How does this happen? It all starts when IT goes one way and programs run by other divisions don't. We all know that Agile isn't meant to abruptly start and end with IT, and yet many a business leader tends to want to treat that Agile thing that IT does as an odd indulgence that we need to humor in order to get the work out of developers. Wacky Aunt Helen's house smells like cats and rotten eggs, but she contributes to the kids' college funds, so so we just smile and nod when she talks about taking in more strays.
From the Program Management end here are some common disappointments:
- Unpredictability
- Missed dates
- Missed requirements
- Lack of trust
- IT is slow and the enemy
From the IT development team side, there are disappointments, just as weighty:
- Pressure to deliver unrealistically
- Poor backlog management by Waterfall product managers
- Sense of failure
- Heavy tech debt that only increases
- "The Business" doesn't understand
As for results? Either something weak and half-baked is set to market, or, "We've been waiting for 18 months for IT to finish this project." No value delivered.
Then rather than leaning in to a wider level of commitment, executives who are understandably concerned about the board and shareholders, care less and less about this touchy-feely Agile stuff, and more and more about the bottom line. IT then becomes a paler image of true Agile, and the business divisions become even more adherent to traditional program management, their most inflexible leaders become the most praised for their "standards" and the split becomes a chasm.
And with blame being thinly disguised via the word "accountability" and the arrows flying across functions and up and down the food chain, now the culture becomes toxic sludge.
How do we extricate ourselves from this dynamic? Through leaders who are willing to acknowledge that it's a problem they can solve. By being courageous enough to commit every division to following a Scaled Agile system- and commit the time it takes to shift to a different paradigm as a company, these leaders can not only stabilize, make predictable, and increase delivery for the company, but they can also draw out talent and retain people who feels energized by their work and their colleagues.
That's the importance of a thoughtful servant-leader: (s)he can lift and empower an entire organization. I've seen it happen with some of the most fractured businesses. That's true transformation.
