Doing Agile Right — Micro Review
The book “Doing Agile Right” is a good way to end the year. Though it starts on familiar lines, it redeems itself by covering some very practical aspects of agile transformation in an organization.
At just over 300 pages, the book is a quick read but covers key aspects of agile transformation — How Agile you want to be, leadership, budgeting, organization etc.
If you have read other books on agile, devops or digital transformation (like I have), here are few things that stood out in the book:
- The degree of agility: The book explicitly talks about the sweet spot on different dimensions that every organization has to hit on their agile journey. This is very true and is presented very well in the book.
- Organization & Structures: The book explicitly covers operating model and not just org hierarchy or structures. That’s a more holistic approach that resonates very well.
- Talent & HR implications: One of the few books that talks through the Talent and HR implications of agile transformation, creating curated career paths and tracks etc.
I would definitely recommend reading this one.
Here are few notable excerpts to pique your interest:
“Agile enterprises are more than aggregations of teams. They are carefully balanced operating models that use agile methods to (1) run the business reliably and efficiently, (2) change the business to capitalize on unpredictable opportunities, and (3) harmonize the two activities”
“Building an agile enterprise does not mean doing away with bureaucracy completely. Anyone contemplating it has to pass F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous test of a first-rate intelligence: “the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” Indeed, the organization itself needs that kind of intelligence.”
“SAFe’s weaknesses include the rigidity of its prescriptions, its limited applicability to innovations beyond technology and software development, the amount of time and expense required for planning and coordinating activities, the amount of top-down bureaucracy that carries over to scaling processes, and its lack of attention to the harmonization of support and control functions such as human resources, marketing, and customer services.”
“They Fund Persistent Teams Rather Than Projects When Opportunities Are Enduring”
“An organization’s operating model should not be confused with its formal structure — it includes accountabilities and decision rights, a management system, leadership behaviors, culture, collaboration methodologies, and so on, in addition to structure”
“An organization’s structure is the easiest part to illustrate, but it’s important for companies to sketch out their entire operating model. How will decision rights work? Who sets budget levels? Where is an employee’s home base? …….
“Talent strategy informs a company’s talent system, meaning the processes it relies on to acquire, develop, deploy, manage, and reward its people. Several aspects of this system will have to be revamped as part of an agile transformation.”
“Agile companies simplify their job architecture — titles, levels, and pay grades — particularly in the disciplines that are most likely to provide members for agile teams. So some companies may also need to develop expert tracks.”
“There is a lot to consider in designing a holistic operating model — integrating your organization structure, accountabilities and decision rights, the management system, ways of working, talent practices, and so on.”
“Improved engineering practices and upgraded technical talent, typically requiring extensive technical training and coaching of both front-line employees and leadership, along with selective hiring to augment (and sometimes replace) current talent.”
