Sustainability is a key success factor for organizational agility. It’s right there as an underlying principle of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development.
Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.”
However, in my experience, sustainability is the agile principle that is most often forgotten or sacrificed when we are under pressure.
There are multiple ways to to look at sustainability related to organizational agility. I recently facilitated a workshop at Agile and Beyond 2016, and I put forward three theories.
Every time I give a talk or teach a Professional Scrum Course, I learn so much from attendees. This is what has inspired me to engage even more in the agile community. In the spirit of learning from each other’s experiences, here are the seven ideas I put forth plus the attendees’ creative and powerful ideas for how to make them happen.
Relate product roadmaps to clear organizational or business area objectives. We must start making the Product Owner role a primary role and give our Product Owners the time, knowledge, skills, and resources they need in order to create clear product roadmaps that optimize the value of the product.
We must stop prioritizing based on which stakeholder is yelling the loudest.
If we want innovative products and high-performing teams in our organization, we need to starting funding them. The project funding construct can destroy our efforts to grow sustainable teams and can make it difficult for Product Owners to make decisions based on optimizing the value of products. If we have clear product roadmaps tied back to organizational goals with traceable value, it is easier to fund products and awesome teams because the value they deliver is clear.
Teams often have little influence over organizational processes. They may find workarounds for organizational impediments, but that doesn’t mean the impediment is resolved or that waste does not still exist. Leadership must start solving the tough organizational problems that are creating waste and limiting agility. Be sure to ask for input from your teams and really listen.
Software development and product development are all about creative problem solving. We must start enabling, promoting, recognizing, and rewarding creativity and learning because it ultimately makes our people better at what they do, increasing the sustainability of the teams they are on and the value they provide to the organization.
Stop the “just this once” mentality. Forcing a directive on a team undermines self-management, especially if it forces them to sacrifice their values and principles.
If we do not have the meaning, connection, balance, and focus we need to bring our skills and talent fully to life, they are being wasted. We are not fully contributing to our teams, and therefore we cannot maximize the value our team provides to the organization. We must stop burning people out. We must start taking care of body, mind, and soul. One way to do this is for leadership to demonstrate through their own behavior.
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There will be bumps along the road. We must have sustainability in mind if we are to adapt and continue to move forward. There is not a guaranteed formula to follow, but there are some proven strategies, techniques, and practices that may work well for your situation. Consider how much your leadership has focused on these seven areas of action.
Where are you experiencing pain? What action can you take to influence organizational agility in your organization?
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