It’s all in the lyrics
I love my music and usually have it playing in the background when I am working. I’m always seeking new artists and tracks whilst often dipping into the melodies of timeless classics. So it is no surprise that I decided to name this blog after a song and I chose this song because of its title.
Let me explain.
Often, we get all tied up in process. “We have got to do this before we do that, then we do a bit more of that one, before we finish with this.” There comes a point in time where we just repeat the process, day in, day out, not really thinking about what we are doing.
In a way, this is similar to how we drive a car. The mechanical driving bit – the operation of the car – is performed automatically. We don’t think about indicating to turn right or changing gear, we just do it. The thinking bit concerns understanding and reacting to the environment in which you are operating a car.
In other words:
It ain’t what you do (the mechanical bit),
It’s the way that you do it (the thinking bit).
And that, dear readers, encapsulates everything I want to unpack in this blog – creating a way of working with agility that supports an innovation culture within an organisation.
Now, already I can hear your cogs turning and you are no doubt thinking:
“I’ve heard all about the Agile stuff before. It's an IT, techie thing.
We don’t do techie things…”
So, this is where our first challenge begins. You see, there is a lot of jargon in the business world where terms and acronyms are used poorly (that is poorly in the business context rather than the “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade transforming into a monstrous aberration” context). Often terms are used confusingly, interchanged with different meanings and concepts, and I have seen this happen usually once a term enters the realm of BUZZWORD status.
Artificial Intelligence is a good case in point where it is use is sometimes applied poorly across a vast spectrum of emerging technologies (similar to the use of the word digital). AI itself is an umbrella term incorporating other terms such as machine learning, natural language processing and deep learning. Whether its poor use stems from this, or from deceptive marketing practices, I really don’t know (AI Washing as it is termed). But during the pandemic I hosted a series of podcasts interviewing the good and the great from the world of AI, and we all came to the same conclusion - AI as a term is used badly.
The term “agile” is no different. In fact, it is a more problematic term as there are three different types of Agile to mash up and mingle. There is:
“big A” agile”,
“little a” agile” and
Agility.
Each has a different meaning and having 3 definitions on terms that are so closely named creates a sure fire recipe for miscommunication and misuse.
So to avoid confusion, lets unpack Agile (with a big “A”), agile (with a little “a”) and Agility so that you can appreciate the difference between them.
What is Agile (with a capital A) Methodology
Agile is a term that refers to a specific set of values, principles, and practices outlined in the Agile Manifesto that was developed in 2001 by a group of 17 software professionals collectively called the “Agile Alliance”. The manifesto emphasises values such as Individuals and interactions, customer collaboration, responding to change and delivering a product.
Its use is generally in software development, using an approach that advocates iterative, incremental benefit delivery through a team enabled to build – test – fail – learn – iterate throughout the process. It does this by:
Breaking the project into short iterative work phases called Sprints.
Once a sprint is complete, the team holds a lessons learned activity, looking back to see what can be improved in the next phase, adjusting their strategy accordingly.
Iterate as necessary.
There are other practices associated with using Agile such as
Scrum methodology including the concept of prioritizing work to be done, referred to as product backlogs
Assigning roles such as the product owner and scrum master (a role that requires new skills)
Acknowledging small wins and short-term improvements in longer-term initiatives.
Engaging in regular team communications, like daily huddles, to make the agile process a part of day-to-day business.
In summary, Agile is quite a structured methodology that has a way of dealing with functionality changes by being able to adapt and change quickly, to understand what can or cannot be done in a timeframe and is transparent about what is currently being undertaken and what is blocking the way of progress.
Based on the above, it already sounds a bit techie and ritualistic to people outside of the software development arena, but if you really think about it, some of the above is day-to-day activity for many project managers – techy or not – and Agile methodology can be applied outside of software development (as agile thinking was never designed to be restricted to just software development).
Now you are starting to understand Agile, let’s examine the question of “how we can apply this software development methodology to innovation activity in all aspects of Product or Process Innovation in your company”.
Hold on a minute. WHY I hear you shout!
Because it’s a great way to structure the work environment for innovation.
And we do this by taking a little “a” agile approach and building Agility into the workplace; using a mindset of being flexible, adaptable, quick and resourceful, modified to work for your organisation.
What is “little a” agile and Agility
Lets start by defining these terms:
Little “a” is a mindset or philosophy. This agile approach prioritises flexibility, adaptability and collaboration and it is not limited to the specific Agile Manifesto but uses Agile principles in its project management and development processes. Basically agile incorporates a more flexible and adaptive way of working that goes beyond the boundaries of the formal Agile framework.
Agility, on the other hand, is wider organisational culture that extends beyond project management, product development and software development, describing the ability of an organisation to:
quickly adapt and respond to changes in its environment, internally or more importantly, externally.
efficiently navigate disruption and uncertainties.
make informed decisions promptly, and
continuously improve its processes.
Achieving organisational agility involves not only implementing agile methodologies but also fostering a culture of collaboration, learning and innovation.
So, how do you do this and what are the benefits?
Little “a” agile creates an iterative approach to product and process innovation and may or may not include formal Agile roles and terminology. This can be an easier way to get an organisation to work with an agile, methodical way of thinking and performing work without the feeling that strict draconian measures are being implemented and enforced.
To drive agility and support innovation, you need to be collaborative, undertaking innovation activity through teams comprised of representatives of differing functions and activities from throughout the organisation, brought together to work on a specific objective. That’s the old pub quiz analogy, widening the scope of inclusion to get the optimum views on what, why and when into your product or process innovations.
The agile process is structured on iterations of build, refine and improve, whether applied to a project, product, or initiative, with such agility giving you the ability to adapt quickly to constantly changing priorities and customer needs. This is an iterative development processes of creating, testing and if required, improving performed during all development stages until you are happy with the end result. You can think of it as successfully completing your initiative via a trial-and-error process.
Little “a” agile and agility supports innovation management much better than traditional command and control management methods. By being flexible, being able to adapt and respond quickly to changes, using a collaborative structure and having a mindset of continuous improvement, helps to structure and increase the pace of innovation. For example:
agile methods are adaptable allowing you to quickly shift strategies without interrupting the project flow. As new information comes to light, such as changing customer needs, trial results, etc., adaptability in the process and mindset keeps the momentum going.
agile brings multi-functional teams together working arm in arm to provide a wide perspective. This breaks project and functional silos and creates an environment for collaborative teamwork. While remote working is still somewhat in its infancy, the technology to support this is increasingly providing remote working tools that get team members from around the world together in one room.
by bringing customer needs and requirements or collaborating with users, agile innovation teams can focus on these needs by prioritising specific features. If those needs evolve (invariably no doubt), the team can shift resources and priorities accordingly using an agile approach.
So agile and Agility go hand in hand and used together, they support an innovative culture. Combining these practices with innovative processes is challenging but together they are jointly supportive. Getting the workforce to be more agile is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole but innovation rounds the corners off the peg.
“What good is an idea if it remains an idea?
Try. Experiment. Iterate. Fail. Try again. Change the world.”
Simon Sinek, author on business leadership.
Adopting “little a” agile and Agility in the workplace
There are several challenges around the adoption of agile practices and driving Agility in the workplace including:
Sweeping away that lack of understanding of agile, especially as its use is so closely associated with software and technology
Legacy leadership, when embraced in a legacy workplace culture of command and control, are ill-equipped to manage agile processes that incorporate “learning by failure”
On the opposite hand, that same legacy leadership not preparing the workforce for changing the ways of working, forcing employees into working with “agile ways”. OK, it may be just poor transformation management, but it does happen!
Any potential culture clash between national cultures and the freedom agile brings to the workplace – certain national cultures do not support such freedoms.
Recently I introduced agile ways of working into an organisation to support the introduction of product development innovation in a client that was a multi-national manufacturer. All of the above challenges were present in the initiative and each had to be addressed. Although the initiative was a success, there were a number of lessons learned to take away from the project namely:
Explaining little “a” methodology, its use and adoption in the innovation environment for product development proved difficult due to:
The huge amount of noise generated within the innovation team by regurgitating information available online regarding Agile methodology as used in software development, confusing other innovation team members where inexperience caused misunderstanding of Agile use and adoption.
The sharing of that “misinformation” between team members proved difficult to control as team members worked remotely (limiting face to face time) and were drawn from multiple functions and backgrounds. An environment of psychological safety amplified this noise further for obvious reasons.
The confusion outlined above impacted the product development innovation teams, a small group of employees (around 30 FTE) who were the corporate pioneers for innovation adoption. To overcome this we used strong communication protocols, ensuring explanations are clear and concise and messages remain on track. The more time invested in this foundational activity, the easier was the adoption by the target audience.
The strategic aims of the leadership caused challenges in implementing the innovation strategy, with too much focus on revenue targets being communicated to the innovation teams causing stress in a group of employees charged with getting a new process to work.
In my experience, changes to processes are always easier to deliver and embed than changes to ways of working, process being systematic and ways of working being more systemic. Although there are many different tools you can use to deliver new ways of working, its adoption takes time to fully embed. Confusion and stress only extend that timeframe as it is easier for employees to go back to the way it was done before rather than learn by experimentation and failure.
National cultures impact the adoption of innovation and agile, more so outside of the software industry where both methodologies are now embedded. The culture of peoples from Eastern Europe, Northern Europe and Southern Europe are all different. With respect to these cultural challenges, plan and give more time to the different groupings for training and build flexibility into any processes embedded, to ensure adoption of innovation and agile principles.
The intersection between the innovation teams and the rest of the business was a tricky relationship to manage. Implementing a culture change across a workforce in excess of 30,000 employees is a lengthy task. Compound this with the challenges of multiple regional cultures and a workplace deeply embedded with a legacy command and control culture, the challenge magnifies intensely.
To overcome this, I utilised the pebble in a pond principle where the newly formed innovation teams used agile principles, knowing over time that these ways of working would seep into the wider organisation through further cross functional engagement and collaboration during the product development process. This of course, is a highly complex journey and requires a top-down approach, senior leadership backing and a much wider culture change remit.
As a wise man once noted:
“Unfortunately, in their desire to be agile (with a lowercase a), many firms have attempted to do Agile (with an uppercase A).
They have traded a goal for an orthodoxy—adopting the methods and certifications but not the theory behind them.
And this is fatal.”
Aaron Dignan in Brave New Work
Conclusion
Clearly, working with agility is an enabler for innovation and how an organisation uses its innovative capabilities is the ultimate competitive advantage needed to adapt quickly to evolving environments and customer needs, and the constant drive of new and emerging technologies.
The reality is that agile thinking is changing the world whether specific organisations decide to adopt it or not. The aim should be to work smarter, generating more value with less work (an aim I apply to all process transformations) rather than doing more work in less time.
So hopefully, by now, you are asking yourself the question,
“Please, please Gary, tell me how do I get started?”
There are four areas you need to review, understand and probably strengthen your capabilities within to become more resilient:
Your organisation needs to become agile. Decision making needs to develop to be faster, more aligned and collaborative - becoming more data-informed. That way, you make it easier for leaders and teams to get into the cycle of test, learn, iterate and fine-tune as complex business challenges disrupt the business and the markets you operate in.
Your innovation teams – irrespective of their focus – need to be self-sufficient and take accountability and ownership of their outcomes. They need to be (or at least feel) empowered to continue with their innovation work and through governance, retrospectives, and other feedback mechanisms, have the information and support they need to continually innovate on product, process or business model.
You need to identify, encourage and promote individuals who are adaptable and proactive, not reactive. These will become the innovation leaders that create the environment that can develop both short-term action and long-term resiliency.
You need to get on the treadmill of investing in talent and culture. If you focus on building and innovation culture in terms of operations, teams, and leaders, you can gain a “talent advantage” over your competitors in that the more top talent you attract, the more resilient your organisation becomes, which in turn attracts more top talent, and so on.
Therefore agility should form the basis of revised ways of working to support an innovation culture.
Next week we move onto the final couple of blogs in this series, looking at the effect that having an innovation culture and using agile ways of working can make your employees feel engaged and needed.
Until the next time…
I’m sure that after reading these blogs on innovation in the workplace you will have a backpack full of questions regarding the “What and the How” of innovation and maybe feeling a bit stuck.
Never one to leave you in the lurch, I am always happy to try to have a brief chat and address your questions. Just reach out and let’s see if we can bring resolution to what is keeping you awake at night. Email me at gary@rokaboat-emea.com and let’s arrange a virtual coffee or connect with me on LinkedIn - Gary Thompson
And one other thing – I would love to hear your feedback on this article. My father had a shop and from being a child I was taught to listen to the customer, so I welcome your comments. It’s time I practiced what I preach!