{"id":8300,"date":"2018-12-25T21:53:39","date_gmt":"2018-12-25T16:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/innoroo.com\/blog\/?p=8300"},"modified":"2019-01-02T09:32:49","modified_gmt":"2019-01-02T04:02:49","slug":"interview-with-andy-carmichael","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/innoroo.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/25\/interview-with-andy-carmichael\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Andy Carmichael"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Carmichael is a well-known name in the Agile and Kanban Community, and we are privileged to feature him in this edition. He never fails to amaze us with his humility, intelligence and vision.<\/span><\/p>\n

In an interview with us, Andy shared his thoughts on questions like: \u201cWhy do organisations fail to achieve business agility?\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s the difference between growing capability and increasing capacity?\u201d and most importantly, \u201cIs change always an improvement?\u201d He put his emphasis, not on being the right size, but on moving at the right speed, in today\u2019s world of heightened competition and disruption. <\/span><\/p>\n

This article is based on our conversation. Let\u2019s read\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Q1. What are the reasons of failure to achieve Business Agility for organisations?<\/b><\/p>\n

Andy:\u00a0It\u2019s an interesting question. There are many more reasons of failure, and many more different ways to fail, than to succeed. The first question I ask organisations though is what they want to achieve. Is business agility one of those things? Because if you are in a very stable situation and you have very stable business, agility isn\u2019t necessarily on the priority list of what must be achieved. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, nearly all organisations \u2013 including those in industries we consider most stable, where nothing seems to have changed in decades \u2013 face the disruption of new ways of doing business, and innovators entering into their markets. It means everybody must think about the need to change\u2026 the need to change fast. Remember: \u201cIt\u2019s not the big fish that eat the small ones, it\u2019s the fast that eat the slow!\u201d If your organisation is slow, there is a good chance that your competitors or new entrants into the market will disrupt it and take market share. <\/span><\/p>\n

So the first question is, \u201cIs agility an aim for the organization?\u201d If it isn\u2019t, you won\u2019t achieve it. If you realize that you <\/span>do<\/span><\/i> need to become agile, there are still many reasons why you may fail. <\/span><\/p>\n

For example, you need to <\/span>plan<\/span><\/i> to become more agile (more able to respond rapidly to changing market conditions), and you need to <\/span>invest<\/span><\/i> in those plans. If you want to encourage innovation, you need to <\/span>communicate<\/span><\/i> that goal to staff and show how you will reward it. Traditional command and control approaches to managing business, and fixed long-term goals, won\u2019t work, particularly if disruptors are already entering your market and introducing new ways of working more successfully than you are. You have to think about the way the organisation can empowers its staff, and allow them to think differently, to try new things in a safe-to-fail manner. That allows the organisation to discover different ways of working. Agility comes from the chosen strategy of an organisation, and from its leaders\u2019 ability to communicate and encourage staff to implement that strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n

When people say the word \u201cAgile\u201d, they are often only thinking about it in the context of software development. That software is important to business agility is not in question. Software has \u201ceaten the world,\u201d it is the driver for business transformation, it is the foundation of digital solutions. The way you create software, and the way you plan, manage and finance software development is crucial if you want to achieve business agility. However, I encourage leadership teams to consider first <\/span>why<\/span><\/i> they want to achieve business agility, and what it involves in terms of the changes needed in their organisation. Then they can start planning, not only how it will change software development, but also every other area of the business. Each area, just like the software teams, must invest in new ways of doing business, must try multiple things to see what works; must act before knowing if it <\/span>will<\/span><\/i> work, learning from failures and exploiting successes. Rather than waiting for the fully developed ideas \u2013 the big up-front plans with every component costed and all outcomes forecast, the big implementation and the big-bang delivery \u2013 smaller steps and more learning on the journey is essential. <\/span><\/p>\n

These are strategies for moving faster than your competitors and ensuring survival in rapidly moving markets. That\u2019s why business agility is important. It answers the existential question of how we survive in this rapidly changing world, where organisations can quickly discover they are no longer fit for the new competitive landscape. <\/span><\/p>\n

Back to some of the reasons for failure to achieve business agility:<\/span><\/p>\n