Sherpa Alliance

Some of the leading edge thinking and research into organizational agility comes (not surprisingly) from the field of software development  and the “Agile Software Development” set of methodologies, principles and tools.

As explained in great detail at Wikipedia: Agile Software Development, because software is at the heart of a business’ capability and capacity for agility these days, this concept represents a microcosm of the organizational agility macrocosm we are exploring.  Its conceptual foundations come out of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma and, in summary, Agile Software Development is:

• A software development approach based upon the iterative development of requirements and solutions, in a collaborative environment of self-organizing, cross-functional teams
• A disciplined project management process of frequent inspection and adaptation; teamwork, self-organization and accountability; rapid development and delivery of high-quality software, aligned with customer needs and company goals
• The evolution of the software product is broken into small incremental iterations (“timeboxes”), typically lasting between 1 to 4 weeks. 
• Each iteration is worked on by a team, through a full development cycle, to produce an integrated, quality product, available for release (which may or may not be released, depending upon the release strategy), emphasizing working software as the primary measure of progress (as opposed to documentation)
• Teams are cross-functional, self-organizing and autonomous from existing organizational hierarchies, often co-located in an open-plan, "skunk-works" kind of environment, facilitating real-time, on-line-all-the-time, face-to-face communications
• In addition, teams will use a routine and formal daily face-to-face meeting to stay in synch with one another.

As a result, products are able to be adapted quickly to rapidly changing circumstances, with the agility to sustain relevance, timeliness and alignment with customer needs and company goals.  Contrast this with the traditional “Waterfall” method of software development:

• A strict, pre-planned sequence of:  Requirements Capture; Analysis; Design; Coding; Testing
• An inflexible division of a project into separate stages, so that commitments are made early on, and it is difficult to react to changes in requirements and iterations are expensive.
• Seen as a heavy-weight, bureaucratic and slow approach, it is inconsistent with the way software developers actually perform effective work.
• It’s not that the “waterfall” method is wrong, it has its place in circumstances that are more predictable and unchanging.  It is unsuitable, however, if requirements are not well understood or are likely to change in the course of the project due to more dynamic circumstances (which have become increasingly prevalent, hence the emergence of more agile methods).

This provides us a good metaphor (The Power of Metaphors) to understand our agility as an organization - are we using the “Waterfall” method or the “Agile” method when it comes to the “soft-ware” of organizational agility, transposing the  literal definition of “software” to a broader definition of:

• The organizational agility “soft-ware” of evolving core strategies and a Traction Plan (Traction Planning for the Agility Advantage) that serve our multi-year journey;
• The organizational agility “soft-ware” of evolving the Mental Model of our business, the Possibilities Landscape we are on and our Integrated Business Model;
• The organizational agility “soft-ware” of doing Scenario Thinking, Contingency Planning and finding a path of profitable growth we can navigate, through the topography of the constraints we face.
• The organizational agility “soft-ware” of the mental agility required and the disciplined culture of accountability and responsibility for results.
• The organizational agility “soft-ware” of the higher order executive strengths needed to lead and manage these kinds of journeys.

The “Waterfall” method equates well to traditional “strategic planning & implementation”, which typically becomes about a top-down cascade of goal-setting, action-planning and assigning responsibilities, becoming departmental very quickly which reinforces silos rather than cross-functional teamwork (Traction Planning for the Agility Advantage).  Looking back up at the aspects of the “Waterfall” method of software development bulletized above, we recognize some similar shortfalls with traditional “strategic planning and implementation”.

The “Agile” method equates well to the concept of “Traction Planning” (Traction Planning for the Agility Advantage), putting us In the Driving Seat of Organizational Agility, translating strategy and execution into traction.  Looking back up at the aspects of the “Agile” method bulletized above, “Traction Planning” is an analogous approach, in particular resonating with the:

• Fast-cycle, iterative, adaptive approach, with emphasis on real progress rather than documentation (Triage - an ongoing, dynamic process of managing attention span)
• Cross-functional, self-organizing, autonomous teams avoiding the dangers of silo’ing
• Reliance on real-time, on-line-all-the-time communication, collaboration and coordination (If Walls Could Talk), as well as a disciplined routine of formal review meetings (Holding a Morning Meeting - just do it!), keeping everyone synchronized towards the desired integrated outcomes

That’s what our work is about.  Helping you adopt an agile software development approach to the “soft-ware” of organizational agility, with similar methodologies, principles and tools – a microcosm and a macrocosm of your business, all at the same time.  Your ability to develop the advantage of organizational agility depends upon it.