What is Agile Change Management? Looking into the Agile Principles

The business world is constantly changing and has seen many ups and downs in the last decade. There is a need for change in business operations management because of the dynamic business environment. Many companies are trying to involve changes in business strategies, but that requires time and a lot of planning. To change the traditional business management system, Agile change management comes into play.

You might be wondering, 'What is Agile change management?' Agile change management is a technique for coping with the ever-changing business environment. It allows organizations to quickly adapt to changes and make new business strategies with strong planning. Although it can be better known as leadership as it also lets the companies know how leadership can embrace Agile and change the perspective of the business world to work with Agile projects. 

A business must be able to efficiently and effectively adapt to changes and create new opportunities for their growth, which should not result in any uncertainty. This will help the businesses to gain a competitive advantage over the others. This article will help you explore more about Agile Change Management and other concepts related to this. 

In this article, you will learn how Agile projects and change management go hand in hand. People who are more willing to learn new skills and let go of long-standing habits will be better able to adapt to changes. 

Reasons Why People Resist Agile Transformations

It is not a new phenomenon that companies tend to resist Agile transformations. The management understands the need for a dynamic strategy for the operations but still chooses to resist changes in Agile management. But it cannot be avoided, so it is important that Agile embrace change as it will help them to make certain strategic movements. 

Agile change management is indeed challenging as it requires a lot of changes in multiple areas, such as changes in methodology, strategies, and, more importantly, mindset. Agile experts should encourage businesses to change how they think about their work, ultimately changing the way they work. Multiple organizational factors need to be considered while making these changes. 

However, there are various reasons why people resist Agile transformations that can be enumerated as follows: 

1. Lack of Knowledge

For any Agile transformation to take place successfully, you must incorporate skilled and knowledgeable participants who know exactly what they are doing. Only a brief training on Agile transformation is not enough. Agile coaches need to impart a deep understanding of the field so that the participants can change their mindset and work on the Agile principles. If the participants take measures without understanding the Agile principles, it can lead to ineffective and uncertain strategies. 

A lack of knowledge will lead to chaos in the organization. There will be misunderstandings and misjudgments about the predictions. Miscommunication and unrealistic results will also come your way. So imparting proper knowledge is a key to Agile transformation. 

2. Cultural Issues

Every research participant identified cultural difficulties as a significant barrier to Agile transformation. So it can be said that cultural issues are a significant barrier to Agile transformation. Some organizations want to restrict themselves to traditional project management, which is unsuitable in today's dynamic business environment. 

That is where the problem of cultural issues lies. Companies know that they have to change, but they will still not adapt to those changes because they want to stick to traditional measures for project management. Such companies simply don't know how to embrace change in an organization. 

Agile transformation is hampered by a lack of trust, a disregard for collaboration, and command-and-control thinking. Thus, it is important to implement an organizational reset to incorporate the Agile transformation in companies like these. This will help companies to develop values, strategies, and principles that are in accordance with Agile change management. 

3. General Dislike of Change

A common reason for resisting Agile transformation is people dislike changes around them. Such people are commonly called 'conservers', a term coined by Mike Cohn, who is one of the many founders of Scrum Alliance. The main aim of such people is to stick to the traditional beliefs and practices in business. 

Even if they identify that the business environment has become dynamic and required changes, they refrain from doing so, stating that incorporating changes can result in unpredictability and uncertainty. Many other reasons for them not shifting from the traditional practices are that they think if they start a child project management, it can put their power and authority in danger. If you are concerned that a change may lead to the loss of your employment, it might be difficult to accept the change. 

It is a matter of time and patience if you want to see the results of Agile management. So even if you do like changes, you want to allow yourself to incorporate Agile management in the organization. 

4. Wrong Mindset

Every manager has a different reaction to changes and transformation. Some would love the idea of Agile change management, whereas some would dislike it. Both employees and managers are sometimes discouraged by the idea of incorporating Agile change management. Employees say that they do not have the right amount of knowledge for Agile management, whereas managers state reasons like this type of management will result in their loss of control and authority over their team. 

It is the duty of both the employees and managers to understand how to embrace changes in an organization. Some organizations' command and control policies also act as a reason for resisting transformation. Some managers like to control their team and have a specific command over them, while some employees like it so that they do not have to take any extra work pressure. No organization can prosper if they do not have a growth mindset and acknowledge changes in the dynamic business setup. 

5. Lack of Effective Collaboration

Working in a group should involve transparent communication and collaboration among the team members. Some employees have no or very little experience in doing that. This is why it may result in a lack of effective collaboration. Instead of taking responsibility and cooperating with others, people frequently like to point fingers at other individuals. In such cases, managers should arrange training for inculcating collaborative efforts within the organization. 

This may be a result of an effective hierarchical structure in an organization and a lack of professional bonding between the different teams in a company. Many people find it uncomfortable or difficult to collaborate with other employees. This creates a major drawback in incorporating Agile change management. 

There is not a single problem that can be particularly dealt with. The whole business ecosystem needs some changes altogether. Understanding the primary reasons for resisting change is a basic step toward organizational growth so that Agile change management can be encouraged. 

What does Resistance to Agile Look Like?

Resistance can be seen gradually and quietly, becoming obvious and apparent after multiple times of unsuccessful sprints or when things are introducing results or outcomes as per expectations. In some cases, resistance can exist from the very beginning. 

Some of the symptoms of resistance in project management can be stated as follows: 

• Agile projects are forced into waterfall delivery and planning timelines or vice versa. 
• Constant scope of improvement creeps in as more and more departments keep on adding to the list of deliverables. 
• The people trying to support Agile management and learn the transformation get exhausted or frustrated and leave the process in between. 
• The major tasks do not reach the position of a satisfactory end to the task. There always remains some sort of unsatisfactory result. 

The above conditions are what resistance to Agile looks like because the managers or the team supervisors do not want to incorporate the Agile technology for various reasons. This also happens because they are not aware of the right amount of knowledge or requirement to support the Agile management process. Another reason for resistance to Agile is that the management may think their career path conflicts with various Project Management technologies. 

Thus, an organization starts to revert to traditional project management forms, and the transition to Agile is hindered or even stopped in some scenarios. 

Maximize your team's capabilities with our PRINCE2 Foundation corporate training. Enhance your project management expertise and attain triumph.

How to Overcome Resistance to Agile?

There are four integral roles that need to be filled in an organization with proper knowledge and qualification to effectively manage a significant change like the shift to Agile management. Such key roles are enumerated as follows: 

1. Coach

An Agile coach helps organizations formulate and regulate Agile projects. They are responsible for managing such projects by lining up the organization or different teams to achieve the task at hand. An Agile coach has a deep understanding and knowledge of all the Agile practices, concepts, and values. 

An Agile coach is responsible for planning, adopting, fostering, and operating various Agile practices in the business environment. He also enlightens members about the benefits of Agile change management. This has team members get motivated and encouraged to learn about Agile project management. 

2. Supervisor

An Agile supervisor looks after all the changes in procedures and strategies that the Agile coach has incorporated into the team. The supervisor does not make strategies or evaluate concepts but is responsible for applying such concepts that the Agile coach has asked to implement. As the name suggests, a supervisor mainly supervises the Agile project management and its operations. 

The Agile coach, who has a deep understanding of discipline, has implemented the concepts into strategies and procedures in the organization. But a person is also required to constantly look after the whole workflow. That is what the job of an Agile supervisor is. Incorporating an Agile supervisor can result in getting rid of the resistance towards Agile. 

3. Sponsor

The role of a project sponsor is very critical, especially in cases of Agile project management. Agile sponsors are in charge of advocating the project and reporting the results to the organization. Typically, a senior member of the organization. But a project sponsor will not take part in the working of the project actively. 

A project sponsor will act as an investor for the funding of the project, and that is why he holds a high stake in it. But he will not interfere with the operations of the project. It will be the discretion of the project team to deliver the outcome, but a project manager holds the authority to terminate a project if it does not deliver the proper outcomes or does not fulfill the project's major goals. 

4. Team Member

The team members of a particular project also have a very important part to play in overcoming the resistance towards Agile. This can only happen when the team members need to eliminate traditional project management systems and incorporate Agile management. Change is inevitable; thus, Agile management helps businesses cope with such changes. 

Following are the ways in which team members can help in overcoming resistance towards Agile: 

• Conceptual Agreement 

Understanding the Agile concept is important, as also the agreement of all the team members upon it. So, effective results cannot be delivered if the concept of Agile is not clear to the team members and they do not collectively agree on performing such strategies. Thus, conceptual agreement of the team members is an important aspect of eliminating resistance to Agile. 

• Competence and Capability 

The employees must be capable of understanding the Agile concepts to be implemented in daily operations. Proper implementation is a very important aspect of overcoming resistance to Agile. A competent employee will overcome challenges and prove himself to deliver better results with Agile management. So the competence and the capability of team members cannot be ignored. 

• Continuity 

Executing Agile management in a single project is not enough. The team members must be trained in a manner that they have developed an Agile mindset to incorporate such procedures and strategies in all the projects that come along their way. Continuity of an Agile mindset and execution in business operations is an integral factor that the team members must fulfill. 

Conclusion

Due to the changing dynamics of the business environment, it has become an absolute necessity for organizations to adapt to new technologies. Agile change management is one such technology of project management that has become a mandatory requirement for successfully dealing with various projects. The good news is that although change is something we all dread and don't want to encourage, it doesn't necessarily have to end badly. Agile helps you add beneficial strategies for your long-term interests and eliminate steps that hamper your business growth. KnowledgeHut provides the best CSM Certification Training program to learn and implement the Agile methodology in the corporate world.