Working with teams and organizations over several years, we would often hear comments like “Agile doesn’t work for us”, “Agile is good in theory not in practice”.  These responses left us wondering what was really happening and led us to what we think are critical missing links. Firstly, implementation of Agile seems very mechanistic and lacking “ a systemic view”. Secondly, frameworks (scrum, Kanban, safe etc) seem to be driving the transformation and have become the face (definition) of Agile.

We addressed some of these challenges in our work as Agile coaches and this session is to share our approach that emerged from those learnings.“System Driven Transformation (SDT)” is our approach - it is not another framework, rather it’s a thinking approach like TDD (it’s a way we approach coding).

This workshop will help you understand SDT to start looking at Agile with a systemic lens based on the philosophy “ Framework Agnostic Agile”. The philosophy is to honour the values of Agile Manifesto (www.agilemaniesto.org) and be driven by that rather than the frameworks.  The workshop will help you reflect on missing links in your own systems.

System Driven Transformation (SDT) approach to Agile keeps centre stage the need/s of the system* that is seeking change.  System can be the smallest team which is implementing Agile or the wider organisation seeking change.

Driving factor for transformation is the goal for the transformation.  This is what the system desires as outcome of Agile transformation. It is formulated by considering current state of the system; challenges the system is facing or the wishes the system has. This defines everything that is done as part of transformation process.

A critical part of defining the goal is diagnosis. It is to understand not just what can be seen – the issues / problems / challenges – which are merely the symptoms – but also to figure out the underlying reasons for these challenges. It involves diagnosis of  technology / process ( current software development process, engineering deficits), structure ( organization / team ), people (leadership, collaboration, capability), culture or strategy ( context for change).

The next step in our approach is to work along with the clients to determine the interventions .There can be many ways to achieve the goal but for us, solutions are guided by the values of Agile manifesto (www.agilemanifesto.org) and not constrained by existing Agile frameworks. The solution may involve using any of the existing Agile frameworks , or a combination of them. Or, it may also be a unique framework that evolves keeping in view needs of the system. Our interventions also focus on structure and people aspects of transformation so that the change effort is holistic and sustainable.

This approach is still evolving, and hence this workshop is invitation for people to expand this approach!

There is often a situation between managers and the coaches where the Managers think the coaches intervene in the delivery, while the coaches argue the managers do 'command and control'. Often, these two parts of system are seen on opposing sides. We at AgileSattva, believe that every component in the system has a role and there is a relationship between all the stakeholders. [updated] The key important stake holders are "Coaches" and "Managers".[/updated] This relationship has important contrbituion and impact towards transforming the teams/systems.

[updated] In our experiences working with Agile Coaches (as part of supervision of their work to resolve their stuckness), we find a pattern in the way they relate to Leadership and Management group of the teams. In bringing our observation to the awareness of coaches, their thinking pattern changes and are able to move towards effective transformations. [/updated]

In this workshop, we would invite the participants to explore the dynamics of this relationship and its impact on the team/ system through activities, reflective exercises and discussions. 

[updated]We use Transactional Analysis (Eric Berne, 1961) as a framework to understand this relationship. We may use Psychodrama (Jacob L Moreno) activities with the group to explore the dynamics. [/updated]

[updated 30.10.14] 

Group Imago is defined by Berne in 1966 as ‘‘a mental image of the dynamic relationships between the people in the group, including the therapist; idiosyncratic for each individual patient". This is used in organizations where the group refers to the teams, therapist could be consultant/manager/coach and individual patient are member of that team. 

The important part of using this model in Agile coaching is to bring out the "unconscious thinking" of how Coaches/Managers see the team and themselves in relation to the team (system). 

The mode of activity could be through drawings/arrangement of their mental image of the team and self on paper or a field (where we could use floor or tables).  More details here may set people be conscious, hence would be happy to share it over the call/mail. 

Psychodrama is a school of group therapy also used for Organizational Development to build cohesive teams, analyze difficult situations, setting up value system in the organization etc. sociometry is the study of social relations between individuals—interpersonal relationships. The activity is 'setting up scene' with a situation (difficult situation) a person (coach/manager) is facing at their work place. The setup could be again using toys/real people representing people from their situation. This is also to explore the way the interaction is happening in that situation. This gives a wholistic picture of the system (unconscious thinking of people in the system). sociometry involves techniques for identifying, organizing, and giving feedback on specific interpersonal preferences an individual has. For example, in a psychodrama sociometry session, we may want to explore the cold war between team members that has been unseen or ignored from long time.  [reference in wikipedia]

Like I mentioned, both the activities are tools to bring out the unconscious thinking to the conscious, so the activity evolves as we are facilitating. 

[/updated 30.10.14]