AGILE AND THE BUREAUCRACY

Moving Forward from Existing, to Surviving, to Thriving

REALITY
Big Business (any kind) moves slowly
That doesnt make them inherently evil or dim-
witted they just have a lot more layers and
priorities to communicate with.
An argument could be made that large
businesses have the most to gain but that
doesnt make it any easier.
The perfect team may not survive agendas
and politics to compete with.

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FOR EXAMPLE (MY WORLD)
Awareness a few months vs. 2+ years

Support required on many levels on both
customer and IT side; (Inherited customer trust)

Critical Need Staff Turnover / Knowledge Silos
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FOR EXAMPLE (MY WORLD) CONT.
Starting Point ALM Assessment (point out
shortcomings, and how Agile best practices can
improve them.) Customers dont really care about
Agile they want to know how you are going to
improve their process/software.

Constant reaching out Alex Hutton/TechSmith, Dave
Smith/Moblizd, Brendon Thiede/Vertifore/JNL, Gary Smith/Michigan
Millers, Jeff Dalton/Broadsword Solutions (Not even counting DTMB
contacts, and these MMAG meetings.)

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A GREAT LINK
http://anagilestory.com/
Pragilematic
The Evolution of Business, Software, Technology &
Leadership

August Topic was The Agile Management Fad interesting
read

Next eight tactics taken freely from the July 20, 2011 article:
Can Agile Work in Big Organizations?
(I KNEW other folks had been through
this!)

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HYBRIDIZATION OF AGILE: PRAGMAGILE
Yes.but you have to be pragmatic. What I mean is that
youll need to realize that this bureacracy and the people in
it were bequeathed their titles for a reason. Theyre
successful, to a certain extent, because they know how to
get things done despite all the red tape and foot
dragging. As an agilist, these people are not your enemies
despite their gantt charts and stakeholder evaluation
matrices. Theyre your allies, your tools to be upwardly
managed.
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EIGHT TACTICS
1. Follow the principles of The Pragmatic Manifesto. Key
among these is embracing everyonenot just the
software development team. See everyone as having value
and being able to participate and contribute to your software
development process. Be pragmagile.

2. Walk it, dont talk it. Show your company agile
works. Dont go around preaching it and extolling its virtues
when you havent even delivered one project yet. You might
even want to avoid the word agile altogether and just say
this is how I like to work: meet every two weeks, go over
any changes, hedge the risk that we dont understand, and
adjust project course as needed.

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EIGHT TACTICS (CONT.)
3. Help your project sponsor help you. Your project
sponsor in a large corporation is likely a veteran of the
company. Dont discount this as stuck in the
old ways. They know stuff you dont and they can help you
stay in good graces with all the red tape barrons. Keep a
solid, open and agreeable relationship with your project
sponsor.

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EIGHT TACTICS (CONT.)
4. Give a little, get a little. Another way of saying
this.dont be dogmatic. If someone doesnt like some
aspect of your agile approach dont automatically write them
off. They may have good reasons for their objection, and by
showing your concern and willingness to adjust..youre
demonstrating a core tenant of agility. If stand-ups are
hard for people with back issues, then try a 15 minute conf
call. If the customer just cant meet every two weeks, then
try every month or on a more lucid schedule. But above
all.be flexible

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EIGHT TACTICS (CONT.)
5. Focus on the goal. Delivery of your project/product is
what youre after. Not agile adoption by your
company. Maybe youll get this as a side effect, but
honestly.you probably werent hired to evangelize the
enterprise. Furthermoreyou cant do it on your own. Put
your accounting hat on and think hard-ball. Git-her-done.
(so you can start with a particular best practice that
really helps the customer)

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EIGHT TACTICS (CONT.)
6. Seek to understand the culture and the history behind
it. Maybe your company doesnt move fast on this software
project because your building something that its enormously
complex and could kill someone if not done right. There
may be very good reasons for stifling rules and countless
reviews/approvals. Work with the grain of the woodnot
against it. (a lot of rules are open to interpretation)

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EIGHT TACTICS (CONT.)
7. Stop assuming everyone wants to be agile. Worse yet,
stop assuming everyone knows what it is. They may have
heard about it and chalked it up to no more than a new
process. But those of us whove lived it know that the real
change is cultural. Its a tough shift and it wont happen
overnight. Be patient with those around you. Theyre trying
to learn and youre there to help them along. Be prepared
for the guy who says Agile sucks and heres why. He
may have valid reasons for his opinion and discounting him
will only deepen his view. (encourage them to roll their
own Agile its awesome! They are just as smart as
you are)

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EIGHT TACTICS (CONT.)
8. Figure out the commitment level up front. I wrote about
this in another article: Are You Committed? But, essentially
the team is supposed to commit to the iteration at
hand. But.what does that really mean? Commitment is
one word with many different interpretations. Dont assume
you know how much the team is willing to commit and dont
assume that the companies HR policies and benefits jive
with the agile philosophy. (Commitment ebbs and flows
too)

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SUMMARY
Be tenacious (in the nicest possible way)
Network !! Inside and Out
It may take multiple attempts before Agile sticks
leverage/learn from the prior efforts;
The Same Everywhere No substitute for hard IT
skillsets; Communication is a hard skill. Ask any
P.M. if you dont believe me!

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REFERENCE
http://www.allaboutagile.com/5-reasons-why-agile-
development-must-be-driven-from-the-top/
(February, 2010 article) All About Agile

With respect to large organizations, I say yes,
eventually. The Top will want to see some
evidence of success before they get behind it
you would be well served to line up a small success
first but that is an art in itself.
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CONCLUSION
Questions?

Thank-You!

careyj@michigan.gov
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