When we said there were some nuggets of gold in the Werxfest online sessions, the Josh and Rhys agile vs wagile delivery flow session is what we had in mind. This conversation delivered some pearls of wisdom for any organisation looking to undertake digital transformation.
Josh and Rhys have worked together a few times and individually have been involved in countless IT and digital transformation projects. Over the years they have seen the more traditional ‘waterfall’ approach to project delivery transform as agile methodology took the industry by storm.
The wagile approach mentioned in the title is a hybrid project management approach that combines the structured planning of waterfall with the iterative flexibility of agile methodologies. It sounds ideal but as the discussion highlighted there is no perfect method and the risk appetite of the stakeholders, in particular procurement, often defines what approach is taken and how successful it is.
Preventing tyre fires
Flexibility and collaboration popped up numerous times in their discussion because history has taught us that no plan has ever gone completely to plan. They highlighted how open, collaborative relationships between all parties is key. The “tyre fires” they have seen usually were a result of a lack of clear communication, but other red flags were called out:
- Overinflated business cases that procurement love but are often unattainable.
- Businesses that are not actually ready for change – they may have passionate change agents within, but they have a board and executives with a low-risk appetite.
- A lack of realistic expectation setting.
- Little or no proof of value testing.
Draw me an apple
Rhys made a great analogy about asking everyone in the room to draw you an apple. No two will be the same, one might be a pineapple, and are they red, green or yellow? The lesson being you need everyone to understand what it may look like from the outset.
When it is a large project, “eating the elephant” becomes the issue and the waterfall method has been the traditional go-to for these types of projects. Both Rhys and Josh are big fans of running smaller POC or POV projects first before tackling the elephant.
Garage projects
The aim here is to demonstrate how the team might work together, draw out any potential project management issues early and provide a blueprint for the larger project in terms of collaboration, responsibility and methodology. These “garage projects” can be fun and empowering, but most critically they demonstrate to the customer stakeholders and the broader team what is possible and how it might come together.
When more risk adverse sectors are involved, such as public sector, utilities and NFP, the stakes are high. “No one wants to be in the newspaper” so the clarity they describe is crucial. Many of them see agile as a dirty word due to perceived technical dependencies and a lack of clarity on costs so want more certainty, so building trust and expectations first is key.
The panel of trust
The answer is there is not one until you find what is right for your team and for your project. One must-have is to establish a ‘panel of trust’, a group combining the customer project team plus proven partners who understand each other’s preferred ways of working. Cloudwerx and Ladd and Associates do just that, working side by side to help organisation navigate project design and implementation. They aim to know exactly what that apple looks like and ensure the customer has the exact same picture too.
You can listen to the full session here.