Who Transforms?

An Agile transformation is a comprehensive shift in the way an organisation operates. It involves transformation at multiple levels, impacting individuals, teams, and the broader organisational structure.

An Agile transformation is a holistic change that requires a shift in mindsets, behaviours, and processes at all levels—from individual contributors to leadership, teams, and the overall organisation. It's not just a change in project management methods; it’s a fundamental shift in how work is done, decisions are made, and organisations think about delivering value to their customers.

Below are the key groups or entities that transform during an Agile transformation, in what I think is the order that you need to transform them:

Note: you might be surprised that individuals are so far down the list - I think this is because sometimes it can take the leaders and teams - even the broader organisation - to change before individuals can see the impact that it has. Obviously, individuals are part of a team, so there is a chicken-egg situation, but this is probably more represented by "doing agile" vs "being agile". Often, I've seen individuals "do agile" within a team "doing agile", but it wasn't until they saw how their mindset needed to change when they saw agile working in other areas of the business that they started "being agile".

1. Leaders and Managers

Leadership plays a crucial role in Agile transformations, and leaders undergo significant changes. Traditional management styles are often incompatible with Agile, which prioritises servant leadership, facilitation, and empowerment over command-and-control approaches. Agile requires leaders to:

• Shift from managers to facilitators: Instead of directing work, Agile leaders focus on enabling teams to work efficiently by removing obstacles, providing resources, and fostering an environment of trust and autonomy. Reject the servant leadership idea - it has been used terribly, and just the name causes anxiety among leaders. (While you're at it, reject "Scrum Master" too - just as I'm no one's servant, I am also no one's master.)

• Adopt servant leadership: Agile leaders serve their teams by listening to their needs, empowering them to take ownership, and ensuring they have everything they need to succeed.

• Encourage innovation and experimentation: Leaders promote a culture where experimentation is encouraged and teams are not afraid to fail. This helps foster an environment of learning, adaptation, and innovation.

• Support decentralised decision-making: Agile transformation gives teams and individuals the autonomy to make decisions that affect their work. Leaders must trust their teams and avoid micromanaging.

2. Teams

Agile transformation requires restructuring teams from traditional, hierarchical models into cross-functional, self-organising units. These teams are usually small, multidisciplinary groups that can deliver value independently. The changes that teams undergo include:

• Cross-functional capabilities: Teams are no longer defined by department (e.g., marketing, development, design) but by their ability to deliver complete, valuable increments of work. For example, an Agile team might include a developer, a designer, a tester, and a business analyst, all working towards a shared goal.

• Increased autonomy: Agile teams make many of their own decisions, from work prioritisation to task assignments. This autonomy encourages faster decision-making and more accountability for results.

• Self-organisation: Teams in Agile transformations are empowered to self-organise, deciding how they work together, manage tasks, and achieve their goals without needing constant direction from management.

• Focus on continuous improvement: Through regular retrospectives, teams are encouraged to identify what’s working and what isn’t and make necessary adjustments, promoting a culture of continuous learning and refinement.

3. The Organisation as a Whole

The Agile transformation impacts teams and individuals and the entire organisational structure, culture, and processes. At an organisational level, fundamental changes include:

• Structural shifts: Traditional hierarchical structures might be flattened to enable better communication and collaboration. Departments become more integrated, and silos are broken down as teams need to collaborate across functions.

• Cultural change: Agile requires a cultural shift towards transparency, openness to feedback, customer-centricity, and a strong focus on delivering value. Organisations often need to move from a risk-averse culture to one that embraces change and encourages experimentation.

• Process improvements: Traditional, linear workflows give way to iterative processes like Scrum, Kanban, or Lean. These processes emphasise short, incremental work cycles with regular feedback loops, enabling the organisation to be more adaptive and responsive to market changes.

• Customer-focused delivery: Agile transformation shifts focus from internal processes and outputs to customer value. Organisations focus on frequently delivering smaller, working features that are constantly tested and validated with real users, resulting in better alignment with customer needs.

4. Individuals

Agile transformation fundamentally changes how individuals work and think. Every person in the organisation must develop an Agile mindset, which values collaboration, adaptability, and continuous improvement. Individuals need to transition from traditional roles or mindsets (such as focusing solely on their specific tasks) to roles that involve more cross-functional responsibilities, ownership, and flexibility. This often means:

• Developing new skills: Employees might need to learn Agile methodologies such as Scrum or Kanban, adopt new tools, and practice techniques such as user story mapping, iterative development, or feedback loops.

• Embracing change: An Agile mindset encourages individuals to view change as a positive opportunity rather than a disruption. They must adapt to the iterative nature of Agile, where feedback, learning, and adjustments are continuous.

• Focus on collaboration: Agile encourages greater teamwork and communication, where silos are broken down, and individuals must regularly work closely with colleagues from different departments.

5. Technology and Tools

A successful Agile transformation also involves transforming the tools and technologies that support workflows. Traditional project management tools, designed for waterfall-style planning, are often replaced with Agile tools that support collaborative work, continuous integration, and automated testing. Key changes in this area include:

• Adopting Agile-specific tools: Tools such as Jira, Trello, or Azure DevOps are commonly implemented to support Agile methodologies. These tools facilitate collaborative task management, burndown charts, sprint planning, and visualisation of work progress.

• Automation and continuous delivery: Agile encourages using technologies that enable continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD). These technologies help development teams ship code faster, reduce cycle times, and ensure quality through automated testing.

6. Customers and Stakeholders

While customers and external stakeholders may not directly transform, their relationship with the organisation and their role in product development often changes significantly in an Agile transformation. Key aspects include:

• Greater involvement in development: Agile methodologies, such as Scrum, involve regular customer interaction through sprint reviews, demos, and feedback sessions. This allows teams to incorporate real-time feedback and adjust products to meet customer needs better.

• Faster delivery of value: Customers benefit from the Agile focus on regularly delivering incremental improvements. Instead of waiting months or years for a finished product, customers receive value through ongoing releases of usable features.