Unlock Your Path To Delivering Successful Programmes
Global Delivery Assurance: Apply Agility to connect with users
Agile project delivery has been around for nearly a quarter of a century, with adoption and success rates surging recently. However, some organisations face "agile fatigue" due to a lack of understanding of what it means to be truly agile. It's not enough to just 'do' Agile to build products and services; organisations must also 'be' Agile to realise sustainable success and to bring about organisational change by connecting with users.
At NTT DATA, we help you build a holistic view of organisation-specific engagement opportunities, identify gaps using data-led techniques, leading to increased adoption and a continuous-improvement mindset. Learn more about our Global Delivery Assurance capabilities and explore how we can assist you in achieving your goals.
Agile project delivery has been around for nearly a quarter of a century, with adoption and success rates surging recently. However, some organisations face "agile fatigue" due to a lack of understanding of what it means to be truly agile. It's not enough to just 'do' Agile; organisations must also 'be' Agile to realise sustainable success. Research conducted in 2018 by McKinsey and Scrum.org highlighted that a combination of personality traits, both innate and acquired, and values that motivate teamwork are crucial for successful planning and execution of agile projects.
Leading delivery transformation programmes for our customers, including major UK household brands, has helped us identify commonly overlooked but critical areas for success. This article highlights these areas to help you succeed with your programmes.
Planning is key
A common myth in agile work is "do less planning." However, both our experience and industry best practices indicate the need for multi-level planning: short, mid, and long-range. While organisations often engage in short-range sprint planning and long-range roadmaps, mid-range (quarterly and ideally face to face) big room planning, typically conducted over 2 days with the whole programme team, is frequently overlooked. This mid-range planning is crucial for aligning sprint plans with strategic roadmaps and communicating effectively with stakeholders, demonstrating how delivery teams add value and garnering the necessary support. Now that we've established its importance, let's examine the factors necessary to produce a reliable mid-range plan that teams can deliver.
Key players in the game
– Spoiler alert: it's not the leaders but the Team!
The Team
Building a successful agile culture requires focus on developing the 'soft' people skills as well as effective implementation of the methodology, prioritising team success over individual achievements. Team members must emphasise respect, transparency, understanding, and cohesion—values that develop over time and through training. McKinsey & Scrum.org found that both introverts and extroverts bring valuable qualities to the table. When harnessed correctly, the combination of these personality types can significantly enhance success.
Keep it in the tribe
Robin Dunbar's research suggests limiting team size to around 15 people and capping programmes at around 150 to maintain effective communication. This "Dunbar's number" has historically guided the size of factories, military units, and even villages, as larger groups tend to lose cohesiveness. Adopting this principle and designing the programme teams accordingly significantly boosts the probability of its success.
Product is paramount
Effective Product ownership is crucial for prioritising and planning the right and relevant items to make a significant impact on the business. Rallying the team around the product vision and being the "content authority" is the principal job of the product owner. Successful product owners tend to be extroverted and emotionally stable. Their resilience to stress helps the team stay proactive in finding solutions.
Art of facilitation
Key roles such as Scrum Masters, Release Train Engineers, and Agile Delivery Managers play crucial roles throughout the product lifecycle. They coordinate, expedite, and act as the interface between teams and senior stakeholders, ensuring a level playing field.
The Build-up
Face to face time is premium
When engaging in face-to-face big room planning, some organisations opt to move briefing sessions online the day before the face-to-face meeting, with a brief summary in person on the meeting day. Building personal connections through face-to-face or one-on-one calls is crucial for making quick decisions during tough times.
Balancing act
Senior stakeholders often express concern about balancing long planning events with ongoing responsibilities. While we emphasise setting aside dedicated time for planning and innovation, we understand teams may find it challenging to completely step away. For instance, with one of our global clients, we piloted a week-long planning session from 14:00-17:00 GMT, Monday to Friday. This approach allowed teams to timebox both daily operations and planning activities, while maintaining energy levels throughout the sessions.
Communication is key; no one likes surprises
Before the planning session, ensure participants are familiar with prioritisation techniques, methodologies, or tools through training sessions. This allows them to focus on solving problems rather than on using tools during the session. Similarly, communicate key artifacts such as visions, prioritised backlogs and roadmaps well in advance to ensure everyone arrives prepared and informed.
With all preparations complete, the big day arrives. Pulses start to race. Then, the event kicks off.
The Big Day
Ability to handle ambiguity
It takes time to work out how much pre-planning and detail is required ahead of time. The same can be said for the level of detail in the communications on the day. So - it always helps to have someone who has prior experience of facilitating these sessions.
Dealing with ambiguity can be challenging for those accustomed to traditional waterfall methods where all requirements are established upfront. Establishing just enough detail needed for estimation and to be able to proceed with delivery is the key. Additional spikes and exploration can be scheduled for detailed discussions as necessary.
According to McKinsey & Scrum.org, teams adept at managing ambiguity tend to achieve successful outcomes, driven by a focus on goals or outcomes. This ability often correlates with an Agile team member's agreeableness. Trust and straightforwardness, key facets of agreeableness, are crucial for team success, even amid challenges along the way.
"Let me bring you in on this point..."
In breakout sessions, it's important that everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute, though not everyone needs to comment on every topic. Facilitators should ensure that any remote participants, junior members, and introverted individuals are encouraged to share their insights by creating a safe and supportive environment.
Senior Buy-in for more than 15 minutes
While senior sponsors may have busy schedules, their engagement should extend beyond the initial briefings and reviewing final plans. As the ultimate owners of the plans produced by teams, their timely input throughout the sessions can prevent early issues or confirm alignment with priorities. If teams require guest appearances from business teams for specific backlog items, scheduling specific timeslots in their diaries ensures focused discussions and efficient progress.
Tying up loose ends
Honesty...all the way!
Planning sessions are ideal for identifying blockers, risks, and aligning with other teams on dependencies. Be truthful about the impact, what you need, and when you need it to succeed. Share your ideas, needs, and concerns with other teams. Great products are built on the collaboration and synergy of multiple teams.
Plan for a reason
You have collaboratively built your plan to aid transparency and alignment. You can be Agile, but if there are significant changes to the plan in the coming days, be sure to loop back around and communicate with the affected stakeholders and Product Management.
Choosing the right partner to succeed
Creating a team culture that embraces "being Agile" rather than just "doing Agile" starts with selecting individuals and partners who embody the right qualities. Here are some key questions to whilst selecting the individual and partners:
- "Tell me about what drives you and keeps you motivated."
- "What do you look for in your collaborators and what do you expect from them?"
- "How do you prioritise a customer-centric approach in your work?"
- "Share a project or achievement you're particularly proud of and why."
These questions aim to gauge not only technical skills but also alignment with agile values such as collaboration, customer focus, and pride in workmanship.
We trust these best practices will enhance your success and should you require support, consider partnering with NTT DATA. With extensive experience delivering successful large-scale programmes and facilitating big planning events and workshops across diverse industries, we can deliver your strategic goals and objectives. Find out our Global Delivery Assurance capabilities today to explore how we can assist you in achieving your goals.
Jim Dorney
Associate Director, Enterprise Agility, NTT DATA UK
David Irving
Enterprise Agility Consultant, NTT DATA UK
Jim Dorney & David Irving
Jim and David both work in the NTT DATA UK Agile Delivery & Transformation practice, leading complex and high-profile scaled Agile programmes of work across multiple sectors such as Insurance, Airlines, Public Sector and Telco.
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