AGILENOMICS® Newsletter – Winter-Spring 2022
GREAT ANTICIPATION FOR OUR GAME-CHANGING AGILENOMICS® CONTRACTING FUNDAMENTALS COURSE
Expected to be available sometime in 2022
It is really amazing to see how in the year 2022, there still persists a corporate mindset of engaging in “fixed scope” contracts with vendors, while proclaiming that the organization embraces Agile principles. This oxymoron is real, and it stems from a lack of education about how to secure the agile mindset in a vendor contract.
“…HOW DO WE TURN A LEGACY PRODUCT OF DISTRUST INTO A COLLABORATIVE AGREEMENT THAT PROMOTES TRUST?…”
(J.M)
This is exactly the education that our Agile Contracting Fundamentals course is providing. We have tested the principles of the course in the field, successfully negotiating Agile Mindset terms on multi-million dollar contracts on behalf of our clients (contracts with some of the biggest outsourcing vendors in the IT industry). However, don’t get the wrong impression that this is a course merely about vendor management. In fact, there are some significant obligations on the client side that need to be adhered to, including mindset and behavioral adjustments, so that we can turn a contract from a legacy artifact of distrust into a collaborative agreement that promotes trust.
See more at: agilenomics.net
It is incredible to see how these mindset adjustments improve team performance and collaboration. It shouldn’t even have to be a question whether or not an organization that claims to be Agile should ensure that its contracts with 3d party vendors ensure the Agile mindset.
Reducing costly learning cycles, increasing predictability, and looking at vendors as true partners in value delivery should be a priority for any organization. We are confident that our Agile Contracting Fundamentals course will make all interested organizations reevaluate the way that they are structuring their 3d party contracts in an Agile world. We certainly look forward to feedback once the course is formally launched!
OPINION EDITORIAL – Is it really just about “SCALE or FAIL”?
There is no doubt that a large part of a high performing Agile organization centers around Transparency and Collaboration. There is also no doubt that the notion of teams and entire departments collaborating with each other in the most efficient manner is core to the notion of scaling agility within any organization. As a matter of fact, we see that the central axis of revolution of many scaling frameworks focuses on collaborative planning events across multiple teams that are focused delivering a common product or service. Over the last decade, many consulting companies have adopted the motto “Scale or Fail”, citing the fundamental needs above. While scaled agile transformations are still very popular and certainly helpful, they don’t always necessarily succeed as advertised.
There are several reasons for “mechanical” transformation shortfalls, and we will list some of the most prevalent ones below:
- Leadership does not understand that they need to transform their mindset as well (or are unwilling to do so)
- Mechanical adoption of ceremonies, including complex “big room planning” exercises does not automatically solve endemic problems in mindset and behavior.
- Optimization of a delivery engine alone does not guarantee that a company will actually profit from any deliverables that the delivery engine completes.
- Mechanical coaching absent of skillful “diagnosis” of the problems that actually need to be solved.
So it becomes clear from the above that success is not guaranteed by simply adopting a mechanical transformation, even if it is a scaled transformation. Of course, none of this is new, and one might ask why we are even mentioning such obvious truths.
The fact is that in most cases, a strategic approach to solving actual problems is lacking, and the Transformation is advertised as a blanket panacea with sometimes grossly overstated expectations. Instead of leadership and inbound consultants taking the proper time to identify the true ailments plaguing an organization, we see a superficial discussion of issues, followed by a “MVP 1” implementation of a blanket “transformation solution” that doesn’t necessarily solve much of the problem.
AGILENOMICS® Courses provide the education necessary to avoid some of these pitfalls, and thus are imperative additions to any serious transformation effort:
https://agilenomics.net/online-courses/
Whether it is our case studies on identifying value, preventing waste, leveraging HR to transform mindsets, or any other point of education, your organization will benefit from our educational material.
At Chrysinou Consulting, LLC, our objectives remain focused. We desire to innovate. We desire to disrupt legacy thinking with practical examples and common-sense solutions. Our motto “Practicality. Common-Sense. Bottom Line Agile.” is inspired by our core beliefs.
