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YOUR GUIDE TO

AGILE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

March 2019

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Ó AFDigital, 2019

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction CHAPTER ONE: The Basics of Agile

Agile Values Agile Principles in a Nutshell

CHAPTER TWO: Learn to Use Lean Principles Eliminate Waste Create Knowledge Defer Commitment Build Quality In Deliver Fast Respect People Optimise the Whole

CHAPTER THREE: Embracing Agile for a Successful Digital Transformation

CHAPTER FOUR: How to Build An Agile Program CHAPTER FIVE: Scrum and Kanban

Scrum Kanban Scrum vs. Kanban

CHAPTER SIX: TeamX and Agile

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INTRODUCTION

Digitisation is transforming business and digital transformation has become inevitable. But for a business to successfully transition to more digital processes, it needs to adopt a mindset that will make the transformation possible -- and Agile is the answer. What do Digital Transformation and Agile have in common? They both require a significant mindset shift that should reflect on new behaviors and processes in an organisation. If you’ve either been struggling to transition to digital processes or you’ve just been on the fence about it, this ebook is definitely for you. However, before we delve into that, let’s first look at the foundations of the Agile mindset.

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CHAPTER ONE

THE BASICS OF AGILE Agile Values In 2001, 17 software engineers met up in Snowbird, Utah and thought of a better alternative to the huge plans they were using to build software. What emerged was the Agile Manifesto, a set of values that resulted from document-heavy, expensive, and often failed software development projects that wasted time, energy, and money. Today, these values provide the foundation for an agile mindset and agile frameworks such as Scrum and Kanban (which we will talk about later). While Agile was originally designed for software development, numerous other industries have started to adopt and adjust the approach according to their organisation’s needs. Here’s a snippet from the Manifesto: “We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and Interactions > Processes and Tools

Working Software > Comprehensive Documentation Customer Collaboration > Contract Negotiation

Responding to Change > Following a Plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.”1

Let’s dive into these 4 values.

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Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools Part of being agile means letting your team dictate their own workflow, instead of blindly depending on processes to guide the way forward. This makes the process more responsive, because the constant communication allows the team to quickly resolve any issues with the project, processes, and tools. Communication here is fluid and happens as the need arises, instead of a scheduled communication that requires a specific content. Letting individuals contribute on their own while interacting with the team freely to work on solving a common problem can bring powerful results. Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation Traditional project management involves comprehensive documentation and planning that usually results in delays in project delivery. The kind of documentation created for these projects was very detailed and extensive that most of it don’t even get referred to during the product progress. Agile does not eliminate documentation completely, but it streamlines the process in a way that the developer has all the information he needs to do the work without being drowned in documents.2 Agile documents requirements as user stories, which are sufficient for a software developer to begin a new task. In other words, a working product is a better indicator of real progress and alignment to the customer’s needs, and having specification documents doesn’t necessarily mean progress nor does it provide customer value. Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation Part of being a customer-centric company means not just assuming what’s best for the customer, but actually implementing what they tell us is best for them.3

Through short sprints, periodic demos, and continuous improvement processes,

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customers are engaged and collaborative throughout the process to make sure their needs are met.

This provides a two-fold advantage -- while constant collaboration helps the team to respond to changes quickly, it also helps the client refine their vision and redefine the requirements during the course of the project.

Responding to Change over Following a Plan

In the traditional project management approach, changes are seen as an expense, so it was avoided as much as possible. But as experience taught us, change is inevitable and instead of running away from it, we must embrace it and be prepared.

Agile tells us that changes are always welcome and are seen as feedback that help improve and add value to the project. This doesn’t mean that agile doesn’t plan, though -- it just follows the just-in-time approach, where planning is done just enough when needed and the plans are open to change as the sprints progress.

Agile Principles in a Nutshell Delving deeper than what Agile values in a project, the writers of the Manifesto agreed on 12 principles that further defines how to run an agile project. In a nutshell, these are the principles that Agile teams live by:

● Keep things simple ● Embrace change to remain competitive ● Face-to-face communication is still best ● Clients, business people, and developers must work together throughout the

project

Learn more about the Agile principles here.

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CHAPTER TWO

LEARN TO USE LEAN PRINCIPLES The Lean Principles, a manufacturing system adapted by Toyota in the 1970s, mainly focuses on reducing waste in car-making. Now, these principles provide strong cultural values that complement the Agile way of working. It offers solid principles and best practices with the ultimate goal of relentlessly pursuing value over everything else -- both for your company and the customer. Here are the 7 Lean Principles:

1. Eliminate Waste 2. Create Knowledge 3. Defer Commitment 4. Build Quality In 5. Deliver Fast 6. Respect People 7. Optimise the Whole

Eliminate Waste To eliminate waste, you must first be able to recognise it. Basically, any process, activity, or practice that does not result in more value for you and the customer is waste.4 Waste can be too much time spent on completing a task that can be automated or extra paperwork that are not often used. Switching people between tasks, partially done work, and waiting for other teams are waste. One way to accomplish this is to improve your organisation’s workflow management by having pre-approved workflows that have been refined enough to ensure that the end product is successful. If there are processes that add waste rather than enhancements, then consider eliminating them.

Create Knowledge

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Using the agile approach allows organisations to amplify learning and continually improve, adapt, and innovate. The organisation grows and develops through analysing results and gaining insights from continuous experimentations. To retain this knowledge, the organisation must provide a shared infrastructure that everyone can easily access. You can also do this through pair programming, code reviews, knowledge-sharing sessions, training, and many more.

Defer Commitment This principle has been misleading to some. Defer commitment does not mean that teams should be irresponsible about their decision-making -- rather, it’s the opposite: this principle encourages the team to keep their options open and continuously collect information until the last responsible moment before making any major decisions. This practice helps the team fully understand their customers’ needs and stay flexible, especially if things are likely to change.

Build Quality In The overall theme of this principle is to automate any processes that you can from the start. Lean organisations value sustainable growth by building quality into their processes and documentation. Teams standardise any tedious, repeatable, or prone-to-human-error processes to keep things clear and simple. Another critical practice to ensure quality is to have a set of robust and efficient testing processes.5 In Lean development, quality is everyone’s work -- not just the Quality Analyst’s.

Deliver Fast Any organisation that wants to keep up with changes and remain competitive knows that it should be able to deliver value fast and consistently. The lean way of delivering is not working longer hours or working recklessly for the sake of speed

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-- rather, start fast and simple, present it to customers, and enhance iteratively based on customer feedback.

The best way to deliver fast is to define and refine the team’s processes to have a consistent workflow and to manage flow by limiting work in progress (or WIP).

Respect People At its core, all lean systems are rooted in one thing: respect for people. This principle is probably one of the most neglected but it’s the most essential, especially in this fast-paced world. It applies to every aspect of how Lean organisations operate. It encourages respect for people by communicating proactively and effectively, dealing with work-related issues as a team, and empowering each other to do their best work.

Optimise the Whole To put it simply: a lean system optimises and manages the entire value stream -- the sequence of activities required to deliver a product or service to a customer -- and not just one team or department. Make decisions that make the whole organisation better and more efficient to maintain trust and high quality for the customers.

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CHAPTER THREE

EMBRACING AGILE FOR A SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Digital transformation is all about revolutionising the way business is done, fully leveraging the changes and opportunities of digital technology, and future-proofing your organisation. With this in mind, an agile approach to transitioning to new initiatives, processes, and practices across the business will ensure that all departments involved can quickly and efficiently adapt and deliver value, which is the key to surviving in a rapidly developing digital world. According to the latest global State of Agile Survey by VersionOne, 98% of respondents felt their organisation realised some measure of success from agile projects. Among the key benefits of agile cited were better prioritisation, improved measurability, higher productivity, and higher team morale.6

How can Agile aid your organisation’s digital transformation journey? Flexibility At the heart of Agile is its flexibility. While traditional business processes require rigorous planning with very detailed requirements that leave little to no room for change, the Agile approach welcomes change -- and even expects it.7 Teams need to be prepared for these changes in the digital world. What this means for your digital transformation: digitising processes means automating reports and tasks that were once expected of the different departments and roles in your company. People will suddenly find a lot of time in their hands to perform core tasks (selling, marketing, etc.) and this could come off as a surprise. Prepare your team to adapt, adjust, and embrace this change. Show them the value of digital processes and why it actually benefits them.

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Continuous Learning Agile teams are always learning, improving, and collaborating throughout their short sprint cycles -- always on their toes and ready to adapt when needed. So working in an agile manner ensures that value is delivered in smaller chunks frequently, instead of waiting months for an outcome that may be obsolete by then. What this means for your digital transformation: Have you ever delivered a client requirement only to have to re-do it from scratch or remake major parts of it because the client either changed their mind about what they wanted to they just realised they envisioned the final product differently? Chances are, you have. Being agile during your digital transformation means you eliminate the possibility of that from happening again. Communication and Collaboration Digital Transformation will never be achieved by just one team. To achieve full digital transformation, all business units and departments must work in unison with a clear vision of their goals and challenges. Agile encourages constant collaboration, feedback, and communication which is essential in any project. What this means for your digital transformation: One of the reasons people resist digitisation is that they have the misconception that it means “more machines, less people.” While it’s possible that there are more “machines” (software such as Salesforce CRM and/or hardware like the latest laptops), agile digital transformation also makes room for more people interaction. In fact, digital transformation makes it easier for the whole company to have a unified mission and vision. Higher Morale No business transformation is ever successful without its people. Organisations need their team members to be innovative, productive, and highly motivated. The agile approach encourages freedom to do one’s work in his own time, which gives people time to reflect, to learn, and take a break when needed.

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What this means for your digital transformation: With less time spent on administrative tasks, your people could now reflect on how to better manage their time, perform their core responsibilities, and take trainings to upskill (and eventually cross-skill). As you can see, adopting an agile approach allows continuous innovation and enables businesses to become disruptive leaders in the digital world. Digital transformation requires business agility -- and an Agile mindset is the only approach that has shown consistent success. However, organisations must not simply adopt Agile on the surface, they need to go all in.8 Mistakes will be made, but in the Agile digital world, failure is just another lesson to learn. If you’re ready to start (or enhance) your digital transformation journey by embracing agile, the next chapters will talk about how you can build an agile program.

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CHAPTER FOUR

HOW TO BUILD AN AGILE PROGRAM Agile Runs on Trust One thing an organisation should note before building an agile program is that it is built on trust. An agile program cannot function without a high level of trust among its team members. Because working in an agile manner requires team members to constantly communicate, they must be honest about what’s right for the product and what needs to be improved. Team members must also be confident in each other’s ability to execute their tasks and make good decisions. Build a Solid Foundation Forming an agile team takes time and effort, and no team performs well when it first comes together. This is normal -- before team members develop teamwork, they go through recognisable stages when they transition from individual strangers into a group with a unified goal.9 Tuckman’s stages of group development describes these stages.10

Stage Characteristics

Forming High dependence on leader for guidance and direction; roles and responsibilities unclear; processes not established yet

Storming Members attempt to establish themselves; purpose becomes clear but relationships are still blurry

Norming Relationships are well understood within the team; members start to resolve differences and optimise their processes and working styles; unified vision and stronger commitment to goals

Performing Team is performing well without interference or participation from leader; focused on being strategic and achieving goals

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Once the team reaches the last stage, performance and development will be way better. Remember: Agile isn’t just made for software development -- it can be applied to any team: Marketing, HR, finance, etc. So don’t be afraid to customise the Agile methodology according to what’s best for your team.

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CHAPTER FIVE

SCRUM AND KANBAN Scrum and Kanban are two of the most popular agile frameworks used by organisations. While Agile is a set of principles and values that promote collaboration and iterations in product development, frameworks such as Scrum and Kanban are sets of practices and processes that implement it. Let’s dig deeper on these project management processes.

Scrum Scrum is a framework that is widely used to implement Agile. Scrum’s identifying trait is its fixed-length iterations called sprints. Products are built within this timeframe, and when it ends (we call this a milestone), the product receives feedback and is ready for improvement in the next sprint. These short iterations reinforce the importance of fast feedback and good estimation. Scrum Ceremonies Meetings, or “ceremonies”, are an important part of Agile development. In Scrum, there are 4 ceremonies that bring structure to each sprint:

● Sprint Planning: This is a meeting that sets what tasks the team needs to complete in the upcoming sprint. Team members discuss each task, any roadblocks that might come, and collectively estimates the amount of effort involved.11

● Daily Stand-up: Also known as the daily scrum, it is a 15-minute meeting designed to inform everyone about what’s going on across the team. It talks about what tasks were completed that day, and is usually light but

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informative. Pro tip: Keep people standing so the meeting stays short -- hence the name!

● Sprint Demo: Sometimes called an iteration review, this is where the team showcases what they have finished in the sprint. It’s a time to celebrate accomplishments and get immediate constructive feedback from leaders and stakeholders.

● Sprint Retrospective: This is a review of what worked well in the sprint and what didn’t. Retrospectives help the team to constantly improve their deliverables and processes, and continue to focus on what they’re doing well.

Essential Roles in the Scrum Process A Scrum team has a different composition that the traditional waterfall approach -- it is group of cross-functional people who have different responsibilities but can train each other to be able to deliver products better.12

● Product Owner: The product owner works closely with the client or

customer and is focused on understanding the product, business, and market to ensure that the team is delivering the best value to the business.

● Scrum Master: The Scrum master coaches the team and the business executives on the Scrum process and looks for ways to optimise the practice. He holds team members accountable to their commitments, manages the team’s delivery process, works to build community on the team, and helps the team excel.

● Scrum Team: Usually made of 5-7 members, a scrum team is a tight-knit group made of people with different skill sets who cross-train each other so there’s no bottleneck in the delivery of work. All members should have a ‘we not I’ attitude and help each other complete the sprint successfully.

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Kanban Kanban is another popular framework used by agile software development teams. It is a system for managing work that visualises the process and the actual work to identify potential bottlenecks in the process and fix them for a cost-effective and efficient workflow. Here are some key traits of the Kanban method: Visualise Workflow One of the fundamental steps in practicing the Kanban method is to create a visual model of your process and the work that comes with it. Making the work visible along with roadblocks and bottlenecks makes it easier for team members to communicate and collaborate on how to boost flow. To do this, divide the work into pieces, write each of them on a card (called a Kanban card) that is placed on a Kanban board (either a physical or virtual wall). The board is mapped into columns, illustrating where each item is on the workflow.

Limit Work in Progress (WIP) Teams place limitations on how many work items are in progress at one time in each workflow stage. By doing this, the team members are encouraged to complete

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the tasks at hand first before taking up new work. Not only does it reduce the time it takes for a work item to travel through the Kanban system, it also enables teams to deliver quality work quicker in a healthier environment.13

Continuous Improvement Unlike Scrum where there is a fixed timeframe to complete a set of tasks, Kanban embraces smaller and more changes along the process. In Kanban, processes can be changed through analysis and experimentation to improve the team’s effectiveness. Kanban Metrics There are a few measurement systems used in Kanban to manage and analyse workflow, and optimise processes. One is lead time or cycle time, which is the average amount of time it takes to complete an item. Another is throughput or the amount of work completed in a single period of time. When the team can see data, often through charts, it’s easier to spot roadblocks and bottlenecks in the process and remove them.14

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Scrum vs Kanban Kanban and Scrum share some concepts but approach them differently. Let’s check them out.

Scrum Kanban

Delivery Timelines Regular, fixed iterations (usually one to two weeks)

Continuous workflow on an as-needed basis

Roles Scrum Master, Product Owner, Team Members

No predefined roles; some teams need the help of an Agile coach

Key Metrics Measures production using velocity during sprints; each sprint relies on the success of the previous one

Measures production using “cycle time” or the amount of time it takes to complete a full piece of a project

Changes Changes during the sprint are highly discouraged

Allows for changes to be made mid-stream

Best for Projects with widely-varying priorities

Teams with stable priorities that may not change as much over time

Pro Tip: You can actually use both of these! Depending on the work, some teams blend the concepts of Kanban and Scrum and call it “Scrumban”. They take the fixed-length sprints and roles from Scrum and the Kanban board, focus on work-in-progress, and cycle times of Kanban.15 Using this combination makes it easier to manage projects and respond to urgent work while minimising disruptions. Decide on how you can use these two frameworks depending on your team and the scope of work to deliver the most value to your customers.

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CHAPTER SIX

SUCCESS STORY: TEAM X and AGILE

Background TeamX is AFDigital’s service package where clients can subscribe to dedicated and interchangeable marketing and Salesforce specialists to augment and scale their marketing operations and customer relationship management process. The Story Since Day 1, AFDigital believes that Agile is not just a term made popular in tech, but it is a proven and effective way to get things done. For AFDigital, the agile methodology can be adapted and followed even in non-IT environments such as marketing -- and so they did. They wanted to be more flexible and to increase the impact and effectiveness of their deliverables, whether it’s a marketing campaign or a CRM system. Embracing the Agile mindset, AFDigital experienced these benefits: Truly Multidisciplinary. To become truly agile, all departments must have access to all the company’s knowledge and information to independently develop and execute marketing campaigns and support customer communications from end to end. While the digital marketing team has several distinct roles, their colleagues from other teams still feel part of the team as well. AFDigital realised that this was essential: teams can only make successful choices if they have an overall view of all interests and obstacles in their organisation. Flexible Planning. Because of the Agile mindset, AFDigital doesn’t need to plan rigorously ahead. Instead, new ideas for campaigns continuously stream in and are discussed in their sprints. This means that the whole team can constantly prioritise

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what could bring the most value to their clients and adapt to any sudden changes that may come their way, such as a new client or a new team member. By adopting agile practices, AFDigital increased its velocity of their deliverables, spent more time developing communication activities that bring value to customers, and improved cooperation among the departments and stakeholders. Best of all, team members are more motivated than ever and are sharing their best practices within their company and others. AFDigital continues to believe that Agile is a journey and not a destination. The implementation of Agile within the organisation may change according to the situation, and Agile helps them be always prepared for it. Read more case studies about agile here. Now that you know the basics of how to start an agile program, you’re ready to build your own agile team!

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SOURCES:

1. Beck K., et al. Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Retrieved from

https://agilemanifesto.org/ 2. Comprehensive Guide to the Agile Manifesto. (2018). Retrieved from

https://www.smartsheet.com/comprehensive-guide-values-principles-agile-manifesto

3. Salesforce Trailhead. Learn the Basics of Agile. Retrieved from https://trailhead.salesforce.com/en/content/learn/modules/salesforce-agile-basics/learn-the-basics-of-agile

4. Lean Principles 101. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.planview.com/resources/articles/lean-principles-101/

5. Salesforce Trailhead. Learn to Use Lean Principles. Retrieved from https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/salesforce-agile-basics/learn-to-use-lean-principles

6. How an Agile Mindset Drives Digital Transformation. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.cio.com.au/brand-post/content/628873/how-an-agile-mindset-drives-digital-transformation/

7. Vernon, T. 10 Benefits of Bringing 'Agile' to Digital Transformation. Retrieved from http://www.fintricity.com/10-benefits-bringing-agile-digital-transformation/

8. Bloomberg, J. (2017). Digital Transformation Requires Enterprise-wide Agile Transformation. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbloomberg/2017/02/26/digital-transformation-requires-enterprisewide-agile-transformation

9. Salesforce Trailhead. Build Agile Teams. Retrieved from https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/agile-basics/build-agile-teams

10. Tuckman: Forming Storming Norming Performing Model. Retrieved from https://www.businessballs.com/team-management/tuckman-forming-storming-norming-performing-model/

11. Salesforce Trailhead. Learn About Agile Ceremonies. Retrieved from https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/agile-basics/learn-about-agile-ceremonies

12. Salesforce Trailhead. Meet Scrum. Retrieved from https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/agile-frameworks-scrum-and-kanban/meet-scrum

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13. What is Kanban?. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.planview.com/resources/articles/what-is-kanban/

14. Salesforce Trailhead. (n.d). Learn About Kanban. Retrieved from https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/scrum-and-kanban-at-salesforce/learn-about-kanban

15. Salesforce Trailhead. (n.d). Meet Kanban. Retrieved from https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/agile-frameworks-scrum-and-kanban/meet-kanban