For the second of our five keys to success in organisational transformation we are going to look at the importance of taking a holistic approach rather than one which focuses on functional silos such as ‘business’, ‘technology’, ‘finance’ or ‘governance’. By focussing on the whole organisation, we do not mean trying to change the entire organisation in one go – also known as boiling the ocean – but that we consider all functions within the part of the organisation (such as a business unit or domain area) we are focussing on changing.
Using technology as a driver for change
Challenges with current technology are often a driving factor in organisational transformations. Difficulty in creating new offerings, making changes and high operating costs are often associated with an ageing and fractured set of technology systems. Many of these systems are not suited to modern software delivery practices such as test automation, continuous integration and continuous deployment, and as such will likely need to be replaced in order to support these new ways of working.
Technology replacement provides both a great driver and opportunity for advancing organisational transformation. It allows us to build a portion of our desired ‘transformed’ target state in terms of our people, processes, technology and organisational structure. Techniques such as Domain Driven Design allow us to ensure that our technology and supporting teams, as well as business operations, are structured around discrete things of value to the business.
Where organisations undergoing transformation do not see and use renewal of their systems estate as a major opportunity to drive towards their desired state, technology constraints always become a major
blocker to change. We frequently see this in organisations that use ‘green field’ opportunities to prove the value and feasibility of the ‘target’ state with significant success but can’t seem to replicate it in their ‘legacy’ world. It is easy to implement new processes and structures when you are not being constrained, typically by existing technology. Using technology refreshment as an opportunity for transformation removes this often-significant constraint.
Cross-functional teams focussed around a thing of value
Cross-functional teams are a critical factor in the effective continuous delivery of value to the customer. They contain all of the skills and knowledge necessary to take an item of work from its identification through to delivery. In doing so, they minimise or eliminate the need for any functional hand-offs in the delivery of the work, reducing potential wait times and keeping the overall cycle time for an item of work to a minimum.
Cross-functional teams should ideally be stable, long lived and structured around a thing of value to the business. Stable, long lived teams are able to achieve mastery through established relationships, communication patterns and general ways of working. Structuring the team around a thing of value in the business allows this effectiveness to be focussed on a specific area, creating a sense of ownership in the team as well as opportunities and insight derived from short, medium, and long term feedback on the impact of their work on the organisation or customer.
Where organisations are unable to establish cross-functional teams they are likely to see significant delays in the delivery of value to customers as work crosses several functional boundaries and waits to be prioritised and actioned by the new function. Work is also likely to be delayed as clarification around details is sought by the new function and occasionally the feasibility or value of the work challenged due to the new function not having been represented at the original idea stage.
Agility over the whole work lifecycle
Agility over the whole lifecycle means introducing new ways of working from the point at which ideas are generated through the whole process of delivering them to the customer and understanding their impact. This will mean adopting a new lifecycle for the work which allows it to be assessed for value and feasibility with increasing levels of detail as we invest more time and effort into its delivery.
A typical lifecycle for an initiative will take it from an idea or proposition, through a phase of feasibility or discovery, on to planning or inception and then on to delivery and support / support & enhancement. The same cross-functional team will take the initiative through the phases, though its composition may vary as needed (e.g. more developers during the delivery phase). Adoption of the new lifecycle allows elements such as funding and governance to be ‘right sized’ to the phase of the work, and supports a flexible and lean approach to managing the overall portfolio of work.
Organisations that do not implement agility over the whole work lifecycle but only within a functional silo (typically ‘technology’ or ‘development’) are unable to receive the full benefits of Lean and Agile ways of working as they are still tied to the heavy weight governance and funding models associated with more waterfall delivery. It is only by introducing agility into the full work lifecycle that we can deliver true business agility.