Agile Transformation: Strategic Framework for Conglomerate Companies

Agile Transformation
`
Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing
School of Computing and Information Systems
MPhil to PhD Upgrade Report
Strategic Agile Transformation Framework
For
Conglomerate Companies
Submitted by: Muhammet Emin ERBAY
K1547147
Submission date: 07/01/2019
SEC Research Information Systems
1st Supervisor: Dr Islam Choudhury
2nd Supervisor: Prof Souheil Khaddaj
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Agile Transformation
Abstract
An Agile transformation strategy is one of the most advanced technology that has been
widely adopted by the current software companies to develop the strategic environment for
their software development. The Agile transformation strategy helps the organization to
develop their long term plan for achieving the long term goals to transform the values and
principles according to the concepts of the Agile transformation. This strategy guides the
principles to follow to achieve this goal along with this it helps to guide to select the best
agile practice or framework for the combination of the (techniques like –Scrum, Kanban,
Lean, TDD,XP etc.)is best suited for the organization .According to various study the agile
transformation strategy requires the great amount of the planning , assessment and
collaboration among the numbers of the organization and it is highly required to have an
extensive study for taking the decision for developing the strategy. The strategy must be
unique for the organization and it should be developed according to the environment of the
organization. Most importantly a proactive training program should be provided to the staff
members so that they become well prepared to work in this environment and most importantly
their mindset is ready to adopt this technology. This transformation strategy is helping to join
the technological strategies with the business strategies to achieve the long term goals that
help to improve the working environment of the organization. It is evident that there are
enormous amount of agile technologies and practices to implement this technology are
available but for organizations it is a big problem to select the best Agile technology as well
practice for their working environment. Here this report will highlight the significance of the
implementation of Agile transformation strategy in the companies especially software
companies. This will help to leverage the benefits of this technology in advancement of the
working manner in organization. Further the paper will present a brief detail of various Agile
technologies and practices to implement the transformation strategy.
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Agile Transformation
Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................3
Strategic Agile Transformation Framework..........................................................................5
Problem......................................................................................................................................7
Literature Review..................................................................................3
Agile Transformation Process for Conglomerate Companies..............4
Strategic Agile Leadership....................................................................9
SAFe Lean Agile System....................................................................10
Lean Agile...........................................................................................12
Methdology...........................................................................................................................................13
Timeline of the PhD............................................................................13
Summary.............................................................................................13
References...........................................................................................14
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Agile Transformation
1.0 Introduction
Agile methodology has been considered as one of the major transformation strategies that will
ensure the management of the entire business processing that is related to the field of IT
organization. Various statements regarding the Agile methodology states that this terminology
of Agile methodology is not only a type of study but a methodology that endeavours the
functioning of the entire project that the business organization has undertaken. Hence it is
very important for the team members to be dynamic in nature. According to the study it is
observed that the composure of an entire business that is dependent on the employees of the
organization. This report will provide a literature review on the topic of Strategic Agile
Transformation for Conglomerate
Fig 1 : Agile Transformation approach : Source –www.quickscrum.com
According to the survey the Agile technology is one of the most advanced technology and
is widely accepted in the software companies due to its enormous benefits, but as there are
many technologies are available in this domain so it become difficult for the organizations to
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Agile Transformation
select an appropriate agile technology for their organization. According to the Software
research Institute the Agile Technology is defined as –“Agile technology helps the
organization to provide the capability to take decision quickly and think easily. “ The
main aim in Software development while adopting the agile technology is to develop an
appropriate working , quality oriented software product in the short duration of time by doing
the work in increment manner and bringing changes in it easily according to the
requirements. Agile technologies are mainly used in those environments where it is required
to adopt the changing requirements in the fast manner and have to bring the changes
according to it. Agile technology is mainly related to the project mangement of the software
development in the effective manner. The principles stated by researchers about the Agile
technology that gives the values that guide the software project team to work in the
effective manner to achieve the well set goals , these principles and values are published
in the Agile manifesto .
The main four values stated by the manifesto are as follows-
 In agile transformation the focus should be on the Individuals and interaction over the
processes and tools.
 It is required that the software product should concentrate on working of the software
product rather than the comprehensive documentation.
 To get the better results collaborate the customers for the contract negotiation.
 It is highly recommended to respond over change and work on it with proper plan.
2.0 Strategic Agile Transformation Framework
The agile transformation implies that all the team members and processes involved in the
organization should be agile and all the work tasks should be done accordingly. It requires to
consider on improving firstly on the structure of the organization that helps in developing the
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Agile Transformation
flexible , collaborative and self-organizing organization. Secondly it is required to concentrate
how the governance of the organization intake , it will help in analyzing how the decisions are
made at the organization. How the capacity at the organization is utilized and how the
coordination among the team is developed. Then thirdly it is also required to use a well
designed metrics for measuring the performance of the organization . In this process the
metrics are collected and improvement or degradation in various sectors are thoroughly
studied according to the features proposed by the stakeholders. Along with this a detailed
description of the areas where the changes have been reported are shown. After analyzing
these changes the vision for the organization is required to set along with the road map to
achieve this. It is essentially required for the team members to know the benefits of adopting
these techniques in the organization.
Then next important step will be creating the proper implementation plan to achieve this
objective. For this along with setting the vision the selection of right person to have suitable
help in implementing this program must be selected. The set team, should include senior
members from the organization so that their experience can be contributed in gaining the
success of the project. Along with this the Team leader should assign the specific roles and
responsibility to the team members of the project.
Then the team should undergo the similar projects done by the organization and the key
factors that helped in achieving the success of these projects should be included in the new
proposed project also. Not only these project study will help to determine the key success
factors but will also help in getting the detail of the critical work areas in the project and also
the ways to handle such scenarios. To achieve this along with studying the similar projects the
organization should develop standard practices and approaches that are mandatory for the
team members to work on an agile frame work. Most importantly the Agile transformation is
transformation of the mindset of the team members also so the continuous communication is
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Agile Transformation
necessary to reinforce the need for the Agile and its benefits for the organization to
implement.
Along with above the most important step in achieving this goal will be to have continuous
learning , seeking the innovative approaches for performing the process and striving for
providing the improvement in the work on the continuous path. Along with the continuous
feedback and working on improvement in the system should be provided. Along with this
self introspection is also highly required in viewing the weakness and factors that lead poor
performance in the work is also highly required. The adaptability to grasp new techniques and
procedures should be incorporated.
The Agile Transformation Framework provides a well structured format for the
organization in the form that is naturally able to embrace and thrive in the flexible ,
collaborative , self –organizing and in the fast changing environment. Agile adoption refers to
adopting the values defined in the Agile Manifesto in the working environment to develop
the high quality software even in the highly demanding situation. The agile transformation is
not only related to adopting the agile policies in the working pattern but it is also
transforming the mindset of the working individuals in the organization so that these practices
does not become a enforcement but a working habit in their working style so that the
benchmarks of the high quality software product could be achieved.
In this series one very important element is the Agile Lean Transformation while
implementing and recognizing the Lean practicing and values. Initially lean approach was
considered for the manufacturing but the advance features of this technology was later
adopted in software development. The key objective of the Lean transformation is to
maximize the customer value and minimizing the waste (Hardware /software , manpower time
, Cost , etc.). The organization has to focus on the principles of agility to obtain the successful
results.
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Agile Transformation
The seven Key principles to be adopted in Software development are as follows-
 Develop practices to eliminate the waste.
 Focus on amplifying the learning innovative practicing.
 Not to take decision early without analyzing all the associated factors.
 Work to provide fast delivery.
 Work on providing the Team Empowerment.
 Focus on Built – in –integrity.
 Focus on viewing the application as a whole.
The above given Agile values and principles provide the facility to create the high quality
software rapidly. It is also required to focus on eliminating the waste by eliminating defects,
non-productive meetings , waiting etc.
3.0 Problem
The key problems observed while transforming the agile framework is as follows-
 The major problem area with the organization in Agile transformation is
selecting the appropriate technology for their organization from the pool of
available Agile practices.
 Most importantly the objective of the agility can be achieved only when the
whole organization works in seamless manner by following the practices of the
agile manifesto only.
 Some results has displayed that the team is capable to work well in the Scrum
environment but in the business the incremental value from the investment
could not be obtained.
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