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I have led transformations where in one instance, my team took on an ambitious and what felt like an impossible challenge, which was to create a brand new complex product from scratch in only 5-weeks. This wasn’t a start-up. This was a large multinational with a presence in 42 countries with a brand image to protect. We were more worried about the damage this product might do to the brand than how much revenue it would generate. And it wasn’t a simple product. It was a multi-tier application in a hybrid cloud with many moving parts, multiple teams involved and lots of dependences. Expectations were high and the task was clear. Create a high quality product in a large complex organisation with a non-negotiable deadline. Deadline could not move because external commitments have already been made. Does that sound familiar? So what did we do? As a team, we worked incredibly hard. But working harder wasn’t going to be enough. We had to work smarter. We had to change our ways of working. We had to experiment. Try things we hadn’t tried before. The key was clarity of what we needed to achieve, laser sharp focus on the outcome and filtering out all the distractions. What was the result? We put the product live at 7:15pm on 31 March ahead of the planned launch on 1st April with first sale on that day. That’s from a concept on a piece of paper to a fully functional product in the hands of the users generating revenue, in 5 weeks. This was unheard of in our organisation at the time. This was our first successful product launch as part of our digital transformation. This launch gave the whole initiative a massive boost and generated momentum that carried us forward. In summary, you can achieve the seemingly impossible with clarity on the goal and laser sharp focus on the outcome.

Transformations don’t follow a linear path. One thing is guaranteed. There will be setbacks. The key is to learn from setbacks. We need to be able to inspect and adopt. Things that allow us to stay the course are: A compelling vision, a strong WHY that resonates with people and acts as a compass Customer centricity - putting customer at the heart of the transformation Understanding the human side of the transformation Resilience - looking after yourself Nurturing a culture of continuous learning, experimentation and celebrating success and failures

We want to create a culture of peer-to-peer appreciation. Top down appreciation is good but peer-to-peer gratitude can do amazing things for morale and team cohesion. Here is an example of a kudos wall I created in one of my previous organisations. Within 3-months we had over 200 cards. It was something beautiful to see. It contributes towards creating an environment which allows individuals and teams to flourish. Resulting in better outcomes for the organisation and the transformation. This is a cultural hack you can use in your own transformations.

Innovative organisations create and foster a culture of experimentation. This by definition means a culture where it is ok to get things wrong, it is ok fail! We understand this at an intellectual level. However, it takes a lot of effort and patience to really put this into practice. We need certain guard rails in place to ensure experiments are appropriate from organisational risk perspective and that we see failure as an opportunity to learn. The key aspect is to create an environment where individuals and teams can fail and not be penalised for it. I have seen organisational leaders talk about encouraging teams to try new things and fail, but then take them to task for not achieving the intended results. So it's about aligning actions with words. One way I have created and fostered a culture of experimentation is by creating an initiative to celebrate failure where people would talk about failed experiments and mostly their learnings. This initiative has been a massive success. Mindset changed from brushing problems under the carpet to boasting about who made the biggest mistake. The key here is that people should also talk about future experiments and this would be the opportunity for teams and leader to agree if failure would be acceptable in that context. Perhaps it is not acceptable to try an untested approach on a mission critical project. In that case, that experiment could be stopped before it starts with mutual agreement.

In the fast moving tech work, it is essential to keep our pencils sharp. As leaders, we need to create and foster a culture of continuous learning to support the ever-changing technology landscape, and to keep our teams engaged and motivated. Here is an example of a learning and development framework I have developed. It takes into account that people have different learning styles and different needs during different stages of their journey. This include: Training course & Presentation Self-learning & Self-service Networking & Collaboration Support Structure As we delving into the details, we see there is synchronous learning through training courses conferences, lunch and learn session etc. There is asynchronous learning which is on-demand self-service where people can learn at their own pace. Then there is learning through networking and support structures we have in place in our organisations or the wider industry. We don’t need to do all of it. And certainly we don't need to do it all at once. I have created this learning and development framework incrementally in organisations and filled it out over time. They key is to consciously think about putting in place in structure and different type of resources to foster a culture of learning in our organisations. As always, leaders must to go first and role model this behaviour.

Leaders play a critical role in any Digital or Agile transformation. This post discusses their role and key challenges. First of all, let's discuss what do they need to do? They need to do the following: Ensure there is a compelling vision, the WHY! Communicate this vision with consistency and communicate it often Build the capabilities in their teams Removes impediments to progress Create an environment where individuals and teams can thrive Here is the key point… This comes with a warning as it is rather blunt… When I ask leaders what their current organisation looks like. Structure, hierarchy, culture etc. They describe it in detail, perhaps they draw something like this. Then, I ask these leaders what they want their future organisation to look like. They are usually quite good at describing it. Self-organising, cross functional teams, motivated and empowered team members, decentralised decision making etc. Perhaps less details than the current picture but still good enough. Something like this. Details of the actual shape and constituent parts are not important at this stage. The key point I raise with them is that their teams need to change, they’ll need to adopt, perhaps learn new things etc. At this point, we are on the same page. Then I ask them what do they need to change about themselves to fit into the new organisation. I usually get a blank look. Like, what do you mean? Well, if this current type of organisation requires a particular type of leadership, then a new organisation with decentralised decision making, empowered, cross functional teams etc. requires a different leadership style. This is when the penny drops.... Great leaders are aware of this and adopt. They learn, they work hard, they seek feedback, they keep their ears close to the ground. The fact of the matter is that not all leaders succeed in making the transition. Some will not not want to, some will try and fail. This is important to understand. A new type of organisation requires a new leadership style! Now we can be too hard on senior leadership. Let’s have some empathy for them. Remember, these are the same people who are leading the organisation through the transformation as well as managing day-to-day challenges. And they also need to learn to lead their teams differently among everything else. This isn’t easy. It requires huge amount of self-awareness and a lot of hard work.

In the context of a transformation or a change initiative, the first thing to do is to look after ourselves. Look after our own physical and emotional well being. There is a lot of uncertainty when we embark on a transformation initiative. There is risk of job security and there are likely to be changes in role and responsibilities. This can bring additional mental pressure on top of the pressures of day-to-day work. It's important to focus on our own resilience. If we are not in a good mental or physical space then we won’t be well resourced to deal with the challenges of a transformation. Using an analogy from an aeroplane, it’s like putting on our own oxygen mask before helping others. We won’t be able to deal effectively with the constant challenges coming our way and help others around us unless we are fully resourced. Unfortunately, burnout is too common in the workplace, especially when we are working on transformations. Think of it as our energy battery or our emotional battery. Do something that recharges that battery. Do it every day. These are simple things, such as, reading a book, going for a walk, meditating, exercising etc. Pick whatever helps. There are things that deplete our battery - these are stresses in life. Identify and avoid these as much as possible. If we can’t avoid them then reduce their impact as much as possible So the point is that we need to look after ourselves and our resilience to show up in the best possible way to deal with challenges in life but in this context, the challenges of transformations.

If you are embarking on a large-scale Digital or Agile transformation, this is going to impact people. There is no doubt about that. There may be an organisational or departmental restructure. People’s roles would change. Some people might even lose their jobs. I have seen whole departments being made redundant. These are practical aspects of leading a transformation. Apart from amazing products and fantastic benefits, there is a real human cost. This in my experience is grossly underestimated. Now don’t forget, it’s the same people who are impacted are going to be the ones who are the doers of the initiative. These are the ones creating new customer experiences, creating new products. Think about what’s their morale and level of motivation? And how will that effect the outcome? People who are staying are going to need to learn new skills. You need to keep context in mind. Certain groups in the workforce might find it easier to adopt, to learn new skills. They are likely to be more excited by this. The UK and most western countries have an ageing workforce. It may be harder for them to upskill. I recognise this is a massive generalisation and it may not true in every context but the key point is that different people react and adapt to changes in different ways. The reality is that you are running a transformation with a workforce which by definition lacks capability and potentially capacity too. They’ll learn and adopt over time but they are not there from day 1 and transformation can not stop and wait for them to catch up. You’ll recruit of course but that takes time. Essentially, you are running a transformation with people who might be experiencing different and in majority of the case difficult emotions, lack the required skills and capability, and are likely to be lacking capacity too give the business as usual (BAU) activities. No wonder a large proportion of the transformation do not realise the intended benefits. The main take away os that it is important to recognise the human side of a transformation and create plans that takes these dynamics into account.

In the context of digital and agile transformation, we need to understand and articulate the what problem we are trying to solve. In fact, to be more specific - what is the problem we are trying to solve for our customers? The customer needs must be front and centre of our minds. This may sound quite obvious. However, a lot of transformations aim to make the organisation more productive, more efficient, more innovative etc. All great ambitions but ultimately, they fail to answer how it would help their customers. So the notion is to focus on customer-centricity. Place the customer at the heart of what we do. Customer at the heart of the experience Additionally, we must aim for, what I refer to as, a clear line of sight between people using our products and people developing our products. In other words, a direct connection between customers and developers if we are talking about a tech company. Perhaps in a small start-up, it’s easy but in a large corporation, this becomes incredibly difficult because we have multiple layers between these two groups. We have sales, account management, professional services, product management and so on and so forth. Your litmus paper test is, can a software engineer describe how a customer uses their product? Can a software engineer describe why and how a customer uses their product? It is vital, when we are embarking on a transformation initiative, that first of all we understand how we are going to help our customers. What problem are we going to solve for them? How will their lives be better as a result of our efforts? Second of all, does everyone involved know this is to a level of detail that is meaningful? And ensure that knowledge is not with a select few.

According to Simon Sinek, an American author and motivational speaker, It doesn’t matter what you do, it matters why you do it? People don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it! Simon Sinek coined the concept of the golden circle. The point is to start with the WHY. What’s your vision? Why are you doing it? Once you have that you can decide how you are going to do it and what exactly you are going to do. What you do and how you do it just proves what you believe in. It shows your motivation i.e. the WHY! Similarly, Stephen Covey, the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, presents the concept of Begin with the end in mind as Habit 2. Begin with the end in mind. It's the mental image of where you want to end up, your purpose, your vision. This powerful concept is relevant in any undertaking at an individual level, team level or at organisational level.

Successful Agile and Digital transformation can bring huge benefits to organisations. They can enable organisations to accelerate delivery of value to their customers and streamline their processes. Due to their benefits, large scale transformations are prevalent in our industry. However, a large proportion of these initiatives do not deliver the intended benefits. What are the reasons for that? And what can we do to increase our chances of success? First thing is to Start with WHY. According to Simon Sinek, an American author and motivational speaker, It doesn’t matter what you do, it matters why you do it? Steve Jobs, Founder of Apple, the Wright brothers, inventors of the first aeroplane, and Martin Luther King, civil rights activist, all had one thing in common, they STARTED WITH WHY. Start with WHY WHY this transformation? It’s a simple question and you might say it’s common sense, yet it is surprising how many organisations don’t give it sufficient focus. They focus on HOW and WHAT instead. We can use different words for it, call it vision, purpose or anything we want. It’s essentially our motivation, our reason for doing something. And if you have a compelling reason, a compelling WHY, then it becomes easier to motivate ourselves, to motivate our teams to make things happen. We can get so bogged down into the implementation that we forget the bigger picture, which is our compass, our north star.

This post provides a format for running a story mapping workshop with your team. A related post on story mapping describes this effective technique to visualise the product backlog. Objective of the session The objective of the session is to visualise the product backlog listing all features and user stories required to deliver value to the customers. This workshop can be run at the start of an initiative or at any stage during product development. If product development is already in progress then the team should have bulk of the content from what they have done so far. The idea is to visualise it in order to validate everything has been covered and identify any missing pieces. Ensure vision of the product understood This may sound obvious but it is surprising how often something as simple as this is not fully understood by everyone in the team. Ask someone to define the vision of the product. We don't want it to feel like a quiz or that we are there to grill the team. I often ask the following non-threatening question: "For my benefit, can someone describe the overall vision for this product?" It is important to ensure the vision of the product is articulated correctly and succinctly. By correct I mean, it is aligned to the organisation’s stated purpose of the product. It is even more important that everyone on the team is aligned with the stated vision. Top level themes/features With the vision in mind, we now list all top level themes or features required to deliver the vision. Ask the team for their input and write each item on a card or a post-it note. Once the list is stable, ensure everyone is in agreement on the top level feature. Check if there is a need to sequence the features based on technical dependencies. If so, ask the team to sequence the features. User Stories Take each feature at a time and create user stories required to deliver it. Ask the team to think about all the user stories required to deliver the first feature. Ask them to work on their own initially and write each item on a separate card or post-it. Repeat this for all features. Ask each team member to take turns to present their card and pin it to the board. Now ask the team to remove any duplicates. Next step is to sequence all user stories for a particular feature based on technical dependencies. Clearly mark any dependencies on the card. This will allow the Product Owner to make informed decisions about prioritising the backlog based on business needs while taking into account any technical dependencies. Repeat the process for all identified features. Check with the team that everything required for successful delivery to customers including infrastructure, non-functional requirements (NFRs) etc. are included in the story map. The next step is for the Product Owner to prioritise the backlog. They may or may not be able to do so in the session depending on the need for additional information or time constraints. Output of the session Output of the session is a visual representation of the product backlog containing all known work items required to deliver the vision of the product. This backlog contains sequenced/prioritised features and associated user stories, which can be used to make informed decisions about next steps.