Change Management is the Sweet Spot for Agile
CONTEXT
Let's perform a little exercise.
Look at the table indicating which scenarios are best suited for Waterfall versus Agile ways of working and think about what you can infer.
This is an exercise that I conduct in the Lean Change Agent workshop.
What's the point?
Waterfall approaches - characterized by lengthy and detailed upfront planning - work best when requirements are known and stable, while Agile ways of working (WoW) are suited for situations where requirements are unknown, emergent, and/or unstable.
We have built dams, high-rise buildings, and installed off-the-shelf ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems many times before, so the outcomes and requirements are known in advance.
Completing these projects comes down to math, engineering, physics, and architectural design. Materials, blueprints, machinery, and labor can be planned with a relative degree of accuracy well in advance.
What makes writing code for a new app and new product development different?
These projects have never been done before – the work is unique, and end-user requirements are emergent – they cannot be fully known or planned for in advance.
This is where Agile approaches – working in short iterations with customer feedback loops built in – excel.
Agile WoW promote reducing risk and improving outcomes by learning your way forward through a continuous cycle of building small amounts and getting continuous customer feedback to improve.
Did you notice that installing an off-the-shelf ERP is suited for Waterfall, but change management for that same off-the-shelf ERP is suited for Agile?
THE BIG IDEA
All change management work can and should leverage Agile ways of working.
Think about it.
Change management deals with people and systems of people, which are complex and whose needs, requirements, and reactions to change cannot be fully predicted in advance.
The famous American astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, has a quote that sums up this insight beautifully:
“In science, when human behaviour enters the equation, things go non-linear. That’s why physics is easy and sociology is hard.”
In other words, we can easily build a rocket that travels into orbit – it’s a feat of engineering – but when we put people on that rocket, the outcomes of the mission become suddenly more complex and unknowable.
Perhaps more importantly, Tyson is reminding us that our organizations are social systems.
If you replace the word “physics” with “chemistry” in the quote above, you can draw another example.
If you throw salt into 100 buckets of water, you get the same predictable chemical reaction every time.
But what happens if you throw 100 people into water? Suddenly, outcomes are less predictable.
Some will sink, some will swim, some will laugh, some will cry… either way, you’re probably running for the hills (don't try this at home).
Back to our original question – why is installing an off-the-shelf ERP suited for Waterfall, but change management for that same off-the-shelf ERP is suited for Agile?
Because installing the ERP – building the “thing” – is a technical feat that can be planned and executed with confidence – it’s deterministic in nature.
But getting people to embrace, adopt, and utilize the “thing” is an emergent challenge that cannot be forced with the execution of a pre-determined plan – it’s non-deterministic in nature.
Think about it like this: Are you currently supporting an initiative from a change management perspective?
If so, what is your plan 6 months from now?
4 months from now?
2 months from now?
In other words, how certain are you about the actions that you will need to take in the future to support change outcomes?
The image below shows the results of this exercise from one of my recent Lean Change Agent workshops.
These are all very experienced change managers indicating that they can’t predict future needs or requirements, so why do we insist on writing big, heavy waterfall style change plans as if we can?
There’s a better way. Applying Agile practices to change management enables you to learn your way forward through change.
LESSONS FOR MODERN CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Agile ways of working can and should be applied to all types of initiatives – whether an Agile initiative or a Waterfall initiative.
Applying Agile practices to change management is relatively easy. Here are three Agile practices that I teach in the Lean Change Agent workshop that you can apply immediately:
Use a Time-Boxed Change Process: Work in short iterations and build in feedback loops with your stakeholders. The length of the iteration will vary based on context. This applies Scrum practices to change work. What we don’t do is commit to a shippable piece of change work at the end of the iteration. This is where a pull-based process comes in.
Use a Pull-Based Change Process: Use Kanban to flow work based on need and value. Without a pull-based process, you cannot achieve agility.
Use the Strategic Change Canvas: This is the co-created living change strategy. Create it with people impacted by the change and then revisit it monthly to update it based on emergent learning.
If you'd like to learn more about how to apply Agile ways-of-working to change, consider joining our next Lean Change Agent workshop.
Thanks for reading!
