impact of agile on hr

Impact of agile on HR

Tathagat Varma http://thoughtleadership.in

Welcome!

Agenda• What (actually) is agile?

• Why it is (so) important?

• What (really) changes with agile?

• Issues in agile transformation?

• HR Challenges?

Evolution of HR

Are We There Yet? - Dave Ulrich

Agile :: HR?

Agile & HR?

Agile in HR?

Agile HR?

HR in Agile?

Agile for HR?

Agile vs. HR?

…???

My view…

Agile = HR(or, at least 90% of it!)

Evolution of Work

Craft Structures Networks

https://www.slideshare.net/hotpop/productivity-of-agile-teams-an-empirical-evaluation-of-factors-and-monitoring-processes

“If we only knew what we know, we could conquer the world”

Old School

Track record?

Solving new problems…

The New New Product Development Game, HBR 1986

In today’s fast-paced, fiercely competitive world of commercial new product development, speed and flexibility are essential.

Companies are increasingly realizing that the old, sequential approach to developing new products simply won’t get the job done. Instead, companies in Japan and the US are using a holistic method—as in rugby, the ball gets passed within the team as it moves as a unit up the field.

This holistic approach has six characteristics: built-in instability,

self-organizing project teams, overlapping development phases, “multilearning,” subtle control, and organizational transfer of learning. The six pieces fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, forming a fast flexible process for new product development. Just as important, the new approach can act as a change agent: it is a vehicle for introducing creative, market-driven ideas and processes into an old, rigid organization.

Agile Manifesto, 2001

1Ourhighestpriorityistosa0sfythecustomerthrough

earlyandcon0nuousdeliveryofvaluableso9ware.

2Welcomechangingrequirements,evenlate

indevelopment.Agileprocessesharnesschangeforthecustomer'scompe00ve

advantage.3Deliverworkingso9warefrequently,fromacoupleofweekstoacoupleofmonths,

withapreferencetotheshorter0mescale.

4Businesspeopleanddevelopersmustworktogetherdailythroughouttheproject.

5Buildprojectsaroundmo0vatedindividuals.Givethemtheenvironmentandsupport

theyneed,andtrustthemtogetthejobdone.

6Themostefficientandeffec0vemethodofconveyinginforma0ontoandwithina

developmentteamisface-to-faceconversa0on.

7Workingso9wareistheprimarymeasureofprogress.

8Agileprocessespromotesustainabledevelopment.Thesponsors,developers,andusersshouldbeabletomaintainaconstantpaceindefinitely.

9Con0nuousaTen0ontotechnicalexcellenceandgood

designenhancesagility.

10Simplicity--theartofmaximizingtheamountofwork

notdone--isessen0al.11Thebestarchitectures,

requirements,anddesignsemergefromself-

organizingteams.12Atregularintervals,theteamreflectsonhowtobecomemoreeffec0ve,thentunesandadjustsitsbehavioraccordingly.

Why Agile?

VersionOne 10th State of Agile Survey, Apr 2016

Measures of Success

Benefits?

Why Agile fails?

Barriers

Agile Change Pyramid

Agile MindsetFixed Mindset Agile Mindset

Ability – static, like height Ability – can grow, like muscle

Goal – look good Goal – to learn

Challenge – to avoid Challenge – embrace

Failure- defines your identity

Failure – provides information

Effort – for those with no talent

Effort – path to mastery

Reaction to challenge – helplessness

Reaction to challenge – resilience

T-Shaped Professionals

“Generalizing Specialist”

Agile Behaviors• Beginner’s mindset • Jack of all trades, Master of one! • Continuous learner • Initiative-taker, courageous • Experimental, feedback-driven • Fail fast, fail cheap, fall forward • Collaborative, team player • One for all, all for one

Functional Silos

Product Management Architect Dev QA

Not my job!

Roles in Scrum

Traditional vs. Agile Teams

Team size

Communication Paths Productivity

Co-location?

Conway’s Law…

“Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure.”

Mel Conway, “How Do Committees Invent?”, 1967

http://www.melconway.com/Home/Conways_Law.html

Component vs. Feature Teams

h"p://www.bebe"erleader.com/how-do-i-form-teams/

T-shaped Agile Team?

What is a Self-Organising Team?

http://www.stevedenning.com/Radical-Management/most-high-performance-teams-are-self-organizing.aspx

Why Self-Organizing Teams?

http://www.stevedenning.com/Radical-Management/most-high-performance-teams-are-self-organizing.aspx

New role of management

http://www.scrumhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/manager-venn-diagram.png

Manager vs. Scrum?

• This is a good starting point

• http://www.goodagile.com/resources/roleofthemanager10.pdf

Good in ScrumHelp remove blocks that the Team is not able to resolve by

themselves

Provide advice and input to the Team

on technical difficulties that

come up

Do regular 1:1 meetings with

team members, to provide coaching and mentoring

Give input on how to make features

better

Stay abreast of developments in

tools and technologies Team

is using

Plan training and other skills

development for Team members

Stay up to date on industry news and

developments

Anticipate tools, skills and other future needs

Plan and manage budgets and

financials

Give input on what features /

functionality the Team should build

(to P.O.)

Do performance evals and provide

feedback to teammembers

Do career development and

career planning with team members

Recruit, interview and hire new team

members

Remove team members who are not able to perform well within the Team

Conflict / Not needed

Decide what work needs to be done

Assign the work to Team members

Keep track of what everyone on the Team is doing

Make sure the Team gets their work

done

Make commitments to mgt about how much Team can do by a certain date

Be responsible for the Team meeting the commitments

I’ve made to management

Do weekly status update report for

management

Do weekly Team staff meeting

Manager’s new role

Influence without authority

Agile Culture• High trust and respect for individual • Self-organizing teams • Openness and Transparency • “Safe to fail”, Fail Fast, Fail cheap • Creativity and Innovation • Learn, Share, Grow • Built to change (vs. Built to Last) • Shared leadership • Responsibility-Accountability Alignment • Fun, Humane, Empathy, Egalitarian

So what changes with agile?

Major changes…• Individual: Mindset, Knowledge, Skills and

Abilities, Behaviors, • Team: Small, Co-located, Cross-functional, Self-

Organising, Communication, Ownership • Manager: Coach, Facilitator, Servant Leadership • Leadership: Influence without Authority • Culture: Collaboration, “Subtle Control”, Trust,

Respect, Transparency, Openness, Accountability, Nurturing

Cultural Changes Tradition Org Agile Org

Fundamental cultural assumptions

Software is specifiable, predictable, and can be built based on meticulous planning

High quality software is developed by small teams using continuous improvement and testing based on rapid feedback and change

Control Process focus People focus

Management style Command and control Leadership and collaboration

Knowledge management

Explicit Tacit

Role assignment Individual and specialized Self-organizing with role interchangeablility encouraged

Communication Formal Informal

Customer Role Important Critical

Project Cycle Driven by tasks and activities

Driven by required product features

Organizational form and structure

Bureaucratic and highly formalized

Flexible, informal and participative

Impact on HR???

• Individual: Mindset, KSAs,…

• Jobs: Titles, Families, Descriptions,…

• Performance: Goals, Feedbacks, Frequency, Rewards and Recognition,…

• Development: Learning, Career, …

Agile HR Manifesto?

http://www.agilehrmanifesto.org/

Principles

http://www.agilehrmanifesto.org/

Agile HR• Outside-in: business-context, strategic • Inclusive: transparent, egalitarian • Fast: decision, action, feedback • Flexible: adaptable, situational, contextual • Empathy: service design thinking • Feedback-driven: listen, adapt • Enabler: gardner, coach, heart and soul • “Build for 90%”

Recap• Nature of work is changing. Way of working

(i.e. agile) needs to be commensurate to it. • Agile changes everything: individuals, teams,

management, leadership, culture, org,… • Above all, agile is all about mindset,

behaviors and culture rather methods, processes and tools.

• HR has a great opportunity to enable and lead this unique and strategic transformation.

One more thing…A photographer went to a socialite party in New York. As he entered the front door, the

host said, “I love your pictures – they’re wonderful; you must have a fantastic camera.” He said nothing until dinner

was finished, then, “That was a wonderful dinner; you must have a terrific stove.”

– Sam Haskins