Unlocking Agility: An Insider's Guide to Agile Enterprise Transformation

Unlocking Agility: An Insider's Guide to Agile Enterprise Transformation

by Jorgen Hesselberg
Released August 2018
Publisher(s): Addison-Wesley Professional
ISBN: 9780134542850

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Book description

Practical Guidance and Inspiration for Launching, Sustaining, or Improving Any Agile Enterprise Transformation Initiative

As long-time competitive advantages disappear, astute executives and change agents know they must achieve true agile transformation. In Unlocking Agility, Jorgen Hesselberg reveals what works, what doesn't, and how to overcome the daunting obstacles.

Distilling 10+ years of experience leading agile transformation in the enterprise, Hesselberg guides you on jumpstarting change, sustaining momentum, and executing superbly on customer commitments as you move forward. He helps you identify appropriate roles for consultants, optimize organizational structures, set realistic expectations, and measure against them. He shares first-hand accounts from pioneering transformation leaders at firms including Intel, Nokia, Salesforce.com, Spotify, and many more.

• Balance building the right thing, the right way, at the right speed

• Design a holistic transformation strategy using five dimensions of agility: Technology, Organizational Design, People, Leadership, and Culture

• Promote agile skills, knowledge, and abilities throughout your workforce

• Incorporate powerful leadership models, including Level 5, Teal, and Beyond Budgeting

• Leverage business agility metrics to affect norms and change organizational culture

• Establish your Agile Working Group, the engine of agile transformation

• Define operating models and strategic roadmaps for unlocking agility, and track your progress

You already know agile transformation is essential. Now, discover how to customize your strategy, execute on it in your environment, and achieve it.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. About This E-Book
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Dedication Page
  6. Contents at a Glance
  7. Contents
  8. Foreword by Bjarte Bogsnes
  9. Foreword by Rich Sheridan
  10. Preface
    1. Goals and Methods
    2. Who Should Read This Book?
    3. How This Book Is Organized
  11. Acknowledgments
  12. About the Author
  13. Part I: The Case for Agility
    1. Chapter 1: The Agile Imperative
      1. Athens Beats Microsoft
      2. Origins of Modern Management
        1. Scientific Management: Building More Efficient Machines
        2. The Rise of the Knowledge Worker: Unlocking the Creative Potential
        3. Software Eats the World: Embracing Uncertainty and Becoming Agile
        4. VUCA and Cynefin: Orienting Businesses in a Brave New World
        5. The Cynefin Framework
      3. Leadership in a Complex World
        1. Business Agility: Accelerating Organizational Learning
      4. Summary
      5. Q&A
      6. Further Resources
      7. Footnotes
    2. Chapter 2: Enterprise Agility
      1. Defining Enterprise Agility
      2. Designing Business Agility: Balancing Three Critical Levers
        1. Building the Right Thing (Value)
        2. Building the Thing Right (Quality)
        3. Building at the Right Speed (Optimizing for Flow)
        4. Unlocking Agility in the Enterprise
        5. Performance Multipliers: Five Critical Dimensions of Agility
        6. Summary
        7. Q&A
        8. Further Resources
        9. Footnotes
  14. Part II: Five Dimensions of Agility
    1. Chapter 3: Technology
      1. Building the Right Thing: Creating Products Customers Love
        1. Business Model Canvas: An Interactive Tool for Instant Alignment
        2. Lean Startup: A Method for Validating That You’re Building a Product Worth Building
        3. Cost of Delay: Understanding the Impact of Time to Life Cycle Profits
      2. Building the Thing Right
        1. Scrum: Building Value Incrementally and Iteratively
        2. Kanban: Taming Chaotic Environments Through Visualization
      3. Building at the Right Speed: Optimizing for Flow
        1. XP
        2. Value Stream Mapping
      4. Summary
      5. Q&A
      6. Further Resources
      7. Footnotes
    2. Chapter 4: Organizational Design
      1. Physical Workplace Design
        1. Designing for Great Teams
        2. The Science Behind High-Performing Teams
        3. Case Study: More Effective Collaboration Spaces at NAVTEQ
      2. Organizational Structure
        1. Functional Structure
        2. Divisional Structure
        3. Matrix Structure
        4. Emergent Organizational Structures: Sociocracy and Holacracy
        5. An Agile Organizational Structure?
      3. Heuristics of Agile Organizational Designs
      4. Summary
      5. Q&A
      6. Further Resources
      7. Footnotes
    3. Chapter 5: People
      1. Never Underestimate the Importance of People
      2. Characteristics of People in Agile Organizations
        1. Fostering a Growth Mind-Set
        2. Developing an Enterprise Growth Mind-Set
        3. Embracing Diversity
      3. Strategies for Building an Environment Supportive of Agile People
      4. Implications for HR in an Agile Organization
        1. Partner with Teams to Improve Recruiting
        2. Design Meaningful Compensation, Rewards, and Recognition Plans
        3. Create More Relevant Roles and Define a More Flexible Career Path
        4. Empower People by Moving Authority Closer to the Team
        5. HR: From Controlling Function to Unlocking Enterprise Agility
      5. Summary
      6. Q&A
      7. Further Resources
      8. Footnotes
    4. Chapter 6: Leadership
      1. Impact of Leadership
        1. Level 5 Leadership
        2. Level 5 Leadership = Agile Leadership?
      2. Teal Leadership
        1. Red: Lead Through Force
        2. Amber: Lead Through Fiat
        3. Orange: Lead Through Efficiency
        4. Green: Lead Through Responsibility
        5. The Organization: An Organic Ecosystem of Interrelated Parts
        6. Teal: The Organization as a Living Entity
        7. The Teal Organization: A Blueprint for the Organization of the Future?
      3. Beyond Budgeting: An Agile Management Model
        1. Origins of Beyond Budgeting
        2. Beyond Budgeting: Less Top-Down Control, More Trust and Empowerment
      4. The Death of the Traditional CEO?
      5. Three Essential Themes of Agile Leadership
      6. Summary
      7. Q&A
      8. Further Resources
      9. Footnotes
    5. Chapter 7: Culture
      1. The Profound Impact of Culture
      2. How We Experience Culture
      3. The Schneider Culture Model
        1. Collaboration—“We Succeed by Working Together”
        2. Control—“We Succeed by Getting and Keeping Control”
        3. Competence—“We Succeed by Being the Best”
        4. Cultivation—“We Succeed by Growing People Who Fulfill Our Vision”
      4. Culture’s Impact to Sustaining Change
        1. Changing Organizational Culture
      5. Characteristics of Business Agility Metrics
        1. Actionable
        2. Accessible
        3. Auditable
        4. Additional Heuristics
      6. Examples of Meaningful Business Agility Metrics
        1. Metrics That Help Support Building the Right Thing
        2. Metrics That Help Support Building the Thing Right
        3. Metrics That Help Support Building at the Right Speed (Flow)
      7. Performance System Changes → Behavior Changes → Culture Changes
      8. Summary
      9. Q&A
      10. Further Resources
      11. Footnotes
  15. Part III: Unlocking Agility
    1. Chapter 8: Building Your Organization’s Agile Working Group
      1. The AWG: Mission and Purpose
      2. Characteristics of the AWG
        1. Complementary
        2. Dedicated
        3. Knowledgeable
        4. Credible
        5. Humble
        6. Champion
      3. Role of External Consultants
      4. Organizational Structure and the AWG
        1. Whole System View
        2. Temporary Lifespan
        3. Dual-Boot Operating System
      5. Recruiting for the AWG
        1. Resistance from Managers
        2. Hesitation from Potential Candidates
      6. The AWG: What’s in It for You?
      7. Summary
      8. Q&A
      9. Further Resources
      10. Footnotes
    2. Chapter 9: An Operating Model for Business Agility
      1. Unlocking Agility: Embrace Change, Execute with Purpose
      2. Exploration: An Engine for Embracing Change
        1. 1. Establish Partnerships with External Innovation Hubs
        2. 2. Take Ownership Interest in Potential Disruptors
        3. 3. Acquire Disruptive Competitors—and Let Their Culture and People Flourish
        4. 4. Create an Internal Culture of Disruptive Innovation
      3. Exploitation: Executing Proven Strategies with Purpose
        1. Lost in Translation: How Product Strategy Turns from Vision to Hallucination
        2. Executing with Purpose Through Progressive Refinement
        3. Executing with Purpose Through Fast Organizational Feedback Loops
      4. Creating a Balance: Embracing Change and Executing with Purpose in the Right Proportions
      5. On Scaling Frameworks
        1. Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
        2. Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS)
        3. Disciplined Agile Framework
        4. Benefits of Scaling Frameworks
        5. Drawbacks of Leveraging Scaling Frameworks
      6. Summary
      7. Q&A
      8. Further Resources
      9. Footnotes
    3. Chapter 10: Unlocking Agility: A Strategic Roadmap
      1. Unlocking Enterprise Agility: A High-Level Strategic Roadmap
        1. Partnered Transition (Wave 1)
        2. Self-Guided (Wave 2)
        3. Innate (Wave 3)
      2. What Agility Looks Like in Action: Applying the Five Dimensions of Organizational Agility
        1. Technology
        2. Organizational Design
        3. People
        4. Leadership
        5. Culture
      3. Identifying and Driving Change Through an Organizational Improvement Backlog
        1. Unlocking Agility in an Agile Manner
        2. Step 1: Define and Communicate a Clear Purpose for the Transformation
        3. Step 2: Identify Key Impediments Preventing Us from Reaching the Goal
        4. Step 3: Build and Execute the Transformation Backlog
        5. Step 4: Maintain Momentum: Continuously Monitor Progress, Communicate Results, Seek Feedback, and Celebrate Failures
        6. Top 10 Items Leading to Transformation Failure
        7. Seven Signs You’re on Your Way to Unlocking Agility
      4. The Road Ahead: Now What?
      5. Summary
      6. Q&A
      7. Further Resources
      8. Footnotes
  16. Index

Product information

  • Title: Unlocking Agility: An Insider's Guide to Agile Enterprise Transformation
  • Author(s): Jorgen Hesselberg
  • Release date: August 2018
  • Publisher(s): Addison-Wesley Professional
  • ISBN: 9780134542850