The fundamentals of Agile Transformation include forming teams, building backlogs and producing increments of working and tested software, regularly. Agile Transformation is creating networks of teams, managing trade-offs, putting together dependencies and getting things out in the market quickly as well as measuring throughout the process.
In order for your business to benefit from Agile Transformation, you must understand the correct way to plan. You must transform the way you work while moving away from the concept of big bang product releases and toward incremental delivery of products.
Every Agile Transformation is different but these are the typical steps most organizations go through.
Get Leadership on Board
Changes are required in every area of the business with Agile Transformation. It is important to have support from the top, ensuring all executives are on board with these changes and that they understand exactly how it will look.
Define End State Goals
It is important to define a vision for your end state goals. You know where you are going but it is important to generate a hypothesis for the process and the structures, governance and metrics that will be executed throughout the transformation.
Build a Roadmap
There needs to be at least some idea of what is going to happen and how it is going to happen. Your organization needs to have a general map to stick to regarding what needs to be done, how long it needs to be done and what benefits should be expected to be achieved.
Maintain a Plan
The Transformation Leadership Team is necessary to plan forward while maintaining the plan. This team is also responsible for assessing progress and adjusting as necessary while sticking to the plan. A goal should be set for how long the plan is stuck to.
Conduct Checkpoints
Similar to a sprint cycle, the progress of work should be assessed periodically. Any necessary adjustments should be made.
Adapt and Learn
Stop and re-assess the end-state vision throughout the process. Understanding will inevitably change, which will likely contribute to the change of the end-state vision of the transformation.
Connect Outcomes
The main reason your business is doing all of this is to generate better outcomes. When you begin, you generate a hypothesis and conduct experiments and determine outcomes based on what you learn. Although some activities will not be known in advance, the main goal is to become better at sequencing outcomes or goals that need to be achieved as well as to ensure that all activities tie back to those desired outcomes for your business.
Manage Communication
Communication about progress and changes from leadership should be regular and transparent. This will create energy and motivation amongst team members and foster the necessary culture for success.