Ian Maple

In the 20 years since the Agile Manifesto and principles were crafted, companies and organizations world-wide have embraced Agile as a more effective way of working. Companies rushed to adopt frameworks like Scrum and Kanban—and more recently scaled frameworks like SAFe and Nexus—believing that doing so would make them Agile and all would be good. Although frameworks definitely have benefits, they are only a starting place. To get the full benefits of agility, organizations must do more than apply the frameworks in a prescribed way: they must adapt the frameworks to their own unique ecosystems. This is the essence of the difference between ‘doing Agile' (following a script or recipe) and ‘being Agile' (understanding principles and adapting to the needs of the situation).

Agile is best form of software development, since everything else we have tried. But how do we know? What should we be watching to ensure that we are delivering the awesome agility outcomes that Agile promises? Measuring Agile is not simply about watching velocity and sprint commitments. In an increasingly customer obsessed and data driven world, teams and organizations must have a much more holistic view of the metrics needed for successful outcomes. If you are picturing a sea of metrics that need to be turned green then you have the wrong picture. What is needed is a surgical focus on the metrics that matter by our teams that deliver the customer value.

High performing teams, at any level, share many characteristics but one of the most important is ‘Who is responsible for what?’. Getting a clear picture of this is often challenging and can lead to unnecessary finger pointing and stress if not done right, or not done at all. This is especially true as we move to more integrated teams with representation from various disciplines. This is often true of senior leadership teams. Teams are made up of individuals with unique skills and passions. Visualizing and optimizing these is key to team health and performance. Join us in this session to learn how to effectively map any team to the new roles needed, including ‘technical owner’, for a high performing Agile team, regardless of current roles or job titles.