15. The Guiding Coalition
A strong guiding coalition is always needed. One with the right composition, level of trust, and shared objective.
—John Kotter
The Need for a Powerful Coalition
Train Lean-Agile Change Agents
Train Executives, Managers, and Leaders
Charter a Lean-Agile Center of Excellence
Introduction
Throughout this book, we’ve described the values, principles, and practices of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). Our intention has been to inform the reader on how a SAFe enterprise operates and how it achieves the business benefits that only Lean-Agile development at scale can provide. Faster time to market and higher productivity, quality, and employee engagement all await the enterprise that successfully implements SAFe. Those are worthy goals.
However, what we have not yet done is describe how an enterprise implements SAFe. That’s where the real work begins. Part VI, which contains the final five chapters of this book, is dedicated to this purpose. The last chapter, chapter 19, “Essential SAFe,” provides guidance on the minimum viable elements of SAFe. If you start with these elements, you are on the right track to begin your Lean-Agile journey.
The Implementation Roadmap
Embracing a Lean-Agile mindset, understanding and applying Lean-Agile principles, and effectively implementing Agile Release Trains (ARTs), value streams, and a Lean-Agile portfolio all come before realizing the full business benefits of SAFe. And, of course, the culture must evolve, too.
To achieve the right change, leadership must “script the critical moves.”1 Fortunately, hundreds of the world’s largest enterprises have already gone down this path (see www.scaledagileframework.com/case-studies), and successful adoption patterns have become clear. Figure 15-1 shows one such pattern, the SAFe “implementation roadmap.”
1. Chip Heath and Dan Heath, Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard (Crown Business, 2010).
The roadmap includes the following steps:
• Reach the tipping point.
• Train Lean-Agile change agents.
• Train executives, managers, and leaders.
• Charter a Lean-Agile Center of Excellence.
• Identify value streams and ARTs.
• Create the implementation plan.
• Prepare for ART launch.
• Train teams and launch ART.
• Coach ART execution.
• Launch more ARTs in the value stream.
• Launch more value streams.
• Sustain and improve.
In this chapter, we’ll provide guidance for the first four steps of this journey.
Reaching the Tipping Point
Changing the way of working—the habits and culture of a large development organization—is hard. Many report that implementing SAFe was one of the toughest yet most rewarding change initiatives that they have ever been involved in. But there has to be a reason for such a change—a reason so compelling that the status quo becomes simply unacceptable.
It has to be a reason so compelling that change becomes the only reasonable path to future success. In other words, the enterprise must reach its tipping point2—the point at which the organization’s imperative is to achieve the change rather than resist it.
2. Malcom Gladwell, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Little, Brown and Company, 2006).
We’ve observed two primary reasons that cause an organization to tip to SAFe.
1. A burning platform. Sometimes the need to change a product or service is obvious. The company is failing to compete, and the existing way of doing business is obviously inadequate to achieve a new solution within a survivable time frame. This is the easier case. While there will always be those who resist change, they are likely to be swamped by the wave of energy that drives mandatory change through the organization.
2. Proactive leadership. Here, the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and senior leaders drive the need for change by “taking a stand” for a better, future state, or simply a constant paranoia about the existing state, as in the Toyota management concept “there is a constant sense of danger.”3 This may well be the harder challenge, as the people in the trenches may not see or feel the sense of urgency necessary to do the hard work of change. In this case, senior leadership must constantly impress the need for change on others, making it clear that maintaining the status quo is simply unacceptable.
3. Fujio Cho, chairman of Toyota, 2006–2013
Take an Economic View
Whether reactive or proactive, the only reason to drive change in an organization is to realize the business benefits that it’s intended to deliver. SAFe’s principle #1 reminds us to always “take an economic view.” In this context, the leaders should articulate the goal of the change in terms everyone can understand. Dozens of case studies show that enterprises can expect to see benefits in four major areas, as Figure 15-2 illustrates.
Change leaders should communicate the intended benefits as part of the vision for the change. In addition, leaders should describe any other specific, tangible objectives they hope to accomplish. This will provide the fuel necessary to escape the inertia of the status quo.
The Need for a Powerful Coalition
As covered in chapter 4, “Lean-Agile Leaders,” a “sufficiently powerful coalition”4 of stakeholders is needed to create change in the organization. To be effective, this coalition requires the following:
4. John P. Kotter, “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail” (Harvard Business Review, 1995).
• Leaders who can set the vision, show the way, and make blocking the change difficult
• Practitioners, managers, and change agents who can implement specific process changes
• Sufficient organizational credibility to be taken seriously
• The expertise needed to make fast, intelligent decisions
Experience has shown that there are three primary elements to achieving an effective SAFe coalition for change.
1. Train a number of Lean-Agile change agents as SAFe Program Consultants (SPCs) to provide the knowledge needed to implement the change.
2. Train executives, managers, and other leaders who can sponsor the change and support the implementation.
3. Charter a Lean-Agile Center of Excellence (LACE) to serve as an energy source and focus for the change management activities.
Train Lean-Agile Change Agents
The first step in the process is to develop change agents with the knowledge and skills needed to successfully implement SAFe. In most enterprises, they are sourced both internally and externally. They may be business and technology leaders, portfolio/program/project managers, architects, analysts, process leads, and many others.
One path to success is to take the “Implementing SAFe with SPC Certification” class. This four-day course is designed to prepare SPCs or change agents to lead the transformation. Attendees learn how to effectively apply the principles and practices of SAFe, organize and train and coach Agile teams, identify value streams and ARTs, launch ARTS, and help build and manage an Agile portfolio.
In addition, scaling Agile across the enterprise, or any material change for that matter, requires training all the people who do the work. To make it practical and cost effective, the makers of SAFe, Scaled Agile, Inc. (SAI), support a “train the trainer” fan-out model, which licenses SPCs (either partner personnel or enterprise employees) to teach SAFe courses inside the enterprise. This provides economic leverage as well as provisions the people needed to initiate and implement the change.
Train Executives, Managers, and Leaders
As change agents, SPCs can ignite transformation within an enterprise. But they alone do not necessarily constitute a sufficiently powerful coalition. For that, other stakeholders and senior executives must step in, step up, and lead. In W. Edwards Deming’s words, “they must know what it is they must do.”
Some of these key stakeholders will primarily provide ongoing executive sponsorship. Others will be directly involved in implementing SAFe, managing others who do, and participating directly in ART execution. Still others will work at higher levels of the organization to eliminate impediments that arise in the company, as well as in its existing processes, governance, culture, and practices. All of these stakeholders need the knowledge and skills to lead—rather than follow—the implementation.
The “Leading SAFe: Leading the Lean-Agile Enterprise with the Scaled Agile Framework” class is designed for this purpose. This two-day course teaches leaders the SAFe Lean-Agile mindset, principles, and practices, as well as the most effective leadership values in managing the new generation of knowledge workers. Attendees will also learn the following:
• How to support Agile teams
• How to execute and release value through ARTs
• How to participate in Program Increment (PI) planning
• How to apply the specific practices of SAFe needed to build really large systems and implement a Lean-Agile portfolio
Charter a Lean-Agile Center of Excellence
The previously mentioned training can help the organization reach the tipping point for change and also seed the enterprise with knowledgeable and active leaders who are prepared to guide it.
Most of these people, however, have full-time jobs in their current roles. And while a significant portion of their time can perhaps be devoted to the change, a smaller, dedicated group of people is typically required. These groups go by different names (such as Agile Center of Excellence, Agile Working Group, or Lean-Agile Transformation Team), but they are staffed with people for whom implementing the change is the primary task. The responsibilities of a Lean-Agile Center of Excellence (LACE) may include the following:
• Developing the implementation plan and managing the transformation backlog
• Establishing the metrics
• Conducting source training and coaching
• Identifying value streams and ARTs, helping launch ARTs, and providing coaching and training to ARTs and teams
• Fostering SAFe Communities of Practice (CoPs)
• Implementing Lean-Agile focus days, guest speakers, and internal case studies
• Benchmarking and connecting with the external community
• Promoting continuing Lean-Agile education
• Initiating Lean-Agile practices throughout the company, in areas such as budgeting, Program Portfolio Management, contracts, and Human Resources (HR)
The LACE operates like an Agile team and typically applies the same iteration and PI cadences as the ARTs. This allows the LACE to plan and Inspect and Adapt (I&A) in harmony with the ARTs. It also serves as an exemplar for Agile team behavior. As a result, similar roles are needed.
• The Product Owner works with stakeholders to prioritize the team’s transformation backlog. A senior leader acts as the team’s Product Manager.
• The Scrum Master facilitates the process and helps remove common roadblocks.
• Other members of the cross-functional team address necessary backlog items related to people, culture, development process, and technology.
The LACE may be a part of an emerging Lean-Agile Program Management Office (Agile PMO), or it may exist as a stand-alone unit. In either case, it serves as a focal point of activity, a constant source of energy that can help power the enterprise through the changes necessary. In addition, since the evolution to a Lean-Agile enterprise is a journey, not a destination, the LACE often evolves into a permanent center for continuous improvement.
Summary
This chapter introduced how an enterprise implements SAFe and covered the first four steps of the SAFe implementation roadmap.
The key takeaways from this chapter are as follows:
• Changing the way of working—the habits and culture of a large development organization—is hard. Enterprises must reach the tipping point so that the status quo becomes simply unacceptable and change is the only reasonable path to future success.
• The two primary reasons that cause an organization to tip to SAFe are a burning platform and proactive leadership.
• Leaders should communicate the intended benefits of the change as part of the vision for the change. These typically include faster time to market, increased quality and productivity, and higher employee engagement.
• Experience has shown that there are three primary elements to achieving an effective SAFe coalition for change: train a number of Lean-Agile change agents (SPCs); train executives, managers, and other leaders in leading SAFe; and charter a LACE.
• The LACE often evolves into a permanent center for continuous improvement.