the executive and execution levels to begin and complete this agile implementation.

Additionally, there ought to be sufficient funding available so that these individuals may begin implementing agile. Typically, launching an agile implementation at scale requires a significant financial outlay. Lastly, and perhaps most crucially, as they transition, they must acknowledge and celebrate all of the accomplishments made possible by the agile organization. Not appreciating the victories when making the shift to an agile company is one of the major errors that companies make. Rejoicing in your victories will serve as a spur for more achievements. People in the rest of the organization will be more open to considering a large-scale shift to an agile organization if they are aware of how successful the agile organization is.

Now, based on their traits, these sponsors and leaders typically possess a good understanding of agile, but they also undoubtedly require a deep understanding of the organization. Although the organization's