Have the Corporate Elite Co-opted Agile?
Agile has become all the rage with corporate leaders. Agile transitioned in the last two decades from something mainly of interest to software developers (and, initially, only a small number of those) to a major concern for CEOs and senior executive teams. Who these days doesn't want their business to be agile?
The Agile mindset is now seen as important for almost every aspect of modern-day business "best practices". Management gurus, strategy journals and every big transformation program all extol user-centric design, rapid iterations for great product management, the importance of omnichannel customer experience and the ability to easily pivot versus multi-year plans and 500-page business cases. Not least, everyone proclaims the virtues of less "top down" hierarchy in structure, diversity and behaviour.
But in that process, have the goals of the Agile movement been co-opted by corporate leaders to align with their traditional agendas? These include maximising shareholder returns, increasing profit margins, reducing headcounts and relentless cost-cutting.
Is any of that a problem for Agile practitioners?
And, if so, what to do about it? What is your "One Metric That Matters"?
Outline/Structure of the Presentation
- Agile today: a CEO/senior management issue.
- How we got here: a brief history of the Agile movement.
- "Maximising shareholder value":
- misconceptions and reality
- where it came from, how it evolved and what it means today
- Lessons of the Royal Banking Commission... and beyond.
- leadership and culture
- bad systems trump good people
- The demise of traditional corporate management and the war for talent.
- corporations and democracy
- why empowerment got popular
- the limits of personal wellness
- Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Privacy: how's that playing out?
- What do the Climate Crisis, Big Tech and the next Global Financial Meltdown have in common?
- Thoughts about the future and the One Metric that really matters.
Learning Outcome
- Understand the evolution of Agile and where you fit
- Understand today's corporate leadership, structures and motives
- Finding the One Metric that matters... and what it means to you.
Target Audience
Everybody who could be expected to be at this conference!
Prerequisites for Attendees
Some knowledge of Agile essentials would be useful but not necessary.
This talk can be done as a Keynote or a Presentation.
Links
"Agile: the first new piece of management thinking..." https://vimeo.com/272706384
"The New Strategy", Keynote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN4MbOM5Ohs
"Lean Enterprise": an innovation-led alternative to SAFe - https://www.infoq.com/presentations/lean-enterprise-safe/
1st Conf, February 2018, Keynote: https://www.slideshare.net/keith.dodds/keith-dodds-presentation-at-1st-conf-feb-2018-v11
"Digital Innovation" (start at 10:48): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEEA-u_nGj8
schedule Submitted 4 years ago
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