Agile practices have proven to help software teams develop better software products while shortening delivery cycles to weeks and even days. To respond to the new challenges of cloud computing, mobility, big data, social media, and more, organizations need to extend these agile practices and principles beyond software engineering departments and into the broader organization. Adaptive leadership principles offer managers and development professionals the tools they need to accelerate the move toward agility throughout IT and the enterprise. Jim Highsmith presents the three dimensions of adaptive leadership and offers an integrated approach for helping you spread agile practices across your wider organization. Jim introduces the “riding paradox” and explores the elements of an exploring, engaging, and adaptive leadership style. Learn about the good things that can happen when you coherently articulate why agility is so critical today and then follow up with a plan of action. Find out how to build a continuous delivery capability within your company-at the team, department, and organization levels.

1.
KW2
Keynote
11/7/2012 12:45 PM
"Adaptive Leadership:
Accelerating Enterprise Agility"
Presented by:
Jim Highsmith
ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Brought to you by:
340 Corporate Way, Suite 300, Orange Park, FL 32073
888‐268‐8770 ∙ 904‐278‐0524 ∙ sqeinfo@sqe.com ∙ www.sqe.com

2. Jim Highsmith
ThoughtWorks, Inc.
An executive consultant at ThoughtWorks, Inc., Jim Highsmith has more than thirty years of
experience as an IT manager, product manager, project manager, consultant, and software
developer. Jim is the author of Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products; the
Jolt Award winner Adaptive Software Development: A Collaborative Approach to Managing
Complex Systems; and Agile Software Development Ecosystems. He is a co-author of the Agile
Manifesto, a founding member of The Agile Alliance, co-author of the Declaration of
Interdependence for project leaders, and co-founder and first president of the Agile Project
Leadership Network. Jim has consulted with IT and product development organizations, and
software companies worldwide.

3. Adaptive Leadership: Accelerating
Enterprise Agility
Jim Highsmith
g
Executive Consultant
Don’t micro-manage
Buy pizza and
get out of the way
1

4. Goals of Adaptive Leaders
3
Envision a Responsive
Enterprise
Deliver a Continuous
Stream of Value
Create an Innovative
Culture
Why
Agile?
Do
Agile
Be
Agile
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Agility is a Strategic Issue
4
“88% of executives cite organisational agility
as key to global success.”
“50% say that agility is not only important, but
a core differentiator.”
diff
ti t ”
Source: The Economist, Special Report on Agility, March 2009
2

5. Opportunity
exploit the change
…exploit the change
Danger
…survive the change
5
Are We at an Inflection Point?
“Every decade
Every decade
or so since the
beginning of
the computer
age there
comes a
platform
change...”
• 2000 ‐ the Web
• 2012‐mobility (individuals),
cloud (system) plus big
data and social media
Source: “The Impact of Technology Mega‐Trends on Corporate IT
and Business Models,” Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
3

6. Social Business is Big Business
Dell’s Social Media Command
Center monitors Facebook,
Twitter, and more in the
blogosphere. In 13 languages,
effectively in every country.
“It’s really 24/7, and you can’t
even take a tea break.”
Source: “The Impact of Technology
Mega‐Trends on Corporate IT and
Business Models,” Tuck School of
Business at Dartmouth
Core Business Strategies
8
Responsiveness
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Efficiency
4

7. Beyond
Budgeting
Next Gen
Management
Lean (lean
(
startup)
Business Responsiveness
10
5

8. Strategy & Continuous Delivery
Increas Commitment
sing
11
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Increasing Benefit & Investment
The Evolution to Continuous Innovation
12
Continuous
Discovery
Continuous
Delivery
Continuous
C i
Development
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
6

9. Two Strategic Questions
13
In h
I what ways does our
d
business need to be
more responsive?
If we could deliver
solutions much faster
via continuous design &
delivery, how could we
take advantage of
that?
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Levels of Agility/Delivery
14
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
7

10. Why Adaptive Leadership?
Better Performance
Engaging Work
Environment
Battle for the Future
Do Agile
Be Agile
Purpose
Customers
Enterprise
(Adaptive
Leadership)
Talent
Shareholders/
Financial
Markets
8

11. How Important is Health (Being)?
“Organizations that focused on performance AND
health simultaneously
were nearly twice as successful as those that focused
on health alone,
and nearly three times as successful as those that
focused on performance alone.”
Beyond Performance: How Great Organizations Build Ultimate
Competitive Advantage, Scott Keller & Colin Price (McKinsey
& Co.)
Extensive Beyond Performance Research
Surveys: 600,000 respondents, 500 companies
6,800 CEO s
6 800 CEO’s & senior executives
Reviews: 900 books & academic journals
Personal interviews: 30 CEO’s
Data from: >100 McKinsey clients
9

12. Agenda
20
Envision a Responsive
Enterprise
Deliver a Continuous
Stream of Value
Create an Innovative
Culture
Why
Agile?
Do
Agile
Be
Agile
Practices & Process
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
10

13. Managers & Key Links
Execution Levers
21
Continuous Innovation
11

14. Lean Start Up Principles
Entrepreneurs are
everywhere
Entrepreneurship is management
Validated Learning
Build Measure - L
B ild – M
Learn
Innovation Accounting
Execution Levers
24
Do Less
Quality
Capability
Speed to
Value
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
12

15. Continuous Delivery of Value
25
Feature
Backlog Items
Running
Tested Features
Value: High l features
V l Hi h value f
Cycle Time: Concept to cash
Throughput: Volume of features
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Do your
systems look
like this?
Do you think it
impacts your
agility?
13

16. Quality Matters
27
Scientific Instrument Company, Canada
Average results from 6 before and 6 after Agile projects
beforeafter-Agile
Pre-Agile
Post-Agile
% Improvement
$2.8 M
$1.1M
61%
18 months
13.5 months
24%
2,270
381
83%
18
11
39%
Project Cost
Project Schedule
Cumulative Defects
Staffing
Source: Michael Mah, QSM Assosciates
Quality Issues (technical)
Code quality
Design quality
Automated testing
Technical debt reduction
Blah, blah, blah is what y
,
,
your business p
partners hear!
14

17. Historical Dilemma
29
Features
Quality
Business
Outcome
Technical
Outcome
What if?
30
Features
Business
Outcome
?
Business
Outcome
15

18. What if?
31
Cycle
Time
Features
Business
Outcome
Business
Outcome
The Consequences of Waterfall
Plan, Develop, Build, Test, Release
12+/- months
Hundreds of features
Serial Development
Maintain
Weeks
Few Features
Serial Development
Feedback from poor quality is long term
Consequences of low quality difficult to determine
16

19. Agile & Continuous Delivery
3-6 th
3 6 mths
3-6 th
3 6 mths
Milestone 1
R1
R2
R3
3-6 th
3 6 mths
Milestone 2
…
R1
R2
R3
Milestone 3
…
R1
R2
R3
…
Weekly Releases
Feedback immediate, a matter of weeks
Consequences of low quality
easier to determine.
Goal Not Features, but
Continuous Stream of Value!
Speed to Value
34
“To create a profile of dexterous
organizations, we grouped those
CEOs who recognized the value of
fast decisions, an iterative approach
to strategy, and the ability to execute
strategy
with speed.”
Source: IBM—Capitalizing on Complexity:
Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study (2010)
17

20. Speed to Value: The Agile Triangle
Value
(Releasable P d )
(R l
bl Product)
Quality
Constraints
(Reliable, Adaptable Product)
(cost, schedule, scope)
35
Do Less (But Get More)
36
Do the
simplest thing
possible that
delights the
customer
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
18

21. Do Less: Eliminate Marginal Value
37
Always
7%
2% of code used as written
f d
d
itt
Often
13%
$35 Billion, DOD Software
Crosstalk Journal 2002
Never Used
45%
Sometimes
16%
Rarely Used
19%
< 5% of code used
Commercial Software
400 projects over 15 years IEEE
conference 2001
64% of code never or rarely used
Standish Group Study,
reported by CEO Jim Johnson,
XP2002
38
“Everyone tries to do too much: solve too many
problems, build products with too many features. We
say ‘no’ to almost everything. If you include every
decent idea that comes along, you’ll just wind up with a
half-assed version of your product. What you want to
do is build half a product that kicks ass.”
Quotes from the founders of 37signals in Practically
Radical by William Taylor, 2011)
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
19

22. Traditional Value Curve
39
Value Cost Ratio Curve (T raditional)
Vaule Captured vs Cost Expended
e
120
100
100
90
80
80
70
60
Value %
60
40
Cost %
50
50
40
30
20
20
10
5
0
1
5
5
2
5
3
4
5
6
25
20
15
10
7
8
9
10
Development Phases
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Agile Value Curve
40
Strategies
Most valuable first
Value Cost Ratio Curve (Agile)
Evolve features
Vaule Captu
ured vs Cost Expended
120
100
85
80
80
75
60
40
70
Value %
60
55
Determine right cutoff
100
98
90
95
90
Cost %
50
40
30
20
20
15
10
5
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Iteration
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Where is the right cut-off point?
20

23. 41
“ …innovation is not about
saying "yes" to everything. It's
about saying "no" to all but the
most crucial features.”
Steve Jobs, (former CEO Apple Computer Inc)
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Build Capability
42
People
Technology
Process
Culture
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
21

24. The Possible—HP’s FutureSmart
Goal: Revamp HP LaserJet software
across product line
Common software
Adaptable
Applications
5% to 40% innovation
Cycle time from 2 months to 1 day
Reduced development costs by 40%
Enterprise Agile planning & prioritization
400 people, distributed
Complex and fast changing market
Source: Practical Large Scale Agile,
Gary Gruver, Mike Young, Pat Fulghum,
Addison Wesley mid-2012
3 years for transformation
Started with CI & CD!
Build a Responsive Software Delivery Engine
44
Value
WIP
Feature
Backlog Items
Technical
debt
Running
Tested Features
Do
Less
Quality
Measures:
M
Value
Cycle Time
Throughput
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
22

25. Software Delivery Evolution
45
12+ months
After 12+ months
Build
Maintain
Project
9-12+ mths
9-12+ mths
9-12+ Mths
Release 1
Release 2
Release 3
3-6 mths
3-6 mths
Product
Continuous
Delivery
Release 1
D1
D2
D3
Days to
Weeks
3-6 mths
Release 2
…
D1
D2
D3
Days to
Weeks
Release 3
…
D1
D2
D3
…
Days to
Weeks
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
23

26. Agenda
47
Envision a Responsive
Enterprise
Deliver a Continuous
Stream of Value
Create an Innovative
Culture
Why
Agile?
Do
Agile
Be
Agile
Values & Principles
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Command-Control
Adaptive Leadership
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
48
24

27. Simple Rules — Dee Hock
49
“Simple, clear purpose and
principles give rise to complex,
complex
intelligent behavior.”
“Complex rules and regulations
give rise to simple, stupid
behavior.
behavior ”
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
50
25

28. Adaptive Leadership Mindset
51
Adapting
Exploring
Riding
Ridi
Paradox
Engaging
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
52
It is difficult to make predictions, especially
about the future.
Yogi Berra
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
26

29. Adapting
53
A traditional manager focuses on following the plan with
minimal changes, whereas an agile leader focuses on
adapting successfully to inevitable changes.
–Jim Highsmith
Predictable versus Adaptable
54
27

30. Four Tools for Adapting
55
OODA Loop (adapted from (Boyd, 1995)
Purpose Alignment Model
(Pixton, Nickolaisen, Little, & McDonald, 2009)
The Short Horizon Model
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Exploring
The Satir Change Model (Weinberg & Smith, 2000)
Exploring
28

31. Engage/Inspire
57
Daniel Pink, Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
Engage—Facilitating
29

32. Create an Innovative Team Culture
Self organizing
Self-organizing
Autonomy
Delegation
Team
Engagement
Decision
Framing
Empowerment
Leadership
Peer-to-Peer
©2010 Jim Highsmith
59
Riding Paradox
Paradox
NOT =
Problem
30

33. Agile 101
61
Paradoxes for Adaptive Leaders
Yin
Yang
Control
Freedom
Accountability
Autonomy
Top-down Hierarchy
Self-organizing
Predictability
Adaptability
Managers and Edicts
Peers and Norms
Hierarchies
Hi
hi
Networks
N
k
Efficiency
Responsiveness
31

34. 32

35. More Information
White paper: “Adaptive Leadership: Accelerating
Enterprise Agilit ” Jim Highsmith A ailable on
Agility,”
Highsmith, Available
www.thoughtWorks.com.
My blog: www.jimhighsmith.com.
Twitter: @jimhighsmith
©2011 ThoughtWorks, Inc.
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