Directing The Agile Organisation


Book Description

Chapter 1 looks at your role as a manager. How will your responsibilities change under Agile Business Management? What techniques can you use to manage your staff? Chapter 2 discusses your organisation’s relationship and interaction with its customers. What are their needs and goals, and how can you work together to achieve them? Chapter 3 provides the organisational context in which Agile Business Management operates. It discusses lean management structures and the techniques to manage different types of staff, teams and organisations. Chapter 4 looks at how you and your team work the “agile way” and describes tools and techniques to help optimise workflow, exploit change and manage customer requirements. The book closes with a look at associated financial models that support your Agile organisation, the processes you can use to run an Agile Business Management transformation, and the first steps to take towards that transformation.




Agile for Responsive Organizations


Book Description

Agile is a philosophy that ensures business results, especially in this rapidly changing world. The foundation for the focus on result is based on continuous improvement of customer satisfaction, Customer Excellence! The ideas originated in the world of software development, but is more widely applicable. This book is about applying Agile from team level to the level of the whole organization. It is the guide in the transformation to a structured fully embedded Agile way of working and It is also a reference for those who already are Agile and want to evolve furthertake it to the next step. The book provides a good foundation for the `Certify to inspire' program of the Agile Consortium with certification at the level of Agile Foundation, Practitioner and Master. This pocket guide is intended for anyone who is, or will get involved in the transformation to Agile. The book is particularly aimed at managers, team members and coaches. Topics covered: Agile at organization level; Agile (project) management, Scrum combined with PRINCE2(R), measuring the transformation, coaching styles, Agile, Lean and continuous improvement, distributed teams, directing self-organizing teams, Agile and governance, and of course the book contains many practical tips. The authors are Certified Agile Masters and their years of experience with Agile transformations are brought together in this book. The answers to the many questions of managers, teams and others are also included in this book. The result is a convenient and practical overview of the Agile approach from team-level up to organizational level as well as the main issues that you encounter in the transformation to an agile responsive organization.




Agility


Book Description

Agility: Management Principles for a Volatile World fills a tremendous need in the marketplace for a practical set of principles to help managers become more agile. Today's volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world has created a dynamic, ever-changing, and hyper-competitive global marketplace challenging managers to think differently. The apprehension of the present moment experienced by managers across industries, sectors, and markets demands a new way of understanding the nuances involved with navigating today's chaos in order to achieve and sustain growth. With the speed of change, disruption, and transformation expected to increase exponentially now is the opportune time for organizations to rethink the common management paradigms of power (we are bigger), speed (we move faster), or force (we can acquire). Agility, more so, than power, speed, or force is the Kairos for managers today. In archery, Kairos, the ancient Greek word for a proper or opportune time for action, denotes the moment in which an arrow may be fired with sufficient force to reach a target. If managers wish to reach their targets the time is ripe to emphasize agility over rigidity, presentism over history, and uncertainty over certainty. Divided into six sections: compensation, culture, skills, work, mission and leadership, this publication offers managers a variety of approaches to problem solving, self-discovery, and organizational awareness to consider when searching for a solution. Required reading for individuals from small-to-medium sized businesses, large corporations, non-profit organizations, and government offices, Agility offers readers a valuable resource for managing in the 21st century.




Changing The Mind of the Organization


Book Description

Changing The Mind of the Organization is an inspiring how-to guide for leaders of change, taking a modern look at organizational change and incorporating cutting-edge thinking on neuroscience and the role of the leader in change management. Author Chris Martlew uses over 20 years of leadership experience in the internet and ecommerce industry to inform the book, focusing on a number of areas that will help leaders develop and grow, including: Seven perspectives on human development and change. A model of how we think. How we change our minds. Four styles of change leadership including a self assessment. The essential characteristics of agile teams. The five spiral dynamics of successful change. The eight Fs of agile organizations. Changing The Mind of the Organization is an innovative book and an essential read for any business leader. Reviews for Changing the Mind of the Organization: "Chris Martlew offers delightful insights into the need for change, the nature of change, and the effects of change." Jurgen Appelo, author of Management 3.0 and CEO of Happy Melly "Pacey, challenging and concise, serving an eclectic mix of neuroscience, applied psychology and business leadership." Dr. Henk Riesmeijer, Emeritus Psychologist and Founder of SPA Consult




The Agile Organization


Book Description

Build an innovative and flexible organization that can respond rapidly to changing circumstances, retain competitive advantage and keep employees engaged.




The Agile Organization


Book Description

Given today's context of tough change, organizations need to be able to innovate as well as develop and implement strategy quickly and efficiently. The key to this is agility - a set of capabilities that can help organizations to rapidly adapt to changing circumstances. At the same time, resilience is also essential if benefits are going to endure over the longer term and if employees are to be kept on board. The Agile Organization focuses on how to build both agility and resilience at individual, team and organizational levels. It draws on a wealth of research, including the lived experience and learning of managers and HR and organization development (OD) professionals to show how it is possible to 'square the circle', becoming more sustainably agile while also enhancing employee engagement and resilience. The Agile Organization showcases the latest thinking - new organizational models, ground-breaking themes and case studies - that illustrate how organizations are addressing the challenge of developing organizational agility. Packed with helpful checklists and practice pointers, this book is a 'go to' guide for senior leaders and managers, HR and OD specialists who want to help bring about organizational transformation and create the new resiliently agile 'business as usual'.




Managing Agile


Book Description

This book examines agile approaches from a management perspective by focusing on matters of strategy, implementation, organization and people. It examines the turbulence of the marketplace and business environment in order to identify what role agile management has to play in coping with such change and uncertainty. Based on observations, personal experience and extensive research, it clearly identifies the fabric of the agile organization, helping managers to become agile leaders in an uncertain world. The book opens with a broad survey of agile strategies, comparing and contrasting some of the major methodologies selected on the basis of where they lie on a continuum of ceremony and formality, ranging from the minimalist technique-driven and software engineering focused XP, to the pragmatic product-project paradigm that is Scrum and its scaled counterpart SAFe®, to the comparatively project-centric DSDM. Subsequently, the core of the book focuses on DSDM, owing to the method’s comprehensive elaboration of program and project management practices. This work will chiefly be of interest to all those with decision-making authority within their organizations (e.g., senior managers, line managers, program, project and risk managers) and for whom topics such as strategy, finance, quality, governance and risk management constitute a daily aspect of their work. It will, however, also be of interest to those readers in advanced management or business administration courses (e.g., MBA, MSc), who wish to engage in the management of agile organizations and thus need to adapt their skills and knowledge accordingly.




The Professional Agile Leader


Book Description

Hone Your Agile Leadership Skills to Help Your Organization Transform and Thrive To leverage the immense opportunities associated with accelerating change, organizations need teams capable of trying new ideas quickly, learning from their experiences, and adapting based on that learning. Helping these teams to grow and thrive requires agile leaders who support, inspire, and encourage, and who can leave behind the management skills of directing, monitoring, and rewarding or punishing. The Professional Agile Leader is a realistic, practical guide, written by experienced agile leaders who share their collective experiences in helping agile leaders to grow responsive and adaptive teams. They structure powerful lessons around a case study based on decades of experience helping agile leaders achieve and sustain agile transformation. Best of all, they never settle for high-level hand-waving--they show you how it's really done. Reignite once-successful organizations that have lost their way Form cross-functional teams and empower them with purpose Learn to let go, as your teams start taking more responsibility Overcome forces that want to reel you back into the "old rules" Realign the whole organization, since agile and traditional models can't coexist forever Achieve the most challenging goal of all: changing culture Great agile leaders aren't born that way--they're regular people who care deeply about helping others achieve shared goals and have discovered a better way to lead. Whatever your role in the organization, this guide will help you master those skills and mindsets a whole lot faster. "Drawing on vast experience, Ron, Kurt, and Laurens tease out practical tips and patterns for good leadership [and show] how a leader can help shape the environment for agile teams to succeed. . . . The narrative style of the book makes it easy to read, and I am sure there will be many times that you see yourself in it." --From the Foreword by Dave West, CEO and Product Owner, Scrum.org Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.




The Agile Enterprise


Book Description

Discover how to implement and operate in an Agile manner at every level of your enterprise and at every point from idea to delivery. Learn how Agile-mature organizations adapt nimbly to microchanges in market conditions. Learn cutting-edge practices and concepts as you extend your implementation of Agile through the entire enterprise to meet customer needs. Veteran Agile coach Mario Moreira argues that two critical conditions must be conscientiously cultivated at a company before it can expect to reap in full measure the business benefits of mature Agile. First, individuals at every level must be committed to the mindset and the implementation of practices rigorously focused on delivering value to the customer. Second, all employees must be empowered to take ownership. This holistic transformation wrenches the status quo and provokes a strong focus where customers and employees matter. What You'll Learn Establish an idea pipeline to quickly and productively evolve customer value through all levels of the enterprise Incorporate a discovery mindset—experimental, incremental, design, and divergent thinking—and fast feedback loops to increase the odds that what you build aligns more closely to what customer wants Leverage Lean Canvas, personas, story mapping, value stream mapping, Cost of Delay, servant leadership, self-organization, and more to deliver optimum value to customers Use continuous agile budgeting and idea pipelines at the senior levels of the enterprise to enable you to adapt to the speed of the market Reinvent human resources, portfolio management, finance, and many areas of management toward new roles in the enablement of customer value Map a top-to-bottom and end-to-end holistic view of your Agile galaxy to gauge where you are today and where you’d like to go in your Agile future Be truly Agile throughout your enterprise, focused on customer value and employees above all else Who This Book Is For Executives and senior management; sponsors of Agile within a company; ScrumMasters and Agile coaches, champions, and consultants; project management and quality assurance officers (PMOs and AMOs); portfolio managers; product managers and product owners; marketing and business managers; functional, middle, and resource managers; engineering heads and managers; cross-functional engineering/scrum teams; and entrepreneurs and venture capitalists




Agility.X


Book Description

In recent years, the concept of agility has captured the executive imagination, and leaders in a variety of industries and companies of all sizes are now searching for ideas on how to effectively utilize agile thinking. This book provides insights on agility from world-class experts on leadership, strategy and organization, alongside seasoned practitioners who have successfully implemented agility programs for companies such as Daimler, Ford Motor Company, J. W. Thompson, Siemens, and NASA. By combining theoretical expertise with a variety of managerial experiences, it provides a wide-ranging yet succinct guide for companies seeking to engage in the transformative journey towards becoming more agile. As such, it will be of great use and interest to executives in all industries, executive education participants and consultants, M.B.A. students and researchers interested in agile. Agility.X prepares leaders for managing under uncertainty and organizations for thriving in turbulent environments.